The record · Transcript

Council session — 2026-06-23

Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (19,060 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are AI-suggested and editor-reviewed (low confidence — auto-captions garble names); each color marks a speaker.

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Let me see if I can get the heat turned up.

Good afternoon. It is 2:01 p.m. On Tuesday, June 23rd, and I am calling to order this meeting of the city life committee. Could you please take the roll?

Ryan Morillo here. Zimmerman. Avalos.

Present.

Pirtle-guiney.

Here. Thank you. Wendy. And I do believe councilor Ryan will be joining us shortly. But councilor Zimmerman is unfortunately having to miss today. And kristopher, could you please read the rules of order and decorum for us?

Welcome to the meeting of the city life committee to testify before this committee in person or virtually. You must sign up in advance to the committee agenda at www.Portland.gov/council/agendae 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. Public testimony will be taken on an item. Individuals may testify for 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 results 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're a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. Virtual testifier should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name. Thank you.

Thank you. Christopher. Colleagues, we have four items on our agenda today. We need to approve some previous committee minutes. We'll hear from some members of the public about their thoughts on various topics that we cover in this committee. We'll spend about an hour hearing from some amazing individuals from the hollywood theater, talking about the hollywood film district and work that is happening on creating a film district in our city. And then we have a little bit of city business from the administration extending a lease for city kids childcare. If there are no objections, I believe we can approve the minutes by unanimous consent. Any objections? Okay. Seeing none.

I'll just read that item into the record. Item one April 14th, 2026 to may 26th, 2026. City life committee minutes.

Okay. And we have no objections to approval. Wonderful. Wendy, could you read the second item on our agenda?

Yes. Item number 22026-21 for public input on city life committee topics, we have two individuals who have signed up.

Wonderful. Why don't you call both of our guests up so we can hear from them?

Ghalib el and saul kader, come on up. Take a seat, please introduce yourself for the record before you begin.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you both so much for being here today.

Thank you. Would you like to start? Sure. Okay.

I actually came. Not about any particular city life topic, just something that happened in this city in my lifetime. And it was probably something that could only happen in Portland. By the way, I'm ghalib bin imhotep l. I reside in district four. I was riding the bus and I saw a child with his mother. He didn't have his face in a cell phone. He wasn't watching a video. He was reading a book. I couldn't tell his reading level, but it looked like the interest that he held in that book was more than just the pictures. He was really. His eyes were active. Then he would look at conversations he would hear and things he would see, and I would see the brilliance in this young child. That's something that I've learned to cherish in my 44 years on this planet, that brilliance in a child. We don't see that generally in adults like we see it in children. They look at everything. They search with their eyes without fear, just pure curiosity. The heart of a child. It's an inviolate thing. And to see him with that and to see his mother nurture that, I felt it deserved some sort of recognition. I had a dollar in my pocket. It was the last dollar I had in my pocket, and I asked his mother if I could give him the dollar for that specific reason, and she said, well, why don't you offer it to him? So I offered him the dollar. He looked at his mother for validation and his mother goes, don't be shy. And his entire world became available to me. He opened up to me. And the thing that he did before he left off that bus was something that made this entire month worthy of smiling throughout the entire month for me. And it was no more than three simple words, but it was what was behind the three words, the reason and the understanding that I reached with that child. He didn't receive the dollar as the gift he received the recognition that he was being rewarded for his existence, for his brilliance, just for being him, and for being unafraid of being him. That there was a reward to that. He got that. Usually when you hand an adult a dollar for whatever reason, there's stipulations and contracts involved. There was nothing between me and this child except appreciation from both ends. Then he looked at me with a level of sincerity that a human being can't fake. And he said, I love you. That's this month. Can't get any better. I looked back at him and with the same level of sincerity, repeated those same three words to him. I know what you guys face on that dais. Some of those things that people say to you are terrible. I think I have provided some cause for fear or concern with some of the filings that I have presented to the dais. So I figured, why not give you guys a reason to smile? And for the same reason that that child walked off that bus and for the same thing that he said to me, because I love you all unconditionally. Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here and for sharing that story. And I, you said it has to do with your life in the city, but not the city life committee. But I think anything that has to do with building community in our city and the way that we build the fabric of our community has to do with the work that we do. So thank you. Please go right ahead. You get to follow that.

