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Commissioner Steve Novick is reexamining the city's options for a street fee now that the 2015 Legislature has failed to deliver a comprehensive transportation funding package. And those options could include asking Portland voters for money in May 2016.
"We're having some quiet conversations with people who we know are interested in addressing the problem and getting their ideas preliminarily," Novick tells WW in an interview today. "We told the Legislature we would stand down during their session, because they thought our conversation would muddy the waters. We were respectful of that, and now we're talking with some of the folks who are interested in the issue. I can't tell you much beyond that."
And the possible ballot initiative?
"I wouldn't rule anything in or anything out," Novick says.
On the question of what to do with Portland's crumbling streets, Novick's political calculation probably looks a little different than Mayor Charlie Hales'.
Novick has pitched himself as the unconventional politician willing to tackle tough problems, even if that makes him unpopular. His attempts to get a street fee have so far been a disaster.
But it's hard to imagine what his pitch to voters would look like when he runs for re-election next year, if he walked away. As he told WW during a May interview, he thinks many Portland voters appreciate his daring.
"It's something that has to be solved," he told WW two months ago. "I'm the guy who refuses to kick the can down the road and instead puts my foot on the can and says we have to deal with this can."
Today, Novick says he's not making a political calculation.
"If we were pushing something in the next year, then clearly we'll draw criticism for that, and if we weren't pushing something, then clearly we'd draw criticism for that, too," he says. "I don't think the political calculus is obvious, and it shouldn't be the basis for determining what to do."
WWeek 2015