Transcript
Automatically generated transcript. It may contain errors and includes testimony in languages other than English that is not individually marked up for assistive technology.
Jamie Dunphy
I'm not embarrassed to use it.
I'm going to use it right now.
I'm sweating.
Rebecca Dobert
Testing, testing, open signal.
Testing, captions are good in chambers.
Yes.
Jamie Dunphy
Good morning.
I'm calling to order this meeting of the Portland City Council.
It is Monday, May 18th.
Can we please call the roll?
Rebecca Dobert
Good morning.
Kanal?
Good morning.
Sameer Kanal
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Pirtle-Guiney?
Elana Pirtle-Guiney
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Ryan?
Dan Ryan
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Koyama Lane?
Tiffany Koyama Lane
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Murillo?
Angelita Morillo
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Novick?
Steve Novick
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Clark?
Olivia Clark
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Zimmerman?
Eric Zimmerman
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Avalos?
Smith?
Loretta Smith
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Dunphy?
Jamie Dunphy
Here.
And can we please read the rules of decorum?
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you.
Welcome to the Portland City Council.
To testify before council in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the council agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda.
Information on engaging with council can be found on the council clerk's webpage.
Individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the presiding officer states otherwise.
Your microphone will be muted when your time is over.
The presiding officer preserves order.
Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others' testimony or council deliberations will not be allowed.
If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given.
Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting.
Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass.
Additionally, Council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually.
Your testimony should please address the matter being considered.
When testifying, please state your name for the record.
Your address is not necessary.
If you are a lobbyist, please identify the organization you represent.
Virtual testifiers should please unmute themselves when the council clerk calls your name.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Good morning, colleagues, and welcome to the public.
This week we are going to be taking a series of steps and votes as part of the approval of the fiscal year '26-'27 budget as prescribed by Oregon state law.
As the City of Portland's Budget Committee, we will be holding a hearing on the uses of state revenue sharing We will consider amendments to the approved budget, and we will approve the tax levies for fiscal year 26-27.
As Portland City Council, we will consider 6 ordinances related to utility rates, water system bonds, and to transferring interest from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to the general fund.
As the Prosper Portland Budget Committee, we will consider amendments to the approved budget and conform the Prosper budget to any changes made in the city budget.
Today we will hear public testimony on both budgets, their proposed amendments, and all of the ordinance.
Today is the day for testimony.
We will begin today with the Portland City Budget.
We will hold revenue hearing— hold the revenue hearing, identify the pre-filed amendments, and take public testimony.
As of this morning, there were nearly 150 people signed up to speak for 90 seconds each.
We will take rest breaks as necessary.
After testimony on the city budget, we will move to the PSEF interest and utility rate ordinances and hear testimony on them.
As of this morning, there are 6 people signed up to testify, all to the PSEF interest ordinance.
Finally, we will close the day by opening the Prosper Portland Budget Committee hearing and taking public testimony on the Prosper budget.
As of this morning, there are 15 people signed up to speak.
We will return on Tuesday and Wednesday to consider and vote on amendments to the city budget.
After lunch on Tuesday, we will consider amendments to the PROSPER budget and conform it to make any changes made to the city budget.
As time allows, we will close Tuesday with further amendments to the city budget.
On Wednesday, we will begin with the PSEF interest and rate ordinances, then return to amendments to the city budget.
We will vote on the approved budgets at the end of our Wednesday hearing, and the budgets will be sent to the TSCC, the Tax Supervisory something committee.
Tax Supervisory Committee.
On Thursday.
The pre-filed amendments are in 5 major thematic chunks: public safety cut restorations, PCF dollars, PMO, and trees, parks cut and restorations, and citywide governance.
There's also a small cluster of items that impact Prosper Portland programming and a dozen or so proposed amendments that do not fit into a clear category.
I plan for us to spend our Tuesday On public safety, Prosper, and the PeaceF PIMO trees, in that order.
We will discuss Wednesday as things develop.
Following Wednesday's votes, we will return for a work session on budget notes and post-approved amendments on June 3rd.
The TSC— TSSC hearing is at 9:30 to 11:00 AM on Tuesday, June 9th.
Council will take up the first reading of the adopted budget at 9:30 on June 10th.
Second reading will take place at 6:00 PM on June 17th, and at that point the annual budget will be complete.
So now on to the business of the day.
Rebecca Dobert
Mr. President, I have a point of parliamentary inquiry.
Okay.
Is it accurate to state that 3 months ago, 90 days ago, during Black History Month, you, Council President Jamie Dunphy, moved to indefinitely postpone My Housing Ordinance.
This ordinance was intended to allocate unbudgeted housing funds to community-based homeownership developers, specifically to support Williams and Russell Self-Enhancement, Inc. and Oasis of Praise, enabling them to purchase and renovate their rented community service building.
And what I'm asking you for today, I'm asking you because you have failed to give us a placement on May 6th, May 13th, May 27th.
You even assured a group of Black pastors led by Pastor Mark Jackson that the ordinance would be included in the May 27th agenda.
In a written email, you canceled May 27th.
Jamie Dunphy
Councilor, what's your parliamentary inquiry, please?
Rebecca Dobert
And the parliamentary inquiry is that you have been not honest with us, and I want to— I want to suspend the rules so that you can give us a date and time certain for that that ordinance that you moved to indefinitely put off the agenda.
Jamie Dunphy
This is not a parliamentary inquiry.
This is a separate schedule inquiry.
That is your opinion.
Rebecca Dobert
It is my parliamentary inquiry.
Jamie Dunphy
You need to give us—.
Rebecca Dobert
I am out of order and you are out of order because you are supposed to put something on the agenda within 90 days.
And you have failed to do that.
I need you to give us a time certain.
I need you to give us a time certain, Mr. President.
Jamie Dunphy
All right, I find you out of order.
Rebecca Dobert
You are out of order, Mr. President.
You are out of order, sir.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, Councilor.
Rebecca Dobert
You are out of order.
Jamie Dunphy
May the clerk please read item number 1.
Rebecca Dobert
Item 1, approval of the FY 2026-27 budget for the City of Portland.
Council convenes as Budget Committee, document number 2026-157.
Jamie Dunphy
I now recess this meeting of the Portland City Council, and I am now convening this meeting of the Portland City— City of Portland Budget Committee.
Rebecca, can you please call the roll?
Rebecca Dobert
Kanal.
Sameer Kanal
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Portalgini.
Here.
Ryan.
Dan Ryan
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Koyamaline.
She's here.
Yes.
Mario.
Here.
Novick.
Steve Novick
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Green.
Mitch Green
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Zimmerman.
Eric Zimmerman
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Avalos.
Candace Avalos
Present.
Rebecca Dobert
Smith.
Loretta Smith
Here.
Jamie Dunphy
Here.
The City of Portland Budget Committee received the proposed budget and conducted a hearing to receive testimony on April 21st.
The Budget Committee received the approved budget memo and attachments A through G on May 12th.
This week we will vote to amend and approve the report, which approves the attachments A through G and the fiscal year 26-27 budget.
I am now opening a hearing to discuss the uses of state revenue sharing.
This hearing is being held on the City of Council— the city— by the City Council of Portland, Oregon, in compliance with the provisions of Oregon State Revenue Sharing Regulations ORS 221.770.
It is to allow citizens to comment on the possible use of these funds in conjunction with the annual budget process.
As proposed for the council adoption, the Fiscal year '26-'27 budget anticipates receipts totaling $19,496,999 from state revenue sharing.
As has been the case in prior years, it is proposed that this revenue be allocated in 5 parts to support fire prevention and police patrol services.
Is there anyone here today who wishes to be heard on this subject?
Yes.
Okay, what's happening?
This is a state-required request to see if anyone is testifying on state revenue sharing specifically.
Seeing none, I am now closing this hearing to discuss the uses of the state revenue sharing.
I am now opening a hearing— uh, sorry, there's a lot of procedural stuff here, so apologies ahead of time, folks.
I'm opening a hearing on the City of Portland's FY 26-27 approved budget.
Prior to amendments, testimony, and debate, I call for a motion to consider and approve the approved budget report.
Rebecca Dobert
So moved.
Jamie Dunphy
Councilor Kanal moves.
Is there a second?
Rebecca Dobert
Second.
Jamie Dunphy
Councilor Avalos seconds.
Colleagues, before we begin in earnest, there are 3 technical amendments being brought by the city administrator and the city budget office.
They have been posted online for public review.
These are corrections to errors made in the proposed budget.
In prior years, these kinds of technical amendments were folded into the approved budget when it was filed.
This year, for transparency, CBO has broken them out for council to consider individually.
Is Budget Director Levine here?
I'm hoping you could walk us through very quickly these 3 technical amendments.
And we're going to actually— colleagues, I'm going to move and have us vote on them or open them as we are talking about them.
Rebecca Dobert
So—.
Jamie Dunphy
Point of information.
We were asked to give scores on these as well.
Rebecca Dobert
Yes.
Jamie Dunphy
So that doesn't affect the timing of them?
We're not voting on them right now.
We're just opening them to—.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you for clarifying.
Rebecca Dobert
Great.
For the record, Ruth Levine, City Budget Director.
So I'm going to speak to Amendment 1 first, which is called Technical True-Ups.
Is really just correcting things in the budget, either to true up to votes that council has taken between when we were preparing the proposed budget and now, essentially.
So the spring TAO, not all of that made it into the proposed budget due to timing.
And then a couple of other votes that have taken place since then.
So there are just a few.
Thank you.
Things that need to be aligned to correctly reflect those votes in the budget.
A couple of other things, there were just some errors in aligning position authority to the personnel budget that need to be fixed.
And then the other items are just moving things into like the correct fund center or functional area, getting the money in the correct bucket in the budget.
And for all 3 of these technical amendments, there was an attachment, Attachment I, on the filing that has each change listed out separately and explained.
So if there are any questions on that, I'm happy to speak to those.
But that is, um, that is Amendment 1.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
And I think we're going to, we're going to hold on the vote on actually moving these, adopting these, till after testimony.
Um, but let's move to explain what technical changes.
Keep going.
Rebecca Dobert
Okay, great.
All right, Amendment 2 is similarly, they're all budgeting errors that were made in the proposed, but these ones actually move general fund.
Jamie Dunphy
There are 5 changes.
Can you please reference what attachment it is you're talking about?
You said I for the last one.
Rebecca Dobert
They're all listed in Attachment I.
Okay.
All 3 amendments.
Jamie Dunphy
All 3 are in there.
Rebecca Dobert
Okay.
The attachments, the language, there's language in the attachments, Attachment H, and then there's more detailed information for all 3 of them in Attachment I.
So in Amendment 2, there are— there was a position that was incorrectly reduced in the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.
There's a position that was double-budgeted in the City Administrator's Office, so that doesn't need to be there twice.
There is a position that was incorrectly reduced in the Office of City Operations.
Jamie Dunphy
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
And then some true-ups that are not position related.
One is truing up to the exact 5% number on the Office of Community-Based Police Accountability.
And then there's a $12,000 entry that's unnecessary in special operations, sorry, special appropriations.
That is Amendment 2.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
And could you read technical or walk us through technical Amendment 3 as well?
Sure.
Rebecca Dobert
And then Technical Amendment 3 is specific to a couple of corrections within parks.
These are things that were intended to be reflected in the proposed budget but were not done so due to timing.
The first is the Leach Botanical Garden.
So there was an intention to include $200,000 for Leach Botanical Garden in the proposed that didn't make it in.
And then on the USTA, there was sort of miscommunication about the, how much of the year the change would be in effect.
And so it was budgeted for a full year amount, but should have been budgeted for a half year amount.
And that means also that those 4, the position authority can't be removed at this point because the positions are needed for a portion of the year.
So that's Amendment 3.
Jamie Dunphy
Okay, and I would like, just wanna at the very top here acknowledge, as with last year, I am recusing myself from Technical Amendment 3.
My spouse works at Leach Botanical Gardens, and so I am neither motioning, seconding, debating, or voting on that amendment in any capacity.
Colleagues, I see a number of folks in the queue.
Are we asking questions about the technical amendments at this time, or what?
Okay.
Yeah, Councilor Kanal.
Thank you.
Morning, Ruth.
Thanks so much for being here, and thanks for all your work on this process.
Writ large, it could go on for a while, but I won't.
For Technical Amendment 1, I'm looking at the Attachment H, the bottom right of each of these tables, and I'm trying to understand where is the $34 million coming from that this seems to be adding to the budget?
Rebecca Dobert
Sorry, one second.
Jamie Dunphy
I just have the same question for Amendment 2 in terms of what happens to the $79,000.
Rebecca Dobert
Yes.
So on Amendment 2, sorry, I'm just looking at Amendment 1 for a second.
I think, so on Amendment 2, that amount is made available for council to allocate through the process this week.
On Amendment 1, the $3,000, sorry.
I believe that is— it's not— it's just a change in appropriations in Amendment 1.
So it's not necessarily actually adding resources.
It's just changing how they're budgeted.
And I may have to call somebody up to speak to the specifics of it.
But I think on the FPDR line, which is the bulk of that increase in Amendment 1.
That's a change in the way that they're budgeting their cash flow issue, which they brought to council a week or 2 ago in terms of, yeah, I won't, I can bring someone up if you have questions on that, but that's the bulk of it.
And then I think another portion of it is in fleet and facilities, which is a change, I believe, in how they're budgeting for the— I think that's a good question.
Inter-fund loan as a result of the inter-fund loan with the health fund that we discussed in the spring TAO.
So we can get you more, I can get you more details if you'd like, but that's the, it's really just a change in appropriations, not so much a change in, it's not adding resources.
Jamie Dunphy
I'm seeing CFO Beery nodding behind you, so thanks for that.
And so I'll interpret that as effectively it's not creating a need that we have to fill.
I'm seeing nod again.
Rebecca Dobert
Yes.
Jamie Dunphy
Is the same thing true for Amendment 3 where it says $1.066 million $1.067 million at the bottom right there.
Rebecca Dobert
So that one's a little bit different.
So that would in fact be covered by the parks levy in '26-'27.
Jamie Dunphy
Okay.
So, and that's where it says it reduces the amount available in future years.
Okay.
One other question on this, and it's not numerical, also on Amendment 3, is the— it talks about thoughtful decision-making and implementation of the potential transition I'm a little curious as to, there hasn't yet been a council vote on transferring anything with USTA, and there's been several councilors who have expressed concern, trepidation, whatever word, hesitation, let's say, about it.
So I'm curious how much this commits us to that course of action without a debate.
It doesn't commit you to it.
Council officially has to adopt the budget, which this would be a part of it.
This is just amending the portions of the mayor's proposed budget as it relates to this work.
Council officially will make the decision as it relates to the overall adopted budget, which this may be included as part of your deliberation with this amendment.
So the adopted budget is where the decision on, on transferring on privatizing this, the Portland Tennis Center, is made, or is that a separate standalone ordinance?
Rebecca Dobert
It's—.
Jamie Dunphy
The appropriation of the money is done through this budgeting process.
If there's documentation as it relates to the privatization of that, that would be done separately.
Okay.
Um, does— but we're only funding half the year to, to operate this at this moment.
So as of right now, unless we adopted a second ordinance, if we adopt this budget, the Portland Tennis Center would close on December 31st?
Rebecca Dobert
Potentially, yes.
Jamie Dunphy
Okay, just wanted to get that on the record.
Rebecca Dobert
Sorry, and just to clarify one other thing, I think the— in terms of order of operations here, this kind of sets the baseline.
You could approve this amendment, Amendment 3, and then also change course through a later amendment in the approved.
It doesn't—.
Jamie Dunphy
Sure.
Rebecca Dobert
It just says like this is the correct starting point, essentially.
Jamie Dunphy
Great, thank you.
Thank you, Councilor Kanal.
Councilor Green.
Thank you.
Just briefly, will you be able to make available at some point, like, what is the net effect of general fund resources that either are lower than or greater than to be made available this week relative to what we saw in the mayor's proposed?
Sorry, can you restate the question?
Okay, so this has a number of funds that change.
And so I see on Amendment 2, negative $79,718.
So that would suggest that that's available to council to appropriate.
But then the other one, we're adding $1,066,000 to the parks budget.
Does that mean we're $1 million to the worse relative to the mayor's proposed?
No.
Rebecca Dobert
So only Amendment 2 impacts general fund resources so that it makes available $79,718.
$718 Of general fund for council to appropriate.
On Amendment 3, that's in the parks levy, and the Amendment 1 changes all impact other funds.
All right, thanks.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, Councilor Green.
Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you, Council President.
Um, with Amendment 3, 2 things.
First, a flag, Council President.
I hope you— I'm hoping we can get a change on the labeling of this.
My name is on this as a co-sponsor, and I didn't co-sponsor it.
So I would just love to have my name taken off of it.
I'm sure it's lovely, but I did not co-sponsor it.
Um, if that can be fixed by whoever needs to fix it, I would appreciate it.
As it relates to the levy, I know there is a careful balance to make sure that what we spend in the first year is sustainable in the last year.
This is a technical amendment.
Does that mean that this was captured in the calculation to make sure that what we were spending this year is sustainable in the last year, or is this going to put us in a deficit in year 5?
Um, my understanding is that it won't put us in a deficit in year 5, but this is okay.
This is putting us back to where we needed to be.
This is not throwing us out of where we needed to be.
Jamie Dunphy
Yeah.
Rebecca Dobert
Okay.
Thank you.
Yes.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.
Councilor Zimmerman.
Thanks.
I'm gonna start where Councilor Pirtle-Guiney started on Amendment 3.
I've done a lot of municipal budgets in my life.
I've never seen them co-sponsored by members of the body.
So what is the thinking behind this and why is it not just Councilor Smith's amendment?
A technical administration's amendment coming forward.
Is there a print of it?
It, it adds a level of— most of the times over, over a lot of years of doing this, technical amendments are not really a thing you debate.
Rebecca Dobert
Mhm.
Jamie Dunphy
They're an oops, we put a 1 instead of a 0, right?
This seems very different, and I'll say it seems very different at the end of one of the worst prepared budgets I've ever seen.
So now I'm skeptical on things I'm not sure I should be skeptical and adding co-sponsor names to it and then hearing one of them is not even a co-sponsor, I have a lot of concern here about what normally in years of experience is just a pass-through.
And now I'm hearing we're going to talk about it and not just vote on it quickly, makes it feel like it is the other amendments.
So I'd like an understanding about just the crop of these, what is going on.
Thank you.
Why so many are coming forward and why they were not considered just a very technical adjustment, because something about this seems more than a technical adjustment, and I'm trying to understand that.
Rebecca Dobert
We brought these all forward to correct errors that were in the proposed and respond to the fact that some of them are more, oops, we put a 1 instead of a 0, and some of them have more are a little more substantive.
And so we wanted to make that clear to council.
And there were conversations specifically about Amendment 3 among the administration and individual councilors.
And so that's all that's intended to do.
Apologies if there was miscommunication.
We were balancing a lot of amendments and conversations that were happening in a short period of time.
So that's all.
We're just trying to bring transparency to the process.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
And Councilor, you're correct.
Typically in the budgeting process, this would've been a technical thing that would've been just approved.
And I think this is some of the conversation as we look at our processes as it relates to our budgeting framework.
How do we move forward with these type of things?
My preference and best management practices is that these things would just be technical adjustments that we make and council approves those technical adjustments as part of the budget.
The shaky ground that you get on is when those things are not sometimes just technical adjustments.
It may be some things that might have been missed in the proposed budget that needs to be discussed amongst the council.
But if we're just talking about a zero added or one to add it, those are technical things that I would say as we move forward, we just need to take care of those things separately than the amendment process.
Okay.
And then, Mr. President, why have you decided not to just have these put up and voted on to get them off the docket so we can move on to the part where there's actually a debate.
Yeah, well, I was hoping we would get to testimony a lot quicker, but I didn't realize councilors were going to want to discuss this too.
So I was hoping to just do all of our talking at once and get the public going.
That was my intention.
I wanted to lay them on the table, get it out there in the public, and— So to lay them on the table and then get them out there in the public makes it seem like there's something here to consider or not to consider.
So the question begs, if we don't adopt these technical amendments, what happens then?
So what would be the point then of the testimony to that end?
No, Councilor, I was just trying to get us to the public testimony.
That's fine and that's admirable, but I'm trying to get us to a budget that's workable and actually factual, and this is throwing a wrench into that.
So I was asking for your motivation in terms of why we wouldn't take care of these and be done with them, but I will pause that because I don't think you have an answer.
Councilor Avalos.
Rebecca Dobert
Yeah, so just for some clarity on the Leach one in particular.
So one, I am a little bit confused because I— my understanding was that I was co-sponsoring the Leach one simply because Council President cannot due to the conflict of interest.
And so the Leach one would have been under the technical package, and since the Council President brings that package, we had to take that specifically out.
So that was my understanding of that.
Now, however, I did not understand that USTA was going to be in that same amendment.
So that's where my confusion is coming.
Jamie Dunphy
And I was not planning on sponsoring that.
Rebecca Dobert
My goal was just Leach for the conflict of interest.
So just to add context for that specific one, the rest of it, I don't have answers for.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, Councilor Avalos.
Councilor Knoll.
Yeah, I have just one quick question.
I'm comfortable just approving these and moving on for the sake of process, but I did want to ask if we are going to be allowed to make amendments to the— or update our amendments related to the content of this, even though— because we weren't able to put up anything with relation knowing this information by our deadline of Friday.
So if, as long as we're still allowed to make adjustments to this, then I think that's a fair sort of way to handle it.
I think that makes sense.
All right, well, I am hearing from this body that there is a— there is some interest in just getting through the technical amendments very quickly.
So Councilor Koyama Lane.
And then I'm going to, I'm going to move these 3.
Rebecca Dobert
I don't want to say more, but I can explain.
Jamie Dunphy
I'll just, I'll just move them real quick.
I'm going to move Technical Amendment 1, and I would seek a second.
Rebecca Dobert
Second.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Any debate?
Can we please call the roll on Technical Amendment Number 1?
Rebecca Dobert
Technical Amendment 1, moved by Councilor, uh, Dunphy and seconded by Koyama Lane.
Jamie Dunphy
No.
No.
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Ryan?
Dan Ryan
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Koyama Lane?
Tiffany Koyama Lane
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Murillo?
Angelita Morillo
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Novick?
Steve Novick
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Clark?
Olivia Clark
Absent.
Rebecca Dobert
Green?
Mitch Green
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Zimmerman?
Eric Zimmerman
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Avalos?
Candace Avalos
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Smith?
Loretta Smith
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Dunphy?
Jamie Dunphy
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
And the amendment is approved with 10 aye, 1 nay, 1 absent.
Jamie Dunphy
Okay, I would like to move technical amendment number 2, and I would seek a second.
Rebecca Dobert
Second.
Jamie Dunphy
Councilor Pirtle-Guiney seconds.
Is there discussion?
Can we please call the roll?
Rebecca Dobert
Technical amendment 2, moved by Council President Dunphy, seconded by Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.
Kanal?
Sameer Kanal
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Pirtle-Guiney?
Elana Pirtle-Guiney
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Ryan?
Dan Ryan
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Koyama Lane?
Tiffany Koyama Lane
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Murillo?
Angelita Morillo
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Novick?
Steve Novick
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Clark is absent.
Green?
Mitch Green
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Zimmerman?
Eric Zimmerman
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Avalos?
Candace Avalos
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Smith?
Loretta Smith
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Dunphy?
Jamie Dunphy
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
The amendment is approved with 11 aye, 1 absent.
Jamie Dunphy
Okay.
I would entertain somebody else moving.
I will move Amendment 3.
Thank you, Councilor Avalos.
Councilor Avalos moves Technical Amendment 3.
Is there a second?
Rebecca Dobert
Second.
Jamie Dunphy
Councilor Novick seconds.
Is there debate?
Rebecca Dobert
My only debate is, uh, I'm unsure about the USDA thing.
I'm going to move it forward.
It sounds like we have an opportunity to make some changes, so I just want to put that on the record.
Jamie Dunphy
Um, Because I definitely have some questions about that one, but I want to just get this forward.
Thank you.
Councilor Knoll.
Yeah, my understanding is that this, the current state, if we don't adopt this amendment, is that there's no funding for continued management of USTA, and this adds 6 months of it, which I think is better than the current situation.
But I'm looking forward to the debate as well, so I'll be voting yes on this.
And just to clarify, to get it on the record for future, the reason I voted no on Technical Amendment 1 was because of the communications realignment thank you very much.
Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you, Council President.
I'm a bit nervous.
Um, our budget director's answer wasn't as confident sounding as I wanted about this not leaving us with a deficit in year 5 of the parks levy.
I am willing to accept that it is truly technical and will not leave a deficit, but I'm not sure that I'm comfortable with that.
But if, to the points that Councilor Zimmerman was raising, some of these are less technical, I just want to make sure we are eyes wide open that we may have a problem in the future.
Hopefully this is truly technical.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.
Can you please call the roll?
Rebecca Dobert
Technical correction amendment 3, moved by Councilor Avalos, seconded by Councilor Novick.
Kanal?
Jamie Dunphy
Aye.
Councilor Ginni?
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
Mr. Chairman?
Jamie Dunphy
Yes.
Second.
Rebecca Dobert
All those in favor?
Jamie Dunphy
Aye.
Rebecca Dobert
The amendment is approved with 10 aye, 1 absent, 1 abstain.
Jamie Dunphy
Okay, thank you, colleagues.
Colleagues, we now return to discussion about amendments to the approved budget filed by council.
On March 30th, I sent a memo to council, council operations, the city attorney's office, the clerk, the city administrator, the mayor, his chief of staff, the CFO, the CBO, city administrator— administrative leadership, including the DCAs, the chief officers, and key support staff.
This memo provided guidance on the method and deadline to pre-file budget amendments and the process by which they would be released to the public.
My office provided regular reminders, clarifications, and updates on this process in the 45 days between the memo's release and the first deadlines.
The submission deadline for amendments seeking CBO review was 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 14th.
They were posted for the public by the clerk at approximately 5:30 on Friday, May 15th.
Media releases calling the public's attention to the amendments followed, sent by Council Operations, official city channels, Council offices and the mayor's office.
Last year, council filed 170 budget amendments and notes.
90 Of them were not even discussed because there was not enough time.
To help us prioritize in the case of another excess of amendments, my memo called for the Council Operations to confidentially seek prioritization preferences on pre-filed amendments from council over this weekend using a 10-point scale.
Council Operations has directly and confidentially surveyed individual council offices and has not shared any aggregated information prior to public release.
10 Council offices participated.
As of last night, the results of their survey have been posted to the public and council simultaneously as an exhibit to the budget report.
As I mentioned in my introductory remarks, our amendments appear to have arrived in about 5 compact subject areas, plus about a dozen individual ideas.
With under 50 pre-filed amendments, it's It's almost possible that we could hear votes— hear and vote on every amendment.
That would be really nice.
As the amendments have been visible to council and the public for over 48 hours, I believe that the community is sufficiently aware of what has been proposed for us to move to public testimony on the approved and its amendments.
If any councilor intends to move an altogether new amendment concept or to withdraw any that are pre-filed, please feel free to surface them now so that the public can have a chance to respond during testimony.