Yeah. Wow. Thanks. Chair pirtle-guiney members of the committee, thank you so much, chair. Last year, you moved $100,000 of your own office budget to protect prosper portland's workforce programs. That matters. And I want to tell you about something that doesn't cost Portland a dollar. My name is saul kedar. I'm a Salem resident and the executive director for Oregon state at Americans for equality. We've delivered free ai and cybersecurity training to over 1100 residents in Washington state and just recently incorporated in Oregon. We have an 88% completion rate for our students, our employee partners include microsoft, salesforce, t-mobile, all of whom have hired graduates of our programs. Now that we've incorporated in Oregon, we've begun fostering relationships with intel, nike, and others. Portland just made cuts to workforce development funding managed via prosper Portland and partners like work systems, affecting the eop, the economic opportunity program, community workforce navigator program, and nextgen. The potential hundreds or thousands of residents affected as a result still need these services. We can serve them today for free. What we're asking for is three things a referral arrangement with prosper Portland. So displaced participants can enroll with us, a community space in Portland for a free summer ai workshop. Boot camp will bring directly to residents, as well as providing an introduction to our warp one, which is an online training module, and a conversation about next year's budget so you can have a proven partner ready when the fy 28 planning cycle begins. I'd love to connect with prosper Portland and can be reached at saul dot carter at Americans for equality, that's a4.org. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much for being here. And I think we all have your information to take notes on. But if you have anything that you'd like to share with the entire committee to make sure that we have your information that way as well, you're welcome to get it to our clerk, wendy, who will get it to the full committee.

Excellent.

Thank you. Yeah. Thank you very much for sharing that with us.

That concludes public input.

Thank you. Wendy, could you please call item three on the agenda?

Sorry about that. Item number three, document number 2026-215. Hollywood film district capital campaign discussion.

Thank you so much. And colleagues, I'll note that this was an item that was on the agenda, I believe, or on the list to put on the agenda for the previous arts and economy committee. And we had a request when committees changed from councilor Ryan to make sure that we didn't lose this really important conversation, and that we carried it over to our work in this committee as well. So, councilor Ryan, if you'd like to give an introduction rather than me doing so, I'm happy to let you take just a moment to talk about some of the background here.

Yeah.

Did we warn you that was happening? I don't know if we warned you I was going to make that offer.

I don't need warning. Okay? Just basic life. I'm just glad we're finally doing this. I realize it's June, and. But we got there, and I was so enthusiastic after I spent time with you. I can't remember when. I know it was last calendar year, but it was really clear that you were connecting all the dots. You were connecting with all the different sectors, the neighborhood. It was kind of hard to poke holes at what your vision was and where the plan was headed. So I was just excited about bringing some good news to the arts and economy committee. And now some good news to this committee. I think Portland is ready to get behind this project. And thank you is really my main message for all your good work. When big projects bubble up from the community and then are delivered to us, they're organic and they're kind of unstoppable. So I'm grateful that we're here today. And thank you for allowing me to say something. And of course, it's in our district. So but it's so close to your district, like you can literally throw a softball. Yeah, that's a good word. And you can land in your district from that location. So this is kind of a d2, d3 in all city, all in opportunity, I think. Thanks.

Thanks, councilor Ryan. And you know, we have the opportunity because we have this neighborhood, hollywood, with this theater, hollywood, where there is now a lot of other nexus bubbling up around the film industry in Portland, to really think about what that could mean.

I'm excited to hear the update, though.

Yeah. As councilor Ryan said, a lot happening driven by the community there. So I'm going to turn it over to our guests. And I think you all have a presentation, hopefully. Wendy, do we have that ready or christopher ready to put up? Okay. You guys are running it. Perfect. And go ahead and jump right in.

