The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-10-07
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (16,991 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are not yet identified (colors just separate consecutive turns). Auto-captions can contain errors — check the recording for anything that matters.
Session summaryEditor-reviewed
The Portland City Council Arts and Economy Committee met on October 7, 2025. Roll call confirmed member presence, and the statement of conduct for public testimony was read. The session opened with recognition of the Froelick Gallery's 30th anniversary, including remarks on the gallery's economic contributions, downtown business conditions, public safety concerns, taxation, and parking rates, followed by a formal commendation letter and committee comments. The committee then received a presentation from Portland Parks and Recreation staff on the Portland Tennis Program, covering facility history, court tiers, staffing models, budget composition (earned revenue and general fund/levy support), deferred maintenance needs including the Portland Tennis Center's roof, HVAC, and bubble structure, equity and discount programs, and philanthropic partnerships such as with USTA and Nike. Discussion addressed geographic disparities in court access, particularly in District One, and a pending budget note regarding potential USTA involvement. Two members of the public testified on tennis-related issues. A policy preview segment introduced a proposed ordinance to require all-user designation for single-stall public restrooms citywide, including historical background, legal considerations, enforcement approach, and public testimony from community representatives. The meeting concluded with remarks on upcoming agenda planning; any votes taken are recorded in the vote ledger.
AI-drafted from the session's auto-captions, reviewed by an editor — describes the discussion only; recorded votes live in the vote ledger. Captions contain errors.
Procedural markers in this session
Literal phrase counts from the official captions — a measurement of procedure, not a judgment of anyone's conduct. Click a marker to highlight its occurrences below. Captions contain errors.
0 Good morning. I called the meeting of the arts and economy committee to order. It's Tuesday, October 7th, and it is 930. Before I get moving too far into the agenda, I just want to acknowledge we have a special guest in the back row there. Middle school students. My favorite time of favorite part of the whole k12 cycle? They're the their sixth, seventh, and eighth graders from cottonwood middle school. Can everyone please welcome our esteemed guests in the back? Give him some applause. Let him wake them up. They're middle school kids. Yeah. All right. Enjoy. Buckle up. Enjoy the meeting. Give us a evaluation when we're done. Okay. All right. Diana, will you please call the roll?
1 Good morning. Clark. Here. Green.
2 Here.
3 Dunphy, here. Smith.
4 Ryan here. And, craig, will you please read the statement of conduct?
5 Welcome to this meeting of the arts and economy committee. To testify before this committee in person or virtually. You must sign up in advance on the committee agenda at w-w-w. Agenda. And economy committee, or by calling 311. Information on engaging with the committee can be found at this link. Registration for virtual testimony closes one hour prior to the meeting. In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard. A public testimony will be taken on an item. Individuals may testify for two minutes unless the chair states otherwise. Your microphone will be muted when your time is over. Excuse me? Three minutes. Unless the chair states. Otherwise, your microphone will be muted. When your time is over, the chair preserves order. Disruptive conduct such as shouting. Refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up or interrupting others testimony or committee deliberations will not be allowed. If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. Your testimony should address the matter being considered. When testifying, state your name for the record. If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name. Thank you.
6 Thank you craig. Today's meeting for arts and economy looks like this. We're going to celebrate the 30th anniversary of a very important art gallery in town, where we'll receive a presentation about the Portland tennis program and specifically the Portland tennis center. And we'll also hear a little bit about some upcoming legislation. And, of course, we'll take testimony from the public within the items that are addressed. And then at the end, if need be, I want to just acknowledge arts and economy. Today, we're leaning into the arts and rec side of that. So I hope that you can appreciate that that's all part of the economy. First of all, recognition. Please read item one.
7 Recognition of charles froelick gallery 30 year anniversary and contributions to the arts.
8 Thank you. Diana. I first want to start off by welcoming charles froelick, who I would ask if you'd like to come up to this area here. We called the the panel, the not the dais, but the panel. It's all yours. And I want to raise up the contributions as a prominent and influential member of the Portland art scene, his gallery is celebrating a 30th anniversary this year, a major milestone for any business, but especially for an art gallery where business is subject to economic cycles and how, as such, it's critical that we recognize those in our community that have weathered the challenges of doing business in Portland through economic ups and downs. At today's meeting, we will be presenting a letter of commendation to the city from the city to you, charles, and I think I'll read it after we hear a little bit from you. Is that good? And by the way, I just have to acknowledge. I just found out it's your birthday. Happy birthday.
9 Thank you, thank you.
10 Maybe the middle school kids will sing to you at the end.
11 Dan and councilors, thank you so much. I sincerely appreciate this recognition. To celebrate froelich gallery's 30th anniversary, we have a group exhibit including all of the artists I work with, and I hope you'll stop by sometime to see the show and visit with me. I'd love to talk about business in downtown Portland and the arts over all these decades. My show is on view through November 1st, and I'd like to share some perspectives. As an arts business person and a downtown Portland commercial property owner. In 1995, I opened froelick gallery to represent an exhibit and promote the very best artists. And that's what we need. My gallery is a commercial for profit business whose operating budget is entirely covered by art sales revenue, not grants. Freedom of speech. Our first amendment fosters great art and free enterprise, fosters a strong economy. My gallery currently represents 21 artists. Some are brand new to my gallery. Others have worked with me for over 30 years. My gallery sales are an essential part of these artists livelihoods, not just for one show, but for the year after year that we're working together. Besides these artists livelihoods, my gallery is beneficial. Economic impact includes countless regional businesses, independent contractors, the galleries, amazing employees and the significant taxes we pay such as property taxes. Gallery attendance is free to all students and travelers of all ages from near and far. Visit my gallery every week. I have participated in pearl district's monthly first Thursday art walk for my entire history here in Portland, and I've helped to sell my artist's work to individuals and museums around the globe, bringing attention to Oregon. Some businesses, such as mine, invest in the small businesses such as mine, invest in the cultural vitality, financial health and public safety. In Portland. The climate to run a business in Portland has, however, become increasingly difficult in the last five years. Longtime clients, friends and colleagues regularly tell me that they no longer go downtown because of how unsafe it is, and they don't want their children seeing open air drug use. Many of my clients have moved not just because of high taxes, but worse because they don't trust how their taxes are being spent. My business insurance rates have gone through the roof because of lack of safety. I have layers of new extra security expenses, and my business activity is interrupted weekly by people who come in needing psychiatric care. I've had far too many terrifying encounters inside of my business. My attendance. I'm on northwest davis at broadway. Just for the record, my attendance and sales have plummeted. Now we must all acknowledge mistakes made across the city and the state in attitude, action, policy and word. By all of us, including me. And I'm not here pointing fingers. But I must say that city council can and must do things to make Portland safer, more prosperous. And that will mean better the attitude of tax and tax again has to stop. Transparent and thorough audits of all government agencies and contractors must be initiated with accountability measures. We must acknowledge and address the public safety failures all around us. A special request to the mayor, city council, PBOT and the city administrator. Please reduce the parking rates downtown. The recent rate increases are doing the opposite of supporting downtown business. They discourage people from visiting downtown. Thank you at least for the reduced enforcement hours. As you know, people can go anywhere to find a chain restaurant or a retail or retail. But small locally owned businesses quirky, weird, unusual. Like Portland, that used to be the main attraction here, but they're quickly becoming a rarity. Please ask these local businesses what they need to help bring activity, vibrancy, and commerce back and make it happen. Remember, healthy commerce pays your tax bills. Portland has been a creative hub, and I'm grateful to have had my business here for 30 years. I want to keep my business in Portland, but I'm seriously considering moving it out of Multnomah county. I want to continue living here, but it will be difficult if the city, county and state does not return to a balanced course of common sense policies. I want to express special thanks to the incredible employees that have worked with me over the decades, to the amazing artists who partner with me, to the collectors and public institutions who have bought artwork, to the writers, curators, and museums who have helped interpret and bring attention to these artists and their artwork. And I'm deeply grateful to the people of Portland who walk through my doors and simply say that they appreciate looking. My gallery could not have hit this milestone without those beautiful, passionate collection of portlanders. Thank you so much.
12 Thank you charles, and I know that we wanted to give you time. I had no idea what you were going to say, and it was great to listen to because one, it's your 30th anniversary and it's your birthday. And so you kind of get to say what you want when you come to the dais. And so I think it was important for us to listen to what you had to say. After 30 years of doing business here. And as someone that I know wants to be loyal to our city for the long term, your truth telling was received. And I just want to thank you for your courage to say what you thought was necessary at this moment in time.
13 Indeed. Thank you for the.
14 You're so welcome. Before I read the letter from the mayor and the city council, I wanted to give my colleagues a chance to say anything they'd like to you. I know that you have a business in district four and you live in district three, correct? All right, colleagues, anyone have anything to say? Oh, councilor Clark.
15 Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you. Charles. Congratulations. Happy birthday. And thank you so much for your statement. I appreciate your perseverance and your commitment and your clarity. So thank you so much for coming and making your statement today. I think our co-chair is right that we hear you, especially in district four, where your business is your art gallery, and I'll make sure to come by. Thank you so much.
