'Coup' Ousts Richmond Neighborhood Leader Painted as 'Less than Bike Friendly'

The latest issue of The Southeast Examiner alerted us to an interesting story we missed earlier this summer. It concerns brewing discontent and angry accusations from members of the Richmond Neighborhood Association in Southeast Portland. 

Not about anything the city is doing, mind you. The accusations are pointed at current and former members of the board itself.

In June, residents in the fast-growing Richmond neighborhood (between Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and Division Street, mostly west of César E Chávez Boulevard) ousted the board chairman of its neighborhood association, Allen Field, who advocated at City Hall on behalf of the organization for new minimum parking requirements at condos such as those sprouting along Southeast Division Street. (Two others on the 15-person board also lost their seats.)

FIeld, in an op-ed published in the August issue of the neighborhood newspaper, accuses Doug Klotz, another longtime board member, of fomenting a coup d'état by writing in a missive sent via Listserv that the board that included Field was "less than bike friendly."

Klotz encouraged other, more bike-friendly neighborhood residents to run for one of the four open seats. He then turned out the vote. "If you want to see something different happen on the board, you can vote for these folks," Klotz says he told people.

As a result, Field lost his seat. 

In his nearly 800-word op-ed, Field disputes the "less than bike friendly" label, saying he took a pro-bike stance when bike issues came up. He counts himself an avowed bike commuter. Klotz says Field didn't go far enough to support traffic diverters on Southeast Clinton Street, a bike boulevard. 

This issue alone has inspired lots of back and forth. Field says no one on the board voted to support traffic diverters when the issue came up. "Not even Doug," he says. (Klotz says he was making decisions based on the options he had available to him.)

But Klotz says he never intended to oust Field. "My fault in this, apparently, was to campaign," he says. "That's not something that's done." (Field says, "Of course you can campaign, but you can't do that by saying untrue things.")

Klotz has since been accused of violating board policy by disrespecting a fellow member. "I didn't think it was disrespectful to say the board was 'less than bike friendly,'" he says.

Field elaborated on his position at length in his op-ed. "Because of this negative, polarizing, and untrue label being placed on the RNA, board members have stated they feel intimidated and vulnerable from sharing their opinions on issues, for fear of being labeled anti-bike or 'less then bike-friendly' and of being voted out in next year's election with a repeat of the tactics used this year," he writes. "It's healthy to have difference of opinion and perspectives on a NA board. It's not healthy to play dirty politics to try to oust those who don't share your opinions. That dirty politics and negative campaigning occurs on the national, state and city political stage is not reason to be ok with it happening on the neighborhood level."

Klotz now stands accused of violating the board's ethics rules. A recent meeting focused of the aftermath of the June election."We have brand new board members who are eager to get to the issues," Klotz says. "If only we could get to that."

They may be able to do that soon, assuming the board isn't consumed by talks over the current recall effort against Klotz.

Monday, a representative of the city is scheduled to attend a neighborhood association meeting.

The topic? Traffic diverters on Southeast Clinton Street.

This post has been updated to include additional comments from Field.

WWeek 2015