Skip to main content
An amendment presented by Councilor Steve Novick dominated public testimony at Wednesday’s marathon budget meeting of the Portland City Council, as dozens of people testified against his proposal to close the Multnomah Arts Center and the Community Music Center in Southwest and Southeast Portland.
Of the 126 amendments the City Council must discuss and vote on by the end of the night, Novick’s proposal—which would close the arts and music center, resulting in savings of $1.8 million—generated the most passionate testimony.
Both centers are operated by Portland Parks & Recreation, providing discounted performing and visual arts programs for kids and the elderly.
Testimony against Novick’s proposal took up more than half the time allotted to public testimony on all budget amendments. It was an example of just how strongly Portlanders continue to oppose closing community centers as a way to balance the city’s checkbook.
“At a time when the country’s executive leadership is characterized by destabilizing, unilateral cuts, it is even more crucial for state and local leadership to remain measured in their response,” says Kristen Shiga, who lives in District 2 and is a metalsmith and arts instructor at MAC.
Many of those who testified gave impassioned pleas for the council to reject Novick’s idea. Some spoke about how the center provided them with much-needed community. Others said it offered an important place for those in mental health recovery.
“As a registered nurse, I can’t emphasize enough how the Multnomah Arts Center supports mental and physical well-being through the social connections and the sense of community it creates.” said Soraya Go, who lives in District 4, “This is evidence-based practice with results from over 3,000 studies identifying a major role for the arts in prevention of illness, promotion of health, and management and treatment of illness across the lifespan.”
While some of those people testified, a group of children outside City Hall, led by one adult, stood in a small circle and played simple tunes on string instruments. The music could be heard from inside the chambers.
Novick wrote in his amendment that the aging state of the centers would mean they might have to close anyway in the “not-too-distant future.”
Novick told WW after the overwhelming testimony: “Knowing that Parks says that one-fifth of parks assets are likely to close within 15 years without a huge influx of major maintenance money, I asked Parks which community centers are in the worst shape. They said Multnomah Arts Center, the Community Music Center and the Southwest Community center. That seemed to me a rational basis for a proposal.”
Novick’s amendment proposes to shift the savings from the closures of the centers to backfill cuts to outdoor parks maintenance proposed by Mayor Keith Wilson in his proposed budget. About half of the city councilors have presented their own ideas to prevent parks maintenance cuts; Novick’s is just one of those. Many will be discussed on Wednesday evening.
By the end of the night on Wednesday, the council must approve a preliminary balanced budget. On June 11, the council will take a final vote on the budget.