16 Please do.
17 Yes, councilor Smith.
18 Thank you. Thank you this morning. Thank you charles, thank you for your service to this community, particularly being here for 30 years. That is an amazing and outstanding feat for any business. And I've always thought of the froelick gallery as an institution that should be, you know, realized a little bit more than you have been. And it's great that you took the time to kind of run down some of the things that you've done over the years. I think that having you here today and shining a light on what you've been doing is incredible. And I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you. Please don't leave. And happy birthday.
19 Thank you so much.
20 Thank you, councilor Smith. Councilor Green.
21 Thank you, co-chair Ryan, I was excited to hear your presentation today and I didn't know it was your birthday. So I'm pleased that we get to talk to you on your birthday. So happy birthday on that. You said something that really, really resonates with me, which is like a lot of folks are not seeing the value proposition at the taxes they pay. So whether we think the taxes are too high or too low or just right, I think we always have an opportunity or an obligation to make sure we're spending those dollars as wisely as possible. So it's not lost on this committee. And thank you for sticking it out, and I hope that I hope you'll stay. Thanks.
22 Thank you. Co-chair Green. Okay, now I get to read this formal letter to you. Yes. And it's my pleasure to do that. On behalf of the arts and economy committee, we are proud to present this commendation to froelick gallery for 30 years of artistic excellence, cultural leadership and community contributions in Portland. Since opening in 1995. Following valuable experiences at well-known gallery in Portland, you have been committed to a clear vision to showcase artists with strong independent voices and to foster emerging and established talents. Your dedication to your artists long term success, and your efforts to build meaningful connections with collectors at all levels. Highlight your passion, professionalism and core values. Celebrating 30 years is more than endurance. It's a tribute to community, to creativity, and to the preservation of culture. By advocating for free expression and believing in the transformative power of art, you have significantly shaped portland's art scene. Beyond your gallery, your volunteer work with numerous local and national arts organizations, including the crow's shadow institute of the arts, the Portland art museum, and the smithsonian's national museum of the of the American indian, among others. Highlights your deep commitment to civic engagement and to public service. Congratulations on this remarkable milestone. Thank you for your ongoing leadership in Portland arts and culture scene. Your contributions make you a vital part of our city's visionary arts community. Please join me in giving a round of applause to mr. Charles frohlich. Thank you so much.
23 Thank you.
24 Well, actually, we have a singer. Do you want to? I would never do that to charles. Okay. Oh I won't, but I was. She was tempted. BOlivia can sing. Anyway. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Yeah. Craig, please read the next item.
25 Item two Portland tennis program.
26 Thank you, diana, and thank you for coming up. Just to level set this discussion a bit. We know that tennis is a forever and growing sport in Portland and internationally. We have more than 80,000 active tennis players in the city. Portland's current ratio is one court to every 7708 active players. There is double the demand for available court space in the city, and I'm glad to sponsor this agenda item and bring forward an overview of the of parks Portland tennis program today. Tennis is a lifelong sport. It's low cost, highly accessible. All you need is a public court, a racket, a can of balls and athletic shoes. I'm a big proponent of sport that brings our community together and families so they can play with young kids and senior citizens from birth to til the end. And so big thanks to the team who's come together with us today. Marianne. Maximo, I have these names, david and nancy. And I also want to thank the Portland tennis center team who hosted me on a recent visit. They showed me the facility, explained the operations. I was particularly struck by the engineering feat of the big bubble structure that was built in 2012 that encloses four courts and makes them all weather year round. What was apparent is that we have a dedicated team at the Portland tennis center that cares deeply about their community, and I want to thank you for that site visit last Friday. Welcome to the podium. Thank you. Take it away.
27 Good morning, chair Ryan and councilors, I'm priya dhanapal, the deputy city administrator for public works, and I'm joined by Portland parks and recreation director sonia shymansky, who is virtual right now, and also recreation service manager max behrens, as well as marianne thibault, sport sports management supervisor. As shared by chair, Ryan will be presenting an overview of the tennis program. You'll hear about the city's tennis facilities, programs, partners and investments, and you'll see that this small but mighty team is leveraging, leveraging community partners and creativity to bring tennis to portlanders of all ages citywide. And you'll also hear where we have opportunities to grow. And I hope this information will help you better understand how a municipal tennis system adds value to Portland, and where we can broaden our reach in the future. And with that, I'll turn it over to marianne to take us to the presentation.
28 Thank you so much. My name is marianne tebow. I'm the sports management supervisor for the city of Portland. And good morning. So good morning, council. Thank you for the opportunity to share an overview of Portland parks and recreation's tennis program. Today, I'll highlight how tennis contributes to health, community and equity in our city. I joked that I never wanted to be on tech support before this began. There we go. All right, so today we'll walk through who we are, the value we provide, how we're funded, the challenges we face and where we're headed. Tennis has a long history in Portland, with the tennis center opening in 1916. We've always prioritized public access and affordability. The Portland tennis center is regional tennis hub, offering indoor and outdoor play, year round. Paris 91. Outdoor courts throughout the city offer free access for all and support Portland public schools high school tennis. Tennis has been described as an exclusive, costly activity for wealthy participants. Portland parks and recreation broadens access to tennis programing for a wider, more diverse participant. Our unique value lies in offering high quality programing at an affordable price, with one of the only public indoor tennis centers in the region, ptc Portland tennis center offers a wide range of programing for all ages and skill levels, from entry level classes to advanced competition. We categorize our courts by tiers to prioritize investment and ensure equitable access across the city. Ptc is our regional tennis hub, providing tennis programing and equitable year round access. Community tennis hub locations include glen haven, grant, gabriel, Sellwood, rj buckman, Washington, clinton, irving and Willamette parks. Regional courts have 2 to 3 courts and have limited to no amenities. Examples include park Lane and Laurelhurst. Parks. Neighborhood courts have 1 to 2 courts and typically no amenities. Examples include Lents and mount tabor. Unfortunately, most of our outdoor courts are in poor condition and need significant reinvestment. A significant deferred maintenance backlog remains, but strategic planning, coordination and support will minimize that backlog over time through ongoing repairs, improvement, and updates. Creating a hard surface maintenance team based out of the athletic fields department would greatly improve oversight of our outdoor courts. Citywide indoor access is a major equity gap, especially during the rainy seasons. The outdoor strategy provides a roadmap for equitable city investment. With that said, penner has not allocated funding and ownership of this work. The sports management team would like oversight and implementation through the development of a hard surface team operating out of the athletic fields maintenance department, ptc staffing model our team includes both full time staff and instructors, supported by recreation associates who welcome and serve customers. Portland is home to nearly 85,000 tennis players, but with limited indoor access and aging facilities, demand far outpaces supply. Tennis is growing nationally and locally, particularly in the pacific northwest. Equity is central to our mission our discount program, youth partnerships and school agreements ensure tennis is accessible to all. Now we'll take a look at ctc's budget. Ptc operates with a modest budget, generating revenue through passes and programing programs, but requiring general fund subsidy to stay affordable. Usta grants and support supplements city investments, but cannot meet the total need. Fees are kept accessible and discounts extend this affordability even further. We work with partners to maximize impact, share resources and reach underserved communities. Looking ahead, we envision a coordinated, citywide approach to preserve and expand tennis access. Thank you.
29 Thank you for that presentation. I have to say that was I think it's always good to be turbo with slides, but that was probably the fastest movement from one side to another with so much dense information. So perhaps I was only one that was probably going to have to go back and ask questions based on that, but I want to make sure that I offer that to my colleagues first. Councilor co-chair Green, please.
30 Thank you. Co-chair Ryan, I wonder if you could go back to the slide that had the budget, please? And first of all, I just really appreciate this presentation. It's we had, I think, talked about opportunities for the public private partnership piece. Many of my colleagues here throughout our tenure so far, and this is one of those areas I think we might need to look into. So I want to kind of so just give me a second on this slide. If I've got this right. So your total operational budget is 1.558. And the total revenues. So you're you're earning net revenue positive on this okay. So so you're not in a deficit position with respect to the ptc budget. Is that correct.
31 So that revenue comes from past sales. The fees that we collect for classes and mixers and drills things like that.
32 Yeah okay. But but it covers the budget.
33 Well we do receive some general fund budget down there. On the third line you'll see general fund or levy blend is about 642.
34 I see. So you've broken that out earned revenue versus general fund levy. And it looks like that adds up to the 1.588. Correct. Okay. So I guess my question would be to sort of given that we know that we're going into an increasingly scarce general revenue environment. Can you talk a little bit about what strategies the the bureau or the center has been thinking about for ensuring kind of long run sustainability with this center? And, and maybe, you know, god willing, a little bit of improvement, because I know that I know that we've my constituents have been asking for increased hours. And also, you had an earlier slide that said, just from a capital standpoint, a lot of their surfaces are are desperate need of of improvement. So I'd love to hear some thoughts from from you all on what you think the future holds.
35 Do you want to say the hours?
36 Yeah. So right now the you're exactly right. So if we were open many hours people would want to play tennis. So there's definitely a need for increased access to indoor courts in particular. So we're open no earlier than 6 a.m. And we stay open until almost 10 p.m. And we're pretty much booked the entire time. So that's just a bit about the hours that we offer. And then I'll pass it to maximo to speak a little bit about the budget.