Cool. Well, first, I just really want to thank you for having us here. I really appreciate your support. So far, I've met with, you know, council pirtle-guiney and, and Ryan councilor Ryan, but I haven't met councilor Avalos yet or Morillo. So nice to meet you and thanks for being here. So today I'm doug white, the executive director of the hollywood theater. This is kristen gilman, who is the deputy director. And this is elise taylor liburd from Portland film office and prosper Portland. So they're going to join help me today. So, you know, first, yeah, just thanks for the invitation. And I, when we started this sort of whole idea, we've never built a district before. So we don't we're needing as much help as we can. But it just, it's sort of been happening organically. And it's really great to get more input and advice from the city and like, and how can we move this forward? So first I'll ask, is everybody been to the hollywood theater? Yep. Okay, cool. Good. So you kind of know what we're talking about already. So we are a nonprofit organization, film forever northwest is our sort of the nonprofit. We also run the hollywood theater and movie madness. And we have an airport location. And now, yeah, this next sort of step is a big, a big step for us. But we're really looking forward to it. So the idea is creating. So not only are we do we have the hollywood theater, which is turning 100. I got my merch on today. So it's our 100th anniversary was built in 1926. We've had plans to renovate that for, for many years. And I'll get we'll get into that a little bit later. But then we had an opportunity to move movie madness, which is you don't know what that is. It's a video store in southeast right now, one of the largest in the world. We have over 100 000 titles. There's movie memorabilia. We have education classes in our cineplex there. So it's I'm not sure this could exist many other places than Portland, but it does and it's thriving. So it's a great city to do something like that. So we have this opportunity to move it across the street. And then when that happened, we've got these two anchors of the hollywood theater and movie madness right across the street from each other. It's sort of like everyone was getting very excited about that idea. And then it's sort of like has blossomed into a fuller vision for an entire district that's based not only on people enjoying film, but also people in the film industry. And elise will talk about that a little bit later, but we already have Oregon film. The state film office has moved into the neighborhood northwest documentary, another nonprofit. We've got production companies. So like, it's there's already about eight different film organizations that have already moved into the neighborhood. And before we even broke ground. So that's how excited people have been. But I want to just back up right now and get into sort of a little bit of the history of the hollywood theater. So basically, you know, it was built in 1926 and the neighborhood is actually named after it. So it was kind of an unnamed place. So I was told, and then it sort of adopted the name of the theater. So there's this really strong connection between the neighborhood and the theater. You know, it's, you know, it's had many different owners over the years and a lot of different renovations and changes. Our nonprofit acquired it in 1997 and has been slowly working on it since then, improving different aspects of it as time goes on. So, I mean, it started with like the Green rooms and then, you know, we were there's 13 different roofs on the building. So this, this building is wonderful. It's a blessing, but it's also kind of a curse. There's just always something going wrong. But at the same time, we're getting the support that we need to, to keep it, you know, functional for, for public coming in. So I will say one of the worst things about it right now is the plumbing. It's still original plumbing. And so we have to address that. And if you've been to the hollywood theater, you understand that you probably wouldn't question at all why we'd need to, to fix the plumbing. And so this is sort of, you know, this was when I started in 2010 as executive director. So I've been there for 16 years now. And when I sat down at my desk the first day for the job, there was a plan to renovate the theater on my desk. So this is how long this has been in the making to, to actually try and restore and renovate this beautiful theater. When I saw that, I think the budget was 12 million, you know, in 2010 to renovate it. And I, when I took it over, it was not in great shape, had a budget of about $600,000.

That we had maybe 600 members total. We just started making a lot of changes. First, with the programing, we really changed the type of programing we were doing. Hired Dan halsted as our head programmer, and then we developed a really unique model for movie theaters actually in the country, which is a community programing model, which is we bring in outside programmers from the community to program different series. I think we have about 15 different series that we run. So it's really been a way to sort of bring in new audiences, and we'll talk a little bit more about it later. But really expanding the programing was was our first mission. We started doing things like the seats, we got new seats, we did a new marquee. And, you know, so the membership then was about 600. We've now got 8000 members sort of where we've come from them from 620 ten. Our budget then too was 600,000. Our budget is now 7.5 million. So we've really grown over the last 15, 16 years. In 2015, we partnered with the airport to create the only airport cinema in the country. I'm not sure if you've seen that, but it shows short films by northwest filmmakers, and it's free. It's part of their public art program.

Can I just have a quick question?

Yeah, yeah.

So when in 1996, 97, when it was first established, was the charge, was it on the chop? Was it going to be destroyed? Was there a threat that it could be demolished as a building or.

I don't know about demolished, but it was going up for sale.

It wasn't coming out to.

Yeah, it was actually pretty much almost donated to the nonprofit, you know, for. And so and then they took it over to fix it up. But yeah, it was, I don't know if it would have been torn down. Yeah, it could have very easily had we not the nonprofit taken it over. I think that could have been an option.

I just remember people really wanting to give money to it because the architecture itself.

Yeah. I mean, it's beautiful. Yeah.

Sorry. That was I was in my way. And so now I'll here where we are a decade or so later.

Yeah. Cool. Yeah. So we just opened. Yeah. We're talking about the airport cinema. And then I talked about movie madness. That's like then we acquired that in 2018 is when we did that. And so I've kind of, you know, showing how like we've always tried to expand what we're doing. So we run a movie theater, but we also are a nonprofit with a mission. And so we're trying to expand through education, and we really think of movie madness as an archive. It has 100 000 films in it. Streaming services at any point or right now probably has about 2000 films. That means those other 8000 films may never be seen again, because there's there's nowhere to see them. So we actually are thinking like, this is a way to archive films from different countries and, you know, smaller directors or whatever. So that this is really an important place for, you know, to, to protect the art. So we started thinking like it was about 2018. I think we started thinking about, okay, we're ready to now we're really ready. We have, you know, how many members like 3000 members. I think then we feel like, okay, we might be able to get enough support to start this renovation campaign, do this capital campaign. And that's when I hired kristen and she came in. She has a lot of fundraising experience. And so we were thinking, all right, well, let's get back to doing this capital campaign and I'll kind of let you take it from here on. On why it's taken until 2026 for us. Start it.

