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A proposal to create a new enhanced service district in the Parkrose neighborhood of Northeast Portland stalled last week after community members protested the plan.
The neighborhood business group Historic Parkrose, which proposed the service district, paused its proposal after business owners organized in opposition, saying it’s functionally a 10-year tax that they can’t vote on. That means the Portland City Council’s City Life Committee will not continue hearings on the proposal.
Enhanced service districts are agreements in which business owners in a part of the city agree to pay an extra fee to get a higher level of services, such as litter cleanup and security. Each is operated by a nonprofit established by that district’s business owners. Historic Parkrose would run the Parkrose service district.
Such districts have long been controversial. Critics say they’re a way for the wealthy in the city to buy better public services while making life harder for the rest. And some business owners who pay the service district fees have complained about the quality of the enhanced services.
Portland currently has three enhanced service districts, in the Central Eastside, downtown and Lloyd neighborhood. Parkrose, St. Johns and Division–Clinton are currently considering creating new service districts.
Protect Parkrose, a campaign representing 77 Parkrose property owners who collectively account for over half of the proposed service district’s assessment base, came out a month ago in strong opposition to the proposal. That means a majority of the people who would have to pay for the service district don’t want it. The campaign has argued that the council could effectively force a 10-year $644,000 annual tax—some $7 million to $8 million overall with fee increases—on business owners without a public vote.
Historic Parkrose, a business district within the neighborhood, initially brought the proposal to the council. The City Life Committee discussed the proposal at its July 14 meeting and decided to continue the conversation at a later meeting rather than vote on it after many Parkrose business owners testified against it. “It’s clear that there has been a lot of work done, but also a lot of folks who did not initially get information about this,” said Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney, who chairs the City Life Committee, on July 14.
Lindsay Berschauer, a spokeswoman for Protect Parkrose, said most business owners had no idea a service district in their area was even on the table. Berschauer says she believes Historic Parkrose lost credibility with some community members because of how they handled the ESD proposal process.
Historic Parkrose did not respond to a request for comment.
It’s unclear what happens next—and whether an ESD in Parkrose remains on the table.
“I’m going off of what I know of our members, and there’s probably 90% of them that will just be an absolute no on an ESD,” Berschauer says. “So, I’m not sure there’s a compromise there.”
