Murmurs: Portland Voters Are Open to Charter Reform

PORTLAND VOTERS ARE OPEN TO CHARTER REFORM: A Sept. 21 poll gauging Portlanders’ support for a charter reform measure on the ballot this November shows they are eager for change. The top-line results, first reported Sept. 26 by The Oregonian, show 63% of respondents would vote for the measure, which shifts power to a city administrator, expands the Portland City Council to 12 members, and elects them with ranked-choice voting. But pollster John Horvick of DHM Research tells WW the survey suggests voters are malleable and could change their minds depending on the messaging they hear between now and the election. When respondents were presented with a message of opposition to the measure, support dropped to 49%. When presented with a message of support only, support rose to 69%. When presented with a modified charter reform measure that City Commissioner Mingus Mapps aims to put on the ballot in spring 2023, 60% of respondents said they would vote for that one. “To me that says people are starting from the position of being upset with the city,” Horvick says, “but they’re not unmovable.”

RENE GONZALEZ CHALLENGES CITY FINE FOR OFFICE DISCOUNT: Last week, the city’s Small Donor Elections program fined City Council candidate Gonzalez’s campaign $77,000 for renting deeply discounted downtown office space from prominent developer Jordan Schnitzer. On Tuesday, the campaign challenged the fine in a request for reconsideration sent to program director Susan Mottet. The campaign argued no transgression was committed because $250 a month for 3,185 square feet is, in fact, not an unreasonable amount to pay for office space in downtown Portland these days and other entities have been offered similar deals. The campaign wrote: “Such a penalty is unjustified for multiple reasons: (1) it lacks factual basis, because other entities can receive (and have received) similar discounts; (2) it does not comply with the relevant legal standards, because there was no opportunity to cure; and (3) it improperly relies on a grossly inflated value of them supposed fair market value of the Space.” Mottet says the city will respond in writing to the request in the coming days.

JUDGE SIDES WITH PUBLIC IN ODOT RECORDS TRIAL: Marion County Circuit Judge Tracy Prall ruled in favor of Portland lawyer Alan Kessler on Sept. 26 in a trial to determine whether the Oregon Department of Transportation had complied with the state’s public records law. In 2019, Kessler requested information from ODOT about public comment on the proposed expansion of Interstate 5 at the Rose Quarter. ODOT dragged its feet and finally produced records after prodding from the Oregon Department of Justice. But Kessler argued—and Judge Prall agreed—that the documents the agency released were less than the law required. “I’m pleased that the court saw this malfeasance by a public agency the same way I did,” Kessler says. “The court seemed very concerned about transparency and public trust and ODOT’s accountability to the people of Oregon.” “ODOT made a mistake, and we are committed to improving,” says department spokesman Kevin Glenn. “We are reviewing our public records request processes and trainings to ensure we follow the law and provide timely and accurate records to the public.”

STATE SUGGESTS FIXES FOR JAIL STAFFING SHORTAGE: For years, Oregon sheriffs have begged the state for help with spiraling health care costs and staffing shortages at local jails that have had deadly consequences. A 2021 report by Disability Rights Oregon slammed the state, alleging that many of Oregon’s jail deaths were preventable with better medical care. Last year, legislators passed a law ordering the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission to look into the issue. The commission convened a panel that released its recommendations earlier this month. They include the creation of a 10-member oversight commission with the authority to conduct unannounced inspections of jails across the state. Among the other recommendations: The state should buy common medications in bulk to save counties money and create “regional provider teams” that could step in when local jails are short staffed.

ROSS ISLAND’S FUTURE DEBATED: Four environmental groups registered serious concerns with the Department of State Lands on Sept. 22 about Ross Island Sand & Gravel’s November 2021 request to extend the amount of time allowed to complete reclamation of the Willamette River island. The company mined it from 1926 to 2001. Ross Island asked the state last year to extend its deadline to 2035; cut the amount of required fill in half; and allow reclamation on a different part of the company’s property. The environmental groups—Willamette Riverkeeper, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, the Audubon Society of Portland, and the Urban Greenspaces Institute—expressed skepticism about the requested modifications as well as the company’s financial performance, given that Ross Island transferred ownership from R.B. Pamplin Corp. to a related pension fund without notifying state or federal regulators (“Fantasy Island,” WW, March 9). They say that failure raises “concerns about the responsibility of the parties as well as financial assurances for the future of the project” and mirrors Ross Island’s “habitual failure to abide by minimum requirements of the reclamation plan.” The state will respond to the company’s request by April 2023.