Thank you.
So colleagues, if you have any other amendments that you wish to propose, now would be a great time.
Councilor Zimmerman.
Can you clarify— thanks.
Can you clarify how the— because I didn't participate in your survey, I consider it a serial meeting, but how will that information be used to— I'm still trying to understand.
At any time someone can move an amendment.
So what is it that you're prioritization list is going to do?
Not in terms of information, but is it gonna be used for an action by you?
Yes, I'm trying to use it in order to figure out the amendments where there is broad consensus so that we can move to those quickly, or amendments where there is going to be healthy debate, or ones where there is very clearly little public or little interest among the entire body and we can— yeah, so to that end, it makes it seem like it may be even more of a serial meeting than previously understood if it is leading to the type and process of deliberation.
So I hope that those who have amendments up for consideration, they'll make them.
And I think that that debate happens here and not in a behind-the-scenes survey.
But I certainly intend to both bring new amendments as well as remove some amendments that were on that list based on what we hear today and also based on some of the, what I think are great amendments that some colleagues have put up.
Thank you.
Uh, but those are worthy of debate regardless of their score, and I'm hoping to have that.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Okay, so with over 100 individuals signed up to testify, we have given prior notice that we will limit each individual's speaking time to 90 seconds to ensure that all voices can be heard.
So Rebecca, can we please call our first panel of testifiers?
Rebecca Dobert
Good morning.
A quick note of housekeeping for Testifier.
For those signed up to Testifier, each verbal testifier will receive 90 seconds.
I will call folks up in groups of 5.
For those in person, you will see a timer countdown displayed on the monitor in front of the testimony table on the floor.
For those virtual, the timer is in Zoom.
You will hear the timer chime twice, once as a warning when you have 30 seconds remaining and a second time when your time is up.
Our first 5 testifiers are Isaac McLennan, Elijah Goodrick, Christy Crampton, Karen Aguirre, and Dare Elliott.
Jamie Dunphy
And good morning, folks.
As you are all coming up to the, uh, dais here, please go ahead and feel, uh, however you sit down and jump in, feel free to introduce yourselves.
Uh, folks are welcome to share their pronouns, and you have 90 seconds.
Isaac, take us away.
Okay, well, good morning, Council President Dunphy, members of City Council, my fellow firefighters, neighbors.
My name is Isaac McLennan.
I'm the president of the Portland Firefighters Association, a firefighter in East Portland and resident in District 3 in the Roseway neighborhood.
Let's kick this off the right way, under time and with urgency.
Large swaths of Portland are already at risk because we do not have enough firefighters serving our neighborhoods.
Right now, Portland Fire and Rescue can only reach 46.7% of the city within the 4-minute response time standard.
The proposed budget before you would only make that worse.
Closing Engine 22 in St. Johns and reducing nighttime response for 3 rescues in Southeast and East Portland would devastate firefighters' ability to protect life and property.
Our chat teams provide medical response services, reducing the strain on our system and help preserve critical Response resources.
When Portlanders call 911, they deserve a quick response.
These cuts would have real consequences.
Slower response times and public safety— I'm sorry, slower response times put public safety and firefighter safety at risk.
Community safety is a connected system.
Street response, police, dispatchers, firefighters, crisis responders, chat, and support staff all work together to keep Portland safe.
Now firefighters are the ones calling 911.
We need the community's help.
Thank you.
We need council's help.
Let's get this one right.
On behalf of all firefighters and EMTs in Portland, I ask you to restore funding to keep Portland safe.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate that, but we gotta limit— thank you.
Thank you, folks.
If we could please try to keep, uh, the chamber to some less loud, uh, shows of appreciation.
Thank you.
Whoever wants to go next?
Rebecca Dobert
Yeah.
Yeah, I will.
Council President Dunphy and Portland City Councilors, My name is Karen Aguirre, and I'm speaking as a member of AFSCME 189 for myself.
I'm a front desk clerk at Central Precinct, and I received my layoff papers last week.
Front desk staff triage every situation presenting at the precinct in person or by phone.
We determine what we can resolve immediately versus referral to other bureaus or escalation to officers.
We discuss solutions with people who truly have nowhere else to go.
Mothers with children in our lobby at 1 AM escaping abusers, victims of crime with no phone or computer to call dispatch, folks with warrants turning themselves in, arrestees released at 3 AM looking for their cars or property, tourists speaking no English who've been scammed or assaulted.
We assert boundaries for individuals who are yelling and aggressive While tactfully explaining expectations to your constituents when police response is not immediately available.
And the hidden duties that keep officers functioning and safe.
Managing an inventory of thousands of items: laptops, batteries, handcuffs, first aid kits, uniforms, the tiny wires connecting earpieces to radios.
We arrange cleaners when drunks vomit in police cars and holding cells.
We run background checks and field media personnel for press conferences.
Thank you.
And we do all of this while simultaneously handling all of those calls and walk-in visitors.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
My name is Christy Crampton, and I am a senior PASS, or Police Administrative Support Specialist, that was on the chopping block last week where I've got my Layoff papers too.
I was promoted to this position two years ago, and I work in the personnel division.
I create and distribute, track and file all probationary performance evaluations for new hire employees, promoted PPB members, as well as all PPB employee annual performance evaluations.
I send out position announcements and BHR eligible lists to all members, and I ensure the language is equitable and abide by union terms and conditions.
I pay all of Personnel Division's invoices in SAP, like bills for occupational medical exams, hearing tests, internet explanation reports, and digital advertising at PDX.
I keep PPB in compliance with DPSST, the Oregon Department of Public Safety and Standards, training by changing the status of separation— status or separation on F-4 forms, and I ensure they are filled out in a timely manner.
I set up hiring and promotional ceremonies by calendar invites, room reservations, emails ordering badges, and creating new, new hire paperwork for Multnomah County Courts, Fire and Police, Disability and Retirement, and the City Auditor's Office, just to name a few.
These are just a few of the many duties I provide for the Police Bureau, and I've worked for the City of Portland Police Bureau since October of 1999.
My senior past position is needed, and it's crucial to keeping the Personnel Division and the Portland Police Bureau working efficiently.
Thank you for your time.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
I'm sorry, we have a rule in the chambers that we can't— we don't do clapping.
Uh, silent hands, show of appreciation, jazz fingers, whatever they call them.
Um, but thank you.
I don't make up the rules.
Well, I kind of do, but we'll get to you fast.
Thank you.
Uh, Council President— all right, smart kid.
Council President Dunphy and Portland City Councilors, my name is Elijah Goodrich, and I am here speaking as a member of Ask Me 189 on my own behalf.
I have been a business systems analyst with PBOT for the last 7 years, with 23 years total with the City of Portland.
I received my layoff notice as part of the core city— core services realignment last week.
For the past 3 years, I've been responsible for the function of the city's parking management technology, which includes 5 integrated systems responsible for over $72 million in PBOT revenue, including Parking Kitty, SmartPark, permits, meters, and we'll be rolling out a text-to-pay option in the next few weeks.
Each of these systems is unique and requires specialized training and understanding of parking management to effectively configure and troubleshoot.
These are complex systems and fully integrated to report payment to parking enforcement and ensure accurate operations.
When something goes wrong with it, it's my responsibility to determine what has gone wrong, identify what the causes are, and either fix it myself or coordinate the fixes with the vendors.
As many of these issues involve a live member of the public actively trying to pay for their parking, a timely response is essential.
With BTS assuming responsibility for this work, parking operations will no longer be able to respond to customers promptly.
Thank you.
My concern, aside from my own personal situation, is that any reduction in our responses to broken machines or payments not going through will be a reduction in our already abysmal compliance rates, directly impacting PBOT's ability to generate revenue.
To this effect, Councilors Murillo, Green, Novick have proposed borrowing some reserves to spend the time necessary to do this process correctly.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Hi, I'm Dare Elliott.
I've worked for the city for almost 20 years and in the Fire Bureau for the last few.
I'm an office support specialist and member of Ask Me 189.
I have also been given my layoff notice.
I triage calls from the public, support Bureau of Finance and payroll teams, assist the recruitment staff, and help coworkers when their paycheck looks funny.
It's an inward-facing job, but it helps a key bureau work efficiently.
When I'm gone, my work will be transferred to my remaining— my manager and my remaining coworkers, all of whom are already doing the jobs of previous staff who were cut.
That means calls won't be answered, projects will be delayed, and things will be left undone.
I hope that in the amendments being considered, my work and my position are included.
The mayor is not an expert in the functions of the Fire Bureau and the Police Bureau and Parks and every complicated job in the city.
He asked the experts, and when they gave him what he asked for, he disregarded their expertise.
These decisions will make things more expensive and less efficient.
One of the positions cut in the Fire Bureau is the last analyst who secures outside funding to help cover costs.
Other cuts in many bureaus reduce maintenance or replacement of worn-out equipment.
It's a short-sighted budget that offers tweet-sized promises: no firefighters laid off, no stations closed.
But this budget will cost more, not less, in failing equipment and in reduced services that help people avoid medical crises and homelessness.
My job and others like me make sure frontline staff can do their jobs instead of worrying about paperwork.
We make the lives of firefighters, police officers, and sewer workers easier so they can do their jobs.
Thank you.
That work is invisible.
That doesn't mean it's not possible.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you all for being here.
Rebecca Dobert
Next, next we have Allie Hollenbach, Autumn Blankenship, Monzella Johnson, Andre Buenacosa Brooks, Jeanette DeCastro.
Jamie Dunphy
Welcome, folks.
Feel free to— somebody, whoever wants to jump in, introduce yourself.
And, uh, okay.
Good morning.
Perfect.
Rebecca Dobert
Council President Dunphy and Portland City Councilors, my name is Manzella Johnson, and I am here speaking today as a member of Ask Me 189.
I'm a Portland Police Central Precinct desk clerk, and I've been a clerk for almost 2 years, and I'm slated to be laid off.
At the core of being a desk clerk is being a public servant.
Clerk is being able to delegate resources and information to the public in an easily digestible manner.
This means learning rules, regulations, and procedures as quickly and confidently as possible.
I'm responsible for explaining to the public on how to make a police report, what is considered a valid inquiry, and the limits in which officers can help concerning civil disputes.
I have a personal script I created that helps in simplifying what can be an overwhelming influx of new information.
The people I serve at work are facing challenging situations which require tactful and professional assistance.
I credit my ability to de-escalate intense situations to my lived experience as a young Black woman who has had to navigate complex situations throughout my whole life.
Whether it be defusing racist encounters, misogynistic antidotes, or simply interacting with emotionally unregulated individuals, I've had to master my patience and learn how to move through these encounters with dignity and purpose.
At the root of these stressful encounters with the public is the simple fact that they need help and are attempting to reach out for a solution.
They may not go about it the right way, the right way, and they may not like the answer they receive, but I make sure that respect, understanding, and patience is my foundation for every interaction.
The city of Portland is home to incredibly beautiful and diverse community.
Beyond using translation resources, I often write down written instructions for the elderly, those hard of hearing, and those that struggle to verbally process instructions.
With big and neat lettering, I write down instructions, phone numbers, and phrases to repeat.
Taking that extra bit of time to accommodate certain needs is what fosters a positive relationship between Portland Police and the community it serves.
Thank you.
Hello, good morning.
My name is— good morning, Chair and councilors and Mayor Wilson.
My name is Janette DeCastro.
I'm a City of Portland employee since 2017.
I'm a union steward with Pro-Tech 17, and I am speaking on my own behalf.
Right now, Mayor Wilson is asking for money for the wealthy and job cuts for working people.
Governor Kotek's Prosperity Council is asking for subsidies for businesses.
President Trump's administration is decimating federal agencies in favor of moving dollars to the rich.
Let's not emulate that.
Let's not emulate Trump.
Trickle-down economics has been proven wrong.
It was Reaganomics in the '80s, and it sucked then too.
Mayor Wilson, I don't want you to be associated with the failure of core services realignment and this austerity.
Former City Administrator Jordan is retired and comfortable.
Good.
But balancing the budget on the back of workers is wrong, and it means fewer services for Portlanders.
I'm asking council, please stop golden parachutes.
Please support budget amendments that keep frontline jobs, including Morillo Green and Novick 1.
Thank you very much.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Hello, my name is Autumn Blankenship.
I'm a code specialist with City of Portland tree permitting and one of 6 staff who have received layoff notices.
I am on my own time.
Speaking as a member of my union, AFSCME Local 189, I was born and raised in Portland, and I currently live and work in District 4.
I started my career in urban forestry as a seasonal employee resolving backlog from the February 2022 ice storm.
In 2024, I was hired on to the newly established code compliance team.
We investigate reports of tree code violations, ensure dangerous trees are removed, and verify mitigation trees are planted.
Tree management is public safety.
Remember last January when trees blown down in Southeast caused power outages for thousands of homes and businesses?
Or the heat dome of summer of 2021 when temperatures rose over 110 degrees?
Healthy, well-managed trees reduce harm in extreme weather events.
Invasive beetles are compromising our giants— the elm, ash, birch, and now oak trees.
A strong forestry program is needed to safely remove large trees when necessary and rebuild the tree canopy in a strategic way.
Urban forestry cannot fulfill its mission without a regulatory arm.
Tree expertise needed to lead permitting does not exist in PP&D.
To meet hi, my name is Allie.
I am a member of ASME Local 189.
I am here to advocate for myself, the 311 team, and the Portlanders who depend on us.
Thank you very much.
311 Is the main customer service department for all of the City of Portland as well as Multnomah County, and we're often the first point of contact and sometimes the only point of contact that people have with their local government.
We make sure community voices are heard and people get connected to the right services the first time.
When cuts are made to 311, this impact spreads far beyond our team.
Work shifts to other bureaus, our hold times increase, and our calls are routed to 911 when our phones are not on.
So that delays emergency response.
It strains overloaded teams and sends general questions to specialized staff.
The reason people reach a real person today instead of a voicemail is because we exist.
These cuts undermine access to— access and equity.
Older adults, those with language barriers, no internet access, anyone relying on real human help will face barriers.
We turn overwhelming moments into relief because we're available when people need us.
We listen and we're there to help.
Everyone deserves that access.
In addition to phone support, 6 311 staff rotate shifts at the Portland Building front desk.
This proposal will remove 2 of those positions, one of those being my own.
So not only are we providing support to our community, we're also providing support to the employees of the City of Portland.
Thank you.
We help the public city navigate services and de-escalate stressful situations, find answers every single day.
And I'm honored to do this work because I see how much it matters to the people of Portland and the people I work with.
We could have all the programs and services in the world, but without access, they mean nothing.
Government only works when people can actually reach it.
311 Is how they reach that.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you all so much for being here.
Rebecca Dobert
Andre is online.
You can unmute and go ahead, Andre.
Hello.
Jamie Dunphy
Um, hello, councilors.
My name is Andre Buenacosa Brooks, and I am a resident of District 3, and I'm on the board for Parks and Recreation.
I'm here today to reiterate the concern that, that the members of the board have shared with many of you, that the proposed budget cuts will have a negative impact on the service levels that Parks is able to give to the community.
The voters approved a 75% increase to the parks levy to maintain current service levels.
The proposed budget, along with core services realignment, sees a net loss of 70.5 FTEs to parks.
With less staff to perform maintenance, clean bathrooms, or provide programming, there will inevitably be a reduction in service as teams are spread thin and capacity reaches critical limits.
If services decline despite higher taxes, this creates a trust and credibility problem for the city.
Public trust will be eroded if residents perceive they are paying more but getting less.
Throughout the years of many levies gone by, there has been a continual overreliance on passing a parks levy that is eventually saddled with a reduction in general funds.
The reliance on a levy to fund parks puts one of our most— or one of our prized and most loved public institutions at risk.
Councilmember the board implores you to restore parks' core maintenance, repair, and safety functions, as well as truly find a more sustainable funding approach for our parks.
Thanks.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Next up, we have Lawson D'Ambrosio, Jacob Carson, Beth Chivicek, and Marcus Mundy, Jamie Pulliam.
Like we have folks coming from chambers.
Jacob's online.
Jacob, you can go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
Councilors, I'm testifying today on behalf of the Portland Parks Board to urge you to reject the proposed $2.7 million in cuts to daily care, maintenance, and repair work for Portland parks.
This is money that keeps our parks functional, safe, and affordable to maintain over time.
For example, line item 2, 26964, cuts $225,000 from field maintenance, and line item 26918 cuts $464,000 from the EMS budget that allows for large-scale trash pickup, vandalism remediation, and trail maintenance.
When daily care gets cut, small problems go unnoticed.
When maintenance gets deferred, those small problems become repair projects.
And when repairs are delayed, those repair projects become major capital failures.
Deferred maintenance compounds.
It compounds expensively.
The infrastructure debt that this proposed budget would create will become visible to every resident.
It'll look like dirty facilities, unrepaired playgrounds, damaged fields, unsafe paths, graffiti, failing irrigation, and parks that simply feel neglected.
The public notices when daily care disappears, but the real danger is what comes after that.
If we continually continue hollowing out routine maintenance capacity, we are creating a ticking time bomb for the city.
It is future capital liabilities that the city will eventually have to pay for at a far greater cost than it would have if we had invested in them.
Rebecca Dobert
Jamie's also online.
Jamie, you can unmute.
Go ahead.
Thank you, members of the Budget Committee.
My name is Jamie Pulliam.
I'm a resident of the Buckman neighborhood, District 3.
We all know that a budget is a statement of values.
I'm here to remind you that it's also a model of assumptions.
A budget reflects what we believe may happen when resources are removed, reduced, or shifted.
I initially came here concerned about human trafficking and exploited youth in our region.
Thousands of trafficking victims have been identified while critical systems are already under immense strain.
After reviewing these discussions, however, my concern has become much larger.
This budget appears to reduce capacity across shelter, These are interconnected and they directly affect people's lives.
Cuts create pressure elsewhere.
The downstream effects may include increased vulnerability, emergency service demand, instability, criminalization, and harms that are most often absorbed by vulnerable communities first.
So my question for the record is this: before you adopt and approve this budget, are you prepared to address these concerns?
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Rebecca Dobert
I want to know who owns responsibility for modeling these compounding harms, what data are you using, and how will you publicly track the downstream impacts that these decisions will have?
Portland deserves to see the interdependent plan, and so far I have not heard a clear public accounting of how these reductions are being modeled across systems.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You can go ahead at the testimony table.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Good morning, councilors.
Morning.
My name is Jordan, and I'm currently a firefighter paramedic currently assigned to Truck 8, stationed behind the Interstate Fred Meyer.
My family and I have lived in North Portland for the last 15 years.
We spend much of our time in the St. Johns neighborhood and truly value everything North Portland has to offer.
The closure of Engine 22 has both personal and professional impacts on our community.
On a personal level, having only one responding unit for one of the most remote stations in the city places additional strain On neighboring fire stations.
Because of how remote Station 22 is, removing an engine from that station could have catastrophic consequences.
Delays in engine response can mean the difference between saving a life and losing one.
In the past few weeks alone, Station 22 has responded to 2 residential fires where a staffed engine helped prevent even greater property loss.
Professionally, this closure affects my station.
We are already operating with limited resources, and the closure of Engine 22 creates a ripple effect throughout North Portland.
Thank you.
The closure of Engine 22 will place an even greater demand on an already busy station and further stretch limited resources across North Portland.
I understand how difficult financial decisions the city is facing.
However, I ask you, I ask that you reconsider the real-world impacts these cuts have on the communities we serve and the firefighters tasked with protecting them.
In emergency response, time matters.
Minutes matter.
The availability of properly staffed apparatus matters.
Thank you.
North Portland residents deserve reliable emergency coverage, just like every other part of the city.
I respectfully urge you to reconsider the closure of Engine 22 and the long-term consequences it may have on public safety, response times, and the resilience of our emergency response system.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Thank you, friends.
Thank you.
My name is Lawson D'Ambrosio.
I am the board secretary for the Portland-Bologna Sister City Association, and I am here speaking on behalf of the Portland Sister City Coalition.
The Portland Sister City Coalition urges the city to preserve its international relations program in the fiscal year '26-'27 budget.
In Mayor Wilson's proposed budget, the city administrator's portfolio is proposed to cut $315,000 from the government relations function in the city administrator's office by eliminating, among many other things, one FTE in the international relations program, therefore discontinuing the office's services to manage the program.
While being cognizant that this year's budget is one of unavoidable cuts, we question whether the complete elimination of our city's international relations program is a necessary measure or a well-intentioned intentioned yet short-sighted reduction as the result of a genuine and urgent need to balance a difficult budget.
We support Canal 6, which preserves the International Relations Program Specialist, though we would encourage further amendments to also preserve the Deputy Director of Government Relations, as both roles have been vital in the sister city's work with the city.
Our sister city's international ties contribute greatly to our local culture and economy, whether it's Portland-Guadalajara's Cinco excuse me.
Our international ties provide not merely economic value, but invaluable social and cultural contributions to our city and our community.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Council President Dunphy, members of the committee, my name is Beth Chvilicek, and I am the advocacy manager at the Coalition of Communities of Color.
Our executive director is Dr. Director Marcus Mundy had a delayed flight and won't make it today, but sends his regards.
CCC is an alliance of culturally specific organizations dedicated to collective action for racial justice, including research and data justice.
I'm writing to express CCC's support for Diversity and Leadership Fund and ask you to adopt the Avalos 5 Amendment.
I also urge you to protect PCF funds.
CCC has been an advocate for both PCF and DCL since the funds were established.
We and our membership organizations know firsthand how important these funds are The consequences of climate change on our lives are to all Portlanders, but particularly amongst Portlanders of color.
PCF and DCL were established to help repair the disproportionate harms that communities of color face.
Regarding PCF, we are concerned about the continuation of proposals to fund budget gaps and projects unrelated to the program's mission and without proper deliberation with community members.
With regard to this budget, we support efforts to maintain tree canopy and permitting positions and program funding.
These draw from the same strategic programs, and this will maintain the program expertise held by these staffers.
Thank you.
The Public Environment Management Office and Impact Reduction Program are plainly not climate-related initiatives and therefore should not be funded by PSEF.
We urge you to support these amendments that remove PSEF dollars from these programs.
Regarding DCL, many of our members are recipients of the project's funding and rely on it in order to provide trainings, programming, and leadership programs to community members.
Organizations utilize DCL funding to enact real tangible change in communities, Uh, and please continue funding it.
Uh, thank you for the work that you're doing.
Thank you very much.
Talia Giardini, Alan Ippolito, Mike Lindberg, Lynn Handlin, Chris Gustafson, Brian Kotlove, Nicholas Hash.
Jamie Dunphy
Welcome up, folks.
Rebecca Dobert
You can go ahead at the testimony table.
Yeah, whoever wants to start.
Jamie Dunphy
Uh, hello everyone.
Uh, Council President, uh, councilors, Mayor Wilson, CA Lee.
I feel like we're old friends at this point.
I am Chris Gustafson.
I'm testifying on my own behalf.
I am the treasurer of the City of Portland Professional Workers Union.
I am the accounting lead with the Portland Housing Bureau, and I I am a resident of District 3, the Fightin' Third.
So I'm grateful for a number of members of the City of Portland Professional Workers Union that spent their time over the weekend working on analyzing the budget amendments.
Specifically, I'd like to shout out my colleague Meg Wren, who has done a great job setting up the infrastructure for us to work on.
And I would like to point out a few amendments in specific that we are pretty much in full alignment that we are in support of.
Uh, Morillo Green, Novick 1, Avalos 3 and 6, Kanal 6, Morillo 1, Novick 2, and Dunphy 3.
Uh, I would like to speak specifically to Morillo Green, Novick 1, which is addressing core services realignment.
Uh, this is, uh, an excellent opportunity.
We absolutely feel heard.
This process has, um, been flawed from the start.
It has lacked engagement.
Uh, it has been subject to flawed inventory.
Over the last week, members of The stewards of CPPW have been sitting with our members who are being notified of their impending layoffs.
And in one particular example, there is a member who is being laid off as part of the HR realignment who has no HR functions at all.
There's no remedy, there's no accountability or mechanism for this to be challenged.
And in fact, there's a sinister disincentive for his manager to support him because supporting core services realignment is one of the things that managers are being reviewed on in their success factors this year.
So please support Murillo-Green-Novick 1.
Thank you very much, everyone.
Thank you very much.
Buenos días, consejeras.
Me llamo Alan Hipólito, trabajo por SUMA.
Hello, my name is Alan.
I work for SUMA.
I'm here to speak in support of Avalos 1 and also to be in alignment with the prior testimony by the Coalition of Communities of Color and other members of the PCF coalition.
And then I'd like to use the rest of my time to underscore for this council what the PCEF Climate Investment Plan is all about and what its equity plus climate framework requires for all investments made under the CIP.
And I'll start with a 2024 letter that was written by Verde, the Coalition of Communities of Color, and SUMA during the deliberation of the CIP, specifically to the equity plus climate framework, where we said we strongly support the framework's function as an evaluation mechanism and what's important about that is that there are many ways to say things are consistent with PCEFF, but what CIP does is set a framework, and there are 5 pieces.
We've heard parts of them, but we rarely hear all 5: benefits to frontline communities, implementation feasibility, climate impact, accountability, and sustainability.
Thank you.
And fifth, community leadership.
And I want to underscore that very clearly here, because you can speak to accountability, folks can make claims of job creation or GHG reduction, but it's really hard to say that you have community leadership when you do not.
And if you do not have community leadership, it's not a PSF project.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, Council.
My name is Nicholas Hash, for the record.
I am a city employee, a citizen of District 2, St. Johns, and I'm an organizer for the City of Portland Public Workers Local Union.
I'm here speaking on behalf of my own views and not those of my role in the city.
I want to start by thanking you for doing the work to make me feel represented for maybe the first time in this city, and that comes after a long holding pattern of hoping that every next mayor is finally going to be the good one.
This is why Portland changed its form of government.
To establish a true form of representation, to create checks and balances, and to assure power is shared instead of concentrated.
Council, I truly mean this when I say you are earning our trust, my trust, and the Murillo, Novick, Kanal, and Avalos amendments speak volumes towards building that trust by checking individual power in favor of those who are represented.
These amendments restore vital public services, public safety amendments, and the administrative support necessary to keep those systems functioning effectively.
And on top of it, they do it by not pitting us against one each other against one another for the last scraps.
So today, I especially want to speak to what we call the moderate councillors.
You know who you are.
I want to acknowledge and give appreciation to you and the work you've done.
I see it.
We see it.
And I'd like to acknowledge your willingness to take these issues head on.
That has not gone unnoticed.
But today, the amendments that best serve the people of the city of Portland are those ones before you from the councillors Mario Novak.
So I'm asking you, because I know you deeply care, I'm asking you to put the people of Portland ahead of any agendas, campaigns, or perceived political alignments and vote yes on the Murillo, Novick, Kanal, and Avalos amendments, those which truly serve the good of our city in this difficult moment.
Thank you, Council.
Thank you very much.
Good morning, Councilors.
My name is Brian Kotlove.
I'm a resident of District 4 along with my wife and 3 young children.
Public safety is not a luxury item in a budget.