And good afternoon. Good afternoon, and thank you so much for having us today. And again, my name is kristen gillman. I'm the deputy director for film forever northwest. And I remember my interview with doug that day so clearly. And we were talking about the possibility of a campaign and how far the organization had come. And it's been such a great privilege to be able to work on this project with our team from the ground up. And so when I started in 2018, the mission was very clear, which was we needed to prepare our community and our organization for this project. And as doug was saying, we were in the midst of, of a real organizational change because we had just brought on movie madness into the organization. So we were learning as an organization how to grow from being, you know, just a movie theater to building on and adding this amazing film archive, one of the largest archives of film and media in the country and the world, I would say. And so right away, my team and I made great strides to begin to meet as many members as we could and try to also grow membership and start getting early input from everyone, all our members and people as stakeholders in the community, every step in the way of the way about what our vision was for the hollywood. And so at the time, the plan was really just about the renovation for the hollywood theater. So that was really the early groundwork that we were running. And so we were working really hard on that, and we were prepared to begin a a campaign feasibility study in early 2020. And you know what happened then? So the pandemic definitely put a time out for us in terms of planning and building towards the renovation. And we were just trying to, to survive, like so many all the other arts nonprofits in Portland. So the hollywood was closed for 15 months, which is the longest period of closure in our theater's history. It's never been closed for that long. And so what we did was, even though we weren't able to show any public screenings, we were able to just stay very well connected with our community. So we did everything that you could think of. We had like zoom trivia nights. We had we offered private rentals with appropriate social distancing so people could still come and get, you know, their, their widescreen movie fix and kind of have a special moment to rent the hollywood because that's not something that's ever available. That was the only time that we really did that. And we also had concessions, pickups. We had movie rental pickup pickups, we shared member recipes. So we did a lot to stay connected. And when we finally reopened the summer of 2021, it was just so special to see everyone come together again after such a long period of uncertainty and after, you know, we needed to take some time to get our operations back up and running. And so we were able to move forward with our feasibility study in 2022, which was positively received. And we began our major gift fundraising in 2024. And as we had just begun that work, something really incredible happened. If you want to speak to to that one. Doug.

Yeah. So ever since we've acquired movie madness, I had always looked at the building right across the street from hollywood theater as a potential home for it. And I, it finally came up for sale. You know, probably like once in a generation, this building would come up for sale, had been in the same family for 100 years. And so it and so I'm like, I'm so excited. And I started looking into it and we're meeting with developers and banks and everything else. And like, it didn't pencil out for a video store in 2026 to like buy this building and renovate it. So I kind of had given up. And literally the next day, one of our, you know, most loyal donors and supporters, jimmy breslin is his name. He called, called us up and was like, what's happening with that building? I see it's for sale. I met and talked with him, told him our situation. He ended up coming in and buying the building, and now he's renovating it, and then he's going to rent it back to us at under market. And we have part of our rent will go towards the purchase price. And in ten years we have the exclusive right to buy the building. So he's really giving us a runway to be able to, to make this happen. So that's been really exciting. And so that's kind of then that's when the film district vision sort of got born, when this was all going to happen. Do you want to move forward to these? I'll keep going to the movie madness ones. There we go. So this is nothing. Nothing is 100% for sure. We're still in the planning stages, but this is, you know, a rendering of the new movie madness from the outside. And this will be right across from the hollywood theater. So this is some ideas. We're actually bringing the old marquee inside and it'll be above, above the counter. Just another rendering of the interior. So we're working with guggenheim studio is a great local architecture firm. Who's, who's helping us with this. So actually also going to add a 45 seat cinema in there. Movie madness currently has a mini plex in it with 18 seats, but this we're actually going to build a proper cinema with 45 seats and it'll be fully accessible. And we'll do first run movies and repertory and everything. So. You can see there's kind of a layout you can off to the right or all the stacks of the movies. One reason we had to move also is because we're running out of space on belmont again, with 100,000 films. And when we acquired movie madness, there were 80,000 films. So in the last, you know, eight years, we've acquired 2000 new films for the collection. You can see sort of where the cinema is right there. We've got there's going to be a lounge down at the bottom left, which is kind of like a sunken lounge. We're calling it a conversation pit for people to hang out. And also, what's great for our organization is we're going to have a mezzanine in there. The ceilings are tall enough, so all of our offices will be there. And for the first time, movie madness staff and hollywood theater staff will all office in the same place together, which will be great thing for the organization.