37 Yeah. And so the budget for the Portland tennis center is built very similarly to the budgets that are created for other recreation programs. And so those are loaded at the beginning of every year, working in partnership with the supervisor on site and the staff to see what programs can be available. The balance that we would have for programs to open public play, and then really making sure that we establish and then continue to monitor and track usage throughout throughout the year. And that's done on a weekly, on a daily basis in there. And we make sure to do a programing adjustment accordingly through every month to make sure that we are meeting those budgetary goals and continuing to stay on track to the end of a balanced budget at the end of each year.
38 Thank you. And I, I just wanted to pass on some feedback that I heard from some constituents and some folks who are not my constituents directly, but but use the center. And I heard this during the budget season was that they would be willing to pay a higher price from their own standpoint if they felt that that led to increased availability. And so I wonder if you know your pricing model, have you considered sort of almost like a dynamic pricing approach or maybe using some kind of willingness to pay metrics to sort of say, okay, yes, it is good to offer the discounts to those who who need it, but then not miss the opportunity from community members who are saying, I can pay more. I want to pay more if it if it contributes in an increase in service delivery. Have you heard that yourselves or have you thought about that?
39 Yeah, I think that, you know, all goes back to need versus what we actually can deliver in terms of how many indoor courts that we have. So our main goal is getting rackets in hand. Right. We're recreation. So we want to make sure equity and access is our number one priority. And so we do want to serve mostly when you look at kind of who comes to the Portland tennis center, you know you have ratings in tennis and that high level of play. There's few people at the very top at that high level of play. And then most people who come to our center are kind of beginners. So they're at that 2.53 level. And that is our our majority of our users are just getting into tennis. And so there's a large number of those folks who want to join our classes and things. And so again, that's kind of the the people and the programing that we tend to try to serve the most is who's coming through the door. We want to make sure that the kid who has never held a racket can borrow a racket, have a pair of shoes and get on a court, right. That's our main goal in recreation. So serving all of those users is is quite the dance that we do in terms of checking our programing. And like maximo said, there's a lot of checks and balances, weekly meetings about are we serving the most people that we can? We're very aware of our attendance numbers, and we try to do more for when we see that demand. But we do run out of court space, so that is an issue for us.
40 Thank you for that. I think that's all the questions I have right now, but thanks for the information today.
41 Councilor Green, is it okay with you if I invite director shemanski to add to that answer as well? Yeah, great.
42 Please, director.
43 Good morning. I'm sorry to be virtual. Thanks for hosting us today for the conversation. Councilor, I just want to thank you for that question. It similar question came up in the broader context of bureau fee structure in the budget process, I think from councilor Kanal, and I appreciated it then as well. I think there's a real opportunity going forward to look at the rate structure for various services and programs and bureau wide to make sure it's optimized both for access and for revenue. It's a complex exercise, as I know you all know. So it's not quickly or simply done, but I do think that's an important priority for the bureau going forward.
44 Thank you, director szymanski. And just last thing I want to say, priya, since you're up here and it's not related to this, but we do have the cottonwood students here is PBOT has done an excellent job at helping improve the safety of their new school locations. I just want to give give the flowers to PBOT on that.
45 Thank you. I'll. I'll make sure I pass it along. Thank you counselor.
46 Thank you. Co-chair Green. On that note, I still want to I want to start with the cottonwood students because you're engaged right now, right? How many of you play tennis? Two. Over here. That's it. Someone behind the pole. All right, you got to work on the middle school kids at cottonwood. All right, let's stick with the budget. Just for a second. What would you do without the general fund subsidy?
47 Without the general fund, we would increase fees to balance our budget. And so we would create our budget, our annual budget based on what the earned revenue would need to be in order for us to be able to meet the staffing and the ems costs, to be able to continue operation throughout the year.
48 Thank you. And then I'm still trying to doodle the the scholarship angle or the clarification about tennis scholarships and subsidies on affordability. How does that system work? I think people need to keep trying to understand it. I recall you explaining to me on Friday that it does take some further explanation sometimes.
49 Yes. So as part of the 2020 parks operational levy, one of the commitments to that, to that levy was reducing cost as a barrier, increasing access and preventing reduction of recreation programs and services. And so what was born out of that was our project connect program, of which we created an access discount program. And so it applies across our entire recreation division, and of which Portland tennis center is a part of. And that provides opportunity for people to be able to sign up for an access discount that can be applied to their account, and then for any membership or registration that they apply for, they can be able to opt into a sliding scale, and that can be anywhere from 25% to 90% off the established rate for that. And then that is applied and is utilized and is supported by the 2020 parks operational levy funding that as mechanism that you just described. Correct. And the regulation of that is can anyone put that they need the sliding scale or how is that regulated?
50 Correct. That individuals and families can be able to opt in and be able to, within that sliding scale, be able to step in and be able to apply their level of discount that they feel is needed to be able to continue access with recreation programs.
51 Anyone can opt in, correct? Okay. When you go to the slide that shows the outdoor courtiers, I thought that was really helpful to look at, and it helps me when I walk around the city and wonder about the different levels. I think you just went past it. I'm not making it up. It's. There you go. So I think what I started to do and we're in a district, we all live in different districts for the most part up here. And so it's helpful, I think, for us in our positions, if we know what we have in our district. I know the Portland tennis center feels like it's in district two, but it's not because you cross the banfield or I-84 and it's district three. So it's a district three, correct? Okay. And I think it might be helpful if we could all get some information as representatives of districts on what we have in our district. So I assume our lodge is maybe a neighborhood court.
52 Arbor lodge.
53 Yeah. And maybe peninsula is as well.
54 Yeah. So we kind of rank the the outdoor courts based on amenities. So we try to have courts with 3 or 4 courts. So the maximum amount of play that can happen at one location. And when we say amenities, that's typically lights and restrooms and accessible walkways things like that. And so those hubs have been identified and prioritized, meaning, you know, the the current level of maintenance that we do for those courts is that's where we focus is because those courts kind of get the the most use. We also send our partner groups there. So those are typically the hubs of high school tennis practice and high school tennis matches, things like that. So those community hubs and there are ten throughout the city and I can mention those.
55 Again.
56 You want me to say.
57 Yeah, that was part of the turbo where I was taking notes. And you're on to the next slide. Yeah, sure.
58 So they are prioritized by tiers. And as you said ptc is the regional tennis hub. So that's the location 12 courts. We have four in our brick and mortar building. We have four in the bubble is what we call it. So eight indoor. And then we have four that are outdoor. So 12 total. So the Portland tennis center serves as a regional tournament place as well. So we host the Portland public schools tennis championships there. We have three rivers school district that that comes up. We host usta tournaments things like that. So that's our main hub. As for the community tennis hub locations, those are glenhaven park, grant park, gabriel park, Sellwood park, rj buckman, Washington, clinton, irving and Willamette. And so when I say that, we kind of focus on those some of the ways that we've been able to reinvest in our courts is through pursuing usta grants, and those are for resurfacing of those courts. Typically, we choose courts that don't have structural repair that's needed. Some of our courts have extensive structural repair that's needed. So this resurfacing is just a smoothing of the surface, repainting the lines, things like that. So a few of the courts that I've just mentioned have received a usta grant for that resurfacing. And those include we just did Willamette and irving. So those look look pretty great in the last couple years.
59 As doodling how many in my district, I'm sure the others might have been doing the same. So thank you. I know I have two, we have two in district two, so now I know that. And you just did the irving park restructure, correct? Court conditions citywide? I circled that one as I wanted. It's the next one for the person doing the clicking. Yeah. 15,000 annual grant awards dedicated to ptc operation and outdoor court improvements. Tell me more about that. Is that a philanthropic grant.
60 So those are through usta.
61 The usta and colleagues. That's who we voted unanimously on a budget note to explore deepening that relationship. And we'll have more on that later. But that's the same organization, correct?
62 Correct. And we.
63 Currently they're your only outside investment at this time.
64 Correct.
65 Why did we stop when we passed the levy in 2020? Why did we stop seeking philanthropic and partnerships? That's you know, that did puzzle me in my 18 months. I'm sure the former director can tell you how many times I asked that question. And then I'll just say we had a presentation about the levy looking at national, national scene and city parks throughout the country. And Portland stuck out in a way that I wish it did not. And as we were in last place in terms of partnerships and philanthropic support for parks program in general. So it looks like I get to notice that in this micro example of tennis. With that, could you tell me more culturally why the momentum seemed to back back pedal once the levy passed in 2020?
66 I could.
67 Speak specifically.
68 For tennis, if that's helpful.
69 That would be really helpful. I think it's so important for us as we try to convince voters to increase their investment in our parks by 80%, that we have a better understanding of what the culture has been doing with our investments. So I we backpedaled so much on philanthropic partnerships.