It's the foundation that allows everything else to work for families, for businesses, for schools, for parks, and for every resident in this city.
That's why I strongly support Clark Amendment 1 that restores funding for core public safety services like Station 22, rescue vehicles, the CHAT program, and public safety support specialists.
These are practical, proven programs that directly impact response times, Emergency readiness and neighborhood safety.
I also support Dunphy Amendment 4, which pauses COLA and merit increases for the city's highest-paid non-represented employees.
In a difficult budget year, that's a reasonable and responsible step.
Before cutting frontline services that everyone relies on— emergency response, parks maintenance, public safety, and basic livability— the city should first demonstrate restraint at the top levels of compensation and management.
Thank you.
More broadly, I urge the council to stay focused on the basics of core city services.
Portlanders want a city that functions well— safe streets, fast emergency response, clean public spaces, well-maintained parks, and competent financial management.
Before asking taxpayers for additional revenue, the city must show Portlanders that it can responsibly manage and prioritize the revenue already entrusted to it.
And before creating more experimental, non-proven programs.
The city should focus on delivering the reliable core services that make the city that works more than just a slogan on the side of a truck.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you.
Mike Lindberg is online.
Mike, you can go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
Uh, can you hear me?
Rebecca Dobert
We can.
Okay.
Jamie Dunphy
My name is Mike Lindberg.
I worked at the City of Portland employee for 24 years.
17 Of those years I was on the Portland City Council.
I'm also representing Concerned Citizens, a group, today.
During my era, we faced severe budget challenges.
Although I was assigned the bureaus of Arts and Culture, Parks and Rec, Energy Policy, Climate Change, Water Environmental Services, and the Portland Bureau of Transportation, I came to view public safety as a core service.
In the words of a successful small business consultant I met recently, recently, public safety is foundational, not peripheral.
I'm here today to support the amendment introduced by Councilor Clark and supported by Councilors Smith, Ryan, Pirtle-Guiney, and Novick that has to do with public safety.
My input is based on my experience and my values, which generally have been viewed as progressive.
911 Calls must be answered immediately, and police officers need to arrive, and firefighters need to arrive within a few minutes, a standard that we did have during the 1980s and 1990s.
My own house in Laurelhurst was burglarized by armed criminals while I wasn't home, and my twin boys were in danger as they slept on the 3rd floor.
Because a neighbor called 911 and police responded in 4 minutes, a potential catastrophe was I support the way funding for public safety is identified, having fought to establish the first police oversight committee, which passed 50.1 to 49.9.
I support a reasonable level of staffing.
In closing, I strongly believe that if a city can't assure the safety of its families and businesses, it won't prosper in an equitable fashion.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Lynn Handlin is also online.
Lynn, you can go ahead and unmute yourself.
Jamie Dunphy
Go ahead.
Rebecca Dobert
Thanks, and thanks to City Council.
My name is Lynn Handlen.
I'm a small business owner in District 1, and I support Councilors Koyama Lane and Novick's amendments 2 and 3 to restore PISA funding for tree canopy programs, including restoring the 12 PISA-funded positions that the mayor wants to cut.
These jobs are for tree protection, planting, and care needed to implement Second.
Jamie Dunphy
I second.
Rebecca Dobert
This amendment would further weaken our already weak tree code.
PSF funds must be used as they were intended by the voters, which includes taking care of trees that provide so many benefits to communities, especially in communities that do not have the shade they need and will need so much more as the planet continues to heat up, in part because of the loss of trees.
The ever-decreasing tree shade canopy in Portland is a real injustice enabled by past city council And I know you guys can do better.
These amendments help alleviate that.
Shade trees increase climate resilience and help slow the heating of the planet.
Contrary to the mayor's desires, PSF funds were very definitely not intended for things like funding the improvements of a sports palace that does not actually bring promised jobs.
PSF funds must be used to be spent on jobs like caring for trees that benefit for all.
I also— related, I also support Avalos 1.
PCF money must not be used for sidewalk cleaning and the like.
We are in a climate emergency.
We need to protect PCF funds.
Side note to Mayor Wilson's very rude email, I'm wearing a red shirt.
Thank you very much, City Council.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
You can go ahead at the testimony table.
Hi, my name is Talia and I'm a person in recovery.
First, I absolutely support Clark's amendment to use millions in unspent OCPA funds to fill the fire and police budget gap.
A city can't function without safety.
We can't have functioning transit, businesses, jobs, parks, schools, or hospitals without public safety.
Nothing else matters if we aren't safe.
My other concern is Green's amendment to cut Urban Alchemy's contract, which is a bad idea when the city has a better track record than the county, um, for homeless vendors.
The county just started implementing auditor's recommendations and have found several financial issues causing them to cut ties.
Urban Alchemy moves the most people the fastest through shelter and housing, while county SRVs have people sitting for 1 to 3 years who are still not ready for housing.
We should not cut their contract until we have full picture of accountability on all of our homeless vendors, considering these issues are not an isolated event.
BHRC was also closed due to staff selling drugs and engaging in misconduct.
We use people in— we use peers in recovery as staff, usually in early recovery, and place them in triggering situations with active drug use and chaos.
I would have not made it through early recovery in a situation like that.
It's hypocritical to punish an organization for staff slipping up when we set them up for failure.
The low-barrier shelter approach prioritizes people who are actively using drugs over people trying to Thank you very much.
Next we have Tiana Tozer, Carol Pinniger, Casey Barnard, and Councilor Jamie Dunphy.
Matt Shipke, Gloria Gonzalez.
You can go ahead, Carol.
I'm Carol Pinniger, living in Cully, District 2, where farsighted homeowners before me preserved trees so it's cooler around me than in District 1, East Portland.
I urge you to support Councilor Avalos' proposal to return PCEF money to PCEF.
The mayor's proposed budget steals revenue from strategic programs to give it to Portland Solutions, an initiative that serves the Portland Business Alliance by funding trash cleanup, graffiti removal, and laundry services, but has nothing to do with PCEF's core services of climate change solutions.
This is about equity.
We voted for PCEF To help deal with effects of climate change, which hit hardest in East Portland, where many of our most vulnerable citizens live.
I volunteer weekly at an East Portland elementary school that serves students who have no shade on their way to school and few parks with mature trees in which to play.
They need shade just as much as my neighbors and I. I also urge you to support Councilors Koyama Lane's Amendment 2 and Novick's 3 to retain PCF-funded positions for tree canopy programs.
Jamie Dunphy
Second.
Rebecca Dobert
Mayor Wilson proposes to cut these 12 positions that are responsible for enforcing Portland's tree code on top of the 11 cuts since last June.
Running on a platform touting a climate-friendly business fleet of electric vehicles, the mayor now wants to gut the climate-friendly program designed to plant, protect, and maintain street trees in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods.
Protect PCF funds.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
Hello, councilors.
My name is Matt Chipke, and I'm a resident of District 4 and the vice chair of the Portland Parks and Recreation Board.
I'm here today to reiterate the concern that we have shared personally with many of you, that parks is once again being asked to bear the brunt of budget cuts, and that those cuts will materially change what residents experience in parks for the worse.
As noted by my colleagues, this reduction in service is not what Portlanders thought they were signing on to when they voted to increase what they pay for the parks levy.
Parks is bearing the brunt of the city's general fund reductions at a close to 16% reduction from last year's general fund contribution, with police and fire seeing cuts of less than half of that amount.
Parks is also seeing a net loss of 70 FTEs.
This is the largest reduction to any bureau and represents 34% of all citywide FTE reductions.
We do appreciate this is a difficult budget year, but disproportionately cutting a service that Portlanders consider Thank you.
Consistently say they highly value in polls and at the voting booth is not consistent with citizen preference.
We have shared with you all 3 areas where modest add-backs could significantly positively impact user experiences and reduce future costs.
We urge you to consider those targeted and modest adjustments in areas of daily ongoing maintenance work, repair and maintenance work, and security and emergency contracting.
Appreciate your time today, and the Parks Board looks forward to future opportunities to engage with you all.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
District 2.
I've taken vacation time to be here today.
The key to getting out of this budget crisis is economic development.
The key to economic development is safety and livability.
Fully funding police, fire, and PMO is the base for safety.
We all know what the definition of insanity is.
I'm here to support the Clark 1 amendment.
Hiring a director and 7 staff for the police accountability will not cost $16 million, and I would support moving even more from the Office of Police Accountability.
Why does the OCPA need more staff than the city administrator?
When voters passed the ballot measure to establish a Police Accountability Commission, they had no idea how much 5% of the police budget was and is.
And of course, the ballot measure didn't include that information.
It seems ironic to me that we are establishing an accountability board based on information that wasn't transparent, and now certain council members don't want to be accountable to correct Bad policy.
Most of the City of Portland's advisory and citizen boards do not have standalone operating budgets.
In addition, the Canal Green Amendment to cut management positions only makes sense if we are protecting the jobs of frontline workers, public-facing and on-the-street employees, not people working behind a desk from home.
Finally, I will remind you that the ADA settlement does not expire until June 30th, 2028, and you have camp cleanup obligations under that settlement.
If you do not meet them, I will see you in court.
Now is not the time for pet projects and ideology.
Like all Portlanders, you have difficult decisions to make.
For me, the baseline is, does this or does this not make Portland safe for our children?
I did not think your email was rude, Mr. Mayor.
Thank you.
Casey Barnard.
Jamie Dunphy
Casey's online.
Rebecca Dobert
You can go ahead.
Yes, thank you everyone.
My name is Casey Barnard and I work for Work Systems, and I am a resident of District 2.
We believe that city leaders value equity and workforce investments that strengthen our local economy by helping Portlanders gain the skills needed to fill competitive jobs.
Cutting annual sustained workforce programs in this economy puts Portlanders at even greater risk.
We ask City Council to act now to restore COEP construction workforce services to $1.46 million in the mayor's budget.
This— we ask that you also work with the city procurement team to restore COEP programs in alignment with the city's commitment to the Regional Construction Career Pathways System, C2P2, and RWEA.
The COEP investment leverages an additional $1.3 million through Work Systems Community Construction Training Program, CCTP.
Thank you.
Um, this supports more than 300 community members with career coaching, pre-apprenticeship training, connections to registered apprenticeship and jobs.
Any gap in funding would immediately destabilize services with trusted community-based partners.
Without funding, as of July, almost 20 dedicated and experienced CCTP staff could lose their jobs, and their organizations may have to shutter critical programs.
Thank you.
Portland residents would lose trusted on-ramps to family-wage careers with organizations who are uniquely positioned to help workers and employers navigate today's slower market.
Thank you for your consideration.
Please support Councilor Pirtle-Guiney's amendment and add additional funding to ensure these workforce programs continue.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Gloria Gonzalez is online.
You can go ahead.
Hi, my name is Gloria Gonzalez.
I am not an organization representative.
Instead, I'm someone whose life was personally impacted by gang violence.
Therefore, I am here supporting POIC's outreach program.
There are many people in our community who are struggling silently, young people dealing with violence, trauma, pressure, fear, and situations that can easily pull them into the wrong direction.
So programs like this matter because they actually reach people before it's too late.
I know this firsthand because POIC helped myself, my husband, and most importantly, my kids.
They provided support, guidance, and people who genuinely cared when we needed it most.
Instead of being judged or ignored, we were given encouragement, resources, and hope.
That kind of outreach changes lives in ways statistics alone cannot fully measure.
Thank you.
Without programs like POIC, many people in our community would have nowhere to turn because not everyone has strong support systems at home or safe environments around them.
Sometimes one mentor, one conversation, or one opportunity can completely change someone's direction in life.
So I'm asking that you continue to fund and support this program because I've seen firsthand the impact it has.
This is not just another program on paper.
They actually help real people in real life within the city every single day who need it.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Okay, colleagues, it is just about 11 o'clock right now.
We are an hour and a half into this.
I'm going to give us a 15-minute break.
Everybody please be back here at 11:10, and we will get back into testimony at that point.
Thank you.
And we are coming back to order now.
Thank you all for.
Thank you for indulging a quick bio break.
Let's go ahead and call back our— call up our next panel of testimony.
Rebecca Dobert
Next up we have Hayag Brown, Sarah Fisher, Crystal Delahanty, Roy Moore, Christopher Olson, Pedro Sanchez.
Let's go.
Thanks, folks.
Jamie Dunphy
Come on up.
Introduce yourselves, feel free to share your pronouns, and you have 90 seconds apiece.
Good morning, City Council President Dunphy and City Council.
Thank you.
My name is Haig Brown.
I'm with POIC.
As you heard prior to the break, Ms. Gloria Gonzalez was one of our past participants and her family and what the work has done for the reason why right now it's so important, because the growth of this program of Ceasefire and the OVP within the past 5 to 6 years has given us the opportunity as a community to work together.
And this is the first time that a lot of the CBOs have had the chance to work together.
Councilmember Smith.
To actually work with one another doing this work and collaborate together.
Also, along with the police, the FITCOG crisis response, Multnomah County, everything that falls under public safety is a key right now at keeping our city safe.
And that's all I have for now.
I'm the co-director of I am the director of the Community Safety Department at POIC, and this is my co-director.
Good morning, President Dunphy and city councilors.
My name is Roy Moore.
I am the co-director of the Community Care Team along with Haik Brown at POIC.
First, let me start off by saying thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the Ceasefire Program and Office of Violence Prevention.
My story is, is that I'm a survivor of gun violence.
I know what it's like firsthand to sit in that hospital bed and to have somebody like who works for my program show up at that hospital bed and provide support.
And I always say, if I had that when I was going through my moment, I would have changed my life a lot sooner than what I did.
Unfortunately, in our sector, when we have success, historically support runs out.
So I challenge you to double down in a time where we are seeing success.
As long as bullets are flying, Nobody is safe.
I don't care what district you work for.
So I am here advocating for the continued support of funding with no cuts.
Any cuts will severely impact the recent success that we have.
What we do works.
I oversee our hospital violence intervention program, the only one in the state.
Last year, we served over 140 victims.
Our recidivism rate is less than 1%, and since 2020.
Thank you.
Rebecca Dobert
Good morning, Council President and City Council.
I'm Sarah Fisher.
I'm an Episcopal priest and I belong to Hope and Bread Street Church on 82nd Avenue.
I'm also on the board of Ground Score Association, Go Green 3, and Go Glitter.
My faith teaches me that when you protect widows and orphans, provide hospitality to strangers, and comfort the afflicted, everyone thrives.
Our parks are a Portland treasure that belong to all of us.
The Montivela Picnic Shelter is an investment in East Portland that provides barrier-free shared space to gather in community.
As the mayor's budget seeks to dismantle vital programs, building this park shelter is a way to provide hope to our community, housed and unhoused, and show that we are not turning our backs on them.
This is particularly meaningful for seniors, people with disabilities, and families with young children.
The price tag has gone up considerably since the plans were made in 2021.
That is a good reason to do it now.
Rather than waiting.
It is an opportunity for the city to monitor costs, identify inefficiencies, and create a tested model for future projects.
I'd like to thank Councilor Koyama Lane for visiting Hope and Bread multiple times, and we're grateful to Councilors Avalos and Dunphy for joining us last December.
Councilor Novick, I know that we are on your radar, and our office is looking forward to getting you out to see us very soon.
Thank you.
And Councilors Smith and Murillo, you are always welcome any Sunday at 5, as are the rest of you.
Once you see what we're doing in community, you will understand how important this shelter is.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I'm Crystal Delahanty.
I'm the founding executive director of PDX Saints Love.
I have submitted written testimony, but for the sake of democracy today, I am going to yield my time to, uh, Umatilla Confederated Tribal member and longtime elder in East Portland.
Good morning, Mayor Wilson, City Administrator Lee, Council President, and City Council members.
I am here this morning I'm a resident in the Cole neighborhood of District 2.
I'm here to give testimony in support of the Councilor Green 3 amendment.
My testimony includes one of my 4 sons who has— have lived experiences as home— as a homeless person on the streets of Portland.
My son's success in part is from the workforce development program of PDX Saints Love.
Thank you.
After making the decision between life and death, he chose to get clean and live after 30 years of addiction and homelessness.
The valuable life skills and employment readiness he learned under the internship program allowed him to get hired at the day center.
The peer support and communication skills gave him confidence to get placement into housing.
The barriers that he, his peers, and prospective trainees gained allowed them to be of service in their involvement with the Lintz Park Food serving, day centers, showers, clothing, and donations.
To this day, my 4 sons are all in recovery, employed, and have housing.
I would say this is a generational success story, the kind we'd like to see area-wide.
It is possible.
I look forward to Gerald Skelton's presence and participation as the Tribal Government Relations Manager in Portland.
Again, I support Councilor Green's Amendment 3 to move Sanitation, Hygiene, Workforce Development, from IRO to its own line item so organizations can apply via RFP.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Rebecca Dobert
We're going to Darice Weller, Donna Cohen, Ron Schmidt, Jamal Williams, Candace Jimenez, Next witness, Carrie Koch.
You can go ahead at the testimony table.
Mayor Wilson and councilors, my name is Daryce Weller.
I'm a Lytton resident and in District 4.
Lives and safety should not be compromised by budget cuts.
Fires spread over significant distances and quickly.
More than Linton is at risk.
St. Johns Fire Station Number 22 best serves Linton, which is the most at-risk neighborhood for wildfires in the city of Portland.
The CEI hub, St. Helens Highway with heavy traffic carrying flammable fuels, The railroad lines storing Zenith's highly volatile fuels and wildfires in Forest Hills Park.
A fire truck from downtown, which is the next closest fire station, could be hampered by daily occurring heavy traffic and by 2 hairpin turns to access Germantown Road into Forest Hills Park.
Whereas Station 22 is close, And comes directly across the St. Johns Bridge.
We all held our breaths last year due to drought conditions that a wildfire would not occur.
This year's drought conditions are predicted to be worse.
Last year, a fire was started in a homeless camp in Forest Hills Park off Germantown Road, but was quickly doused before it could spread because of the rapid response by Station 22.
Green 1, the compromise to fully fund Station 22, should be adopted to keep us all safe.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
Good morning, Mayor Wilson, Commissioner Administrator Lee, President Dunphy, and City Commission.
I am Ron Schmidt.
I'm the director of the East Portland Chamber of Commerce.
I'm a Director and past president of the Waterfront Organizations of Oregon, and I'm a liaison between the East Portland Chamber and the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs.
I'm a past president and longtime director of the Hayden Island Neighborhood Association, but I am speaking today as a businessman and a family person.
I love Portland for its vibrancy, its culture, Its proximity to the beautiful nature, and of course the waterfront.
I'd like to talk about the issues with the front door to our city of Portland, that being Hayden Island, to this the entire state of Oregon.
But we don't have time for that.
What's critical today is the budget and public safety.
Small business is the economic foundation of any community, and it is the generator of family jobs.
Those of us that pay taxes to this beautiful city deserve basic services that begin and end with public safety— 911, police, and fire.
All these basic public safety cuts must be restored, or it will leave longtime volunteers like myself and businesses continuing to flee the city of Portland.
You have a choice today to restore basic services for businesses and families as a vote of confidence for us to stay in this city and work together.
You don't want to lose any more volunteers.
I am grateful, uh, to live in the city of Portland.
I'm grateful for your service.
Give us the basic service we need.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Hello, Council.
My name is Kerry Ko.
I am president of the City of Portland Professional Workers Union, and I'm here today on my On a break from my day job at the Portland Permitting and Development Bureau.
There are many important stories about why you should do the right thing today and vote for Morillo-Green-Novick 1.
In fact, you've heard dozens and dozens and dozens of staff testify about the impacts of this project of core realignment over the last year, and I want you to listen to your workers.
You can see— I know you can— that the city is rushing and ramshackling together core realignment, even if you think that central is a good idea.
You know that poor planning has real consequences with the potential to put the city at real risk.
It is your job to not just prioritize the shiny programs that people can easily see outside of their front door, but to also prioritize the internal city systems that keep every other thing working.
And this is the essence of core realignment.
You have the opportunity to reject the false urgency and demand the city do better.
You have the opportunity to do it right, preserve services, and preserve jobs here at the City of Portland.
Please, we advocate— we're advocating for yes vote on Murillo, Green, Novick 1.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Good morning, councilors.
My name is Candace I'm a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, a Portland community member, and board chair of the Portland Harbor Community Coalition.
I'm here to urge your support of Koyama Lane's amendment to add $30,000 to support the Tribal Nations Summit.
I want to acknowledge the weight of the decisions before you today.
This budget includes difficult trade-offs, and I honor the many community members who are testifying here today for urgent needs across housing, safety, and economic development.
Thank you.
Safety, health, climate, infrastructure, and basic services.
These needs are real, and this moment asks the city to be both careful and courageous.
I also come to this testimony as someone living on cultural and accustomed lands that hold the memory and responsibility of many tribal nations.
These include the lands and waters shared through trade, travel, fishing, gathering, ceremony, kinship, and co-stewardship across generations.
This is also a city whose growth and wealth are tied to land settlement and the disposition of Indigenous peoples.
Naming that history is not about staying in the past.
It's about being honest enough to build a different future.
Portland sits within a living Indigenous landscape where the Willamette and Columbia Rivers meet, where water, land, salmon, medicines, first foods, and natural spaces carry memory, responsibility, and relationship.
A Tribal Nations Summit is a small but meaningful investment in tribal sovereignty, government-to-government relationship, repair, and responsibility.
It affirms that tribal nations must be engaged as governments, not stakeholders, especially as Portland works to repair trust and strengthen its tribal relations program.
I respectfully urge you to support Koyama Lane's amendment for this place, for our responsibilities, and future generations.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Donna Cohen, go ahead online.
Thank you.
My name is Donna Cohen.
I live in St. Johns.
A couple of quick points about Station 22.
The geographic area it covers is huge.
St. Johns Cathedral Park, Forest Park, Linton, Sauvie Island, the Port of Portland and Rivergate Industrial Area alone employs 30,000 people.
This is not just a District 2 or District District 4 issue.
The tens of thousands of people who work on the North Peninsula live in every district.
And of course, after the earthquake, now estimated at a 1 in 3 chance in the next 35 years— a 1 in 3 chance in the next 35 years— much of this area will be completely severed from the rest of Portland.
It is irresponsible enough the council has not moved to secure an emergency route For the North Peninsula.
Leaving Station 22 with no fire engine would be unconscionable.
And a very small but important request on behalf of a group of seniors.
We lost our Friday senior exercise class at Charles Jordan Community Center 2 years ago when the teacher moved away.
We've been waiting for a replacement, which the director now says depends on the budget.
Given that all the senior exercise classes at St. John's Community Center were eliminated And many of us used to go there a few years ago.
We would really appreciate if we could have this one once-a-week class reinstated at Charles Jordan.
Um, this is about health for seniors, not recreation.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Jamal Williams is online.
You can go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
My name is Jamal Williams, and I want to speak briefly about why continued funding for ceasefire POIC plus RAHS and Healing Hurt People is so important to our community.
During the most difficult moments in my family's life, the staff at POIC and Healing Hurt People showed up for me and my family.
I'm just simply asking that the mayor, the council president, and others Keep your promises to Black Portland.
Do not continue to disenfranchise our community with underfunded programs that work hand in hand with public safety.
It is our kids that are out here dying.
It is our kids that are out here in East Portland and in North Portland and Central Northeast Portland.
Councilmember Sameer Kanal.
That are suffering from the disenfranchisement of funds and equitable services.
I am just plainly asking, as a person who is vested in District 2, right, and has lived my whole life in the city of Portland, please do not continue, right, to underserve our population.
Please, Mayor, keep your promises to Black Portland.
We are already underrepresented in our city structure.
We are already underrepresented in a lot of areas in Portland.
So just please continue, right, the services that are so vitally needed by those programs.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Tiana McMullen, Kevin Block, Stacy Brewster, Christine Albertson, Deon Salazar.
Whoever's ready can go ahead.
Oh, hi, I'm Tiana McMullen.
I'm here with PDX Saints Love serving District 3.
I'm here today because I believe workforce development needs to be taken seriously and funded separately from Portland Solutions.
I am proof of what workforce development Thank you.
Employment can do to stabilize someone transitioning out of homelessness.
Opportunities for employment and support services create real pathways towards stability, independence, and long-term success.
If we truly want a city where everyone can thrive, we need to invest in people before they fall deeper into crisis, not just respond after the fact.
Lastly, I want to express concern over the dismissive tone the mayor has used towards City Council and voters in recent communications.
Leadership should be rooted in respect, accountability, and follow-through.
Many people supported this administration because of promises made to vulnerable communities, and too many of those promises have not been kept.
Our city deserves leadership that listens to the people it serves and invests in solutions that create lasting stability and dignity for everyone.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
Greetings, Mayor and councilors.
I am Deion Salazar.
I serve on state and local boards for foster youth, East Portland, children's funding, and other issues.
I'm here today to testify as myself from D1 and acting campaign manager for D3 council candidate Mike Johnson on specific budget amendments.
First, I strongly urge you to support Dunphy 3.
East Portland has been long sold out by elitist insiders for just too long, and, uh, who ignore the vulnerable forgotten pillars of Portland.
$480,000 In funding is the bare minimum.
We deserve to feel like Portland.
Next, I am cautious of Dunphy 4.
I have long called for fiscal responsibility, but this is currently written too broad.
I would suggest a more targeted freeze for middle and upper management.
Green 1 is a step in the right direction in public safety.
I endorse that amendment.
I have mixed feelings on Avalos 4.
I support the goal of stronger homelessness governance and transition planning, but I have to sadly urge council to reject this current iteration.
It needs clearer metrics.
Councilmember Dan Ryan.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Good morning, councilors, Mayor CA Lee, Good evening.
My name is Alice Christine Walker, and I'm here representing East Columbia Neighborhood Association.
I'm here as a conduit for the many voices in our community who cannot physically be in this room— our elderly, our disabled, our working parents with inflexible schedules, and those too intimidated to speak out.
East Columbia is a 2.3-mile tapestry that contains the full economic and ecological spectrum of Portland.
Thank you.
We have high-density fixed-income homes and an active agricultural core.
We are incredibly proud of creating the nearly 30-acre Children's Arboretum, a massive natural canopy with unmatched potential for citywide climate education.
While much of the city's budget process relies on top-down bureau-driven allocations, the actual self-identified infrastructure needs of our community are consistently bypassed.
Like everybody, we feel— we desire to feel safe at work, but more importantly, we need to feel safe, seen, and supported in our own backyards first.
We know that conversations that begin with shame and blame are never productive, and so we're here in the spirit of collaboration with the council, backed by a loyal commitment to serve our community.
We do not envy the decisions that the council has to make with these drastic budget shortfalls, but we ask you to consider a more balanced Rising tide lifts all ships approach.
As you finalize this year's budget, please ensure that neighborhoods like ours with this level of socioeconomic and ecological diversity receive the support necessary to keep our neighborhoods safe, connected, and resilient.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, councilors, for taking the time to hear our comments today.
My name is Kevin Block.
I am a program and policy coordinator at BPS and the elected chief steward of the City of Portland Professional Workers Union.
But today I am here speaking as someone who lives in D3 and works in D4.
Like most of my fellow union members, consecutive years of budget cuts means I hold a wide variety of duties in my job.