So I'll take it from here to speak a little bit about the theater renovation itself. So this has been many years in the making. I think, doug, you mentioned that when you started in 2010, there had already been a building study done with a lot. Most of what we're doing outlined in that plan then, and we knew then that this was a critical need. So the most the most critical piece of this renovation is that it involves a total plumbing replacement for our 100 year old pipes. And it's been really interesting as I connect with more members in the community. And so many people in our neighborhood have gone through their own plumbing replacement recently, because a lot of the homes are similar in age. So people immediately understand like, it's not necessarily an exciting project on its face, but it's so necessary for us, for our long term sustainability and lasting another 100 years. And so this is the first significant infrastructure renovation in the theater's history. One thing that really impressed me when I joined the team was that there really is a solid track record of of take. There were some aspects of that original building plan that were kind of carved off all the things that could be done without actually going into the walls and the floors and getting into the infrastructure is something that we did. So we have the new marquee, the new roofs, we did the lower facade renovation. What else am I forgetting? There's quite a few other things. Seats. Oh yeah.

It's already time for new seats again.

Time for new seats now. So so that's major. I mean, that is really what needs to be done. And it required because the theater is pretty much solid concrete construction. It involves going into the ground, into the walls and really taking it apart and putting it back together again. So that's why it's been so massive and why it's taken so long to, to be ready for this. Another huge piece that is core to this renovation plan is improving the accessibility to meet modern ADA requirements. So, you know, being being built to a 1926 blueprint which predates ADA by many years, there are just some interesting quirks in the building that make it difficult to upgrade to modern standards that we need. So, for example, our bathrooms are currently not fully accessible for folks who are using a wheelchair. So this time we are going to get to modernize and create inclusive restrooms that everyone can use as needed. And in addition to that, we're adding more accessible seating in the main theater. So we're increasing our accessibility. We're also making improvements here and there to, you know, improve the grading and make sure that everything is level as it needs to be. So that's a huge part of what we're planning. We're also increasing the seating capacity. We'll be adding seats upstairs in addition to adding a more accessible seating downstairs, like I mentioned. And then we also have an opportunity because we wanted to, you know, we want to return the theater back to the community. When people walk in, we want them to feel the the changes and see what we've done. Because, you know, the, the plumbing is a little bit invisible. So we're going to be taking the opportunity to really restore and refresh a lot of our original historic features. So that includes our original sconces that are in the main auditorium. We have some faux balconies and other details that we'll be freshening up. We're going to renovate the lobby and concessions. We'll add another point of sale system, so hopefully we can move the lines quicker and be more efficient as an organization operationally. And then we'll also upgrade the lighting, you know, new carpets, the works. So we're really excited about all the things that are included in the plan. And I wanted to speak a little bit about why preserving the hollywood is so important and why it's so meaningful to oregon's art culture, portland's art community. So we opened in 1926. We opened as a silent movie palace, but also vaudeville theater. So there was an orchestra, there was a pipe organ, and it was one room, it was one auditorium. So the main what's now our main auditorium was the the ground floor and then what's. Now our upstairs auditoriums were balconies, balcony seatings with 1500 seats total. And it's. The pipe organ is something that we continue to this day. We have a community program program called pipe organ pictures, which is really, really fun. Highly recommend watching that. And what I like to say is that you can, because we were built and opened at the very beginning of really the film industry. You know, it's just the birth of the film industry is when we opened, and we are one of the very few historic movie palaces that has remained operational all these years and also continue to exist as a movie theater. A lot of these buildings, these very beautiful, very special buildings have, you know, because the community wasn't able to support the theater or because it was it might have been repurposed to something else. A lot of these places have fallen into disrepair, but Portland has such a strong film culture. It has such a there is a real value on the communal moviegoing experience, and there are so many wonderful independent theaters in Portland aside from ours. And so we have. It's very rare that a architectural marvel of a movie palace like ours would still be be sustained all these years. It's very remarkable and it's rare. And so I say you can see the high water marks of the film industry inside of the walls of our building, because every time the film industry innovated or changed technology or something changed with moviegoing habits like the shift from, you know, this, you know, one silent movie palace to the multiplexes with multiple screens, we've been able to adapt, but the only reason we've been able to adapt is because of our community. And there are still there are generations of people that have come to the hollywood often, you know, when we play 2001 a space odyssey on 70 millimeter, there will be people in the audience who attended its opening run in the 60s. So there is a there's a long line of hands of people who have carried the hollywood theater forward. And it's such a it's such a privilege and opportunity for all of us, I think, to be in this moment and to have a hand in a major turning point for the hollywood. And seeing it forward for not just ourselves, but future portlanders. So that's the kind of thing that gets me really excited. So, you know, in the 50s, we had 70 millimeter projection installed that still is continuing to this day, 70mm among our most popular programing. And we, we do so well with it that I think we've had some influence in seeing the you're seeing a lot more 70 millimeter first run films coming out because we have demonstrated in other theaters have demonstrated that the audience cares about 70 millimeter analog film formats. In the 80s, we were added to the national register of historic places. We became a nonprofit in 1997. And then here we are today, serving over 200,000 people a year in over 450 events. And that's another thing that sets us apart, is some theaters, you know, will show a first run or, or a few films for several weeks. We're showing three different titles pretty much every single night. So there's and that's through our community programing model. So you really do get the full film experience by coming to the hollywood theater. And it's really a great place to, to, to be. And I wanted to share some really cool historic photos. So I'm not sure what year this was. This was I think maybe later in the 50s, but there are so many photos in our archives of just from back, way back when to present day where people are, the lines are just all around the block. And then you can see just how our lobby really is a place for congregation and sharing and talking and discussing film and discussing art. And so these photos show what it's like every night of the week at the hollywood. It always is like this. It's like I said, it's a wonderful, warm, welcoming space. And so from here, I'll turn it back to you, doug.

