Willamette Week| News| Politics

There's no ill will between City Commissioner Charlie Hales and Mayor Vera Katz.

Really.

Never mind that tit-for-tat ordinance Hales filed this week--an ordinance that dumps responsibility for long-range planning in the mayor's lap. Hales says he's just trying to help Katz since she expressed an interest in taking over strategic planning duties--currently under Hales' control--in her State of the City address. "I want her to succeed," Hales says.

His claim would be more believable if he had followed City Council protocol and notified Katz of his intentions.

And Hales might have passed the straight-face test if his move hadn't come just three weeks after Katz and Commissioner Jim Francesconi ambushed Blueprint 2000--Hales' scheme to streamline the city's labyrinthine permitting and planning processes--without first notifying Hales.

Finally, the idea that Hales and Katz are still bosom buddies would be more credible if last month the mayor hadn't stripped Hales of responsibility for managing a $58.8 million parks improvement project. That blow hurt Hales. He had worked hard to win voter approval for the parks bond ballot measures in 1994, and then he took a political beating from neighborhood activists for building some of the projects, such as the Gabriel Park Community Center in Southwest Portland.

In an unorthodox move, Hales convinced Katz--then a close ally--to let him continue to oversee the parks bond projects when she assigned the Parks Bureau to Francesconi in 1997. But last month Katz gave the projects to Francesconi, who's now viewed as her closest ally on the City Council.

Some question Katz's timing. Her decision came several weeks after Hales said he might run against Katz if she sought a third term as mayor.

Katz insists that's baloney. She says she made the move because of Francesconi's incessant prodding. "There is no feud between Charlie and I," she says. "I had Francesconi all over me."

Hales, for his part, also downplays the shift in responsibilities, calling speculation about the mayor's motives "cynical." Still, it's hard to ignore the timing of these squabbles and the competing ambitions of Hales and Katz.

For several years, Hales has discussed his desire to run for mayor in the year 2000, presumably after Katz had served two terms and stepped down. But recently Katz sent strong signals that she will seek a third term.

Some City Hall insiders believe mayoral politics don't figure in the recent feud at all. They argue it's strictly a battle over Blueprint 2000 and existing turf.

Hales maintains that he'd be happy to spend four more years on the City Council. "I'm getting a lot of things done," he says. "I don't come to work every day grinding my teeth over missed opportunities. I'll hold my record of productivity up to anybody around here."

But this week some city employees find Hales' latest stab at productivity puzzling. They note that the City Council voted to have the mayor study strategic planning three weeks ago. She's supposed to figure out which city commissioner should oversee planning and make a recommendation to the council by May 12.

Dawn Hottenroth, president of the union that represents most city planners, says she's concerned about the timing of Hales' proposal to immediately toss the job to Katz. "A lot of people are raising their eyebrows, let's put it that way," says Hottenroth.

"I do agree there's been a breakdown on this particular issue," adds Francesconi. He says Hales' proposal should be tabled. "We can't let these squabbles interfere with long-range planning and Blueprint 2000," Francesconi says.

Katz says a majority of the council opposes Hales' proposal, and she will ask him to withdraw it. "We're trying to keep peace in the family," she says.

Commissioner Erik Sten calls the planning taffy pull unnecessary. "The whole thing is stupid," Sten says. "I worry about the effect on the morale of employees."

Meanwhile, you can probably expect Hales and Katz to act like old pals at this week's council meeting. "It's like a Tom Clancy novel," says Peter Fry, a planner and consultant for the Central Eastside Industrial Council. "They say they're friends while they position their nuclear subs 200 miles off each other's shore."

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Willamette Week | originally published February 3, 1999