This means this experience has provided me with certainty when I say this: when you cut jobs, the work doesn't go away.
It gets delayed, done rushed, spread out among already overworked staff, contracted out, and ultimately costs lives.
Thank you.
In order to preserve safe and efficient functioning of the city services, I urge you to consider adopting the following amendments: Morillo-Green-Novick 1, Morillo 1, Avalos 3 and 6, Kanal 6, Novick 2, and Dunphy 3.
These amendments will help ensure that Portlanders remain engaged and safe, city staff are appropriately trained, and the city's bills are paid on time.
Thank you, Councilor Green.
Thank you very much.
Morning, councilors, mayor, city administrator.
My name is Stacy Brewster, and I am an everyday Portlander in a blue shirt.
My husband and I live near Creston Park in District 3.
He is a mental health therapist.
I'm a writer who works as communication staff for the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
I also serve as a steward and elected board member of the City of Portland Parks and Rec.
Portland Professional Workers Union.
I'm here in support of your amendments protecting frontline jobs essential for our city to thrive and will speak to Murillo-Green-Novick 1, which would pause the ill-conceived and poorly implemented core services realignment project until there's an actual plan, transparency, and real engagement with labor and staff.
I would also suggest you take it a step further and stop the demotions of line staff and promotions of management.
Thank you.
At PBOT, realignment will hit hard and hurt the very priorities this council and mayor have identified: Vision Zero, good asset management, building new sidewalks, bringing back residential street sweeping citywide, mayor, regulating companies like Waymo who want to bust into our market, and of course being fully staffed to hit the ground running with new ongoing funding this council just passed.
None of this can be done without our GIS techs or the people who ensure we track $22 billion in assets and our pavement conditions.
None of this can be done without those who handle complex payment systems, including compliance and accuracy of millions of Lyft and Uber rides, ensuring corporations pay their fair share and operate legally, and which bring in $14 to $17 million a year.
And of course, none of these things can be done while cutting the very people who do our hiring and onboarding of new staff at this critical time.
Stop the cuts.
Pause this project.
Thank you very much.
Thank you all.
Rebecca Dobert
Luis Del Toro Garcia, Simone Cordery Cotter, Chris Roller, Kimberly Rufu, Muhammad G.
Jamie Dunphy
Welcome, folks.
Hi there.
Um, I signed up for online testimony, but I didn't get my Zoom link, so I'm here in person.
Just wanted to share that.
Um, my name is Luis.
Mi nombre es Luis.
I'm a City of Portland employee.
I'm here today because I'm deeply concerned about the lack of transparency, consistency, and accountability surrounding this year's proposed budget.
I read the mayor's 1,141-page budget document in full, and I found critical information either missing inconsistently represented or difficult to interpret.
At the time when the city is facing historic financial shortfalls and proposing major workforces and service impacts, the public should not have to piece together the truth from scattered documents, leadership comments, and media reporting.
Councilor Zimmerman stated it clearly: the mayor's document is accessible, but it is not transparent.
I agree.
Councilor Kanal also raised the desire to further examine how labor is organized within the city.
If councilors are raised— are raising confusion.
These are signs that the information being presented to council and to the public is incomplete.
Compared to last year's budget document, the years— this year's format removed key context that helped workers, residents, and the council understand what was actually changing.
Last year's bureaus included staffing comparisons between fiscal years, including impacts to existing positions and associated budget changes.
This year, much of that context is gone.
The mayor's budget document has also failed to clearly identify how many proposed position cuts affect currently filled positions versus vacant positions.
Yet shortly after the document was released, city leadership was able to privately provide some of that information internally.
If leadership already has that information available, why is that not being transparently included in the mayor's budget document within the beginning?
The core services realignment was also in the works and not finalized.
So how is this document representative and accurate?
Council, workers, and the public deserves the full picture and impartial disclosure after the Another major concern is the absence of impact analysis.
Earlier this year, the City Budget Office released a budget scenario document that included an analysis of how proposed cuts would affect services, communities, and internal operations.
That level of transparency was valuable and informative.
The mayor's proposed budget does not include this context, which would be very helpful.
The city is proposing cuts to impact workers and public service, and the public deserves—.
Thank you.
Sorry.
Oh, yep, run out of time.
It's all good.
Thank you.
Mayor, City Council, I'm Chris Roller of AFSCME Local 88.
I represent over 6 years of homeless services experience in frontline and support roles.
I speak on my own behalf.
We keep hearing about hard choices.
My colleagues facing layoffs and lost capacity put their hearts and often bodies on the line to raise the minimum standard for dignity and well-being for every Portlander.
Showing up through the heartbreak of mental health crises, overdose, and deaths of people you know and care about is a hard choice.
During an affordability crisis, compromising on stability for vulnerable and working-class Portlanders with cuts to supportive shelters with accountable cultures while scrambling to fully fund a stadium subsidy that decades of research show are wasteful wealth transfers isn't a hard choice.
It's a failure to prioritize everyday Portlanders' needs over special interests' wants.
I remind our elected officials that unless they make the hard choice to do it themselves, it's going to be left to my colleagues at closing shelters to try explaining to Portlanders having their worst days why a safe, reliable space for them with safe, reliable advocates wasn't worth the cost, but an oversold stadium was.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Good morning.
Members of City Council, Mayor Wilson, Council President Chief— or Jamie Dunphy.
My name is Simone Cordery Cotter.
I live in Southeast Portland in District 1.
I'm not representing any group today.
I just live here.
In 2021, my family and I witnessed a car crash in South Waterfront.
A vehicle left the road and it smashed a sign and nearly hit a pedestrian.
We stopped.
My mother-in-law, who is a volunteer EMT, stabilized the driver who clearly had a head injury.
Thank you.
And my husband called 911 and he was on hold for 11 minutes.
It then took another 5 minutes for first responders to arrive.
And I was stunned that in a city like Portland, it took that long for people to show up.
This is longer than it helped— than it took me to get help in a small rural community that I grew up in.
Cut to this past winter, late 2025, someone broke into my neighbor's garage.
His daughter heard a noise.
And he called 911, and police were there within 5 minutes, which I thought was fantastic.
They extracted the burglar, and we were all saved from my neighbor needing to go full vigilante in his boxers with his pistol.
That I'm willing to pay for.
That public safety I would like, and I would like everyone who works there to feel safe and supported.
People need help when they call 911.
I really don't want to backslide.
I think that's important.
Thank you.
I'm also willing to advocate that PCF dollars be used to upgrade the Moda Center, provided those dollars have a clear public benefit.
Those dollars have potential to upgrade one of the oldest arenas in the NBA with climate-smart upgrades that could make the building a heat and smoke refuge, clean air refuge for the community.
I know you have to make some tough choices.
Please do better.
Prove that you can manage the dollars that you have before you before asking for more.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Kimberly is online.
You can go ahead.
Rebecca Dobert
Okay.
Um, good morning, councilors.
My name is Kimberly Ruffew.
I'm a community member and live in the cute little northeast portion of District 3.
I serve my colleagues through my work on the CPPW bargaining team, and I'm speaking to you on my own time.
Like many others who have already shared with you this morning, I received my formal layoff notice last week.
I'm keeping this brief today, so here's my message.
The city must invest in its most important asset, the workers who deliver daily essential services and programming to the communities you serve.
The budget as proposed does the opposite.
Core realignment as proposed slashes positions, capacity, and services under the guise of streamlining and efficiency.
In the 3 and a half years I've spent in my position at Portland Parks and Rec as the East Development Parks Coordinator, focusing on community partnerships and volunteerism, I've already witnessed the increasing strain on workers and their workloads at our current staffing levels from organizational realignment and budget constraints.
Because the work doesn't stop, it continues to grow.
The narrative that the city can do more with less, or even the same with less, isn't true.
And has already been disproven by cuts to the workforce at a federal level.
To protect workers and the services Portlanders care about and deserve, I urge councilors to support the following proposed amendments: Morillo, Green, Novick 1, Morillo 1, Dunphy 3, Avalos 3, Avalos 6, Kanal 6, and Novick 2.
These amendments are a starting place to reduce the exacting burden that workers bear again for another year with a budget gap that we didn't create.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Bats Whitlock, Tavaris Means, Hector Marquez, Rob Wolfson, Micah Meskel, Lorraine Wilson.
Jamie Dunphy
Welcome, folks.
As you're coming on up, feel free to introduce yourself to Share your pronouns if you're so inclined, and you have 90 seconds.
Rebecca Dobert
You can go ahead if you're ready.
Jamie Dunphy
Okay, uh, good morning, Council.
My name is Rob Wolfson.
I lived—.
I have lived and paid taxes in District 2 for over 20 years.
I'm also the 3rd most senior public safety support specialist at Portland Police Bureau, as I joined when the program launched in 2019.
I'm not here representing PPA nor PPB.
I'm only representing my own views and experience regarding the significant value PS3s have to the community.
2 Important points I want to make.
One, we need the amount of officers proposed in the budget and then some.
I feel less safe both as a PS3 and a Portlander when I walk into roll call and most days we're down below minimum.
Some days we've been down below 4 or 5 minimum.
That's not safe for me or for the community at all, or my family who lives here.
Second, PS3s have become a critical element of PPB's mission to deliver public safety.
Under the proposed budget, only 8 PS3s would be funded and 30 would be cut.
Although I hate seeing any cuts and it hurts us, I urge you to at least increase funding so we have a functional day shift.
I define functional as having the capability to cover my job duties, which is public engagement as well as handling regular calls.
While officers should be the top focus, PS3s in the community, we have some unique things.
One, we're unique, our productivity and quick call response capability and how cheap we are.
I know I have limited time, so I want, I want you to ask me questions.
Maybe you want to talk about how I'm compared to officers and what we do, what would change if we have with call response times?
If you cut us by 80%, how do we increase the range and knowledge of capability at PPB?
Please invite— I invite your questions.
Thank you.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished council members and the mayor.
My name is Tavaris Means.
I am a case manager, a peer wellness specialist, a navigational specialist, and now soon in This summer will be a CRM II national dealing with recovery, with mental wellness, and also substance abuse.
I was recently employed at Sunstone Way, and thanks to my colleagues from 1790, from my union, I thank them for this opportunity to give me the chance to speak with you guys.
I want to ask you guys a question, and, and just being just straight up and forward, what is the difference between a mechanic and a technician?
I'm going to tell you the difference.
A mechanic, he sees a part, looks at a part, sees it slightly damaged, replaces that part, and moves the customer along.
A technician sees a part, See the part that's damaged, diagnose everything within that part, so that way once they put that new part in, it won't be damaged again and have more longevity.
Well, that's what we are as peer wellness specialists.
That's what we are as navigational specialists.
That's what we are as counseling with mental illness and deal with also substance abuse and domestic violence.
So I ask you to take that under consideration once you make a decision on that budget and think about the people who really are boots on the ground.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Good morning.
Lorraine Wilson, co-chair of the Public Utility Board, here to share the perspective of informed community volunteers on the utility budget.
Affordability and equity are at the center of our work, and our recommendation reflects that focus.
The city should adopt the 7.5% combined rate increase needed to maintain current service levels.
This reflects real cost pressures and legally required work already underway.
Protecting affordability means being honest about the cost of essential infrastructure.
Delays only increase long-term costs and shift heavier burdens to future ratepayers, an outcome that is neither equitable nor financially responsible.
Reducing Reducing the increase to the proposed budget level does not offer meaningful relief.
6.3% Fees, nearly the same as 7.5%, with the average household saving less than $2 a month.
Those savings are symbolic, while the operational risks from cuts are significant, affecting capacity, increasing deferred maintenance, as mentioned by city Administrator Lee last week and adding strain during future bureau restructuring.
I have so much more to say, but this is the only opportunity us as volunteers on the Public Utility Board are getting to engage with city.
And I want to reiterate last year that we are here, we are engaged with the utility bureau Thank you very much.
Jamie Dunphy
Good afternoon, Mayor, councilors.
My name is Hector Marquez and I am the executive director of Historic Parkrose in District 1.
When I started this job a year and a half ago, Parkrose was in crisis.
Businesses were dealing with needles, human waste, unsafe sidewalks, long police response times, a lot more than 5 minutes, and people in deep distress with nowhere to go.
It was not safe, period.
Today, because of coordination services, things are improving.
PMO and council members from District 1 have helped clean and stabilize our streets.
Police response has improved.
Businesses feel more represented.
Neighborhoods feel more included.
Historic Park Rose and Historic Park Rose is working towards an enhanced service district, so our community can keep building on this progress.
But now, as budgets are being cut across the city, county, and school districts, I am asking you: Do not cut the services that are working.
If you cut Pima Street cleaning and outreach alongside small business support, workforce development, as school districts let go of hundreds of teachers.
The conditions we fought so hard to change will return, and East Portland will pay the price first.
For too long, Portland has focused on saving downtown while communities like Parkrose are asked to survive with less.
Historic Parkrose and the Neighborhood Prosperity Network members are doing the work on the ground.
We need the city to stand with us, not step back.
Please protect the services that protect our communities.
Sustaining these vital community efforts Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you all.
Micah, you can go ahead online.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, councilors.
My name is Micah Meskel.
I'm with the Bird Alliance of Oregon, a local nonprofit conservation organization.
I'm going to highlight our top priority amendments related to our work and follow up with written testimony.
We support Avalos 1.
The PCF CIP was a collaborative and intentional program crafted between the city and community, and as Alan Hippolito highlighted earlier, is grounded in equity plus climate framework.
The mayor's proposed budget unilaterally and inappropriately moved PCF CIP funding from BES and PBOT to a new bureau for activities outside of the equity plus climate framework.
We support Koyama Lane 2.
PSAP CIP strategic programs related to trees are popular with the public and were significantly harmed by amendments sponsored by Councilor Zimmerman last year.
This amendment helps to ensure the necessary capacity is restored.
I think there's also opportunity to be paired— this concept to be paired with Novick 1 and Novick 3 and Zimmerman 4.
We support Murillo Green Novick 1.
We've observed the core service realignment process having a negative impact on environmental and EJ programs throughout the city due to its blunt application and inability to properly navigate retention of specialized positions that are essential to meet city and community goals.
We support Green 1, we support Green 5, or Novick 5, we support Technical Correction Amendment 3, and we oppose Novick 1.
We appreciate the intent, but the swap of, swap of PCF CIP funds across strategic programs could have unintended impacts similar to Zimmerman's amendments transferring tree permitting to PP&D last Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Michelle Tulin, Kyle Chipman, Sabina Erdez, Annette Ramirez, James Donnelly, Kelly Lansbaugh, Dylan Evanston.
You can begin at the table with me.
Hi, my name is Excuse me, Michelle Schelin.
And I am here to advocate for myself and all the other marginalized people that are outside.
I recently completed the WorkSource program with PDX Saints Love.
And I have to say, that's the only place that I've been since a month before COVID that their word means something and they follow through with what they promise.
And I have a couple questions.
I have been kind of nosing around websites And I'm trying to understand the accountability factor of a lot of things.
Um, how many times— how many years does a person need to be outside when they call 911 because they want to get away from a domestic violence situation?
Like, how many years do you think is acceptable for them to be outside and not get any help?
Uh, second of all, um, how many times should they be assaulted while they're outside?
Um, 2, 3, I mean, you guys tell me.
I don't understand where the money's going.
I know that I've heard about like the $120 million sitting around.
I've heard— I've watched a housing manager be arrested right in front of me for embezzlement.
She'd been arrested for this before.
Like, how do we create that accountability where people can't just go change their spelling of their name and go get a job somewhere else and do the same thing?
It's affecting people's lives, and you guys and everyone else else is getting paid and we are not getting the help that we need.
I still have not got help with the domestic violence situation.
I called them, they sent me to 311, uh, Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Um, like, they don't help.
So where— what— what's— where's all this money going?
I just don't understand that at all.
Um, I want to create the Coalition Against Shelter Abuse and Embezzlement because I— and then you guys will be your website You show like your audits, but you don't show where the accountability comes in.
Like, or at least I couldn't find it.
Maybe you can help me with that.
Sorry, because aren't you here to help the people?
And I am a person.
I've worked my whole life.
I pay taxes.
Thank you.
Sorry, I was clean when I first got homeless.
Jamie Dunphy
Um, thank you.
I'm sorry, we got to move on.
Yeah, sorry, we are over time.
Sorry.
Thank you.
Rebecca Dobert
Yeah, go ahead.
Oh yes, hello, my name is Annette Ramirez.
Um, should be ready every time.
I'm a member of the City of Portland's Professional Workers Union, and I'm also an everyday Portlander of District 1.
My work group is payroll and recruitment at the Water Bureau, and my team and I are slated for layoffs I'm here to talk about the core services realignment, and the concern is that this will not— this work will not disappear.
It will get delayed, reduced, or shifted onto fewer workers, and it will not be sustainable long-term.
Our work is extensive and technical.
Come July 1st, who will be doing this work?
Is cross-training happening now?
Is there a plan in place to prepare staff for changes?
Who will ensure that paychecks are getting processed and that employees are being paid correctly in compliance with federal and state laws?
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Rebecca Dobert
Laws as well as labor contracts, who will calculate upgrades, submit actions for employee movement, complete new hire verifications, audit for overpayments and underpayments, maintain employee personnel data, and so much more.
Second, what equity lens was used in this process?
Aside from me, everyone on my team that is slated for layoff, including my supervisor, is a person of color.
The majority of us are women.
Please support the Murillo-Green-Novick 1 amendment to allow for a thoughtful and deliberate approach to core services realignment that will not cause issues with the services that we're providing today.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Good morning, Council President, councilors, and Mayor Wilson.
My name is Sabina Ardash.
I live in District 1.
I'm an immigrant, and I'm speaking on behalf of Thrive East PDX, a coalition of more than 28 East Portland organizations and nonprofits.
We ask you to vote on Avalos 2 because it cuts storefront support funding that East Portland businesses desperately need.
East Portland is home to Portland's largest immigrant and refugee population, and many of our small businesses are immigrant-owned.
Immigrant support should not come at the expense of vulnerable immigrant businesses.
Our businesses have already been disproportionately harmed by past funding cuts.
When Prosper Portland cut funding to business associations, we lost nearly all of ours while other parts of the city retain theirs.
We need more support to reach equity, not less.
Instead, we support Dunphy 1 and Dunphy 3, reserving funds to neighborhood prosperity networks and investing in CBOs that support existing immigrant-led organizations already doing this work.
Guerreras Latinas, Historic Park Rose, Rosewood Initiative, Division Midway Alliance support our communities without forcing us to compete against our own businesses for resources.
We want to be clear that without funding for NPNs, organizations like Historic Park Rose and Division Midway Alliance will cease to exist.
However, having Prosper Portland disburse these funds sounds scary because of our past experiences with their unsuccessful attempt to deliver measurable community impact and funds absorbed into administrative overhead.
What will you do to ensure these funds actually reach our community?
Finally, we must protect PSF, but not by defunding Vote no on Avalos 1 and 4 because it would put Cultivate Initiatives' contract with PIMO at risk.
We need Cultivate Initiatives in Parkrose, and we need PIMO in East Portland.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
Good morning.
My name is Kyle Chipman.
I serve as co-chair of the Portland Utility Board.
I live in District 3.
I want to show briefly appreciation for my other co-chair, Lorraine Wilson, and all of our community volunteers who serve as board members.
I want to begin by stating that I am also in support of the 7.5% combined rate rate for both utilities, as well as the $525 million bond for the Bull Run facility.
2 Major points I want to hit in this testimony.
First, just an offer of active collaboration to council members, staff, and the entire community of Portland.
PUB was founded for community oversight in 2015 to provide budget transparency and rate setting across the Water Bureau and the Bureau of Environmental Services.
We meet the first Tuesday of every month, the third Thursday of every We're here to work together to deliver this transparency, and it's just an open invitation.
In addition to all the folks that testified last Wednesday evening to council, I also want to give special appreciation to DCA Donopaul, Director Liu, Cecilia Hune, Joanne Johnson, Amy Archer Masters, and John Lynn Bransford.
Additionally, this is personally and through the board.
I'm really excited to provide real-time transparency around a lot of these upcoming efforts in this major investment.
I have really been through 2 budget seasons now in the prism of the board, and I felt the way that halt— the halting flow of information creates constrained timeframes and reactive and fraught decision-making.
And I'm actually pursuing how to deliver real-time portals and transparent information around ongoing maintenance, deferred maintenance, capital improvement projects, including Bull Run, as well as long-term initiatives, including the smart metering program.
And that's in service of more effectively communicating the value we receive through collective investment Thank you very much.
Good morning— good afternoon, councilors.
My name is James Donnelly.
I guess you saw me last week.
I live in East Portland District 1.
I understand the budget cuts are due primarily to a drop in business tax revenue.
It seems to me that the sensible action then is to ask local businesses what help they need to reverse this drop and then make corrections over things for which the city has control.
That being said, it should be clear that insulating police, fire, and PMO from these cuts should be a step in the right direction.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Dylan, you can go ahead online.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
My name is Dylan Evanston, and I'm on the board of the Sumner Neighborhood Association as well as Historic Parkrose MPN, and I work full-time as an IT manager for an architect.
I'm here to speak to you on my own behalf as a resident of District 1.
Please support Dunphy 1 and reallocate a couple hundred thousand dollars current from a currently vacant position in the Office of Civic Life to help fund NPNs.
While I participate on my NA and value the work of our District 1 East Coalition, it makes sense to target neighborhoods identified by council as needing additional support through the NPN program for direct support.
Please also support Dunphy 4.
The amendment freezes COLA and merit raises for city management staff working in the private sector when the market is very rough.
I have been asked to accept pay freezes, and I've seen pay cuts for senior staff to avoid layoffs and fill budget gaps.
These measures make sense, demonstrate shared responsibility and accountability for turning the tide of budget shortfalls and keeping operations running.
Perhaps this money could be used to backstop PBEM or parks funding in future sessions.
I also ask the council to go further in consolidating and broadly examining the entirety of city spending.
Specifically, I would ask council to consider reconsidering the East Portland Plan is EPAP no longer maps directly to District 1, East Portland, uh, while it seems also to be out of date and sees hundreds of thousands in spending annually.
Beyond that, please select a new process for water filtration, the pro— and take a hard look at additional projects of this nature that ask Portlanders to spend significant amounts of money above and beyond the national average on new fees and taxes, especially as services are cut.
Also, please say no to Waymo.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Anna Kemper, Jenny O'Connor, Ryan Sotomayor, Molly Romey, Reuben Sussman, Corinne Frechette, Charlie Wesley.
Anna's online, you can go ahead.
Anna, can you hear us?
Jamie Dunphy
Yes, hello.
Rebecca Dobert
Oh, you can go ahead, we hear you.
We can circle back if you're ready at the table.
Hi, sorry about that.
Oh, can you hear me?
Apologies.
Sorry.
Yes, go ahead, Anna.
Thanks.
Okay.
Good afternoon, councilors and mayor.
Thank you so much for your important work today in balancing the city's budget.
My name is Anna Kemper, and I'm the Great Communities Program Director at 1000 Friends of Oregon.
1000 Friends believes that everyone who calls Oregon home deserves an unconditional right to a high quality of life.
I first gave testimony in front of Portland City Council back in 2019 when I was 23 years old.
When I gave testimony then regarding the upzoning to allow for more dense transit-oriented housing, I spoke about how I was worried about my future due to the catastrophic threat of climate change.
Now, 7 years later, the threat is even more serious.
I'm here today on behalf of 1,000 Friends of Oregon, as well as future generations of Portlanders, to urge you to protect the voter-approved.
On climate-related issues that have a disproportionate impact on BIPOC and marginalized communities in our city.
I ask you to approve amendments to preserve PCF funding for what the voters approved them for, as well as Commissioner Koyama Lane's Amendment 2 to maintain tree canopy funding and protect critical positions that preserve our critical tree canopy, which is vital for community health and climate resilience for all communities.
Thank you.
Any opposed?
Thank you very much.
You can go ahead at the testimony table, whoever's ready.
Jamie Dunphy
Either—.
Rebecca Dobert
Yeah, you want to go first?
Oh, go ahead.
Okay.
Hi, my name is Jenny O'Connor.
I am a citizen of Portland.
I live in District 4, and And I wanted to thank all of you, all you councilors and the mayor, but particularly the council people.
I'm here to support the amendments.
I counted at least 7 as I went through the list brought forward by you to find alternative funding to restore the fire station and the firefighters, the safety personnel, and the Community Health Access and Treatment Program.
You know, I appreciate the fact that you all, all of you, when I watched the work session, I think it was on May 5th, you all supported this.
You know, you have our backs, you have the community backs, and I know you do too.
Thank you.
I just wanted to make sure that, Mayor Wilson, you review all those amendments and review the different choices that you have and adhere to what you said, that your budget priorities will continue to focus on community health and safety.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'm Charlie Michelle Wesley, Indigenous matriarch of this, our land now called Oregon.
Clark's budget amendment undermines the Community Board for Police Accountability.
The city values of fiscal responsibility, resiliency, and the needs of our most vulnerable populations will be the focus of every budget decision.
This amendment does not do that.
The CBPA is mandated to address PPB's lack of real accountability for police violence against our most marginalized.
The lack of police trauma healing, recognizing police are unsuitable for a myriad of calls, and unaddressed stereotyping equates to more death.
Throwing more money at a systemically flawed system is extreme misappropriation.
CBPA needs the funding they are allotted towards full functionality and in collaboration with unarmed public safety support by PSR and CHAT leads to a safer Portland.
Per the city charter, funding for the board shall be proportional to no— to be no less than 5% of PPB's annual operation budget, and the board shall have independent judgment in performing all legally assigned powers and duties that the city shall not interfere with.
Discussing a multitude of budgetary priorities Wednesday night at CBPA meeting, we found out that Clark's plan was to abscond with $10 million from their budget.
I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration.
Where's the transparency?
Public safety for all needs real accountability to save lives, those that are typically overlooked in so many of your decisions— Black lives, brown lives, Indigenous lives, and those with mental illness.
I reject Clark 1 because it does not take that into account.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Molly's online.
You can go ahead.
Can you hear me?
Jamie Dunphy
We can.
Rebecca Dobert
Great.
My name is Catherine Frichette, and I'm testifying today as a longtime community member in District 4, particularly Old Town, as a volunteer serving the unhoused community for over 30 years, as an immigrant to this country, and as a mother of young adults who live in D4.
I also serve on the CBPA board, but I'm speaking solely in my personal capacity.
Portlanders are tired of stagnant, hidden public Sitting unused while essential services are being cut.
The Police Accountability Office is an important part of our municipal system, and it's still in its infancy.
For the past 2 years, it has carried a potential allocation of roughly $16 million annually, while historically using only about $1 to $2 million per year.
Even for fiscal year 26-27, the requested budget is approximately $5 million, supporting an office that currently has 1 employee.
Thank you.
And may grow up to 7 employees by the end of the fiscal year.
The board members are volunteers, and investigations are funded separately.
That leaves at least $10 million effectively sitting idle.
Meanwhile, the community is loudly opposing cuts to public safety— all public safety.
Other amendments attempt to soften the damage, but none fully restore 911 dispatch services, victim services, or the proposed cuts to PPB operations.