Thanks. So, you know, it has this, the film district vision has been sort of coming together and it's organically things just kind of keep popping up and happening. And we try and pay attention to them and maybe potentially pursue them. One thing we've been thinking about is, you know, how can we involve more people, more organizations, more local businesses to, to get excited about this because this is a very unique thing. There's really nothing like this in the country that's kind of be this neighborhood dedicated to film. So had that, having that in the back of our head, I've had a lot of local businesses or nonprofits come to me saying, hey, we want to come to hollywood. And so I've been working with metro and some other people like trying to figure out, okay, where are there some empty buildings and like kind of acting as somebody who can help people find somewhere to go. And we've had a couple of those things happen. But then this huge opportunity presented itself, which is the old fred meyer rite aid building that's across the street from the theater that's now a planet fitness. I'm not sure if any of you remember, but it used to be the fred meyer bargain basement down in the basement. And it also had a Tuesday morning. It's a 300 zero square foot basement that has tall ceilings. It's got an elevator, it's got bathrooms. It's, you know, permitted for retail use and even some bar restaurant use. So and the owner, I met him and he heard we were doing. He's like, oh, this is really exciting. He goes, this is great for business. My building, you know, he's like, great for the neighborhood. And I said, so what are you doing with that basement? And he's like, oh, I don't have the time or energy to rent it out. And so toured it with him. And I said, well, could we use it? And he's, he's really cool. And he's like, yep. He's like, if you want to take it over and fix it up and do whatever you want down here, then I'll give you a killer deal. Like, you know, really, really like good deal. And so I started talking to some people, other organizations and the, the interest has been huge. So we're sort of imagining it. And this is again, very explorational. We haven't gotten too far with this, but it's bringing in like more people as what we're trying to do. So, you know, so thinking of calling it hollywood underground and it would be basically there's a, you know, two entrances from the stairs underneath the planet fitness, but you'd end up in this wonderland of film stuff happening down there, from screening rooms to movie escape room. There's someone I'm talking to to the museum of stop motion animation to like. So just it would like swap meets for vhs tapes. I mean, just kind of taking over that whole space and parsing it out to different nonprofits, businesses, entrepreneurs, whoever. Maybe there's like a speakeasy down there as well. So really excited about this idea. We have a lot of exploration to do and see if it pencils out and makes sense, but I know the interest is there. Again, I've just told a few people about this. This is kind of a new thing, and I'm already getting people calling me saying, how do I get in there? So that's been been really exciting. So I want to turn it over to elise now. And she's been a huge supporter of ours and just kind of want to talk, have her talk a little bit about from the film industry side as to how this might have an impact.