70 Yeah. So right now we have a few partnerships within the tennis program that I oversee. One is with usta. We have a collaborative agreement with them right now. My understanding is that years ago, staffing levels in tennis and recreation were such that we were actually able to provide some outdoor programing on courts extending past Portland tennis center, and that has been a budget cut years ago, is my understanding. And so now we only have the staff to just focus on that, that facility. But we know that there's a need, right? If you have a kiddo who is home all summer, we want that kid to be walking to the tennis court to play some tennis. Right? And so we partner with usta tennis, and they run a summer program called rec tennis. Rec tennis is a novice program, so it serves that first first touch player rackets in hand is what their focus is. And they provide half day camps. And those camps occur throughout the city. Locations include irving, gabriel. They kind of go from place to place. Sometimes they're at westmoreland, they go kind of all over depending on their staffing. And we we meet with them prior. We help them out with some court permitting, for those outdoor courts, make sure they get that space and then they do what we're not we're unable to do, which is have staff that's dedicated there to introduce kids to the sport of tennis. In that partnership is also included a percentage of their fees that they collect by doing that work. And so we get a check at the end of the summer based on what that percentage is. And this year it was $15,000. So that money goes into a usta trust fund. And that trust fund lives within Portland tennis center and is used for things like two things that we just did at that building, as we recently put in an hvac system that was needed. The hvac for the main building wasn't working at all, so we used money from that trust fund to pay for that. We also used money from the usta trust fund to resurface the bubble. The four courts out there, which you also saw last Friday. And so that that's some of how that passed through many works specifically at ptc.
71 I want to quickly add, you know, irrespective of what happened between 2020 until like the past year, I think moving forward, we're really focused on public private partnerships and any partnerships, whether it's tennis or other things. Overall, in the Portland parks and recreation. And I'm going to invite director shemanski to see if she would like to add anything more to that.
72 I can't, but I wonder, maximo, if you can speak. Marianne, thank you for that information about what's currently happening. Maximo, if you have any insight about pivots in the bureau's priorities over the last five years, given the levy and how the fundraising approach evolved, it would be, I think, helpful to add.
73 Yeah. And the last so in the last five years, with the support of the 2020 parks operational levy, it greatly reduced our dependance on earned revenue to be able to offer our programs and our services. I probably would add that during that time, as marianne has mentioned, and as you can see on the slide here, that we still continue to explore grant opportunities and look for partnerships. And so and we also work in partnership with other businesses and corporations. And maybe marianne can also talk about, you know, we work with organizations like nike under armor adidas. And so we find ways to continue to be able to partner through sponsorships, ways that we can continue to offer as well as enhance existing programs.
74 Do you want me to talk about. Yeah. So a bit outside of the tennis world, I oversee citywide sports. And so I oversee athletic fields, maintenance department, which currently cares for any Green space that you would kick a ball or throw a ball on. Right. And then I also oversee citywide sports, which is golden ball youth basketball program. We have volleyball programs, all of those things. And in the golden ball program in particular, that program relies heavily on our collaborative use agreement with Portland public schools. Penner does not have the gym space to house 2000 kids. So we go into the schools to serve that program. Every team gets a practice in the evening and a game on Saturday. In addition to that, we train over 125 referees and that starts in two weeks. So saturdays from mid-october to mid-march is golden ball. And with that program fees, with gym use and any additional space we want became kind of a strain on our budget. And so since I've been in this position in the last four years, I pursued a relationship with nike, and we have a grant with them for two fold. So we receive training for both our 400 volunteer coaches through an organization called the center of center for justice and healing through sport. And they are based they work with organizations in chicago, la, and now Portland, and they fly out and do in-person training for our coaches and for our referees. And they talk about kind of the the cognitive side of sports, right? So when you're refereeing or you're playing in a loud gym, things can get heated. Right. And so they talk about self-regulation. And that's for athletes, coaches and officials. Remembering the focus on the game is fun right. Nobody's getting a scholarship at a third grade basketball game. And so so that is a piece that training component and bringing that professional training to our staff and our our coaches, delivering our program. In addition to that, they do. This year, I think I'm getting over $30,000 in product. And that product goes directly to my staff. And so that so staff have a uniform. Oftentimes that can be a barrier when you want to start a job, but you don't have the money for the black pants and the black shirt and the, you know, the stripes you have to have. So nike is providing all of that for my referees, including a trip to their nike employee store as a as a kudo. In addition to that, they provide backpacks for all our coaches. And this year I did kind of a big ask because why not? And every team gets a ball. And so that is really exciting. So even if at the last second, you know, you have a coach who tag your it, you're now the coach of this team. Now you got a ball, you got some gym space and you got some kids. Let's do it right. And so we do pursue relationships like that when we're able to. And that's been a really great one for the sports department okay.
75 Thank you I have a couple more questions but I'll turn it over to some other colleagues. At this moment I see councilor Clark in the queue.
76 Thank you. Mr. Chair, thank you for the presentation. And I am a former athlete and a referee and an umpire. So I enjoyed hearing what you had to say about that. But back to tennis. I live within walking distance of the for Willamette facility, the Willamette park, and was really happy to see the resurfacing. It's not just great for tennis, but it's great for the feeling and the entire park. That kind of upgrade kind of lifts the entire park, so I appreciate that. And maybe we don't need to go into this now, but I'd just be curious how you got the grant award. But those of my colleagues are probably tired of hearing me say this, but I'm really concerned about the condition of of all of our assets, all of our parks, including the tennis assets. There's such a backlog across the board. And I also feel that given the growth that you mentioned in the interest in tennis, people wanting to play, that there's some sort of untapped potential here. Definitely. And that I think that would be enhanced through partnerships. I'm also very concerned about the long term sustainability or viability of our parks generally, and many of our facilities that we have closed or are not taken care of. So I'm very interested in pursuing those public private partnerships. We're working on. One director shemanski, has been helping on the Sellwood community house and opening up the craft shacks with community based partnerships. But I'm very interested in how we can pursue more of those public private partnerships, and it seems that that's very applicable to tennis as well. Just want to put that out there.
77 Councilor Clark councilor Dunfee.
78 Yeah, thank you. So I'm looking at I was looking at this 103 public courts. I pulled up a map that is from the park's website about outdoor tennis court findings. And I want to echo some of what my colleague, councilor Clark, was just mentioning about the disrepair of some of our our courts. It is worth noting that east of I, 205 represents almost 40% of all the kids in the city district. One in total has a total of looks like ten courts public. However, at glenwood park the two courts do not have nets. So if we include Lents park, our park and park Lane park, we have a total of eight accessible tennis courts, which means that additionally, the overwhelming majority of my district does not live within a three mile walk of a tennis court. I would sure. I also this you know, this was sparked specifically because I saw that you on here you have a relationship with Portland parks, Portland public schools. I wondered why why am I not seeing david lewis or parkrose or centennial or any of the, you know, schools serving east county? And it's because there's no infrastructure. There's a complete lack of infrastructure in east Portland. So I sure hope that as we are thinking about these things, we use the tools that the parks department has already created to show heat maps of accessibility for these resources, and that as we are thinking about where to invest. And it's also worth noting, two of these courts are at park Lane park, which only just opened this summer. So there is a gaping hole that is not serving a significant number of the kids who live in our community who would benefit greatly from this. So I hope that we can find some ways to take limited, precious public dollars and invest where kids are living. So just wanted to, as always, defend district one and fight for our kiddos out there too. And adults who like to play tennis, not just kids. Thank you.
79 Thank you, councilor Dunsford. Thank you for reminding portlanders with the vast majority of our children live proportionately in our districts. Councilor Smith.
80 Thank you, co-chair. Thank you all for for bringing this presentation forward. And I am just going to piggyback on my fellow district one. And just to put a finer point on it, we basically only had one park that had courts on it, and that was our gay park. Lane just got built. And so we have expanded that. But I'm looking at district three and it has a it has one, two, three, four. I can't even count all of the, all of the, the parks that have it or facilities that have tennis. And it's obvious, you know, where you're going to get the most of anything. It's it's who's pushing. And folks who tend to. Live paycheck to paycheck, they're, they're, they're trying to figure out how to survive in, in a community. And the average salary in district one, which is east of, of 205 and 82nd, is $60,000 a year. So folks are trying to figure out how to pay the bills, how to make sure that their kids get, you know, at least lunch every day. So I think as we're thinking about these things, and I don't want to belabor the point, but I also want to have you all start thinking about the city in quadrants one, two, three, and four and think about, you know, as you are bringing in new programing and you're bringing in new institutions. And I think it's great that you that you put. Uniforms on, on adults who are getting jobs, but there are kids who can't afford to get even their, you know, their volleyball outfit that they have to that they have to play in. So I just urge you, dca donna paul, to think about district one as we're bringing on these new programs. When we're thinking about that, I mean, I could go down the list and on every issue and tell you the disparities that are that are really high in our district versus the other three districts, you know, and starting with the sidewalks, I don't miss an opportunity to talk about sidewalks, but but it's real. Walking to some of these parks where folks don't have sidewalks, that is that is a danger. It's a safety issue. So just think about us. I think it's great. I think, you know, having those public private partnerships and more of them would be a great opportunity. I know we're we're down on staff and and our ability to seek out philanthropic opportunities. But I think I'm going to have my staff kind of look up some things because sometimes it's just a matter of knowing where the dollars are and where to apply to. And and if you don't have that right in front of you, you don't know what to do. So I think that if you could please keep us in mind in district one, we're east of 82nd, all the way out to 162nd from marine drive, all the way out past what is our cutoff? It's way past. Yeah, it's south of lowville. So for me, it is. It is always interesting to listen to to presentations and, and I think as we're getting into this new form of government, that and as you all come before us, you will start thinking in, in terms of districts and how we and how we, you know, present our services. So thank you. Keep it up. I am a big fan like councilor Clark. I'm an athlete and I'm a part of four generations of athletes before me and under me. And I think it's important because when you can get kids involved and engaged, you keep them involved and engaged in school, and they're more likely to graduate from high school if they're participating in these kinds of sports. So I, I think it's important for us to keep this up. Thank you.