This amendment restores the funds for training at PPB, which is a critical part of fostering transparency and accountability.
It also restores accessibility to precincts affecting our most marginalized community members and helps prevent response, uh, time from increasing.
I urge you to support reallocating these unused funds to restore essential public safety.
Support Clark 1.
Thank you very much.
Molly Romey, you can go ahead.
Good afternoon, councilors.
My name is Molly Romey.
I use she/her pronouns, and I serve as a senior director of security and emergency management for Portland Public Schools.
My responsibility each day is to help ensure the safety and security of more than 40,000 students and thousands of staff members across our district.
I also understand the difficult financial realities you are facing.
PPS itself is experiencing significant budget shortfalls, so I know firsthand how hard these decisions are.
I am deeply concerned about the proposed reductions to the Portland Police Bureau and the Impact Reduction Program, and I urge you not to deepen those cuts.
In 2020, the elimination of the Police Bureau's Youth Services Division fundamentally changed the relationship between schools and law enforcement.
Since then, we have worked very hard to rebuild trust communication and coordination between schools and the Bureau.
Today we have 3 outstanding school liaison officers who have helped reestablish that connection, but I want to be very clear, that system is still fragile.
At the same time, our schools are already experiencing long response times for law enforcement, EMS, and other first responders.
I am highly concerned that the additional reductions of PPB resources will further extend those response times And leave school staff to manage increasingly complex and dangerous situations on their own.
Reductions to the impact reduction program also has consequences for school safety.
When campsite removals decrease, the effects are felt directly around our campuses and along routes students travel to and from school every day.
I recognize that none of these decisions are easy, but I respectfully urge you not to make additional reductions that will further strain already already limited public safety systems.
Thank you very much.
Reuven Sussman, you can go ahead.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, councilors.
My name is Dr. Reuven Sussman.
I direct the Behavior and Health Program at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, which is a national energy efficiency research organization.
I'm testifying in opposition to the proposed budget cuts to the Home Energy Score program.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Motion passes.
Thank you.
Next item, a small but impactful budget item.
At a moment when energy affordability concerns are high among homeowners and climate change is a growing problem, the Home Energy Score program is even more valuable.
The Home Energy Score encourages home sellers to invest in energy efficiency upgrades.
This matters because the transfer of ownership is a key— an important moment to invest in upgrades.
Research from Portland shows that homes with a Home Energy Score are 10 times more likely to apply for an energy efficiency The Home Energy Score program supports Portland's impactful requirement that home sellers share the home's energy efficiency score when they're listing their home for sale.
The requirement is an example for the nation, and my research shows that this type of disclosure has the power to shift buyer decisions.
They buy more efficient homes.
Without a funded Home Energy Score program, disclosure and compliances will fall.
The program's notices— without the program's notices, the compliance rate is just 52%, but with the program, it's 83%.
Thank you.
Them, 92% of sellers come into compliance.
Energy efficiency reduces people's energy use, it cuts pollution, it makes homes more comfortable for future owners.
The Home Energy Score program gives sellers information to make common-sense upgrades and homebuyers the information they need to assess the potential energy bills of their future homes.
Please do not cut the budget for this program.
It is small but has large impacts.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify today.
Rebecca Dobert
Ryan Sotomayor, you can go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
Hello, Council President Dunphy and other councilors, Mayor Wilson, and members of the public.
Um, appreciate the time and the opportunity to speak to the work that folks are doing around amendments for the budget.
We really need everything right now.
You know, we need all the safety, we need all the parks programming, we need, we need a little bit of everything.
So we do not envy any of you of your positions.
That being said, I'd like to encourage you all to support Murillo 1, the health and safety package that would restore free lunch and play, chat, PSR, and other programs.
The Murillo Green Novick 1, that will pause the elimination of 46 city frontline positions for a year.
Uh, Koyama Lane 2, that would restore, uh, levels of urban forestry and tree permitting, and particularly around the canopy.
Um, along those lines, we also like Novick 3 and Zimmerman 4, and we really appreciate that There's a lot of people trying to solve a lot of problems.
Um, like Pirtle-Guiney 2, particularly around community center closures days, we think that there's more work that could be done there.
Uh, Koyama Lane 1, 4, 6, and 7 around age-friendly parks and recreation, the Montevilla Park picnic shelter and other programming.
Uh, we like Dunphy 4 pausing COLA, but particularly the Merritt increases for management, and Pirtle-Guiney 4 that restores free lunch and play.
Thank you for your time and all the work that all of you are doing across all the things.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Cherise Bach, Noel Studer-Spievak, Jackie Wurz, Loretta Guzman, Connor Lennon, Allison Paley, Tyler Fellini, Emily And just for my colleagues and for the public, it is my intention after this panel to take a lunch break where we'll be gone for 30 minutes and get back into more public testimony.
Rebecca Dobert
Charisse is online.
You can go ahead, Charisse.
Good afternoon, councilors.
Thank you for this opportunity to testify and for your hard work in this budget season.
I'm Charisse Bach, she/her, climate policy With the low snowpack and strong El Niño developing, this summer will likely break more climate records.
We need to make sure our PCF dollars are going toward climate impacts with an equity focus.
Our main concerns relate to PCF substantive changes to the PCF climate investment plan, which has already allocated all PCF dollars through 2029 with extensive community engagement.
Councilmember Loretta Smith.
Should be first routed through the PCF committee for an update to the CIP before being proposed in a budget.
Therefore, we strongly support Avalos 1, return PCF funds to BES and PBOT.
If the mayor wishes to try to make the care— the case for using PCF for PMO and IRP, or the Moda Center for that matter, he should send a proposal through a CIP update for public deliberation.
We support Koyama Lane 2 and Novick 3 to retain staffing, uh, staffing for Portland's tree canopy, which my colleague Noel will discuss shortly.
We support Murillo Green Novick 1, pause core services realignment.
We need to carefully analyze impacts on PCF program deliverables.
We appreciate Pirtle Guinea 5 about the Portland Harbor Superfund set-aside.
Please confirm these funds are not coming from the Superfund surcharge.
The city will need those funds to pay for the $5 billion Superfund site remediation soon.
And finally, we support Green 1, the St. Johns Fire Station and Engine 22 serves the CEI Hub and Linton neighborhood.
We need to build in better safety measures for this part of the city, but retaining the station and engine is the bare minimum.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
You can go ahead at the table.
Hello, my name is Noelle Studer-Spievak.
I work for— I live in District 2, work for 350 PDX, and I staff the Shade Equity Coalition created by 12 membership organizations after the early 2021 heat dome.
We helped create PCF Strategic Programs 8 and 34 to ensure that Portland invests in street tree retrofits for long-term cooling.
Over half of Portland's neighborhoods do not meet the basic 25% shade tree canopy cover goal.
We ask you to support Koyama Lane 2 to halt further damage to the team that protects existing tree infrastructure.
Service levels have yet to stabilize after last year's budget cut and unplanned This team can't take any more cuts.
We also need Morillo-Green-Novick 1 to protect PSAP Strategic Programs 8 and 34.
2 Core members of the Equitable Tree Canopy team have received notice that their positions will be terminated.
No one can explain why this makes sense or where the money is going.
I'm also very concerned about this year's budget process.
Councilmember Dan Ryan.
We're exhausted.
Mayor— Mr. Mayor, when councilors propose amendments that you disagree with, it's not harm and disruption, it's democracy.
And, and also wearing t-shirts, it's okay to, to organize and wear the same t-shirts.
If you really want to make this process accessible to more Portlanders, release the proposed budget more than 17 hours before the first public hearing.
Release a spreadsheet showing exactly where the savings are going.
Councilor Loretta Smith.
Bureau staff are under a cone of silence and no one has the information they need.
I encourage councilors to add budget notes for next week with your best thinking on how we can have a better, more transparent process in 2027.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, councilors.
My name is Tyler Fellini.
I'm a registered lobbyist and executive director of Portland Jobs for Justice.
I'm here today because working-class Portlanders are exhausted of the city's lack of transparency.
We are exhausted from constantly having to fight you just to protect the things we already democratically voted for.
We got independent police accountability passed with over 80% of the vote, yet today we have to fight Amendment Clark 1 just to stop you from robbing that board of $10 million before it even gets started.
We rallied 65% of Portland voters to pass the Portland Clean Energy Fund for climate justice, yet today we are here joining Councilor Avalos in defending the fund from the mayor who wants to raid PSEF to pay for non-voter-aligned pet projects.
The city has a pathological pattern of dismissing real Portlanders in favor of high-priced consultants and a 36% explosion in upper management.
While the mayor sends citywide emails patronizing community members for showing up in t-shirts— I made sure to wear mine today— he is simultaneously trying to lay off 177 union workers, reclassify their jobs, and protect out-of-state contractors.
Only a few 2 years ago, social workers and working-class Portlanders stood right here and warned the previous council that outsourcing our neighbors to Urban Alchemy would end in abuse and disaster.
They dismissed us, and now the arrests and the systemic failures are playing out on the nightly news.
Pass the Green, Novick, and Avalos amendments.
Chop from the top.
We did everything right at the ballot box, and we demand that you hear us today.
Do not expect us to be patient anymore.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Hello, is this audible?
Okay.
Hello, City Council.
My name is Allison Paley.
I'm a resident of District 3, and I work front desk at Matt Dishman Community Center.
Today I'm just here on behalf of myself.
I'm here today to support budget amendments put forward by Councilors Novick and Green, which would make significant cuts to management, administration, and the City Council's own budgets.
The City of Portland, as it stands, has a serious problem with administrative bloat.
Since 2019, Portland's frontline staff, the people directly serving the public, has increased by 7%.
In that same time, Portland's administrative staff has grown by 16%, and its management has grown by a whopping 63%.
The current budget proposes reductions to free lunch programs that could be entirely prevented by cutting one of these highly paid management jobs.
One.
I want facilities that aren't falling apart.
I don't want to cut services so popular that there is always a waitlist for them.
I want someone I can call when patrons are harassing or threatening staff or other patrons, because despite what we keep being told, we cannot just leave.
I want fast medical services so that when someone's heart stops and our aquatics lead has to perform CPR, EMTs can be there quickly with the equipment and training to save that person's life.
I want my work to be safe and the kids to be fed and my community to have the resources it needs.
The people making that happen are the workers on the ground, not the expensive suits.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Hi, my name is Loretta Guzman.
I was born and raised here in the city of Portland.
I own Bison Coffee House.
I live in District 2 and my business is in District 2.
I have been here before you all many a times, and it seems my testimony falls on deaf ears.
I don't know how much worse it has to get.
I am here once again to address our public safety.
I have personally suffered from the failure of our system.
I have been watching it erode, all while testifying and pleading for our public safety.
During a life-and-death situation, I couldn't even get a real person when I called 911.
All I could do was pray upon my favorite nephew as he turned cold and died.
It's a different kind of cold when the spirit leaves the body, something that I will never forget.
I feel it to this day in my hands, or when I hear gunshots.
I have since been immediately paralyzed to the point I couldn't move.
This new form of government imposed on us is not working.
The old system gave us accountability for bad behavior and crime, a real person when calling 911, fast immediate response if you needed an ambulance or a fire truck.
And we had public safety.
People are being shot as they go out to meet up with friends for no, no reason at all.
Young men are being gunned down in our streets as if their lives have no value, and this is putting everyone in grave danger.
People are being traumatized.
I am here asking that our public safety, PS3, firefighters, BOEC, and more be fully fully funded.
The city needs all these to operate in a— in caring for people and saving lives.
It's not to pretend it's okay here in Portland, because it's not.
And this is the failure of our leaders.
The little kids and the youth and the young are our future, and we need to give them a chance to grow up in a city that gives life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as public safety is a fundamental right.
Thank you.
Jackie, Jackie's online.
You can go ahead.
Good afternoon.
My name is Jackie Wurz, and I'm here today as the executive director of Link Oregon in support of maintaining the community technology program in the upcoming budget.
Link Oregon works to ensure that students, educators, researchers, nonprofits, and government entities have access to affordable, reliable broadband, and Portland's community technology program is a critical partner in that mission.
Digital equity is not a luxury; it is core infrastructure.
Portland's Community Technology Program, including its Digital Equity Program and Small Business Digital Navigator services, ensure that the benefits of technology reach everyone, especially historically underserved communities.
Portlanders, from our youngest learners to small businesses to healthcare facilities to countless nonprofits and other entities, depend on digital tools to operate.
Grow, and access resources.
When we lack connectivity, training, or technical support, we fall behind.
And when those barriers are concentrated in communities already facing the greatest obstacles, the whole city pays the price.
The closest vehicle maintaining digital equity is the Morillo-Green-Novick one, the core services realignment pause, which includes potential funding restoration of these programs.
We urge the committee to pass that amendment.
Community technology is a small Thanks.
For the record, my name is Connor Lennon.
I'm a resident in District 4.
Um, not a lot of time today, so I'm just going to kind of go through it real quick.
Green Novick, Maria 1.
Green 1, Green 2, Green 3, Green 4.
Big fat no to Clark 1, Clark, Pirtle-Guiney, Novick, Ryan Smith 1.
We need to be chopping from the top.
We need to be taking Portlanders straight from the streets, keep them right here, right at the top of your head every single second for every decision that you make in these coming days and these coming weeks.
We cannot be putting businesses first.
We need to be putting the people on our streets first.
Jamie Dunphy
Councilor Smith.
Rebecca Dobert
Our current shelter system is not working.
Homelessness has doubled in the past year.
We are leaving people behind every day.
They are dying on the streets, and it is completely unacceptable.
And while I have the floor, we need to not get rid of that bike lane on Southeast Alder Street.
That is absolutely unacceptable.
Do not forget your commitment to Vision Zero.
Thank you for your time today.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
Okay.
It is 12:31.
Colleagues, I'm going to ask everybody back here at please at 1 o'clock, and we will get started with more testimony.
Thank you for your patience, members of the public.
We'll see you in 30 minutes.
Thank you.
And we are back, calling back to order the meeting of the Portland City Council.
Rebecca, can we please call up the next panel of testimony?
Rebecca Dobert
Corey McCall, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Lisha Shretha, Aaron Glenn, Andy Olson, Alex Wick, We have some folks online.
Aaron, you can go ahead online.
Aaron Glenn, you can unmute and testify.
Jamie Dunphy
Hi, thank you for, uh, allowing me the opportunity to speak here.
I primarily want to address, uh, the council on the subject of the Columbia Pool.
Um, I'm a North Portland resident.
I live right next to Columbia Pool.
It was a phenomenal asset to have in this neighborhood, and, um, unfortunately had to shut down due to the need for some, uh, renovations.
Maintenance.
That was my understanding.
The pool shut down and all I've heard since then is this talk of a new aquatic center being built to replace it rather than fix this asset that we already had.
I know the new aquatic center is going to be expensive.
It's like $50 million.
And I know that repairing the pool that we have today is going to be a lot less than So my only message to the council today is please consider the amendment to earmark funds to repair the Columbia Pool.
It seems like a no-brainer here to spend less money and fix this asset that we have rather than trying to find a way to get you know all of this additional money for another pool.
We we have one.
It, it just feels like the physically responsible thing to do.
Um, I would love the ability to swim in my neighborhood again.
It's been 5 years.
So please consider this.
Uh, you know, I would really appreciate, um, seeing that smart move being made here and allowing us to swim in this neighborhood again.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Alicia's online.
You can unmute and go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
Go ahead.
Rebecca Dobert
Good afternoon, councilors.
My name is Leesa Shrestha.
I'm the executive director of Division Midway Alliance.
At DMA, we have consistently demonstrated our ability to engage and support East Portland's most underserved communities and small businesses.
As a place-based organization, we provide critical on-the-ground support with very limited resources.
In the past, I often shared data and success stories to demonstrate our impact.
But today I want to take a different approach and let the council know that despite putting our hearts into this work and making real differences in people's lives, year after year we continue coming before council to advocate for modest levels of funding to sustain programs that are already creating meaningful impact.
Our entire team are first-generation immigrants and refugees, and for many of us and communities we serve, this is our first time participating in the democratic process.
I respectfully ask you to continue listening fairly and help our communities continue believing that our voices matter.
Programs like Community Workforce Navigator are a critical bridge connecting residents to jobs, training, and essential services.
I also urge council to fund the Neighborhood Prosperity Network, which invests in relationship-based, community-led strategies that create lasting opportunities Therefore, I request council to vote yes on Dunphy 1 and Pirtle-Guiney 1.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
Andy, you can go ahead online.
Jamie Dunphy
Hi, um, behind you is a project we're working on, on 129th and Stark.
Um, my name is Andy Olson and I am the executive director of Cascadia Clusters.
I am a former, uh, covering lawyer, former San Francisco Deputy City Attorney and homeless coordinator for former Mayor Willie Brown.
I've been a citizen of Portland since '97.
I've been mostly quiet politically, but right after Trump was elected the first time, I founded cascadiacusters.org.
We've helped build Hazelnut Agape Village, Beacon Village, Women's Village.
This past year we've hired more than 20 individuals who were referred by Urban Alchemy.
This was part of a project set up by the mayor and has been really successful.
The job works.
Half the individuals we hired have had a positive outcome 6 months into their time with us.
What about the rest?
Here's the kind of big idea that Willie Brown used to love love.
Jails, institutions— this is about all, or many, all too many of my fellow addicts and alcoholics.
Please reach out to all privately faith-based and nonprofit owners, shelters, sober housing, and alternative shelters.
Bring us all together and ask us what we should do.
Step up, ask the folks Thank you, Andy.
And a large amount of your testimony got a little bit garbled, uh, with our connection.
If you would be interested in, uh, sending in your written testimony so you can read it as well, that'd be, that'd be great.
Rebecca Dobert
Corey McCall, Ryan Fitzpatrick, or Alex Wick, Sean Hutchinson, Michelle Watkins, Aaron Erin Schmaltz, Caitlin Geary, Darlene Sherman, excuse me, Sherman, Caitlin M., Karen Tire.
Jamie Dunphy
Welcome folks.
As you're coming up, please feel free to introduce yourselves.
You're welcome to share your pronouns and folks have 90 minutes.
Whoever's seated is welcome to jump in.
90 Seconds.
Yeah, 90 minutes.
Everybody get comfy.
Rebecca Dobert
We're all gonna just You can go ahead at the testimony table, whoever's ready.
Jamie Dunphy
Uh, you want me to go first?
Rebecca Dobert
Go ahead.
Go ahead, go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
I was not called first.
Oh, whatever.
Okay, sorry, I was just still recovering from the 90 minutes.
My notes aren't long enough.
Um, my name is Aaron Schmalz.
I'm the president of the Portland Police Association.
Uh, the cuts to public safety proposed in this budget will negatively impact Portlanders' access to service on their darkest of days.
The proposed cuts would decrease 911 call takers and dispatchers' Impact patrol response through overtime cuts and the decimation of the PS3 program.
Decrease victim services and connection with city resources through cuts of civilian personnel.
And impact accountability by cutting critical training.
We appreciate the common sense efforts at proposed amendments restoring funding to court services, including several by Councilor Novick, including Novick 2 regarding the funding for PS3 and non-sworn employees, several by Councilor Zimmerman, Including 1 and 2 regarding training and staffing.
Smith 1, which provides summer jobs for youth in underserved communities.
And Clark, uh, Clark, Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, and Smith 1, which uses unallocated funds in the form of a loan readdressed in the fall TAO from the CBPA, which retains all needed funds for this year and restores dozens of jobs for our friends in AFSCME, keeping open police precincts, keeping open police precincts.
Thank you.
To community members in North and East Portland as opposed to having them have to find a way downtown.
PFFA restoring personnel and equipment, victim services, as well as critical training dollars for police officers, an essential accountability tool, and jobs for our public safety support specialists.
This amendment is a pro-labor, pro-community, pro-public safety, and common-sense move with no impact on other services.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Good afternoon, Mayor.
Mayor, Council, my name is Michelle Watkins and I am a care coordinator at Urban Alchemy Oasis site.
2 And a half years ago, I was living in my car under the Hawthorne Bridge.
I'd been on the streets for 3 years and in active addiction for 6.
Everything changed in October 2023 when I arrived at Urban Alchemy at the Clinton Triangle SRV as a guest.
From day one, the staff did something simple but profound.
They looked me in the eyes And they called me by my name.
They saw my humanity when I no longer felt human myself.
While living at Urban Alchemy, I felt safe—a feeling I hadn't known in years.
My path wasn't a straight line.
I faced setbacks, but with Urban Alchemy's support, I moved into my own apartment.
I got clean May 28th, 2024, and was eventually hired to do the very work that saved me.
September 30th, 2024.
Today I have helped house over 25 people and sent many more to treatment.
I'm fostering a 17-month-old, my Urban Alchemy baby, whose parents also went through our doors.
I am here to tell you that Urban Alchemy Safe Rest Villages are more than just shelter beds.
They are places where people are truly seen and protected.
My story is not an exception.
Thank you.
I am one of many.
I respectfully ask that the council to, to continue funding Urban Alchemy.
Your investment is the difference between someone sleeping under a bridge tonight and someone like me 2 years from now raising a child, holding a job, and helping the next person find their way home.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
My name is Hutch.
I'm from District 3, Kearns neighborhood.
I voted for all 3 of my councilors, and I'm legit 1 out of 4 people that approves of the job that the council is doing.
24%.
So some would say that makes me a Pollyanna.
To that I say, go Fire all the way to the finals.
We have a challenge in front of us, $160 million shortfall.
Why?
Because tax revenue is down.
People and businesses have already left.
Now there's another poll that says 41% are considering leaving.
62% Cite taxes, not crime.
What is the solution to this?
We need to retain these tax dollars.
We need to draw more people.
We need to lean into what makes Portland great.
We have smart voters here who passed the PCEF, which was supposed to make $30 million a year, is making $200 million a year on the back of billion-dollar retailers.
So $50 million to the police?
Yes.
I'm no fan of billionaires, but it pains me to, you know, it pains me to buy my half and half at Whole Foods.
But I, you know, I'm trying to save money on driving, so I have to walk to Whole Foods.
So we own the Moda Center.
We paid $1 for it.
Hold Dundon's feet to the fire.
Yes, get the deal for naming rights and rent, but do not let the tragic Cold War brinksmanship lead to the loss of our only major sports franchise and more affluence drain that foots the bill for this city largely.
Rip City runs deep.
Go Blazers!
So much.
Rebecca Dobert
All right.
Hello, um, my name is Caitlin.
Are we ready?
Jamie Dunphy
You're ready.
Rebecca Dobert
Sweet.
Hi, so my name is Caitlin.
I'm here basically testifying in support of Mitch Green's amendment, the Sanitation Hygiene Workforce Development Amendment.
I also just wanna say that I've heard this earlier, but I do have a frustration with how this budget process is going where these amendments we got only a few days ago and it's not a lot of time for the public to review this all.
But that's why I'm gonna focus on one amendment and specifically because it's gonna redirect and I'm really glad that you very much emphasized that sweeps program and not just IRP in general, as we know that the budget is way bigger than just the sweeps.
But I want to talk about why that's so significant.
So I work at a day center, and I'm looking at you, Mayor Wilson, because you talk so much about day centers and how great they are.
So I work at Clackamas Service Center, which, although we are in Clackamas technically, we are 2 blocks away from Portland, which is where the city budget is based.
That's correct.
Most of the people who come to our center are in Portland and are getting swept by rapid response in Portland, and that has huge impacts for our day-to-day operations because we're giving out free clothing, we're giving out food boxes, and we give people stuff one day, and then the very next day I have people coming to me in tears about how rapid took all the stuff we gave them the previous day, and that's a huge strain on our resources as a day center, and it's extremely.
It's been intensifying, especially in recent years.
And I feel like that Rapid's contract since I've been in Portland, like, started out at like $4 million, and I know our IRP's budget is like $14 million.
It just keeps expanding and expanding, and all it's doing is traumatizing people.
It's putting strain on our day centers.
And I think this is a step in the right direction, but it could go further.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Darlene Sherman's online.
You can go ahead.
Darlene, you can unmute and testify.
Sorry, you're good.
All right, I'm Darlene Sherman.
I'm a resident of District 3.
I've had 2 careers.
One is a The second as an ecologist, and from both these perspectives—human health and ecological health and climate mitigation—we must continue, not postpone tree planting, tree care, and tree preservation in Portland.
The understand the need to address this budget deficit, in which case I do support the.
Transfer of PCF interest to the general fund.
This year, that is $26.9 million.
It does need the approval of the PCF committee.
That is our process.
I support Avalos One, which would restore $5.9 million to PCF-funded projects and staff that the mayor is proposing moving to.
Impact reduction programs, Portland Solution.
These may have really valuable components, but they do not fit with the PCF goals and would violate the voter intent.
I also support Koyama Lane 2 to restore funding to the 12 PCF-funded positions in the tree permitting that will protect and support the planting program.
Thank you.
I also support the Sustainability Office for, um, 2 positions for creating the new climate action plan.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Karen Chire, Jordan Lewis, Eugene Jackson, Benjamin Gilbert, Jim Rice, Deborah Field, Audrey DeCourcy, Karen is online.
You can go ahead, Karen.
Good afternoon.
My name is Karen T. Ray.
I'm a business owner in District 4 and a resident in District 3, and you all know me by now.
I've testified at the very first City Council sitting in front of you waiting for 6 hours to testify.
And when I testified then, and as I've been testifying throughout this whole process, I've been very clear about my concerns.
And the need for more police officers on our street.
And I'm going to continue to say that.
Having a business in downtown Portland off of West Burnside, you can only imagine the amount of crime that I deal with on a weekly basis.
And just recently have a shoplifter that continually comes in to shoplift.
Councilmember Dan Ryan.
I then found him waiting for police to catch up to us so that they can arrest him, but there was no officers available.
I then found him through a coworker the next morning and followed him through town.
I called police again to potentially have him apprehended, where he then stole from other places during our walk around downtown.
Jamie Dunphy
Councilmember Smith, I apologize.
Rebecca Dobert
So I urge you, please do not cut any funding, and if not, give more funding to the police bureau so that we can protect the citizens of our, our city and also the businesses that continually close around my business.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You can go ahead at the testimony table.
Hello, my name is Nancy Thorington.
I'm the Deputy City Attorney for the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Jamie Dunphy
Hello, my name is Benjamin Gilbert, and I'm a volunteer lobbyist for the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, a mass democratic organization of over 3,000 volunteers in the Portland metro area.
I want to preface my testimony by acknowledging a specter looming over this budget conversation.
Many of you on council know I'm all in on red, but when our mayor is proposing spending hundreds of millions on a handout to a Texas billionaire Moda Center deal, I want to show strong support for the Murillo-Green-Novick 1 core services realignment pause, and I want to strongly oppose Clark 1 and Clark-Pirtle-Guiney-Novick-Ryan-Smith 1.
The Office of Community-Based Police Accountability was passed by an 82% vote of Portland voters in 2020 and took 6— and has taken 6 years to finally begin operations.
Councilmember Smith.
Defunding this body is an attack on the very concept of police accountability and police oversight and democracy.
What else has 82% of the vote?
I strongly support Green 1.