Yeah, thanks again. For those of you, I don't know, elise taylor, liburd, she her pronouns and I'm the film industry project manager at the Portland events and film office housed at prosper. That is a mouthful. I loved what you said, councilor Ryan, about this being something you can get excited about, because I feel like this is the easy part of our job, right? A lot of what doug and kristen have talked about is decades of work and thought and community engagement, and really taking what the community wants into this plan. And so just deep gratitude for the work that they've done over the last couple decades on this project. And I'm like doug said, I'm just here in huge support on behalf of the film industry in Portland. We are all residents of Portland, and we know that this city is made up of neighborhoods. When you are like, what are we doing? Portland? What are the top ten touristy things to do in Portland? We hear about the alberta arts district, or go to Hawthorne and go shopping. Go see pals. I want hollywood film district to be on that list. Why? Because part of what they're cultivating is a community where not just people in the industry, but people who just love film can go and belong. They can geek out. You did not mention all of the memorabilia I have geeked out personally over the ruby red shoes from wizard of oz. It's again, it's a place of belonging and community for the film industry. He touched on it a little bit. I just want to emphasize that something was built in hollywood that hasn't. I don't even know if the media has picked it up, but this hollywood queue is partially it's food carts. There's about nine food carts, it's a brewery, and there's office spaces upstairs. This all happened because someone who'd grown up in northeast Portland believed in the hollywood district, believe in seeing more infrastructure and equitable office spaces. He's giving all kinds of discounted rent to film industry, nonprofits, and the folks there are just coming in droves. And now there's like a waitlist to get in to these office spaces because again, it's a place where you feel connected to the work that you're doing. You feel that the business owners see what you're doing and support that art. And then it just helps that you can go downstairs and go to a brewery called the spotlight, and then you can go across the street to the hollywood theater. I also want to say that this district is making my job very easy in terms of rebuilding kind of the vitalization and the vibrancy of Portland. I don't need to tell you all you all know this, but when Portland wins, all of the industries win. And in the film industry, as it's getting squeezed in the market with jobs and productions, we need to continue to tell the story that Portland is a vibrant, great, livable city and stuff like the film district. Just aid to that and build it up and amplify it. And so it is job creation because the more things that we can do to provide information to folks that are not living here, that it's safe, it's livable. People can come here and have livable wages and work and live. And, you know, all of the good stuff productions will then follow. And so we're really excited about the film district. I think that it yes, it is a name. I want to see it everywhere, just like I see the alberta arts district. I'd love to see it in name. But I think that having the city support behind it for this capital project in particular, with the 100th renovations will be really important. Yeah, I don't know what else I can touch on.

Well.

Well, thanks. Appreciate your support. Yeah. And it's exciting having you know, we've always been kind of on the other side of showing movies, but now we're having the industry that's making them as we're all together and it feels really special. How much time do we have left, by the way? I don't want to make sure I cover the most important things.

We've got. We're good on time. We're good on time. Yeah, we'll reserve some time at the end for questions, but you're good to keep going for a little longer if you have a little more.

So I want to talk a little bit about the economic impact of, you know, what we're doing and some of the things that we're actually getting in an economic impact study done specifically for us. But there is some other information about there. One is there's methodology established by the American for the arts, and we estimate the hollywood theater currently generates more than $13 million in annual economic impact through organizational expenses, audience spending, employment and related neighborhood activity. And there's additional data from the 2021 economic contributions of the u.s. Movie theater industry study by cinema united, which found that moviegoers spend an average of $38.46 beyond the price of admission on dining, retail, transportation and other local purchases associated with theater. Visit. So, based on the hollywood theater's annual attendance of more than 200,000 visitors, this represents an estimated 7.6 million per year benefit, benefiting nearby businesses and the broader local economy. We also attract regional and national visitors through some of our special programing and special guests like kurt russell or risa. And so we think the cultural tourism activities contribute additional spending on hotels, dining and things, and we're going to be doing some more research to, to help figure that out. And so, and part of this has been to is like, okay, well, how much are we bringing? Like, this is our project, the movie madness and the theater, but how much are we also bringing in other people in the neighborhood? And who else? How can we include everybody? And so that we're working on that now and we are working with we've met with the neighborhood association and everybody else. And so I just wanted to share these people aren't here, but some testimonials from some of these folks, if that's okay. So I'm going to start with joe schaefer. I'm actually going to read a letter. She just it's so funny. I asked a couple of these people like, just, can you just write us a quick short endorsement? And they're like, no, I'm writing you a letter. So I've got a couple letters to read, but they're really sweet, so I kind of want to read them. So this is from joe schaefer. She's the interim director or president of the hollywood neighborhood association. She said those of us who live in the neighborhood would be hard pressed to find a better neighborhood establishment than the hollywood theater. Over the years, their imaginative programs and outreach have been amazing. Their team has proven to be masters of engaging the community by hosting numerous events b-movie bingo trivia nights, the film by bike festival, and a concert venue for those attending the veterans day parades. Even during COVID 19, they were able to touch base with the public by selling fresh hot popcorn and other concession items curbside. They have partnered with the community for positive aging, which is the hollywood senior center hosting a free movie once a month from 1230 to 3, which encourages seniors to get out, socialize and meet new people in a safe and comfortable environment. Bar hollywood was opened in 2025 as a space to allow moviegoers to gather before and or after attending a movie for beer, wine and a drinks and snacks and miners welcome until 9 p.m. Plans to move movie madness. Across the street from the theater is a much anticipated and welcome addition to the area. With more than 102,000 movie titles available to rent and or buy, it will be offer a wonderful entertainment option to those who may not be able to afford to take their family out for movie night. This last point will be even more important to the residents of a new 225 unit, low income affordable housing project. The hollywood hub located just two blocks away. There are additional plans to include a family friendly restaurant, movie museum, screening room and educational programs to their long list of menu features. For this project, each and every one of the points mentioned above showcase how the hollywood theater contributes to not only our neighborhood, but the city of Portland. So it was nice to get that.