81 Thank you. Councilor, may I add a comment? I just wanted to acknowledge the importance of making sure there's equitable investment in all districts and specifically in public works. We are focused on unified cip initiative and in the way we are doing unified cip is, you know, even from creating dashboards, we are looking at how it's distributed between the four districts. So whether any future investments will take a look into how we are investing. And especially I want to acknowledge the concerns in district one, and we'll have a special eye towards that.
82 Thank you.
83 Thank you. I'm just going back to a couple more questions. I wanted to drill in a little bit more to the staffing model at the tennis center, so I understand it. What does 32 casual staff mean?
84 So our current structure is I'm the sports management supervisor. And then under me is a supervisor, one who is over the Portland tennis center. Specifically.
85 That's a permanent staff member.
86 Correct.
87 And then under her are three bargaining unit employees, two recreation coordinator ones and one recreation leader. And then under those folks, we have what we call casual staff. And those casual staff are a mix of professional tennis instructors.
88 That's the 12 that's listed. Correct. So they're of the 3212 are okay.
89 Yes. And then we also have people who help at the front desk with customer service and aid in registration.
90 Advise students. And please remember how riveting this tennis conversation was. I it is riveting. Keep going. Yeah, yeah.
91 So that that's how our staffing model is currently set up. And those are all city of Portland employees.
92 And then also we talked about deferred maintenance quite a bit. And what about specifically to the Portland tennis center? It was pretty easy to see it with your own eyes on the site visit, but I wanted you to bring that home a bit more.
93 Right. So when we talk about maintenance, we have to, you know, separate out between outdoor courts and Portland tennis center. So Portland tenor center's budget is just for Portland tennis center. With that said, we apply for those grants to assist in the care for outdoor courts. The outdoor courts budget is currently in our lands department, and that work for the care of outdoor courts is spread between multiple work groups in the bureau. And you can see in the in the presentation I mentioned twice a hard surface team that I would love to have one day, and that would be responsible for all the hard surfaces. So tracks basketball courts and tennis courts. And I'd love for that to be in my shop. And we would care for all of the outdoor courts currently. Right now that is left up into geographical zones. So I just wanted to separate out. Portland tennis center's budget is here. Outdoor courts lives in geographic zones. And so specifically for your question about deferred maintenance at Portland tennis center, you know, the building is from 1916. It's it's very old. Our roof is leaky. We have lighting that needs to be repaired. And we have outlived the typical lifespan for the semi-permanent structure that we call the bubble. And so that's an inflated bubble where four of our indoor courts are housed. And so there is quite a bit of deferred maintenance. And we have multiple things on the cip list, but I'm not sure kind of where we are with that.
94 That's fair. I recall the conversation about how often you take towels out there to mop up from weather conditions every day, and then maybe because the hvac things are much better now. But I also heard how many days of the year, whether it's extreme weather on either end, that the indoor tennis courts aren't available.
95 Right. And when I mentioned the hvac system, that's that's really for our staffing office, our front entrance, our lobby and our restrooms.
96 So not the area where people play tennis.
97 No. Okay. So I was there on.
98 A nice day. It was not an issue.
99 But yeah. So we currently don't have any heat inside of the bubble. And that's that's up issue for us because during the winter months, that bubble can collapse under the weight of snow and ice. And so we bring in heaters to hopefully melt that snow off of there. But we have had multiple bubble collapses in the last few years. And then with our for indoor.
100 In the famous storm of 2023, because you turned those heaters on. And I heard the story of heroic behaviors by employees that came in their off hours to turn those on. Absolutely want to give.
101 You that.
102 Thank you very much. That's actually the photo on the slide is the pipe that burst and staff cleaning that up. So yeah, we have amazingly dedicated staff. We're very lucky. But there is quite a bit of deferred maintenance.
103 So the deferred maintenance really affects usage since you cannot use those courts in extreme weather. Both sides is what I heard, correct? Okay. That is correct. So I just want to make sure that I say this out loud because again, the budget note was passed and we'll be hearing from the the administration, the enterprise of what the plan is soon. And it is with the organization that gives you the $15,000 every year. Is happy to just hear that from the united states tennis association, pacific northwest to invest in this tennis program further. And it's under consideration because the council asked it to be from the parks bureau. And we are exploring that again at this time. And I'm hopeful that we can find a workable path forward, because it seems as though it would be really helpful and needed at this time. So I just want to make sure I daylighted and connect the dots between that budget note passing and the urgency of that conversation based on what we're hearing today. Yeah, I see that councilor Clark's hands back up is yours. Legacy. Oh, it's not legacy. Okay, councilor Smith, thank councilor Clark.
104 I thank.
105 You, thank you, thank you. Co-chair I just want to so that I'm clear is the industry standard ratio of courts to population one court of any type per 10,000 people, or one indoor court per 10,000 people.
106 Specifically indoor.
107 It's it's specifically indoor. And do you have an estimate of how much it would cost the city to build enough additional courts to meet the industry standard?
108 I really don't I really don't, to be honest. Yeah, I think it would. It would greatly depend. And when we look at our backlog of maintenance, that's also a factor, right. So we look at a current community hub, like a grant that has some severe structural issues that need to be taken into account there. That's not a resurfacing job. So a resurfacing of a court could be, you know, 50, 60,000 if the surface is flat and intact and everything's great. However, something like a grant park could be upwards of a million because you'd have to relay the concrete, you'd have to put in some drainage, all of those things. So it really depends park to park and location to location. And that's not my specialty. But we could get that information I suppose.
109 That that's fine. You can you can pass that along and send it to all the other members here. I was just curious to try to figure out, you know, where we're at in light of the the budget note and everything. Just trying to put some numbers in my head. Thank you so much.
110 Thank you.
111 Thank you, councilor Smith. Councilor Clark.
112 Thank you, mr. Chair. I just want to build off of what councilor Smith has just said that and and redouble on my concern to my colleagues about the fact that if we're going to take care of the courts and the facilities that we have, and we're going to expand into district one, I don't see any way we're going to be able to do that with the current resources, or we're relying on general fund. I would just want to emphasize again that I think we need to be creative in looking at different ways of doing business, taking some risks, looking at public private partnerships, because I do not foresee us having the resources to both take care of what we have and expand in district one. So amen to that. Right?
113 Thank you, councilor Clark, before we go on, I just want to make a statement. Then we'll have the people that signed up to testify on this item. I know they were at the end, but some of them have been waiting patiently. So we'll see who's here and they can testify why we're actually on the item. I wanted to acknowledge what I heard from you, that under your leadership, you're telling us that unlike the last leadership who made strategic decisions in 2020 through 2024 to pretty much backpedal on putting and trying to seek partnerships and seek philanthropic support, that you're bringing that back. Because I think that voters really need to hear that. Again. If we were asking voters to increase again their current tax for our parks by 80%, they need to know that we're playing our part. I don't think it was ever supposed to be an or. I think it was always supposed to be an. And so when I became commissioner, I was quite surprised by that. Those decisions that were made under the past leadership. So I hope going forward that we can count on what you're saying here and that we can start to be more nimble, creative and innovative in seeking support. Because, again, I'll never forget what the national data showed us that our parks bureau, although it punches up and is always in the top ten list, it would probably be higher if we were on par with more of our peers across the country, and we just were not. And that was quite stark to notice that. So why we're having this conversation, it felt authentic to have that dialog.
114 Absolutely. Chair Ryan, you know, moving forward, we absolutely have to be nimble and creative. And we will want to seek public look at look into public private partnerships or other creative ideas as long as it's helpful for the city. And in, you know, how we do business moving forward. And you know, I also appreciate your budget. Note about the the tennis program particularly and the bureau Portland parks and recreation is working with me and cfo berry, and we're looking forward to supporting you. And we look forward to delivering the budget. Note and I know cfo berry is looking forward to delivering that recommendation in November as well. Our director, shemanski, is also virtual, and I want to see if she has additional comments to offer us and offer.
115 To thank you. And I know that tca jonas is on this, as well as our city administrator, michael jordan. So I appreciate the all in effort on this. I do want to make sure that council clerk, those who signed up that are here to speak on this item have a chance to testify today. So if you could call their names and see if they're here and if in fact, it's for this item.
116 Sure we have. We have two people signed up for testimony today, suzanne bishop, adam levy. I'm not sure if either are in the room.
117 And so I think what we'll do now is allow the people that are testifying to thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate we all appreciate it. Thank.
118 With you, councilor. I'm going to read the item into the test or the testimony to start that just so that we have.
119 Thank you of course.
120 Item for public comment on arts and economy committee agenda items. Suzanne, you're welcome to come forward and start your testimony at any time.