We need to chop from the top, and firefighting capacity in St. Johns will be especially important with the CEI hub.
I support Green 2 and 3.
The mayor's paternalistic night shelter Vision has not delivered on its promises, and to Mayor Wilson, sticking your head in the sand when the numbers don't go your way doesn't change the reality we all see.
Canal Three protects democracy.
Canal Four and Five are crucial for our city.
We need to fund chat and PSR.
Coyama Lane Four is also great, and we're supportive.
And the tribal summit must be adequately funded.
It's not a lot of money.
Rio One for community health and safety.
Are also great.
Avalos 1 and 4 are awesome.
And finally, I want to call on the city to build municipal capacity by stopping regressive practices like contracting out and public-private partnerships.
Enough of bloated golden parachutes for upper management.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Jim Rice is online.
You can go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
Good afternoon, uh, council members, Council members, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be able to speak today.
Portland has entered the doom loop.
Your decisions through this budgetary process will determine if our decline will continue.
Our suburbs believe that Portland is not safe, significantly impacting small businesses and the revitalization of downtown.
2025 had the highest number of small business bankruptcies in over 12 years.
Councilmember, I apologize.
Years, more than during the pandemic itself.
Currently, there's over 10,900 small businesses that are losing money across our area, possibly impacting over 70,000 jobs.
We are the 2nd highest tax burden place in the country, and what do we get for it?
We have the smallest police force of any city our size.
In fact, we'd have to double our police force just to be average.
Government has shown that crime has been dropping, yet a poll recently out shows that 67% of small businesses were either burglarized or vandalized in the past year.
Crime isn't dropping; our communities have stopped calling the police for help.
For many, the businesses and jobs they support, crime is the nail in their coffins.
It's critical now more than ever to prioritize where not.
To cut, you have to ensure that the citizens are safe.
A K2 poll recently showed 79% of the populace want to see the budget, the police budget, be increased, not reduced.
Citizens want to know when they call for help, help will actually arrive.
Please support Olivia Clark and her proposals.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much for being here.
Rebecca Dobert
Jordan Lewis is online.
You can go ahead, Jordan.
Jamie Dunphy
Hello, councilors.
My name is Jordan Lewis.
I'm a volunteer lobbyist for the Portland Democratic Socialists of America.
My t-shirt is dirty after a very long and very busy weekend, but I hope you can recognize the humanity within me even as I tell you things that you don't want to hear.
I need to express my disappointment at a budget amendment process that seemed designed to depress outreach and public comment.
The amendments were released Friday night and testimony was 9 AM Monday morning.
That's preposterous.
People can't make that.
I'm gonna need you to do just a little bit better going forward.
Uh, anyways, I'm gonna be a no on Clark 1 and the similar joint amendment.
82% Of Portland voters didn't approve the OCPA with the expectation it would take 6 years to have its first meeting and get defunded before it could even hear its first case.
Uh, this is a dereliction of your responsibility to voters.
Not a single one of you earned 82% of votes in your district.
Thank you.
District, hands-off OCPA, filing a budget amendment that violated the city charter, and then following up with a duplicative amendment to resolve the violation is really sloppy work.
And if I did that at my day job, I'd get a really unpleasant Microsoft Teams call afterwards, and I'd actually have to attend that meeting.
Um, my boss also might ask why anyone is demanding increases to the PPV budget when we've seen PPV hiring levels decrease as funding increased every year since 2020.
The correlation between police funding and hiring is literally negative.
I get that as politicians your job is not to make evidence-based policy or to better evidential outcomes, but to virtue signal to your base.
And I think we can do a little bit better.
To quote the city's public hearings office in 2025, it really is about facts, not feelings.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Audrey DiCorsi's online.
You can go ahead, Audrey.
Jamie Dunphy
Hello.
Rebecca Dobert
I hope you can hear me.
Esteemed councilors, you are working hard.
Thanks for listening.
My name is Audrey DeCourcy.
I'm a voter in District 3.
I am not a paid lobbyist.
I am not even wearing a t-shirt today.
I will note that I am here because of the mayor's email asking me to testify.
There have been some interesting emails from the mayor during this budget season, but I urge you to follow 2 I would ask you to remember 2 principles in your deliberations over this budget.
Number one, preserve frontline city jobs.
Don't lose the deep knowledge that these workers bring.
Please take a hard look at management consultants contracts before cutting union jobs with the city.
And 2, listen to voters.
Please preserve PCF's intent and impact.
Voters asked for real climate justice solutions, spending on city services that help climate justice does make sense, but not diverting it to unrelated issues.
Same goes for OCPA funds.
Please use them as voters intended.
You cannot have true public safety without accountability.
We're seeing that on a national scale, and that's scary.
Um, since I'm just getting to the yellow portion of my time, I'll add a third.
Please preserve jobs supporting our digital accessibility transition.
For city web services.
Digital accessibility is key, and it's hard work, but please continue to fund this.
You have a really tough job ahead of you.
I just want to thank you for your service.
Have a good afternoon.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Sorry, Vicki Payne is online.
Vicki, you can go ahead.
Hi, my name is Vicki Payne.
I'm echoing sentiments of many who've already spoken today.
I support the Clark et al.
Amendment to use OCPA funds to backfill cut public safety positions.
I'm guessing most Portlanders like myself voted on this ballot measure because of course we always wanted police accountability but didn't read the fine print or attempt to understand it.
5% Sounds like a very small number, and if you told me we'd be putting $16 million towards that every year or I probably would have had a bit more pause, especially now knowing that's more than the auditor's office budget.
We're not going to need that much money even after we hire a director and staff in next year's budget, so I'm not sure what the issue is.
Ditto for PSF.
We were told it would only bring in $30 to $50 million a year.
It's bringing in up to $200 million a year.
This absolutely does need to go back to the voters, as recent polling about the police staffing ballot measure shows folks are very much in support of using these unanticipated funds to support safety and livability, which does uplift the concept of meeting climate goals.
Handing out air conditioners and e-bikes are not moving the needle on climate emissions, and folks like myself still, still don't feel safe riding public transit or commuting regularly by bike because the bike lanes are filthy and we're nervous about locking up our e-bikes in public for more than 10 minutes.
I also echo earlier sentiments about not cutting Urban Alchemy.
They've been— they have the best staff.
Thank you.
Best proven track record of moving folks through quickly to supportive housing.
And we have a city and county have chosen to support the model of low-barrier shelters and peers in recovery handling them.
So we can't be hypocritical when folks relapse as we put them in tempting situations full of avail— available open drug use in an increasingly expensive city to live in with their low wages.
We need, we need to respect the ugly, inevitable dark side of doing behavioral health work.
Thank you.
Thank you very LeJune Thorson, Lori Wimmer, Michaela McCormick, Mike Roach, Diana Stewart, Devin Ruiz, David Dixon.
Mike's online, you can go ahead.
Thank you.
Mike Roach, you can unmute and testify.
Good afternoon.
Jamie Dunphy
My name is Mike Roach.
I have co-owned Paloma Clothing in the Hillsdale Business District in Southwest Portland for the last 51 years.
5-1.
My purpose in speaking today is to ask all of you to unify yourselves into a single caucus called the Hope for Small Business Owners Caucus as you consider the proposed budget.
Thousands of Portland small business owners are hanging on by a thread and are just one more burglary or vandal attack from closing their doors, giving up, and walking away.
Small business owners will not understand why presently idle funds are not being used to pay for police and fire protection for their businesses and customers and the critical business district crime prevention program called PMO that we all count on.
The proposed amendment by Councilor Clark to use the $10 million— to use $10 million from the Police Oversight Board to avoid police, fire, and PMO cuts is a common sense way to give small business owners the hope we need to hang on.
Please support the Clark Amendment.
Thank you very much for your time.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you.
Go ahead at the testimony table.
Hi, my name is Lejeune Thorson.
I'm the president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, and I'm on the board of the Frog Ferry, but my remarks today are my own, and I'm going to share some priorities.
Um, my priorities are very pragmatic.
We must make we must make it more affordable for residents to stay in Portland, and we must support businesses both large and small to stay here and encourage new businesses and residents to come to Portland.
Broadly, my long-term concern is about restoring our economy for its long-term sustainability.
I believe we must restore public safety, including fire and rescue, chat, and police.
These are what people expect from their government and our city moving forward into economic recovery.
Continue the programs that are helping our homeless neighbors move forward into housing and stability, like our very successful Southwest NATO Village.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, Mayor.
Rebecca Dobert
And manage our public assets, and this includes the Moda Center.
I wish I were as As, as funny as the guy who was here a little while ago.
Um, we must not lose the income it generates by bringing people into Portland from throughout the region, and we can't afford to lose the job it provides.
Let's continue to do what we can to restore our livability and economy while exercising good fiscal stewardship.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Lori Wimmer representing Northwest Oregon Labor Council and also convener of the City of Portland Labor Leaders Ad Hoc Budget Coalition for the 2nd year in a row.
First of all, I just want to say thank you to all of you.
I know the job you have is super tough and you have to sit through a lot of very difficult testimony, and I apologize for all of those who can't be kind.
I'm going to be very quick because I have given you my written testimony.
It's in your record, and if you have the time to read it, it'll give you a lot more detail.
We like a lot of what you have all offered, but chiefly a few.
And before I start, I wanted to say that it would be really great if this body would resist the inclination to expand programs, add new programs, or add new staffing in a time of crisis.
With some 150-plus employees being targeted for cuts.
As worthy as any of these ideas might be, now is not the time to add to the family when we're struggling to feed the children we have.
I would like to also say that Clark, Pirtle-Guiney, Novick, Ryan is alone.
There's been some misunderstanding.
We support that because we believe that things like victim services and union jobs are worth saving.
So thank you all for that.
We love Murillo Green Novick 1, Novick 3, and Novick 5, Green 4, and Murillo 1, because these all restore frontline workers.
And we really do think that that, rather than administrative bloat, ought to be a concern.
And once again, I'm just going to put in a pitch for taking out those contracts to private vendors when you could have a city employee do the same job for less.
I haven't seen that in anything you've offered, but I'm hopeful, and hope springs eternal.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Jamie Dunphy
Hey, my name is David Dixon, and I have been actively engaged in addressing the issue of unsheltered homelessness for the last 7 years.
3 Years delivering survival items and friendship to my unsheltered downtown neighbors, and the last 2 years as convener of the Homeless Solutions Coalition.
Today I'll— I offer 3 recommendations.
They do not address specific budget line items or amendment proposals, but focus on the big picture and how we address homelessness, a crisis that Portlanders consistently rank as our city's greatest problem.
First, please do not cut funding to address unsheltered homelessness, especially cuts which will accelerate death on our streets and worsen the quality of life for all Portlanders.
Second, Second, the city and the county must work together and design a system of outreach, intake, shelter, treatment, housing, and workforce training that is integrated and accountable to the taxpayer.
Third, we are losing the race to produce housing faster than people are becoming homeless in Portland.
Our low-barrier housing-first approach is placing people in housing without adequate behavioral health treatment, And little to no preparation to live independent of government support.
A roof overhead is essential, but we must shift our end goal to societal reentry.
It will not happen overnight, but if every paid worker and volunteer who serves our unsheltered neighbors would become laser-focused on giving people the treatment and support to discover their sense of purpose and gain the skills needed to successfully reenter society, Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Good afternoon.
My name is Diana Stewart.
I'm a resident of the downtown.
I'm on the board of the DNA and the District 4 Coalition, and I'm also a concerned citizen participant.
I'm speaking for myself today.
I add my voice to today's excellent testimony and urge passage of Clark Amendment 1.
I'm not going to give you all the reasons.
They've been given to you.
But just to say, look at today's Business Journal, which recites that statistic that Portland is 47th out of 50 cities in the police officers per 1,000, which significantly impacts our communities of color and our economically struggling residents when response time is so low.
On a different matter, I draw your attention to the written testimony of the concerned citizens, which is in detail, but in sum, it I want to request that you avoid any amendments today and tomorrow and the day after that will threaten long-term viability of parks.
We urge that you create a budget note directing parks to provide you in the next year with a fiscal sustainability plan which includes capital asset maintenance and tells you how we can get there rather than relying on uncertain voter passage in the future.
I also want to Join the passionate and persuasive testimony asking you to shift money from the top administrative budgets down to the street-level city workers providing those core services to us.
It makes sense that we have to all struggle and all take a hit in today's budget circumstances.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Devin Ruiz is online.
You can go ahead and unmute yourself.
Good afternoon, Council.
My name is Devin Ruiz.
I live in D2, and I'm a registered lobbyist for Next Step.
We're a nonprofit organization that works to amplify the voice and leadership of diverse young people to achieve a more just and equitable Oregon.
Like so many residents, young people across Portland are facing financial hardship.
Our budget cannot be balanced against their future.
We cannot go against the will of the voters, making our own interpretations and stretching the definition of what qualifies for use of PSF funds.
We strongly urge you to return money to PSF through Avalos 1.
It feels like there is a new raid on PSF funds every month.
This tells me that our city government sees a value in corporate or large business taxes and potential for similar taxes to fund the gaps our city faces.
Mayor Wilson needs to be working with our governor and our state legislature to find new streams of revenue and wealth taxes While not wasting money on solutions that don't work.
Funding for sweeps, Urban Alchemy, and temporary overnight shelter beds should not be considered in this budget.
These are not solutions and instead actively harm the communities they are working to protect.
Balancing this budget requires taking a hard look at what actually works, not complacently funding failing programs that result in more harm and more people on the streets.
Balancing our budget should mean— not mean slashing funds that were intended to be investments for our future, for climate infrastructure and resiliency.
In addition to supporting Avalos 1, we ask you to oppose Clark 1 because we need to respect the intent of the voters.
We also support Avalos 1, 4, 5, 6, Green 1, 2, 3, Murillo Green Novick 1, Novick Murillo 1, Kanal 1 and 3, Dunphy 3, Koyama Lane 2, and Smith 1.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Kip Silverman, Rowan Harvey, Azalea Renfield, Tanisha Renee, Alan Combs, Dr. J.W.
Matt Hennessey, Jeff Love.
Kip, you can go ahead online.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Uh, my name is Kip Silverman.
I use he/him pronouns, and I am co-chair of the Portland Community Committee on Community Engaged Policing, but I'm representing myself as a resident of St. Johns District 2.
And of Portland for nearly 30 years now.
As someone who's worked, uh, been deeply involved and committed many volunteer hours on public safety, hunger, and homeless issues over the years, it's incomprehensible to me that having a full year with intentions that were campaigned on and several months since fully understanding that the accounting of the various bureaus is likely deeply flawed That we've been presented to us another austerity budget, with the biggest cuts coming to public safety and the people can least afford the inevitable outcome of this.
I can't tell if it's incompetence or intentional malfeasance that year after year we keep having the same discussions while the ability for people to live day to day, whether housed or unhoused, becomes increasingly difficult.
D2 and D1 are continually designated sacrifice zones, and these cuts will affect us most.
The city's administration needs to get its crap together.
Making any cuts to public safety, letting go working-class city staff, or raising rates yet again on people who can't afford it is reprehensible when it's clear that the city does not have a good understanding of the money it has and how it's being Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Rowan, you can go ahead online.
Thank you so much.
Um, thank you, councilors.
My name is Rowan Harvey and I'm a District 3 resident, parent, and organizer with Next up, a civic home for young people to build their political power and take the lead on shaping their future.
I'm urging you to support the Avalos 1, Morillo 1, Morillo-Green-Novick 1, Green 1, 2, and 3, Smith 1, and Kanal 3 amendments.
These amendments are examples of meeting community needs without impacting our most vulnerable.
When we're cutting funding— when we cut funding to community safety, to our mental health support, to climate resilience, to programs like CHAT, Portland Street Response, and Lunch and Play, it is at the expense of our future.
And when we put forth disingenuous solutions that give the appearance of meeting community needs while gutting community-led projects like the Board for Accountability, or misappropriating funds voted on for specific purposes like the continued attempts to use PSF for the Moda Center, it destabilizes community trust.
Our community deserves solutions that don't further erode the steps we're taking toward a more equitable, accountable, affordable future for all, including our most disenfranchised.
So on behalf of the future our communities deserve, I urge you to support Avalos 1, Morillo 1, Morillo Green Novick 1, Green 1, 2, 3, Knoll 3, and to oppose Clark 1.
Thank you very much.
Azalea, you can go ahead online.
Hi, can everybody hear me?
Yep, we can.
Okay, great.
Sorry, I'm like in transit picking up my kids from school.
I apologize.
Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners.
My name is Azalea Renfield.
I'm the CEO of Wombs and Bustles.
It's an honor to be here before you all.
Thank you for getting this budget before everybody.
I think it's super important to examine.
It shows our priorities for the city.
I want to recognize the broad support across council that reflects the areas of housing, economic development, and community health and safety.
It matters because our communities need more than just promises.
We need investment.
With that being said, Williams and Russell, we're building homes for ownership right now, not just housing units, but pathways for working families and first-time homebuyers.
I want to be sure to let you all know that we support I support.
Avalos on Amendment 4 and 5, Kanal on 1 and 3, Murillo on 1, Novick on 1, Ryan on 1, Smith on 1 and 2, Pirtle-Guiney on 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, Green on 2, Zimmerman on 3, Koyama Lane on 7, Dunphy on 1, and Clark on 1.
We support these efforts because it's housing, economic development, community safety, and all the things that relate to our, um, our build.
Thank you so, so much.
We appreciate your efforts, and we look forward to seeing you on the 27th.
Thanks.
Thank you very much.
Tanisha Renee, you can go ahead.
Yes, thank you.
Good afternoon.
My name is Tanisha Renee.
I am the Deputy Executive Director at Williams and Russell, and just as my colleague Azalea said, I'm here today in support of the budget amendments that advance housing Economic development, community health and safety.
So I urge the council to support the amendments from Avalos 4 and 5, Kanal 1 and 3, Murillo 1, Novak 1, Ryan 1, Dunphy 1, Clark 1, Smith 1 and 2, um, EPG 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, Green 2, Zimmerman 3, and Camoya Lane at 7.
These amendments matter because Portland cannot families need homes they can afford.
Small businesses need real investment.
Neighborhoods need emergency services that respond when people are in crisis.
Communities have carried that burden of displacement, disinvestment, and instability, need the city to make real investment and not just symbolic commitments.
This is about whether Portland is willing to make real progress on the crisis of homelessness.
Thank you.
So again, I urge council to support these amendments and move forward with a budget that invests in housing, economic development, health and safety.
And I look forward to speaking more specifically about Williams and Russell and SEI on May 27th.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
Next we have Simone Crowe.
Thank you, Mayor.
Erin Meehan, Elle McFarland, Brooke Buranew, Anais Tupker, Rachel Miles Davis, and Joe Squires.
Simone, you can go ahead online.
Hi, I'm 5 minutes away from City Hall.
I was hoping to join in person, but I can testify online if that is the preference.
We're ready for you to testify.
Okay, let me just pull over.
Hoping to make it in time to be in person.
Um, I'm so sorry.
Hi, my name is Simone Crowe, and thank you all for having me here today.
Um, I am I'm with Thrive East PDX and owner of Tending Blue Fields Massage and Bodywork, a small business.
First off, I'd like to offer my suggestions on areas of funding to evaluate and consider cutting or not funding in order to fund community resilience and economic prosperity.
So first off, Moda Center renovations.
Secondly, East Portland Action Plan.
Thirdly, Prosper Portland.
And fourthly, And finally, um, Dunphy 4's amendment, high earners raise— high earners raises and bonuses at the city.
Um, and I hope that you all adopt Dunphy 1 and use the Office of Community and Civic Life staff budgets to help fund crucial life-saving efforts.
Thank you for recently investing in housing.
Please continue to fund housing.
It's not just the fact that Portlanders and immigrants are facing evictions.
Homes are our first line of defense against climate disasters.
This summer, we're likely going to see higher temperatures and more smoke than ever before.
East Portland has one emergency— or no, has no emergency shelters anymore.
Invest in resilience hubs.
If you're going to divert PSF funds, channel it to resilience.
That was the original intent of the ballot measure.
It wouldn't be difficult to broaden the definition and channel money into places like community-based organizations and libraries to stand up cooling or warming shelters.
Next year, for the newfound EPAP bucket of funds, create an RFP process for the East Portland CBOs.
Fund the Public Management Office so that East Portland organizations like Cultivate Initiatives can continue to do the great work of beautifying our city like they do on Park Rose.
I urge you to support small businesses.
Could you partially match the IDA program?
Create a tiered system that offers, uh, tiered permitting and business licenses?
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, Simone.
Sorry, we are at time.
Rebecca Dobert
Oh, Brooke is online.
Brooke, you can go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
Hello, good afternoon, council members.
My name is Brooke Berhadi.
I currently live in District 2, and I'm a voting member of the Portland Utility Board, also known as PUB.
And I also serve as a PUB representative on the Project Delivery Advisory Team for the Bull Run Filtration Project.
I'm speaking today to reiterate and emphasize PUB's position previously provided by co-chairs Chipman and Wilson on the proposed utility budgets.
The PUB would like to urge council to please adopt the full 7.5% combined rate increase.
Utility rate increase needed to maintain current service levels and authorize the $525 million bond towards the Bull Run Filtration Project.
This is the minimum needed to preserve operations, reliability, and long-term financial stability of essential utility services.
Construction costs only continue to rise, and further delaying much-needed infrastructure improvements will only increase those costs over the long term and leave Portland's water and wastewater systems more susceptible to the impacts of climate change.
At the same time, aging infrastructure also contributes to water loss, which is lost revenue from water that we pay to produce but the Bureau does not collect any revenue on.
Beyond the impacts to service, the proposed budget will constrain the utility's ability to complete the core services realignment in progress and transition to the unified One Water model that will support customer affordability with all that said, I'd like to reiterate public support for an appropriate budget that does not continue the cycle of shifting cost burdens to future generations.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Anais, you can go ahead online.
Hello, thank you.
Uh, hello, Councilors, the Mayor, and everyone.
My name is Anais Tipker.
I live in District 3.
Um, I'm calling in during my work hours, so I need to be brief.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I need to state I'm testifying during my break time, and I am— my comments are my own.
I am not speaking as a federal employee.
Uh, I'm testifying today in support of Avalos 1, Koyama Lane 2, Novick 3, and Green 1 in particular.
Um, I'm testifying— I'm motivated to testify today particularly because I was one of the hundreds, maybe thousands of Portlanders who collected the signatures and canvassed door to door across Portland in order to make PCEF a reality.
I did that because of the bold vision of PCEF that recognized that we needed serious and targeted investments in a clean energy transition, really looking towards a different model for our future.
I did not put my heart and time into creating a general-purpose fund for the city to use when it needs Band-Aids.
I find it particularly distasteful that some of the use for PCF now would be for things like trash collection, which sounds a lot like supporting sweeps of our unhoused neighbors.
I was moved by testimony by others about problems with that.
And I, uh, you know, PSF has shown that the model works.
If the city needs money, I encourage them to work with others to find ways to have additional licensing taxes on, uh, corporations.
I want us to keep this money, uh, where it belongs, uh, protect the vision of PSF.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Patricia Rojas, Marnie Glickman, Madeline Carroll, Cheryl Gardner, Diana Ross— excuse me, Dina Ross, Joe Zettler.
And Patricia's online, you can go ahead.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mayor Wilson, Council President Dunphy, and city councilors.
My name is Patricia Rojas, I use she and her pronouns, and I'm the executive director of the Regional Arts and Culture Council.
I'm here today in support of Dumphy 2, which backfills most of the proposed cuts in arts and culture.
Often budget investments and subsequent cuts are talked about in terms of programming, but it's important that we talk about public dollars in terms of outcomes and impact on the city of Portland and her residents.
In a fiscal landscape of budget deficits, it's easy for some to think of funding the arts as a Nice to have.
But I'm here to uplift the role of artists and arts in our community as foundational to a thriving economy, health, and the sense of, of well-being and belonging in our community.
One of the reasons people come to visit Portland, move to Portland, and choose to stay in Portland is the richness of the arts in our community.
Any day of the week, Portlanders can enjoy world-class live music, theater, dance performances, visit art galleries with beautiful paintings and so many other mediums of art.
Families enjoy concerts and movies in the park, all because we have a healthy and thriving arts community.
That is due because we have individual artists that call Portland home, and those artists are business owners.
They're not hobbyists.
These are folks making a living off of the art that they create, and they're not the only ones, right?
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Rebecca Dobert
Restaurants, parking facilities, bars, small storefronts, other auxiliary businesses are also thriving because people come to see the arts, watch that performance, and spend those dollars in those businesses.
Uh, is that, is that all the time that I have?
Jamie Dunphy
Yeah, that was time, unfortunately.
Rebecca Dobert
Sorry.
Okay, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Cheryl, you can go ahead.
Good afternoon, Mayor Wilson, Council President, and City Council.
I'm Cheryl Gardner, and I belong to Hope and Bread Street Church on 82nd Avenue.
I worked for Portland Parks in the last years of the 20th century, and it was well known at the time that the city east of 82nd Avenue was underserved by Portland Parks.
Sadly, not much has changed in the past 26 years.
As a person of faith, I believe that everyone is my neighbor and that the city I love isn't providing a fair share of its resources to my neighbors in East Portland.
Fewer than 9% of parks are located east of 82nd Avenue.
Parks website states that 5 of those parks have a shelter, but it includes Montebello, making it an unreliable source.
With a higher than average number of people of color immigrants, and families with children living in the area.
It's not a good look for Portland.
The shelter at Montevideo Park may seem insignificant, but it would show our neighbors that they matter to the people in power and that their voices are heard.
We appreciate that Councilor Koyama Lane has spent time with us and look forward to hosting Councilors Murillo and Novick.
And all of you have an open invitation to join us Hope and Bread any Sunday afternoon at 5 o'clock.
Please pass Koyong Lane 6, and thank you for your time.
Thank you very much.
Dina, you can go ahead.
Good afternoon, my name is Dina Ross and I serve as a member of the Community Board for Police Accountability, but I'm speaking today in an individual capacity as a constituent of Councilmember Smith.
Good evening, my name is Jamie Dunphy.
I represent District 4.
I am here to urge City Council to reject Council Vice President Clark's amendment to remove $10 million from the CBPA budget through the OCPA.
This funding is not unused because the board does not need it.
It is unspent because the voter-mandated system has only just begun meeting and it is still being built from the ground up.
Portlanders have waited more than 5 years for the oversight system they approved in 2020, measured 26-217 passed with 81.58% support.
Pulling these funds now would undermine the voters, the board, and the city's stated commitment to police accountability.
I also find it concerning that this proposal was released without first consulting the CBPA.
Public safety and police accountability are not opposing goals.
Accountability is public safety.
Please reject this amendment.
Thank you.
Thank you very Joe, you can go ahead.
Hi, I'm Jo Zettler, and I'm afraid my aging brain couldn't quite make it in time to look at the detail of the amendments, so my suggestions are more like guidelines based on what I feel are the important issues.
I believe we should continue anything that contributes to the Police Bureau current renovation process.
I've been very impressed with their new approaches to community policing and the use of non-officer staff for quicker, more efficient first response.
