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Quarterly lobbying reports that reveal who’s trying to curry favor with the Portland City Council show that two groups vying for control of the future of the Keller Auditorium met regularly with city officials this spring.
The Halprin Landscape Conservancy, formed by several downtown developers, wants to renovate the existing building. That nonprofit is in a heated and increasingly public standoff with Portland State University, which proposes to build an entirely new performing arts center on 4.25 acres currently occupied by a little-used, university-owned hotel.
The Keller renovation would cost an estimated $400 million. PSU’s proposal would cost an estimated $600 million. The two parties have squabbled over the merits of the dueling proposals, and both have taken their quarrel public in recent months.
While the city of Portland owns the Keller, the regional government Metro operates the venue. The two governments have mulled both Keller proposals for nearly a year now, and the City Council is set to decide which proposal to greenlight this fall.
While the City Council appears to favor Halprin’s proposal—the conservancy recently hosted an elaborate unveiling event for the Keller Fountain, which all five city commissioners attended—the recently retired director of Metro’s Portland’5 Centers for the Arts, Robyn Williams, showed disdain for Halprin’s plan in emails released to WW through a public records request.
On May 13, Williams forwarded a poll a Metro staffer had received about the Keller that was commissioned and paid for by Halprin. The survey, published in its final form on May 20 by DHM Research, showed respondents were heavily in favor of Halprin’s renovation plan.
“Not hard to figure out who sent this,” Williams wrote.
On May 29, Williams sent an article to staff entitled: “Study predicts dire consequence for closing Keller Auditorium.” The city commissioned the report. In it, Crossroads Consulting warned that closing the Keller during renovations would result in hundreds of jobs lost and tens of millions of dollars in lost profits.
“Finally! The rest of the story is starting to come out,” Williams wrote.
Metro’s communications director appeared to try and rein in Williams. She wrote to her on May 30: “I think it is important Metro maintains a consistent front and stay as impartial as we can while advocating with our councilors, MERC commissioners and when we represent Metro in meetings.”
On June 3, Williams wrote to Karis Stoudamire-Phillips, chair of the seven-member Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission: ”Attached are some speaking points you could use when you meet with [City Commissioner] Dan Ryan. It’s a lot of information so feel free to pick through which items you think are most relevant when talking with him.”
The first point on Williams’ list: “Renovation will have a devastating effect.”
Williams abruptly retired June 28, saying in an email that “Portland’5 has a number of challenges facing it in the coming year and I do not feel I’m the right person to be leading the organization.”
Halprin stepped up its public campaign this spring and summer. On July 19, Halprin hosted an elaborate unveiling of the repaired Keller Fountain, complete with dance troupes, food stands and live music. All five members of the City Council attended, and four even took a dip in the fountain (against the advice of the city’s parks bureau).
That very same day, Halprin released the study it had commissioned by local firm ECOnorthwest that poked holes in the city’s Crossroads study. ECOnorthwest wrote that the city’s study was “overstated” and portrayed only a “worst-case closure scenario.”
Portland State University also lobbied hard this spring and summer, quarterly lobbying reports show. PSU spent $26,000 to lobby the city in the last fiscal quarter, the bulk of it on the Keller, meeting with all five city commissioners’ offices repeatedly. Meanwhile, representatives from Halprin met with each city commissioner’s office at least once between April and May.
The City Council is set to decide which proposal it favors this fall.