121 Good morning. Councilors. My name is suzanne bishop and I am here representing the Portland parks alliance. And we'd like to thank the parks bureau for their presentation on tennis opportunities in available in Portland this morning. The Portland parks alliance is also looking forward to seeing the city financial officers upcoming. Report to council on the advisability of usta taking over operations at the Portland tennis center. Parks has estimated that replacing the Portland tennis center's roof and installing new hvac system would cost over $5 million. The proposed usta partnership could cover these critical repairs, removing that cost from our enormous capital maintenance backlog list. We're hopeful that usta offered programing and accessibility could not only match, but exceed the standard currently available to Portland tennis players. Given the city's ongoing financial challenges, we know we have to embrace innovative public private partnerships to maintain and improve public services for our community. We are hopeful the proposal the proposal from the usta might be one such partnership. Thank you.
122 Thank you so much for your time. And the next person.
123 Up next we have adam levy. Let me move him.
124 Just got a note that he's here.
125 Yeah. Just see that. Give me a minute.
126 There he is.
127 Adam, you're welcome to start any time. Adam I think you might be muted.
128 Okay, so. Okay. I'm just coming from playing tennis. And I only was able to hear the last ten minutes of this, but one note I took was that. So it turns out regarding the fund gap, there are no partnerships other than usta that provide money. Portland is the biggest growing tennis region in the country. For nine years right now. Rich people who go to the mac and the racket club will continue to play tennis. Since Portland parks doesn't have enough money for maintenance, is talking about cutting hours. We're in a serious situation. The offer from usta. The proposal seems to me to be just completely obvious. Low hanging fruit. If the only people that have the money to fix the fund fund gap are usta and no one else is lined up, and we have a demand for tennis that's larger than we can meet to not do. This is the most like uncourageous small town, bizarre thing in the world. How are we going to solve a homeless problem in Portland if we can't take free money, that's going to solve a problem for us. The usta is a deep pocketed nonprofit whose only mission is to keep tennis alive, and to offer it to as many people as possible. The usta knows more about tennis than Portland parks, so, you know, we have an organization that is going to come up with money to fill a fund gap that we can't meet. We have a demand for tennis, which is, you know, higher than we can manage. We're talking about cutting hours. We're talking about not doing maintenance. I just can't imagine, like, what kind of backward, frightened small town we would be if we if we can't say yes to something that's this obvious. And then in a bigger picture. To me, this kind of partnership seems like not just regarding tennis, but seems like a model for something that could potentially move on to solve a lot of other problems that we have. But I mean, just at the end of the day, this is the low hanging fruit. I cannot see any I mean, I'm a tennis player, so that's kind of why I've started to follow this. But, you know, in the big picture, why would Portland ever not do something like this?
129 Thank you, adam, for your testimony. I appreciate it so much.
130 And thank you.
131 Is there any more testimony.
132 No one else has signed up for testimony.
133 Okay.
134 Thank you and thanks again for the parks and rec staff that were here today for your time. And we will now move on to the next item. Council clerk, can you please read the next item? Or. No, it's not council clerk. It's the operations. Craig.
135 Council clerk. Item three policy previews.
136 Okay, I have no idea what this item is, but I will get out of the way and turn this over to councilor Dunphy.
137 Great.
138 Co-chair. If I may just offer some remarks here. Colleagues, this is a new item that we are going to try to sort of bring to this this committee. The purpose of policy previews is to provide space for very early thinking in the policy making process, long before an item is is even close to being considered for a vote. You know, when we when I, when we reflected upon the recommendations from the gtac on how to do good, inclusive, proactive engagement with the community, what I heard is provide space in the committee for very informal work session style discussions. So that's that's the spirit behind this, this item. And I think our first entree in this is councilor Dunphy who's going to talk to us about something I also don't know anything about, but I'm eager to hear about. And so, you know, and finally, I'll just I'll just note that I think it's going to be really good if we use this practice across all of our committees for the administration as well as the city attorney, because then we all know what's coming and we know how to react. And so we're not doing these amendments on the fly that throw throw the legal analysis and the administrative analysis and the code analysis off balance. So without further ado.
139 I just want to add I agree with the process of daylighting important complex issues early. I just think it's important that the public knows what the issue is. And so my issue was that there wasn't transparency about what this is. You know, it should have been in the agenda policy preview. I'll use the restrooms when the agenda went out. So we just have to work on this new style. I appreciate this dialog. Off to you, councilor Dunphy.
140 Great. Thank you. As my colleague said, you know, I think one of the beauties of this new form of government is that we are using these committees in order to to build policy. But I want to sort of preview for my colleagues that this that we are talking about now is actually a ten year old policy that the city of Portland has been a leader on historically, and we've lost some traction on it. In 2015, one of the first assignments that I had when I worked for commissioner Nick fish was to bring a resolution to the full city council to convert our single stall. Gender specific restrooms into an all user restroom. We are talking about the bathrooms that are four walls and a toilet, and we implemented a policy to ensure that our own house was in order and that we were focusing on the use, not the user of who gets to go into these facilities. At the time, there was a lot of national conversation about trans bathroom usage, and this was not what that policy was. This policy is about centering the use of a bathroom, not the user. That includes older adults or disabled individuals who have a caregiver, parents with a young child and as a girl dad, and the only girl dad on city council. I can affirm that there are situations where it's uncomfortable to bring your small child into a restroom that does not necessarily match either theirs or your gender. This benefits trans folks and it also anyone who has who just prefer a private place to do their business. So in 2016, the city of Portland converted 650 single stall restrooms in parks, facilities and PBOT facilities. Anything that was a publicly owned toilet of ours. The next year, rather than start thinking about mandates, I helped lead the all user restroom challenge, a challenge to the private sector to do better than what the city of Portland could do. And they delivered. And by the end of 2017, over 1000 single stall restrooms were changed from gender specific to all user restrooms that he literally just changed the sign on the outside of the door. In 2019, the state building code changed, and it is now a requirement that all new single stall restrooms are gender neutral. All that remains now are the existing gender specific single stall restrooms that exist in private businesses. And since 2019, cities like seattle have passed us and mandated this policy for all single stall restrooms. In the last form of government in 2024, commissioner Mapps tried to take the the final step and bring forward a mandate towards requiring these existing single stall restrooms be converted in that policy. At the time, it included a private right of action, because it is. If we're going to require anything, it requires some action by city staff and at that time, enabling the private sector to sue in order to get these fixed was the discussion. However, as councilor Ryan knows, a lot of things got bumped at the end of the 2024 year and some things just simply couldn't make it across the finish line. And commissioner Mapps asked me to take the helm of this one. Since I wrote the original 2015 policy, our new policy is focusing on a closer to the seattle style of compliance, which will require some city led support. Bringing this to this committee at this time, we do not have an ordinance. We're not ready to file this. We are looking for input. We are looking to preview this to the private sector. We are looking for our colleagues, for their support and for any changes that we may need. And we want to broadcast to the community that it is time to take this last step. I am excited to have a an amazing panel of folks who are here to help us talk about this. And with that, I will turn it over to our guests.
141 Deborah is online.
142 Yeah. And deborah is joining us. Deb porter is executive director of pride northwest, is joining us online. Deb, if you are able to come off mute, there you are. Hi.
143 Sure. Hi, everyone. Thank you for having me. My name is deborah porter. I'm here to speak in favor of an all user designation for single stall bathroom public bathrooms in Portland. I could speak to you ad nauseam about how important it is for people of all genders to be able to access bathroom facilities in which they feel comfortable and safe. Today, I want to actually speak to you as an almost 59 year old woman diagnosed with diabetes 12 years ago, I cannot tell you the number of times that I have stood outside a single stall bathroom, often with others doing the same, waiting for the gendered bathroom that matches who I am to open up, while the other one, sitting right next to all of us, sits empty and waiting. Gendered single stall bathrooms serve no other purpose than to inconvenience, and in some cases cause unnecessary discomfort to people of all identities and abilities. Unless you live in a special kind of a place, every single person in this meeting uses all user single stall bathrooms every single day. Gendered single user bathrooms are antiquated and and they're just unnecessary. Thank you.
144 Thank you deborah. And hilarious comic from mother goose and grimm. And next, marie kerr. Apologies with.
145 I'm I'm merrily.
146 Merrily I apologize.
147 As it merrily we roll along. Not a new joke. I'm the president of flush usa. We led the effort 20 years ago that brought forth upon city streets a new kind of public restroom, the Portland loo. I'm also a retired family doctor and a neighborhood emergency team team leader and the regional net sert trainer in disaster sanitation, marking all single user restrooms. All user would be a godsend for several groups of people. For me, as a straight cis woman of a certain age, more restrooms would be available to me when nature calls all those single user ones now marked men. And believe me, when one reaches a certain age, nature's call is frequent and unendurable. So this change would make a difference in my life, in my demographic, many just don't go out much because the risk of not finding a restroom when needed is just too great. That's a loss to them, the community, and the economy. The other group of portlanders for whom this will make a difference are non-binary people, whether they are trans or not. A non-binary friend of mine said they, quote, don't like having to make a declaration to others about my genitalia. Every time I use a public restroom, end quote. With good reason. Many non-binary people don't feel safe entering or exiting from public restrooms that have gender signage. A 2025 survey compilation found that in the previous year, 5 to 10% of transgender respondents had been verbally harassed or physically attacked in restrooms. Asked if they had ever been verbally harassed in a restroom, 68% of transgender people answered yes and 9% reported having been physically assaulted. Would you use public restrooms if that happened to you? The human body has kidneys and a bladder for good reason, and bad things happen if we don't use them. In a national survey, more than half of transgender people reported not going to a restroom when they needed to. One third avoided eating and drinking before going out in public. Almost one tenth had a urinary tract infection or kidney related health problem. This change in single use restroom labels would help a lot of people for minimal cost. Thank you.
