News The City Council agenda for Wednesday morning will include a discussion led by Commissioner Randy Leonard on the process for awarding city contracts. A resolution (PDF) that Leonard will introduce calls for city bureaus to "include at least one minority evaluator provided by the Alliance of Minority Chambers on all contractor evaluation and selection panels awarding City contracts." The ...   More

News The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has denied [PDF] the City of Portland's request for a variance that would have allowed the city to keep its open reservoirs at Mt. Tabor and Washington Park. The EPA has recommended instead that the City follow its own plans from last year to build new, enclosed storage facilities. The letter from the feds is stamped Dec. 16, 2009. The Water Bureau ...   More

News Here's an odd event at City Hall: Commissioner Dan Saltzman has filed a public records request for "all written Activity Reports, Dispatched Incidents, and written Security Reports produced by Water Bureau personnel over the past 12 months." That highly unusual move last Friday by a city commissioner followed a meeting the day before between Saltzman and the Water Bureau's director, David Shaff. ...   More

News Just before City Council voted 3-2 today to let Merritt Paulson begin some construction work at PGE Park, city commissioners considered a separate ordinance related to the publicly owned stadium: the thrice-delayed zoning code change to allow limited office space at PGE Park. (They'll vote next week on that proposal.) Both agreements gave Commissioners Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz, who voted against ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams and Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Randy Leonard voted this morning to give Merritt Paulson's company the green light to perform limited construction work at PGE Park -- even without a final financial agreement in place. Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish voted no, with Fish noting that there are 81 issues still in dispute between the city and Paulson. The 3-2 split ...   More

News City Commissioner Randy Leonard tells WW his No. 1 priority in 2010 will be increasing oversight of discipline in the Portland Police Bureau. Leonard says he's working to bring before the City Council as soon as possible amendments to the city code. Leonard's chief of staff, Ty Kovatch, says Leonard is working with City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade, Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman and ...   More

News After a long battle with Portland city officials, the Greek Cusina closed over the weekend. For the past couple of years, City Commissioner Randy Leonard's "HIT Team," which includes representatives of the Portland Police Bureau, Portland Fire & Rescue and the Bureau of Development Services, has battled Cusina owner Ted Papas (above) over code violations. After the city slapped liens totaling ...   More

News Commissioner Dan Saltzman remained mum this morning when City Council approved its consent agenda, which included an update on Commissioner Randy Leonard's plan to buy a high-speed rescue boat. That rescue boat purchase was approved 4-1 last October in response to the death of a 4-year-old boy, who was pushed off the Sellwood Bridge along with his older sister. The girl survived. The mother ...   More

News This afternoon at 2 pm, Portland commissioners will discuss the city's deal with Merritt Paulson to renovate PGE Park for Major League Soccer in 2011. They'll vote on the deal next week. Meantime, here is a summary of the deal from the budget gurus at the Office of Management and Finance, with the bureau's acknowledgment of the plan's risk (as has been pointed out elsewhere) to the general fund: The ...   More

News The final financial deal is not without some risk to the City of Portland's general fund, but this afternoon Mayor Sam Adams and three city commissioners said they would support the terms of the renovation project at PGE Park for Major League Soccer. Adams and Commissioners Randy Leonard, Nick Fish and Dan Saltzman have all said they'll vote "yes" next week when the $31 million project goes before ...   More