And I think it's a great idea to use unused funds from the Not Ready for Prime Time Police Accountability Fund, which gets annual funding.
I agree that we should hold harmless traditionally underserved communities as much as we can within the limitations of this year's budget.
I approve of any spending for kids and youth, particularly in low-income areas.
I'm opposed to any increase in funding for urban forestry until it's audited.
Interaction with property owners have shown it to be difficult to deal with and inefficient.
I'm opposed to I'm not opposed to more funding for parks except for underserved areas.
Public safety and public works maintenance, which could include park structures, are this year's top priorities.
And I urge each of you to commit to work together in the face of these competing priorities that we've seen here today and to continue our push toward a workable city.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Trish Garner, Lisa Jackson Spotted Elk, Gina Taylor, Maya Spencer, Sophie Chirlik-Rittenbaum, Wynne Firth, and Emery Mort.
Trish, you can go ahead online.
All right, good afternoon.
My name is Trish Garner.
My pronouns are she/her.
I live in District 2, and while I serve on the Community Board for Police Accountability, I'm speaking here today solely in my personal capacity against Clark 1.
2 Points.
Firstly, the CPBA is making real and measurable progress.
After a lengthy security check process, it's now actively engaged in hiring a director, defining priorities, and building the systems necessary to fulfill its mission.
The meeting cadence has increased to accelerate that work.
A reduction in funding now would hinder this momentum.
Secondly, reducing the CBPA budget would send the wrong message to the community.
Independent police accountability is not optional infrastructure.
It is essential public trust infrastructure.
The CBPA represents Portland's commitment to fair, independent, community-centered oversight of police misconduct.
Weakening that commitment now risks undermining I surely recognize the city faces serious fiscal challenges, but reducing the CBPA budget as proposed would jeopardize years of work and public investment at the very moment the board is beginning to deliver on its mandate.
I urge you to preserve the funding necessary for the CBPA to succeed.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Lisa, you can go ahead.
Democracy is native.
Democracy is indigenous.
For 100 years and hundreds of years before any white person stepped on this land, it's been intact with developing practices, deeply felt democracy of the independent nations living interdependently under the great law of peace.
These deep roots of principles of governance and self-governance, where the 7 generations were truly sustainable, where Mother Nature is a table, is sitting at the table right next to you, and where peace is the highest carrying of governance, and where law is aligned with life.
This is the opportunity in life where we have the opportunity to reset.
In many ways, this democracy is dying.
In many ways, it never really served Most of us that have been here, desperation deserves mercy.
This racial equity thing is all fake.
All of you, if you can't see you're racially divided, that's a problem.
When the people ask you for for housing, when people ask you for mental health resources, and they ask you for help, and they ask you to not be hunted hunted on their land.
Friends, we need to come together.
We are undermining each other when people are losing faith because of the collaboration between one another is suffering.
We need to come together.
The $30,000 isn't anything.
Keep that in mind.
Ahead of the testimony table, Hi, do I have to return?
You're good.
Okay, um, I'm a volunteer at the Clackamas Service Center.
My name is Gina Taylor, and I want to bring to the attention about Rapid Response's biohazard team, how their company culture is to degrade and ridicule our most vulnerable citizens of our city experiencing homelessness.
Um, I've witnessed firsthand the trauma that they inflict on many people.
Over 200 people were left in extreme weather without blankets and Councilmember Gonzalez.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I'm here to speak out on behalf of my constituents.
The homeless have been living in tents to protect them from the elements.
Necessary medications were withheld and disposed of instead of being given to them, which endangers lives and that they have caused death.
Sadly, settling out of court isn't okay.
The city has turned a blind eye to this behavior, which makes the city complicit and condoning it in my eyes.
I know we can do better.
I'm here to support Amendment Green 3 and, you know, remind you guys to give trash bags to campsites, porta-potties.
Nobody wants to live in filth.
Thank you very much.
Nguyen, you can go ahead.
Good morning— sorry, good afternoon.
Thank you for still being here.
Council President, Council, Mayor Wilson, City Administrator Raymond Lee, My name is Wynne Firth.
I speak as an individual today.
Some good work was done during the 100-plus years that we were governed by the commission form of government, but we also earned a reputation for siloed bureaus, uncoordinated projects, duplicative, even contradictory activity, for the neglect of basic maintenance, and a lack of coherent planning.
In 2022, I was part of a group that spoke to a lot of Portlanders about the new form of government that was proposed in the charter amendment, and the most informed, passionate advocacy was from the city employees who turned out to be in the audience who testified about what they'd seen of the waste of their time and the city's money.
When people in Portland voted for the charter amendment, we wanted better representation, but we also And they wanted the more effective and efficient government that could come with that.
For years, our problems have been well known, and there have been efforts to clean up our act, but they failed because every time money is tight, nobody wants to spend it on organizational cleanup.
But you need to hold fast to this.
You are our chance to turn the page on that history.
Crowds don't turn out on behalf of administrative infrastructure.
It's even hard to pronounce.
Nobody cuts a ribbon.
It's not anybody's baby, but it should be everybody's baby, because unless we clean up our act, we can't deliver all the things that people do turn out for.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Maya, you can go ahead online.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Maya Thank you, Mayor.
My name is Jamie Dunphy.
I'm a resident of District 2.
I have served the City of Portland for over 20 years in my work, and I'm a proud member of the CPPW union.
I'm speaking on my own behalf today in favor of several amendments.
First of all, Avalos 6 to restore a community engagement coordinator position in parks.
I wanted to note council may not have the context that this team already lost 2 of its 6 FTE positions in last year's budget.
Losing an additional position would be a cumulative Councilmember Koyama Lane.
Thank you, Mayor Wilson.
This is a substantive 50% cut over 2 years to an already small team and will impact Parks' ability to engage and be responsive to Portlanders' needs from their parks and recreation system.
I also support Avalos 3, Dunphy 3, and Novick 2.
All of these provide ways to preserve the Parks Coordinator who supports partners and volunteers on the east side and many other vital community safety services.
I also support Koyama Lane 4 to add $30,000 for the travel Summit.
Our city must support this work in respect to tribal sovereignty and to show, to put our money where our values are.
As a District 2 resident, I also support Canal 1 to increase homeownership opportunities for the Black community.
And finally, I commend the collaboration and thoughtfulness on the Murillo-Green-Novick 1 amendment to pause core services realignment, a process that has felt neither collaborative nor thoughtful due to lack of engagement of staff and very little transparency in how decisions are being made.
Thank you for hearing the concerns of staff and responding with a plan to do this work right.
And a final few shoutouts to Marilla 1, Community Health and Safety, and Canal 6, Protecting Frontline Jobs.
I know it's not easy.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much, Maya.
Rebecca Dobert
Emery, you can go ahead online.
Jamie Dunphy
Good afternoon, President Dunphy, Councilor Uh, and thank you for your public service.
My name is Emery Mort, D4 resident, longtime volunteer organizer with the Portland Metro People's Coalition.
While speaking for myself, the amendments I support align with our coalition's adopted Bill of Rights.
While there are many important items for us to consider, my focus in this testimony is on improving Portland by increasing City Council oversight and direction to the city's homelessness Specifically, I call on you to support Councilor Green's 2 and 3 and Avalos' 4.
These 3 amendments are not disruptive to current services.
They are creative, participatory, and have future-looking checkpoints designed to build more positive momentum.
Taken together or individually, they say no unlimited funds for unproven pet projects.
Thank you.
They say yes to proven methods like hygiene infrastructure and small villages.
They say no to wasting precious dollars on unaccountable methods and facilities.
They say yes to responsible frameworks formed and executed between 2 elected branches of government and the people impacted.
Passed in tandem, Housing and Permitting Chair Avalos, 4, with Committee Vice Chair Green, 2 and 3, put a stake in the ground saying while Portland City Council shouldn't micromanage, perhaps it should manage more microvillages.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next up is Councilor Jamie Dunphy.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Al McFarland, Jeff Love, and Marnie Glickman.
You can come right up to the table.
Okay.
Jamie Dunphy
Hi, I'm Jeff Love.
I'm a longtime Oregon resident and Portland Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Rebecca Dobert
Councilor Mitch Green.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I'm Councilor Mitch Green, Vice President, currently residing in District 4.
Last time I spoke at the City Council, there were 5 councilors, and now it seems more— my analogy was going to be like a basketball team.
Now it seems to be more like a football team I'm addressing.
But the main thing that concerns me is that I see from all these amendments essentially a partnership, which is what I view all of you as, not working together the way it should.
And I'm a lawyer.
I've been a partner in a firm for many years.
You get together in a partnership meeting with 30 partners, people just have to look— work together, and they have to follow a leader.
The city elected a leader.
Next time it could be you.
This time, you know, it's Mayor Wilson.
And what I want to see from the City Council is support for his agenda.
It's just like a basketball team or a football team.
If you've got players who don't want to run the play that the coach called or the quarterback called or the point guard wants to run, it's just so disruptive.
It's so ineffective.
And so— and I know how partnerships work.
When you've got disputes, you try to work them out before the partnership meeting.
There shouldn't be this many disputes at the partnership meeting, which is essentially what this is.
And so I'm just asking all of you to try to work more as a team by supporting the person who's currently in the leadership chair.
And specifically, just to throw out a number, for those of you who are proposing amendments that the mayor's office is strongly against, I'd ask you just today, take out your pencil, drop half of them.
That would be a start.
Now, when it comes to the merits, Others have testified they know a lot more about the merits of all these amendments.
I get the idea that dropping any of these things is going to hurt some of your constituents, and it's going to hurt your agendas, but do it anyway for the purpose of improving the teamwork.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Good afternoon, councilors.
Thank you for your deep, respectful listening to us today.
My name is Marnie Glickman.
I'm a resident of District 2.
I'm the executive director of Braided River Campaign and a registered city lobbyist.
My main point today is to encourage you councilors to collaborate better and take on this big budget battle with hope.
Do not back down from doing what is right.
There are dozens of problems you've heard with the mayor's proposed budget.
When I read it, I too was disappointed.
And Mr. Mayor, I was also disappointed when you belittled people wearing t-shirts coming to City Council and voicing their—.
Thank you.
Concerns.
Portlanders work hard, and the city should work hard for Portlanders.
We don't want to waste our taxpayer dollars subsidizing the billionaire owner of the Trail Blazers.
And we care about children and elders.
The city should too, especially the children who go to preschool inside the CEI hub less than 1/2 a mile away from Kinder Morgan's tank farm.
Even though you eliminated the Climate Committee this year, You know, we all know Portlanders are environmentalists and conservationists.
We want you to protect PCEF and fulfill our obligations to clean up the Portland Harbor Superfund site.
This budget is your chance, our chance, to make life better for all of us.
10 Years from now, will we look back and say, wow, we came a long way from those difficult times?
I believe in you, and I know that you'll make the right decisions for all of Thank you very much.
Elle McFarlane's online.
Elle, you can go ahead.
Hello, can you hear me?
Jamie Dunphy
We can.
Rebecca Dobert
Hi, my name is Lauren McFarlane.
I work with the NRDC, Earthjustice, and other national advocates on lead and water issues.
I support Green Line Under the commission form of government, managers did not manage.
They protected bureau silos, budgets, and staff reputations.
Portland officials denied Portland Water Bureau's crisis despite multiple lead exceedances.
In comparison, Flint had one exceedance.
Last Wednesday, council heard utility managers discuss their plans to address the crisis.
In August 2017, managers claimed this would cost $105 to $500 million depending on the treatment choice, then persuaded old council on the $500 million choice, a filtration plant.
7 Years later, respected conservationist and Portland Utility Board member Bob Salinger called out this project as a waste of taxpayer money.
Thank you.
Soaring costs begging for oversight that never came.
Last Wednesday, Councilor Green wisely asked about the total cost of the project over its full debt repayment period.
CFO Jonas Beery wasn't sure, then returned with water-related debt, a jaw-dropping $4.98 billion.
What about other fees, other damage claims, and so on and so forth?
In short, multiple managers Thank you so much.
Sophie Chirlik-Rittenbaum's online.
You can go ahead.
Okay, thank you.
My name is Sophie Chirlik-Rittenbaum.
I use she/her/they pronouns, and I'm here to testify in support of the amendments championed by the DSA members on Councilor and Councilor Avalos.
That actually help the people of Portland and our planet, to testify against shifting more of Portlanders' tax dollars to the Portland Police Bureau, which I'll be referring to as PBB.
PSF is not a slush fund.
That money is for climate action because we are in a climate emergency.
That money is not for giving a billionaire a handout for a sports stadium renovation, nor is it for policing.
It is outrageous that severe cuts to programs that actually help people and protect our planet are always proposed while the police are only asked to give up what to them is a drop in the bucket, if anything.
Thank you.
PPB is eating up $318 million in Portland's budget in the current fiscal year.
PPB has received more and more money every year.
It never actually faced cuts after the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.
In fiscal year 2025-2026, $279,066,000 was spent on policing, not counting the retirement plan, retirement plan for police.
That amount divided by $2,545, the amount spent on average per apartment funded by a Portland housing measure is nearly 110,000 apartment units.
This is enough to house the 30,000 homeless people in Portland.
And it would have left over $203 million to prevent the cuts to other programs we are considering today.
And this doesn't even account for PBV's budget ballooning to $318 million this year.
Budget is a moral document.
Do we want to cut coercion, or do we want to cut climate justice and actual safety?
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Jeremy Beausoleil-Smith, Steve Herring, Mark Porras, Mateo Fredrickson, Chris Lapanis, Zach White.
Jamie Dunphy
Good afternoon, councilors.
My name is Steve Herring.
I'm the CEO of Living Room Theaters here in downtown Portland.
I'm a lifelong resident of Portland.
I was born in Portland.
I've lived here most of my life.
I wanted to address you all not on the specific budget measures that everyone has addressed.
There's a lot of activists that have testified here today on behalf of interests that they're very tied to.
I wanted to talk about the unlucky number 13, which is the number of councilors plus the mayor, which has led to just abysmal level of dysfunction.
I came and testified before you right around the beginning of this council.
You guys had a dysfunctional election for president, and then right after getting your first president, you voted to give yourselves a massive amount of money.
You all ran knowing how much money and how many staff you were going to have in your offices.
The goal of voters was to see the districts work together, to share resources, not to each one of you have your own specific private interests, your own private fund, and your own private office.
Our company has 2 theater locations.
One here in Portland, Oregon, and one in Indianapolis.
We also have a corporate headquarters located here in downtown Portland.
Our entire annual revenue is just over $3 million between our 2 locations.
That's down from what we used to have with 2 smaller locations pre-COVID, largely because we're in such dysfunction.
Councilor Avalos, you released a survey response just a couple days ago talking about how your district wants to see $200,000 taken from downtown reputation improvement.
And you said that businesses downtown just need to adjust to the new realities.
Well, those new realities are all because of the lack of public safety, which was the number one thing shown in your survey.
Please follow those results.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, councilors and Mr. Mayor.
My name is Mateo Frederickson.
I'm a senior at Roosevelt High School in District 2.
Let's go, let's go.
I've lived in District 2 all 18 years of my life, and I've seen many sides of the homeless crisis here in Portland.
I witnessed lots of drug abuse, seeing people trying to raise kids on the street, and it's even affected my family personally as people have tried to live outside my father's business down in downtown Kenton.
I'm in favor— I'm not here to discuss the amendments individually, but the budget as As a whole, I'm in favor of the budget because I believe it gives us a stable financial foundation, which we have not had for the last few years, and I believe that'll allow us to truly tackle our issues like vacancies in downtown Portland and most importantly homelessness and the significant— significantly high cost of living here in Portland.
Our city and our residents I believe are ready to heal from our many wounds, and in the words of the mayor, we cannot put the brakes on our recovery.
So thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Jeremy, you can go ahead online.
Jamie Dunphy
Jeremy Bosley Smith, District 4.
Please support the following amendments.
Avalos 1, we need to preserve the core mission of PSF and protect our houseless neighbors from sweeps.
Avalos 2, we need to protect our neighbors is under attack by Immigration Controls and Enforcement.
Avalos 4, we need to find systemic solutions to homelessness.
Uh, Dunphy 2, arts and culture will always bring more foot traffic to downtown than any marketing initiative.
Green 1, firefighting capacity in St. Johns, particularly because of the CEI hub, poses a huge threat, and it's way too important to not be funded.
Green 2, self-governing microvillages can develop self-confidence and build communication skills.
Definitely an essential part of getting everyone housed.
Green 3, sweeps are cruel and they're not effective means of promoting public health and cleaning.
Canal 1, we need to guarantee the safety of money for social housing.
Canal 3, small donor election program keeps the rich from buying our elections and is vital to the health of our democracy.
I will skip down to— now I'm on Lane 4.
Portland is a global epicenter for Indigenous people, from across the planet to gather, we need to continue our investments in positioning Portland as a city that's recognizing the wrongs of the past and charting a better future for all of us by adequately funding the 2026-2027 Tribal Summit.
And I will jump to— please oppose Clark 1.
This is a slap in the face of police oversight.
Please do not support this.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Mark, you can go ahead online.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
Can you hear me?
We can.
Fantastic.
I'm Mark Porras, he/him pronouns, District 2 resident.
I want to fully endorse the testimony I heard today from Jamal Williams, Charlie Michelle Wesley, Dina Ross, and Trish Garner.
Please also support Morillo 1, Canal 4 and 5, and Green 1.
I see a budget decision to eliminate the retire-rehire program.
It's about time.
Chief Day expects 40 to 50 retirements this month, but only 30 to really leave, which means 10 to 20 more cops will be double dipping at his sole discretion.
A public servant who will only stay on the job for double pay should be thanked for their service and sent a final paycheck.
The current police chief and his chief of staff both pull in 6-figure pensions alongside their 6-figure salaries.
I want to speak out strongly against the Clark amendments that take $10 million of the Office of Community-Based Police Accountability's $16 million budget.
Claiming that any of the new board's money is underutilized is baloney.
The volunteer members of this board could and should direct the city to pay for independent counsel, hire the OIR group to review the past 5 years of critical incidents, including the 2 files that were withheld by PPB and the city attorney from their most recent report, the killings of Michael Townsend and Robert Delgado.
They could hire consultants to help with feedback on directives, send all CBPA members to the NACOL conference, spend heavily on community engagement, and much more to make up for years of starving police accountability of money.
This will set them up for I know you remember the $3.75 million settlement you approved last year for the family of Manny Clark, an unarmed Black man who was shot in the back and killed by PPB.
An internal affairs investigator found all 3 shots to be out of policy.
Chief Day disagreed.
No discipline was imposed.
As long as we have police, it's not possible to have public safety for all without police accountability.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Zach's online.
You can go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
Hello, I'm Zach White.
I was born in Portland.
I'm a resident of District 4, and my work with Next Up— we seek to empower youth voices in the city.
I knocked on doors for most of you on the dais.
Amendment Green 1 restores funding for fire engine and rescue units by cutting from unneeded management or chopping from the top.
I'm very disturbed at the eagerness of some to cut from Portland's new police system accountability.
Um, Green 1 does not do that.
Powerful institutions of people who carry weapons are not easy to hold accountable.
Amendments Green 2 and 3 invest in giving dignity to our homeless neighbors.
I remember Mayor Wilson on the debate stage capturing the moral outrage of our homelessness crisis.
The crisis is continuing, and we need to tackle it by following the leadership of people who are homeless.
I believe these amendments align with that approach, Green 2 and 3.
2 Weeks ago, walking to my apartment in District 4, I saw a tent on the street with a sign that read, how are we supposed to put our broken lives together when the pieces are always getting swept away over and over?
I have a photo of that that I can send to any of you.
Hearing from 156 testifiers is great, but I don't understand why you are only hearing I recently read that Mayor Mamdani in New York has balanced their budget, quote, not on the backs of working people.
It seems that we are very far from that, but I hope we can all agree to work toward that as a North Star.
Please consider Green 1, 2, 3, and Avalos 1 and 5 as well.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Next up we have Joe Squires, Jennifer Hoyt, Nike Green, Herman Green, Valerie Pierce, Pastor Mark Jackson, Pastor Robin Wisner, and Jim Corcoran.
Thank you.
You can begin at the testimony table, whoever's ready.
Good afternoon.
My name is Nike Green.
I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist and the founder of Triple Threat Mentoring.
I'm a part of District 2.
I want us to think about this budget like a grocery store.
The healthiest foods are usually on the outside aisles— the fruits, vegetables, and fresh foods that create vitality, prevent disease, and sustain life long-term.
But the middle aisles are full of processed food systems built for convenience, Reaction, survival, and not true health.
Right now, too much of our budget basket looks like processed food, because when cuts come, it always cuts upstream prevention work.
The very programs addressed that, um, look at social determinants of health and root causes, they're the first that get threatened to be cut.
Healthy communities require healthy investments.
Kanal is fruit.
Investing into housing in North Northeast Portland, Williams and Russell and SEI, Aye.
Keeping OVP and Ceasefire PYC funding is fruit.
Violence prevention is cheaper and more humane than reacting after harm happens.
Avalos is fruit because Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars should continue to supporting climate and community health work, not be redirected away from the prevention-focused bureaus.
Our St. Johns Firehouse 22 is fruit.
PS3s are fruit.
And we need to throw out the process This budget is not just about moving dollars around on a spreadsheet.
It is about deciding what nourishes our city.
So I ask council today, pause, listen to the people, because some things may look good politically, but in the long run, they create harm more than help.
But put the processed food back on the shelf and go grab some fruit.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
That girl bad.
All right.
Good afternoon, Council.
I need you to understand that for communities like North Portland and Northeast Portland, this conversation is not theoretical.
This is not just about numbers on a spreadsheet.
This is about whether people believe their lives matter enough to be protected.
Because when communities that are already struggling begin to see cuts to Fire Station 22, cuts to emergency response systems, cuts to violence prevention programs like Ceasefire and OVP, cuts to victim services and frontline public safety infrastructure, it begins to feel a lot more intentional.
And whether that is the intent or not, perception matters when you're talking about communities that have been historically underserved, overlooked, displaced, and forced to fight for every basic resource.
Station 22 is not just another fire station for families in North Portland.
It represents survival It represents response time.
It represents whether help comes fast enough when a child cannot breathe, when a home catches fire, or when an elder is in crisis, or when violence breaks out in our streets.
And your own budget notes acknowledge that removing the station increases risk to life, safety, and resiliency in North Portland.
So the question becomes, why would we knowingly increase vulnerability in communities already carrying the weight of poverty, addiction, gun violence, homelessness, and homelessness?
Gun violence, housing instability, and generational inequity.
At what point do we stop asking the vulnerable communities to absorb every cut?
Because these decisions create ripple effects.
More pressures on already stressed responders.
First families waiting longer than they should.
Communities feeling abandoned by every system that's set up for them.
Public safety cannot become something reserved for communities with wealth, influence, and political leverage.
And let me say this clearly: prevention matters.
So when you reduce ceasefire, OVP, PS3s, and community-based intervention programs, you are not saving money.
You are simply postponing pain.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you very much.
Jim, you can go ahead.
My name is Jim Corcoran.
Um, I'm a little over my head in your company I don't know if I'm on the committee, but, uh, uh, Councilor Lane and her staff are friends of mine, and I think that you're doing something really important.
Jamie Dunphy
So thank you.
Um, please support Councilor Lane's critical budget amendments.
I want to ask your help to preserve the funding for critical services to 3 of my most important organizations.
I have been aware of around for about 15 years of the critical contributions of this council in support of these places: the Community for Positive Aging, Bridge Meadows, and Friendly House.
Rebecca Dobert
Most of you in leadership at the city are aware of the, the important decisions you have on that.
All of us have elders in our families.
And I have recently become one myself.
Jamie Dunphy
We belong to each other across the generations.
Rebecca Dobert
Your own children, your parents, your grandparents will need to stay connected to have a good life.
Please work hard to protect these connections.
I'm Jim Corcoran.
Thank you very much.
Next, we'll go to Joe Squires.
Joe's online.
You can go ahead, Joe.
Joe Squires.
Okay, while we're waiting for Joe, we can go to Valerie Pierce, also online.
Valerie, you can go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I'm Bishop I'm Valerie Doakes-Pierce.
I'm a faith leader, an educator, and a daughter carrying the legacy of my father, Bishop C.E.
Doakes.
And I'm also a board member of the Coalition for African and African American Pastors, which is why I'm here today.
The foundational DNA of the Black church and the Black community are interchangeable.
They've been deeply communal, spiritual, prophetic, political, and justice-centered.
Historically, the Black church is not merely functioned as a worship space, but as a refuge, as organizing centers, educational institutions, economic support systems, and a prophetic witness in the face of oppression.
Councilor Smith has requested to have her ordinance to allocate funding for SEI and Williamson Russell's, as well as the Oasis of Praise Church capital project, approved.
I'm asking that the ordinance to allocate these funds be approved.
This way, All 3 organizations are funded under Councilor Smith's ordinance.
Councilor President, thankfully we met with you— a group of pastors including myself and Pastor Mark Jackson met with you last week to ask you to examine your heart towards the right thing.
You shared how this very work has benefited you and your family.
These are desperate and polarizing times.
As a leader in the faith community, I'm asking everyone to be followers of what is right, what is good, what is just.
I'm requesting that this ordinance be approved to allocate funding for all 3 projects: the SEI and Williams and Russell, along with the Oasis of Praise Church capital project.
Thank you so much for your time today.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Mark Jackson is online.
You can go ahead.
Jamie Dunphy
Yes, for the record, Mark Jackson.
I want to I just, uh, appreciate the time to share this afternoon and appreciate Bishop Pierce for the remarks.
I'll just say ditto.
I am deeply concerned about the, uh, silencing tactics of both community members and also Councilor Smith, uh, who back in February put forth this ordinance that Bishop Pierce referenced, uh, that was taken off the table.
And here we are now, the month of May and so forth.
And I just want to I want to appeal to the council that you in fact take into deep consideration the recommendation from Bishop Pierce.
Also, I want to appeal to you, Councilor President Dunphy, that you in fact would acknowledge, as you have in privacy, in terms of we're doing tremendous work in the community, that you partner with District 3 councilors to find a pathway toward those funds to support our project.
Rebecca Dobert
Not all Black folks are homeless.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Folks are in Northwest East Portland.
There are those who are in Southeast Portland and so forth.
So we just want to underscore the importance of this hour, that we not just be focused upon process, what is right, but what is just.
And we saw very clearly from Councilor Smith back in February a real clear path for everyone's pet project to be funded, but it was put on the, on the table because of a philosophical difference.
But I believe there's an opportunity to reimagine outside the box to do what's best for the community, and not so much best for processes.
Thank you for your time today.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
I'm going to try for Joe Squires again online.
Joe, you can unmute your call and testify.
Jamie Dunphy
Hello?
Rebecca Dobert
Hi, we can hear you.
We can.
Jamie Dunphy
Great.
Hi, thank you very much.
I'm Joe Squires.
I'm a district District 2 in State 21.
I've lived here all my life other than a stint in the Navy.
I've spent the last 25 years owning a business and owning some commercial real estate in Portland and Vancouver.
As mentioned a couple times, I'm not really calling in to address a specific budget item, more the top-line revenue of the budget, not really the guts of the P&L.