148 Good afternoon chair and council members. My name is Ryan reiser. I'm here representing dads helping dads, a community based organization that supports fathers, caregivers and families across Portland. I want to express my full support for the proposed all user restroom policy, which require all single stall restrooms citywide, public and private, to be designated all user. This is not just a policy about signage or bathrooms. It's about access, dignity, dignity and equity. For years, gendered restrooms have limited access for many people trans and non-binary individuals people with disabilities who need a caregiver of a different gender. And yes, fathers like myself who are often excluded from amenities like diaper changing tables or booster seats that are typically only found in women's restrooms. In my work with dads helping dads, I've heard countless stories from fathers who face these small but meaningful barriers. One time, I was in a restaurant downtown with my toddler and my daughter had an accident. There was no changing table in the men's room, so my only option was the floor, the table, or going out to my car. It's embarrassing, unsanitary, and unnecessary. Parents should. Parenthood should not be gendered. Every parent and caregiver, no matter their gender, should have equal access to the basic tools needed to care for their children. When all single stall restrooms are open to everyone, we remove barriers not just for fathers, but for families, people with disabilities, and our LGBTQ plus community. From an economic standpoint, this is also common sense. Updating signage on single stall restrooms cost very little, but signals that Portland is serious about accessibility and inclusion. Values that attract visitors, strengthen our small businesses, and make our city a more welcoming place for everyone in community work. I've seen how inclusive spaces foster trust when people feel seen and accommodated, they participate more, whether that's in attending an art event, supporting a local cafe, or bringing their kids downtown. This policy aligns perfectly with Portland goals of equity, family friendliness, and creative vibrancy. I encourage the council to adopt this proposal and make all single stall restrooms all users citywide, across all sectors, and a small change with a big impact. And it sends a powerful message Portland is for everyone. Thank you for your time and continued leadership and equity and access.
149 Thanks, Ryan. And with also ann milligan, with the senior senior deputy attorney with the city of Portland.
150 Thank you.
151 Good morning. My name is ann milligan. I'm a senior deputy city attorney with the city of Portland. As councilor Dunphy mentioned at the beginning of this policy preview on December 17th, 2015, the council passed resolution number 37175, which, among other policy items, specifically required the city to develop a plan to increase the number of all user restrooms citywide. To this day, almost a decade later, there remains no published plan to accomplish this directive. In furtherance of drafting the proposed policy preview before you originally drafted in February 2024, which again only applies to single user restrooms in places of public accommodation, I reviewed all user ordinances that were passed by many other jurisdictions, including Washington, dc, which first published theirs in 2006, seattle, which published theirs in 2015, philadelphia, california, illinois, new york state, chicago, and other jurisdictions. I also personally called the seattle civil rights office and the philadelphia city attorney's office to inquire how implementation went in their jurisdictions, whether they were met with any kind of controversy or pushback, and more specifically, if these ordinances were met with any kind of litigation. They said that these policies were extremely well received by the public without any kind of controversy whatsoever. So the draft policy that we have in preview mode right now is modeled after the seattle city code. Seattle's version relies on enforcement letters being sent by its office of civil rights, which has administrative enforcement jurisdiction to prosecute employment, housing and public accommodation discrimination that's occurring within the city limits of seattle. I do just want to note that we don't currently have any kind of equivalent of the seattle office of civil rights in the body of work that is performed by the city of Portland. Prior versions of this draft ordinance ultimately included either enforcement letters like seattle or a private cause of action. If it was felt that the city of Portland did not have the staffing to support any kind of enforcement measure, the current model that is in front of you does not permit an individual to file a lawsuit. That so-called private cause of action, and again, relies on some city staffer sending enforcement letters being sent to those places of public accommodation that are not in compliance. Compliant language for the signage could be very broad. It's not restrictive. Folks could simply have a bathroom labeled bathroom, restroom, all user or symbols that adequately communicate that. Anyone can use that restroom. And while city code can lay out further enforcement mechanisms such as citations, fines, code, office hearings, this existing ordinance, as drafted, does not provide for any additional enforcement mechanisms other than the enforcement letters as a kind of soft launch idea. So with that, if you have any questions, please let me know.
152 And I'd like to note, colleagues, as I said, we haven't had anything filed yet. We don't have the ordinance. But at this moment I am working with two two of the other city council parents on the of our colleagues. Council president pirtle-guiney and council vice president Koyama Lane, and would welcome any other colleagues to join us in this effort in trying to bring this to fruition. So with that, that is our presentation, our preview of our policy intention and would love to welcome any questions.
153 Thank you, councilor Dunphy. Any questions from my colleagues, councilor Clerk, please.
154 Thank you. I just want to make sure I understand this because it was pretty fast. So a place of public accommodation, that means any business, church, nonprofit, just about any old restroom anywhere. Okay. And then the private right of action. I want to make sure I understand what that is. That's the person complains. And to the city or somebody to the business owner and that is city, because then the city issues a letter to that business or church or nonprofit and says, hey, there's a city code that says your restroom, your single use restroom needs to be for everybody. And that's that's what that means.
155 So there's two different options here. The one that the 2024 policy that commissioner Mapps was planning on bringing would have required an individual to go talk to the business owner and say, hey, there's a city code. If you don't fix this, I'm going to sue you under ours. This is now. Hey, you have a city code. If you don't fix this, I'm going to call the city. And the city will send a letter.
156 And that's a private right of action.
157 No, the private right of action is the right to sue.
158 Sue?
159 Okay. Which is not our preferred way of going about this. Yeah, great.
160 That's just I want to make sure I understood that I like the kind of letter idea, the soft touch.
161 I prefer the letter idea as well. I don't want to punish businesses for not having updated. You know, businesses are struggling to, to keep things up. But also these are, you know, a $5 sign is not particularly burdensome. Additionally, I mean, but it is worth noting, though, that if we are going to ask somebody in the city to do this, we have to pay that person and give them the capacity to have that work. So we have we don't have a lot of staff sitting around without a lot to do right now. So this will have we will have to find somebody to assign this responsibility and figure out how to make that.
162 Oh, maybe we should pay for a little signs to.
163 You know, in the 2015 or 2017 challenge, what we did was worked with a local artist collective called atx Portland, and they created an all user restroom sign that just showed a picture of a toilet on it. And then businesses were able to purchase those for $5 a piece. It was great. We were able to, and there's a lot of creativity out there to a lot of things. I mean, I've seen the ones where that say, like, whatever, just wash your hands or other sort of, you know, handmade ones. I've seen people making their own. It is really intended to be as broad as possible to make sure that we are also just being as inclusive. And this is not also to be explicit, this is not about multi stall restrooms. If you go into a bathroom and you see two toilets, that is not a plan of this. This is about four walls of a toilet and a sink.
164 That's super important. I just think that the easier that we can make it for everybody in Portland, particularly businesses, if we had a little sign or help them out, it would ease our way.
165 Additionally, one idea that we have discussed was a an education campaign to start, which would require maybe postcards and actually designing a postcard so that the you could just literally put that that could be your sign, that it could just be an all user restroom sign with the information on the back. And if a business owner really doesn't have the capacity to go run over to fred meyer and buy a new sign, they could just tape the postcard up over the existing sign if they wanted to, and that would be compliant.
166 If I could provide just one further comment to councilor Clark's question about what constitutes a place of public accommodation that is defined as 659, 400 would not generally include a church unless the church opens itself up regularly to non members of the public for for various rentals that have nothing to do with the church's business. Otherwise it's generally restaurants, hotels, theaters and things like that.
167 Thank you, councilor Green.
168 Thank you, chair Ryan councilor. I've got a few questions here. First of all, thanks for daylighting this early stage in your your development. I have a I think I have a better understanding, especially after hearing from these community members how long this has been a gap, I think. I think that's the urgency here. So I guess my primary question well, two questions. One is so we pass a note. So I don't I don't know. The code change will look like what the ordinance language will look like. But suppose we pass something. Does it then create sort of a hard like, hey, you're now out of compliance and now need to sort of like incur a big cost to change? Or what are you envisioning in terms of the practical implementation there?
169 Yeah, I think as with a lot of things, we're going to I believe that there's an intention to set a compliance date well in the future and begin education. This would require us to do some outreach, to educate, to try and get some press around it, and also to do specific opportunities, specific outreach to those businesses so that they know this. My intention is not to have a gotcha moment or to punish any small businesses, but rather to educate that this is just one additional way that they can make their businesses more compliant, more inclusive, and and really try to lean into this being a positive rather than a negative thing.
170 I appreciate that. So that so then in terms of process on the legislative side, what do you see as the next step? When do you when do you think you'll come back to this committee? And how do you want to interact with other committee members here.
171 You know I feel a sense of urgency, but I want to be intentional and thoughtful about this with all of my colleagues. I also want to, as I mentioned here, I want to extend an opportunity to as many of our city council colleagues to join this process, and I wanted to have this as an opportunity to the public to weigh in. Perhaps there are there are circumstances that I'm not thinking of that we haven't thought of over the last decade where this needs to be thought or this policy needs to be tweaked slightly more. And I hope that those folks are listening, and I hope that people will help spread this information out to to amongst the community. I would love to be able to bring something back. I mean, ideally before the end of the year if possible, but certainly the beginning of of next year to this committee.
172 Thanks. That's helpful for me. And since we're doing it here at the dais, we can all talk about this without violating Oregon public meetings law. So thanks for that. That's all I have right now, I think.
173 Thank you. Co-chair Green, councilor Smith.
174 Thank you. Co-chair. Thank you, councilor Dunphy, for bringing this forward. Would this future policy apply to all properties across Portland, or only certain types of buildings?
Procedural episode · turns 175–183
Parliamentary activity detected in this stretch (see the markers above). An editor-reviewed analysis has not been published for this episode yet.
175 Yeah, only certain types of public accommodations. This would not include if you run an auto shop and you have a bathroom or two bathrooms in the back that the public never accesses. That wouldn't include that. If you are as an wouldn't include churches, it would not include private restrooms that are for staff only. This is about the public accommodation side of things.
176 Okay, so just in your early research, do you have any information about expected costs? Yeah. Or other types of burdens on property owners?
177 Yeah. On average these signs cost about $5. Okay. The ones that just specifically say bathroom, they can't I mean certainly could be more expensive. People can go as crazy as they want. But at fred meyer, I saw a sign that just said bathroom and it was about $5.
178 Okay. And who do you think would possibly oppose this kind of policy?
179 You know, I mean, on the one hand, I can see that any any additional burden we add onto small businesses is a is a burden. And I do recognize that this feels like a light burden compared to many of the burdens we put on folks. But absolutely, anytime we are asking more of a private sector that that certainly could raise some objections. I can imagine that there are also perhaps some some circumstances in which. Some, perhaps a business owner's personal beliefs would not want these kind of would would appreciate the segregation of of genders in restrooms. I don't know specifically. I have not heard from any businesses that are saying this is against my religious beliefs or anything. And and honestly, partially, that is because this is not a this is not an a trans focused bill. This is a bill that would benefit trans folks. But this is about access and trying to demonstrate to the broadest community that this is an opportunity. So I have not, in my ten years of working on this policy, heard from any business owners who object to this, but I imagine there could be some out there.
180 So ten years ago, why did it? Why did it not pass.
181 Ten years ago? What we specifically wanted to do was start slow. We wanted to get the city's house in order. And if the city is going to demand things, the city should be the leader on it first. And it turns out in 2015, we didn't know how many single stall bathrooms we had. It took us six months to get an inventory of just understanding on one chart where all these restrooms were. So by the end of 2016, we had done 650 ish single stall restrooms. And those are everything from park bathrooms to, I mean, loos to the maintenance yard at PBOT in 2017. We wanted this to be a friendly thing because at the same time, you all may recall, there was a north carolina bathroom bill that was. Hotly debated and was really focused squarely on the trans and transgender use. And in candor, a public comment from one of the testifiers said, you know, don't jump into this being a mandate. Invite the community to join you and challenge us to try and do more than you. And they did, and they really showed up. And then there was every intention of bringing this policy as a requirement. But unfortunately, commissioner Fish died and the work stopped at that point.
182 Okay, okay.
183 These are some very intriguing ideas, councilor Dunphy, and I really appreciate your perspective. And I always know that we're listening to good stuff when deborah porter is involved. Deborah, it was good to hear you testify. And, you know, having access to a baby changing station and all the other things that come along with caregiving. And I think it's important I didn't think about it, but I look forward to seeing your your legislation and let's see what what happens in the future.
184 Thank you.
185 Thank.
186 You.
187 Thank you so much. Councilor Smith, I want to thank you for bringing this. I am happy now that the public knows exactly what we're talking about today. I think that I got confused at first because I'm in other meetings about the city's bathrooms that get into deeper issues, I think, and that's with four other three other offices. So I'm sure you're coordinating with that legislation even though it's different.
188 I'm actually not.
189 Bathroom legislation. They're like, oh my god, there's two bathroom legislations.
190 There were a few policies that were largely fit into this, as I have a particular attachment to this because I've been working on it for ten years. And, you know, being the girl dad that I am, I have feel a particular inclination towards this policy. I know that there is a broader policy conversation that includes a number of. Lgbtq focused. Protections and expansions of rights and different things. I was involved in that, but I'm not currently involved in that because there are quorum issues.
191 That are.
192 Yeah, I'm I'm a unfortunately, I'm not gay. And so I'm choosing to defer to my colleagues who have more of a lived experience in that capacity. I am eager to be supportive of whatever comes out of that work there. But that is a separate issue from this conversation.
193 I think that your statement that the private sector went pretty fast on this when you talked about it even, and commissioner Fisher's office, and it was it just never came up during all the crises we were dealing with. And it wasn't in a bureau that I was looking at. But I want to pivot to bureaus and how this is going to be implemented, because it seems like it's kind of a common sense to figure out how to, you know, move this along. What is the data that we have currently? It took us six months to figure this out in our own city, in our city's portfolio. Do we have any sense of what the data is like around the city? With private businesses in all sectors on how many aren't currently meeting this need?
194 No, we don't have that kind of.
195 So we don't have clarity on the problem that we're trying to solve. No. Okay. But we know it's real because I believe the testimony. Again, thank you for the testimony. I do see a trend in the right direction. So maybe I just go to restaurants that are already complying with what you're asking for. And so I do think it'd be helpful if we had better estimates of that. I don't know how we do it, but and I do think it'll be important to daylight that further with the, with the people in the private sector as this moves along. So and I hope that we have a goal. So if we magically knew what the problem was, then we could then also have a goal, albeit soft. I think it's great that we're not talking about major punitive damages as opposed to it feels like positive promotion is what I'm hearing from all of you. And so just I find that our city doesn't do well unless we have clear goals about what we're trying to achieve. So I think I'll be looking for that as well. What bureau will be, though? Someone in the city who said it's going to be a sign not to a bureau. What bureau is that again?
196 You know, right now there's a that is up for.
197 Kind of wondering how this got out. Not that it's awful that it's on this agenda, but it's sometime this could have been on agenda of a few other committees as well.
198 We have a couple of different, I think, natural resting places for this to exist. And it will come down to a conversation with the administration. I think that either having this based out of the city attorney's office or out of the permitting and development would be the place, because those are both areas that we already have compliance letters that get sent out of. We also send compliance letters out of revenue, which is maybe not directly connected here, but, you know, with the arts tax, for example, they will send out they have a mechanism to send things out. My preferred way to do this would to have this be out of the city attorney's office and actually put additional burden on an but that is a conversation that needs to happen with the city administrator and the mayor to understand what they would prefer.
199 Okay, so this is daylighted so soon that there hasn't been dialog with the city administration.
200 There's been some early conversation with it, but we've not landed on a place at this point.
201 So I'll be of course, we should all be interested in how this could actually be implemented. And so we could see those goals that we'd all like to achieve.
202 And if you have a preferred option, I would certainly be interested.
203 I'll think about it. But right now I'm not going to say what that is, but I think I would say what you just said, which is I would talk to the city administration and allow them to help us figure that out, since that's their job. They oversee all of our operations, not the council. Anyway, that was helpful to just get some of my own day lighting out and that's all I have. Any other questions?
204 Smith.
205 Oh, is that legacy.
206 Or legacy? Okay.
207 Okay okay. Any other no other comments. Thank you. Get what you needed.
208 Absolutely. Thank you. And I look forward to bringing this back and working with you all to get this across the finish line. And thank you all for spending your morning with us. This is fantastic.
209 I know we have one more item. Can you go ahead and read that? Or did the people that testified on the tennis were the two people that were waiting? Okay, good. I'm so glad we were able to accommodate that during that. During that item. Okay. My friends, I think that's that's it. This is the conclusion of our arts and economy meeting. I thank you all for your attendance today. We have a little bit of a switcheroo on the next one because we're accommodating a lot of nominations. Isn't that correct? 3939 nominations. So instead of having just a meeting, that's all about nominations, we ask the council president if those could all be put together in a special council meeting. Since we have a tendency to repeat rents once they go through the committee meeting anyway. So we thought it'd be more time efficient to handle those with the entire council. I'm sure if you've been tuning in, you can understand why that statement was just made. So I just wanted to let you all know that the co-chair and I are always open to what you have to discuss, and we'll keep doing agenda planning. In fact, the two of us have an agenda planning meeting later today. I thank you all for your attendance. The meeting is now adjourned.