I think we can all look around and see that things aren't going very well in downtown, that businesses are fleeing the city for various reasons.
And I, I like to, I like to ask the question when I've met my councilors and the, and the mayor, why would I start a business in Portland right now?
If you take one of those Benjamin Franklin pro and con lists and you put on the pro side, why would I start a business, versus the con side, You'll find it's very difficult to talk someone that is starting a business in Portland right now.
I think the same could be said of why would I keep a business that is capable of moving in Portland because it's becoming very difficult with usury taxes that keep getting added and added, and quite frankly, the services are being provided by the city aren't adding up to what the ROI should be.
$724 Million.
I think that's spending money in the wrong category.
The ROI isn't there.
The problem keeps getting bigger and we keep throwing more money at it.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
That was the last of our registrants.
I'd like to make a final call for anyone in the room or joining online to please unmute your line and state your name and your organization.
Hi.
Sure, you can approach the table.
Please state your record— your name for the record.
Hello, councilors.
My name is Taylor.
I'm a member of DSA and I live in District 4.
I support all of Councilor Avalos's budget amendments.
PSEF funds are for climate resiliency of marginalized communities.
PSEF is not for sweeps, hostile architecture, or the Moda Center.
Homelessness has increased by 3,000 people since Mayor Wilson took office, so clearly this approach has failed.
Housing First is more successful than emergency shelters, which is why I support Green 2 and Canal 1.
Koyama Lane 2 and 6 ensure shady equity and improve our parks.
Parks.
Portlanders rely upon third spaces like parks.
Let's also increase accessibility by adding and maintaining more public restrooms.
I strongly reject Clark 1 and Clark-Pirtle-Guiney-Novick-Ryan-Smith 1.
These amendments reject the will of the people.
If you want us to vote, stop undermining it.
I support Canal 4 and Green 3 to fund crucial community safety and We need Green 1 and Dunphy 4 to reduce managerial bloat in favor of essential employees.
Remember the pandemic?
Most managers aren't essential.
Morillo 1 is also imperative.
I relied on programs like Lunch and Play as a child.
They level the playing field and allow you to be just another kid.
At a time when 1 in 6 children in Oregon are food insecure, the future of our city depends on these programs.
Councilmember Thank you so much.
Uh, apologies, we have a couple more people who signed up and the timer froze, so I'm going to restart that.
And we have, uh, Edwin Nunez, and is Simone Crowe here?
Oh, sorry, they signed up for 157 again.
We are— sorry, just checking our online folks.
Jamie Dunphy
All right, colleagues, don't get excited, we're not done yet.
Rebecca Dobert
Yeah, yeah, that concludes testimony for 2026-157.
Jamie Dunphy
Okay, colleagues, just to give a That's the run of show for what's going to happen right now.
We're going to take another 15-minute break starting now and reconvene at 3 o'clock.
When we get back, we have items 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 to read and hear some testimony on, including, uh, I believe there are a number of folks who have signed up with regard to the PSEF interest rate transfer.
So, uh, we will come back at 3 o'clock and we will Roll back.
Oh.
Historically speaking, they were needed and necessary.
But I just find it crazy that, you know, even like the city councilors, the fact that they have their staff unionized.
For what?
Thank you.
I am calling us back into order.
Public testimony on the city budget is now closed.
I now recess this hearing of the City of Portland Budget Committee.
Item 1, the city budget, will be taken up again tomorrow morning.
And the Portland City Council now returns from recess.
Diego, can you please call items 2 through 7?
Rebecca Dobert
Item 2 item 2, document number 2026-158, amend Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund Code to allow a transfer of interest earned in fiscal year 2024-25 for the fiscal year 2026-27 budget.
Jamie Dunphy
Item 3, document number 2026-159, adopt solid waste and recycling rates and fees for franchise residential collection and the commercial tonnage Yes.
Opposed?
Aye.
Motion passes.
Item 3, approve the ordinance to amend the parking management fee effective July 1st, 2026.
Rebecca Dobert
Item 4, document number 2026-160, revise transportation fees, rates, and charges for fiscal year 2026-27 and amend transportation fee schedule.
Jamie Dunphy
Item 5, document number 2026-161, revise sewer and stormwater rates, charges, and fees for fiscal year 2026-27.
Rebecca Dobert
Item 6, document number 2026-162, adopt rates, charges, and fees for water and water-related services for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you.
And we also reading, uh, item 7.
Item 7, document number 2026-134, authorize water revenue bonds to finance water system capital improvements for an amount sufficient to produce net proceeds of up to $525 million and to refund outstanding water revenue bonds.
Colleagues, these items comprise the annual fee and rate ordinances for city-regulated services.
And a code change to transfer interest from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to the general fund.
That last proposal was heard by the PCEF committee on May 13th prior to its hearing in City Council, as is required by City Code 7.07.050— I'm going to try that again— 7.07.050.G.
Technical staff summaries were given on these items last week in the work session.
Thank you.
Staff will be available for questions, but we will not be providing additional presentations.
We will hear testimony on these ordinances together.
Individuals signed up to testify on multiple items have been deduplicated, but if you wish to speak separately to separate issues, you may request to be added for a second testimony slot by speaking to the clerk.
Can we please call, uh, our first panel of testimony?
Rebecca Dobert
First up, and we had a couple cancellations, but I'll go ahead and read the names just to be sure.
Jenny Lee, Alan Hipólito, East Columbia Neighborhood Association, James Thornton, Luis Del Toro, Ronfis Villatoro.
Jamie Dunphy
Welcome, come on up.
Thank you very much.
Rebecca Dobert
Good afternoon again, councilors.
Alice Christine Walker for East Columbia Neighborhood Association.
Portlanders passed PCEF as a values-based promise for community-led climate resilience, not a stabilization fund for city bureaus.
The budget creep is real.
Nearly $8 million in 2024, $19 million in 2025, now $27 million this year.
The February auditor's report explicitly warned that this top-down approach Aye.
Jamie Dunphy
Opposed?
Abstain.
Motion passes.
Rebecca Dobert
The second reading of the ordinance is now in order.
Motion passes.
The ordinance passes.
Thank you.
Next on the agenda is item number 7, which is a public comment request.
These PCF funds can go so much further.
We are the ground truth that these funds are not reaching communities in a meaningful way.
Access to these funds need to be simplified.
Our residents don't even have a sidewalk to safely access our only bus stop.
Because East Columbia sits outside the current TIF boundaries, PCF is our only safety net to provide our vulnerable environment and the citizens who have historically had— Councilor Dan Ryan.
Who have historically stewarded it.
Before another dollar of interest is redirected to cover these structural deficits, please give our community and other frontline communities like ours a path to yes and the chance to show you all what we the people can achieve with less.
We hope you will do— we hope you will work with us to find a collaborative path towards true community-led climate justice.
We will be submitting a package for your review to provide you all with important additional context for our concerns.
We leave here with love for our community, our city, and a question for you all: is East Columbia peace-effable?
Thank you all for your time.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
I don't see any other members in the room or in the Zoom.
That concludes testimony.
Okay, just pause in case somebody magically appears.
Okay, items 2 through 7 will be taken up again on Wednesday morning for council discussion.
Diego, can you please call item number 8?
Rebecca Dobert
Oh, sorry, I think I misunderstood.
Jamie Dunphy
I was reading the public testimony just for that first.
Oh, that was just for the first item?
Yes.
Oh, I see.
I'm sorry.
Sorry about that.
Okay, thank you.
That was for document number 2026-158.
For 2026-161, we have Brooke Burhanu.
Brooke, Brooke, we see you online.
Not sure if you can unmute yourself.
I also have Luis Del Toro from the previous item.
Hello, sorry about that.
Um, I'm ready to go whenever you are ready for me.
Yeah, go ahead.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Uh, hello, good afternoon again, council members.
Nice to see you all again.
Um, once again, my name is Brooke Burhano.
I'm a voting member of the Portland Utility Board.
I'm speaking today to emphasize previous testimony for myself and PUB co-chairs, as well as to communicate some of PUB's reasoning on our position related to the rate ordinances as well as the Bull Run Infiltration Project bond authorization in a little more detail.
First, on rate ordinances.
Well, uh, the PUD would like to urge Council once again to adopt the full 7.5% combined utility rate increase needed to just maintain current service levels, as well as to authorize the $525 million bond towards Bull Run Filtration Project.
First, on rates, PUD's rationale is looking at the relatively small difference in rate increase between the proposed budget and the current service level budget.
That results in about $2 per month of savings per household on average.
However, when you aggregate that impact up to the utility level, that results in a disproportionate impact to the utility's capacity to both continue its core functions and make up for the time lost from previous delays to the filtration project.
Increasing the backlog of deferred maintenance only increases the risk of infrastructure failure and emergency repairs that end up costing more in the long run.
And ultimately, those increased costs are borne by ratepayers, if not now, then in the future.
The filtration plant project will ensure that Portland is not only able to meet its current regulatory requirements, but will also provide resilience to extreme weather events and natural disasters that are only going to become more frequent due to climate change and will increasingly threaten our water supply for decades into the future.
Um, that's all for now.
Thank you all for your time.
Thank you so much.
Luis, are you still online?
Yeah, I'm here.
You may begin when you're ready.
We can hear you.
Okay, nice.
Uh, hi, my name is Luis El Toro.
I am a PSAP City employee and I'm part of the Equitable Tree Canopy Program.
I oppose this measure.
Uh, for the record, this ordinance has been proposed for 3 consecutive years for a total of 15 $3 million transferred from PSF.
Repeating this— repeating these transfers years after years signals the normalization of PSF as an ongoing revenue source for the general fund.
I believe that the city needs to explain how there is a meaningful distinction between interest earnings and a tax revenue when both exist solely because voters approved the PSF initiative.
I am also wondering if the city has invested in studying the community impacts of diverting these funds away from the climate action How many additional trees could be planted or maintained with $53 million?
How many more Portlanders could receive e-bikes if the city stepped away from a lottery-based system?
How many renters would receive climate resilience upgrades?
Portland has hundreds of thousands of aging housing units that are not resilient to extreme heat or cold.
While climate initiatives will broadly benefit the public, I am deeply concerned that the city is using PSAP to fund programs that are merely environmentally branded instead of investing in new initiatives that directly serve the low-income communities and communities of color, as PCEF was created to support.
PCEF's mission is not simply to fund anything environmentally friendly.
It's a mission to deliver direct climate and economic benefits to frontline communities.
Instead, the city is repeatedly using PCEF to backfill existing legacy programs in order to reduce pressure of the general fund and offset ongoing budget shortfalls.
That is deceptive.
Deceptive and contrary to the mission voters approved.
Uh, I'm running out of time.
Uh, please deliver on PSF in a way that is equitable, accountable, and truly groundbreaking.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Next up we have Kim Neal, Shelley Hack, LeJune Thorson, Welcome up, folks.
Please feel free to introduce yourself.
You're welcome to share your pronouns, and you have 90 seconds.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Kim Neal, and I'm the senior project manager for the construction sector at Work Systems.
I have found— I've seen firsthand the impact of pre-apprenticeship programs have on the lives of women and people of color in our community.
Before joining Work Systems, I worked over a decade at Oregon Trades Women's Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program as a workforce development coordinator.
Pre-apprenticeship programs build confidence and practical skills.
Participants learn how to operate power tools and gain hands-on experience working as a crew.
As they begin their careers, many workers need support with tools, transportation, child care— and child care.
Pre-apprenticeship programs help connect workers to those resources.
I have personally seen the life-changing impact these programs have had.
I know women who left abusive relationships because they finally made a living wage.
I have worked with formerly incarcerated women who entered the trades and ultimately became business owners in construction, all because of the opportunities provided by pre-apprenticeship training programs.
This work changes lives.
It strengthens It strengthens our workforce, expands opportunity, and builds a more inclusive and resilient local economy.
I respectfully urge the City Council to act now to restore the COEP construction workforce services funding to $1.46 million in the mayor's budget.
The construction industry is cyclical.
While we are all in a slow period now, we know projects will move forward.
Funding protects long-term strategy and ensures Portland is prepared for the next wave of construction and economic opportunity.
I'd like to thank Work Systems, COEP, Construction Workforce Partners for their verbal and written testimony this month.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
And apologies to our public testifiers and Council President as well.
Jamie Dunphy
That's actually for the Prosper budget item.
Rebecca Dobert
So that does conclude testimony.
For this first batch of items.
Okay, apologies to our testifiers.
We'll call you back up once, uh, we've reconvened.
Jamie Dunphy
I got to do a little one-step, two-step.
We'll be right back.
Thank you.
Okay, I'm going to try this again real quick because I, I got a little bit ahead of myself.
Colleagues, that concludes testimony on items 2 through 7.
These items will be taken up again on Wednesday morning for council discussion.
And Diego, can you please call Item number— read number item number 8.
Apologies for the wait.
Item 8, document number 2026-163, City Council convenes as Prosper Budget Committee to approve the fiscal year 2026-27 budget.
Okay, I am now recessing this meeting of the Portland City Council And I am now convening this meeting of the Prosper Portland Budget Committee.
Diego, will you please call the roll?
Rebecca Dobert
Here.
Here.
Ryan.
Dan Ryan
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Koyama Lane.
Tiffany Koyama Lane
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Morillo.
Angelita Morillo
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Novick.
Steve Novick
Here.
Jamie Dunphy
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Here.
Zimmerman.
Eric Zimmerman
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Avalos.
Candace Avalos
Present.
Rebecca Dobert
Smith.
Loretta Smith
Here.
Rebecca Dobert
Dunphy.
Jamie Dunphy
Here.
The Prosper Portland Budget Committee received the proposed budget and conducted a hearing to receive testimony on April 21st, 2026.
The Budget Committee received the approved budget memo and Exhibit A to Resolution 7649 on May 19th, 2026.
For those following on the city website, the resolution is posted in our system as Exhibit A, and the exhibit to the resolution is posted as Exhibit B.
The approved budget memo and Exhibit A corresponds to the proposed budget received by the Budget Committee on April 20th, 2026, and presented to Prosper Portland staff on April 21st, 2026.
Exhibit A to the resolution aligns to the total appropriations included in the approved budget for the City of Portland General Fund and recreational cannabis tax funds appropriated to Prosper Portland.
This week we will vote to approve the report which approves Resolution 7649 and Exhibit A. I am now opening a hearing on the Prosper Portland 2026-2027 approved budget.
Prior to testimony and debate, I call for a motion to consider and approve So moved.
Thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.
Is there a second?
Second.
Thank you, Councilor Kanal.
Councilors have pre-filed amendments to the city budget that impact the Prosper Portland budget, specifically Avalos 2, Avalos 5, Dunphy 1, Dunphy 3, and Pirtle-Guiney 1.
These amendments were posted publicly around 5:30 PM on Friday, May 15th, and communicated to the media Okay, Diego, can we please call our panel of testifiers Yes, we just heard from Kim Neal earlier.
Next, Shelley Hack, LeJune Thorson, Deanna D'Souza, Sabina Urdes.
Welcome, take it away.
Welcome back.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you.
Good afternoon, President— Council President Dunphy, council members.
My name is Shelley Hack, and I'm the president of AFSCME Local 1011.
Local 3769, which represents the staff of— the represented staff of Prosper Portland.
As the union highlighted during the presentation of the mayor's proposed budget last month, Prosper has implemented a 10% reduction in force in alignment with that budget.
10% Of our staff will no longer be with us as of June 30th.
That percentage of reduction is far greater than what we're seeing in other city bureaus.
So what— as you move through your deliberation on the proposed amendment, I and my members ask that you ensure that the amendments do not have further impacts on represented staff.
And if you do find that they might have impacts, that you reach out to me or my vice president to discuss those cuts and the implications and impacts Thank you so much.
Jamie Dunphy
Yeah, go ahead.
Rebecca Dobert
Sorry, waiting for the little timer.
Jamie Dunphy
Just jump in, you're good.
Rebecca Dobert
Good afternoon, mayors and city councilors.
Thank you for the— your continued support of workforce development programs during an incredibly challenging budget season.
My name is Deanna D'Souza, and I'm the community programs manager at Work Systems.
I'm here to talk about our work to support the Portland Bureau of Transportation's I'm here representing Portland Economic Opportunity Program, known as Portland EOP, which is funded through Prosper Portland for more than 10 years.
We partner with Central City Concern, ERCO, Our Just Future, Southeast Works, and Trash for Peace to connect residents facing barriers to employment with career coaching, training, and support services that help move them from crisis to stability.
Last year alone, Portland EOP served 620 participants, many more navigating poverty, health disparities, and homelessness.
Housing instability, prior justice involvement, recovery, or are immigrants and refugees.
Through long-term coaching and wraparound supports, 85% exited the program with employment.
This work is especially critical right now.
The recent State of the Economy report shows our region has one of the steepest job losses among major metro areas in the country, and income in Multnomah County have declined most sharply for lower-income households.
In moments like this, workforce Investments are not optional.
They are part of the solution to economic recovery and are essential to assuring residents with barriers are not left behind.
Portland EOP helps Portlanders find jobs, supports local businesses in finding workers, and strengthens the economic stability of our community.
I respectfully urge City Council to protect the workforce investments and avoid the additional cuts proposed in the amendments before you today.
Thank you for your leadership and commitment to an inclusive and equitable Portland.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you very much.
See, next we have Nick Sabi, Leisha Shrestha, Nicole Leone, Amanda Reese, Javier Perry.
Um, uh, good afternoon.
Uh, my name is Nick Sovey.
I'm the co-executive director of Rose Community Development, and, um, thank you all for your service to the city and the Portland community.
I encourage City Council to demand accountability from Prosper Portland as you oversee the city's economic development budget.
After 20 years and $200 million spent in the Lentservant renewal area, The auditor found that the median income in Lentz declined by 24%.
Poverty was up, housing affordability was down, as was the BIPOC homeownership rate.
In 2020, a city auditor's report recommended that Prosper Portland set economic goals for their investments and report regularly to the public.
Prosper's response to the auditor was, nah, we're gonna just keep doing what we're doing.
Just this year, Prosper gave away $10 million in one of the largest city-owned parcels in Portland to a for-profit developer.
Only 9 of the 171 proposed units are rent-restricted affordable housing.
More than 80% of the units are one-bedrooms, despite the known glut of one-bedroom units on the market.
Prosper has done no, uh, public engagement in Lent since 2018.
Worst of all, Prosper bought the property in 2000.
That parcel could have provided desperately needed affordable housing for decades.
Instead, it sits gathering weeds.
The budgets for the 3 new urban renewal areas in East Portland total $1.5 billion.
About 25% of that Will go to Prosper staff and overhead and Portland Housing Bureau staff, nearly $400 million.
Community-based organizations serving East Portland are starved for resources while Prosper sits on hundreds of millions of dollars.
Stronger city council oversight is needed, or we'll see the same sad story repeated elsewhere in East Portland.
Um, thank you.
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
Hi, my name is Amanda Reese.
I am with District 1, and I'm here this evening on behalf of Portland Economic Opportunity Program with Trash for Peace.
These are organizations that truly change lives.
I want to share a little of my personal story.
I came from homelessness suffering from addiction, and for a long time I felt stuck and unsure of my life and if I could really change.
I did not want that story— that to be my story.
I wanted stability, purpose, and a chance to build a better future for myself.
These programs gave me that chance.
They do much more than help others find jobs.
They help people become employment ready.
They build and help them believe themselves Again, they help with resumes, career planning, confidence building, goal setting, interview preparation, and even provide clothing for interviews and appropriate work for clothes once you get hired.
They also help provide laptops and other tools for people for people to be successful in today's workforce.
For many people, especially those facing barriers to employment or housing instability.
These things can make a difference between staying stuck and moving forward.
Because of their support, I am now working for an organization called Cascadia Clusters, an organization that also helps men and women in recovery and getting work and employment, and, and as well as housing.
What means even more to me is their support did not stop once I got this job.
After I started working, they continued helping me with things like transportation, clothing, and even moral support when I needed encouragement.
Having people who continue to stand beside you while building stability and confidence makes a huge difference.
I ask that you continue supporting these programs like Portland Economic Opportunity Program with Trash for Peace because they are making a real difference in people's lives every single day.
Thank you for your time.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much for being here.
Rebecca Dobert
I see we have Sabina online.
Good afternoon, Mayor Wilson and councilors.
My name is Sabina Erdes.
I live in Lentz District 1, and I'm speaking on behalf of Thrive East PDX.
I want to speak directly about Prosper Portland's budget and the growing frustration many of us feel watching Prosper continue to receive massive public investment while East Portland continues to see delayed projects, broken promises, and little measurable progress.
For years, Prosper has come to our communities asking for engagement, feedback, and trust, but too often what follows is delay after delay.
The 92nd and Herald side, just down the street from me, has sat empty for decades, uh, despite multiple planning processes and developer awards.
The Lentz Town Center still struggles with vacancy and unrealized promises.
Gateway continues At the same time, Prosper eliminated support for business associations, leaving East Portland with only 2, 2 serving 15 neighborhoods.
Now we are hearing proposals that threaten neighborhood prosperity networks and community-based organizations that are actual lifelines for immigrant and refugee communities, including Historic Park Rose, Division Midway Alliance, and Rosewood— Councilmember Garcia, you have 2 minutes.
Equity does not mean treating every part of Portland the same.
East Portland has historically received less investment and needs more support, not less.
Before applying for more funding, we are asking for accountability, clear project timelines, measurable outcomes, public reporting on where dollars are going, and protections for NPNs and community-based organizations.
Our communities deserve investment that we can actually see and count on.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Dobert
We have Javier online.
Jamie Dunphy
Javier, if you could accept the unmute request and begin when you're ready.
Hi.
Hi, we can hear you.
Hi, um, so I'm Xavier Perry and I am a 10-year veteran of the United States Army.
I was in special operations And I was a paratrooper.
And recently I became a father.
I became a single parent of a 6-year-old little girl.
And the Portland Economic and Opportunity Program with Trash for Peace have been helping my daughter and I throughout my process.
I went back to school and became a medical assistant.
And my daughter is thriving right now.
And Midori Hirose has been helping her and I, uh, benefit throughout this time.
Uh, it's been a struggle, but with the help of, uh, the help of Trash for Peace, been able to get things that we've needed.
And also, she, she's also helped us in areas like, uh, getting me an e-bike for my daughter and I to commute back and forth to school.
And also, they helped us with the move to our new home that we have, and I really appreciate everything that they've done for us.
So I hope that you will continue to offer them funding, and this is something that is desperately needed, especially for disabled veterans like myself.
So I urge you to assist them, and I would, I would tell you that they do a dynamic job when it comes down to helping people in need.
That's all I have to say.
Rebecca Dobert
Thank you for your time.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much.
Next we have Nahaila Osborne, Vivian Lackey, Sarah Schauel, David Rodriguez.
Rebecca Dobert
I'm so sorry to interrupt, Nahaila.
Jamie Dunphy
Uh, you're coming in a bit muffled.
I'm not sure we can hear you.
Rebecca Dobert
It's still muffled.
I'm not sure if maybe there's something blocking the microphone.
Okay, good afternoon, City Council.
My name is Nahaila Osborne.
I am a participant speaking on behalf of the Career Service Portland Economic Opportunity Program.
With Trash for Peace, as a mother of three, being the only income in my household isn't always easy.
Trash for Peace not only helped me maintain housing needs; they created peace of mind while I built foundations for my family, including aiding me with the support needed to apply for nursing school tutoring as well as financial scholarships for the first few terms.
It wasn't easy pivoting.
From one career to another.
However, with their help, I felt reassured.
I am requesting that you continue funding this program for the sake of the families willing to better their future while maintaining the safety and stability in their homes.
My family and I are greatly appreciative for the opportunities and the ongoing support they provide.
Excuse me.
Special thanks to Midori High Road, for her accountability and reminder that no matter the circumstance, I have everything it takes to succeed.
I appreciate your consideration and your time.
Thank you so much.
No?
Okay.
My name is Vivian Lackey.
I work at the Employment Access Center for Central City Concern, and I'm back here here today to voice the importance of funding the Construction Program Community Opportunity Economic Program.
We partner with Work Systems to live— to deliver workforce career coaching to our clients.
The majority is women and people of color.
We support them during pre-apprenticeship and other construction industry training programs.
Most of these training courses do not come with a stipend or a wage during that time.
They do not come with financial aid, and like, unlike a full-time college student may have access to, our career coaches ensure that they have proper clothing and tools during training.
This support includes access to funds for utilities, phone, childcare, transportation, and sometimes rental assistance.
This supports them to graduate and be placed into a living wage career.
We support clients enrolled in community partnerships— Oregon Tradeswomen, Constructing Hope, Portland Community College, and other trainings like CDL truck driving.
The construction industry is attractive to our clients due to low barriers and living wage jobs.
This is an important sector that needs our support for clients who not— may not be able to attend longer-term educational goals and are interested in the trades.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Jamie Dunphy
Thank you so much for being here.
Rebecca Dobert
David is online.
Feel free to begin.
Unmute and begin when you're ready.
Jamie Dunphy
Good afternoon, distinguished panel of judges.
Clap once if you can hear me.
No movement.
Okay, clap twice if you're gonna fund Foster, uh, Prosper Portland.
Uh, okay, my name is David Rodriguez and I'm a career coach with Our Just Future.
Today I'm here to share the real success stories I've witnessed firsthand throughout my journey as a career coach.
For nearly 4 years, I have dedicated myself to helping individuals access life-changing employment opportunities, and I can confidently say The results speak for themselves.
Through this program, we have helped graduate six CDL holders who are now driving cross-country, seven medical assistants, five medical interpreters and counting, one human resource director who will who if this program is not funded, I may need to call personally.
I'm just saying.
Six teachers assistants and counting, fourteen administrative assistants, two Sun School community partners, sixteen hospitality workers and supervisors.
These are not just numbers.
These are lives transformed, families supported, and futures rebuilt.
Thanks to Work System and Our Just Future, I have the opportunity to continue sharing my passion, faith, and confidence with every member of our community.
I said it last year and I will say it proudly again this year: we're not asking for a handout.
We're asking for your hand and support to continue this dream.
Thank you for your time, your consideration, and your commitment to our community.
Thank you, Council Member Sameer Kanal.
There are 10 seconds left.
I'm open for questioning.
I'm just letting you know I'm not.
Have a good day, everybody.
Thank you very much.
I believe that concludes testimony.
Okay, just pausing for a second to see if anybody else in the room got— was hoping to No one else would like to speak?
Okay.
Okay.
With the conclusion of our signed-up testifiers, public testimony on the Prosper Portland budget is now closed.
I am now recessing this hearing of the Prosper Portland Budget Committee.
Item 8, the Prosper budget, will be taken up again tomorrow afternoon.
And now the Portland City Council returns From recess, colleagues.
The time is now 3:40.
We have concluded all of our testimony for the day.
We are now done for the day.
We will return tomorrow to take up amendments to the city budget in the morning and again in the afternoon, and we will take up amendments to the Prosper budget in the afternoon.
I now place this meeting of the City Council.
Council in recess to reconvene at 9:30 AM tomorrow morning, May 19th, 2026.
We'll see you all tomorrow.