So take a minute. It's hard to beat that.

Olivia Clark: Yeah, it was pretty good. So this is paul Clark, who runs township properties, owns 42nd street station, if you know that. And he's I think he's got a jacket that says mayor of hollywood. He's been around forever and is really like owns a lot of property and he's been part of the boosters. He's been a really great neighborhood supporter. So he wrote, it's hard to ask about the hollywood theater without reflecting on its historical significance. When the theater was built, the area was somewhat nameless. As businesses began to develop, they used the name hollywood to identify their locations, such as fred meyer. This continues today. Many commercial businesses relate their location as it relates to the theater. Many of the restaurants and lounges enjoy brisk business prior to the evening showing of a picture. It is the main anchor for the area of all the theaters in Portland. The hollywood theater remains true to its original mission. Movies for all. It's another nice one. So this is from tim williams, who runs the Oregon film office. Portland's film and media community is at the heart of the city's perception of being an international creative destination, and the hollywood film district sits at the center of that. From idea to production to audience. It all happens in this one place. This is from neil kopp and anish savjani, who are the company called film science. They're an independent film production studio. They produce all of kelly reichardt's films. If you're familiar with her, they said, we recently moved into our new office in the hollywood district, drawn by anchors like the hollywood theater and movie madness, we see the hollywood film district as a meaningful first step towards something bigger, a sustained center of gravity for production and film culture in Portland. We fully support this initiative and the growth it sets in motion for our community. This might be my favorite one. This is katie moon, who is the co-owner and manager of the moon and sixpence pub. Is their last name really moon? I don't think I ever knew that. I've known her for like 17 years, she said. I have worked in this neighborhood for 17 years, and I can say with certainty that the theater is the pulse of hollywood. For years, our level of business has been directly influenced by showtimes, special events, and the people the theater brings to the neighborhood. We don't just notice when a major event is happening at the theater. We plan around it. We schedule staff based on screenings. We wait to make staffing decisions until we've checked movie times. We know that it's sold out. Show often means a busy pub before and after, but it has always stood out to me. However, is not just the economic impact, it's the people the hollywood theater attracts curious, thoughtful, thoughtful, generous and engaged members of our community. We've always been delighted by the caliber of people who walk through our doors after a screening. Film lovers bring conversation, creativity, and connection with them. They help create the kind of neighborhood atmosphere that independent businesses depend on and that residents value. It also feels important to mention the sense of safety and vitality the theater brings to hollywood. There have been countless nights that my drive home coincides with a late night screening. Letting out. Sitting at a stoplight, I watched streams of people emerge onto the street, seeing sidewalks filled with engaged, enthusiastic community members creates an immediate sense of ease. The theater doesn't just bring people to the neighborhood, it brings life to the neighborhood. The theater isn't an amenity. It's the cornerstone of the hollywood district. As a business owner, I am thrilled by and eagerly anticipating the future of the film district. As someone who has spent nearly two decades in hollywood, I have an endless well of gratitude for the role the hollywood theater has played in sustaining our neighborhood and helping create a community that people genuinely want to be a part of.

Endorsements.

Should we move on to our.

Yeah. Okay. Great. So not only we're going to move on a little bit here, but so we've got not only neighborhood folks are really behind it, but we've the film industry in general, like the hollywood film industry and the national and global film industry, this is a really unique thing. It doesn't really exist anywhere. So thankfully, we've been able to get some pretty high profile people also behind this. And now we want to share a few of these. This is todd haynes. He's a local director. He did may December, carol, far from heaven, velvet goldmine. So he wrote the hollywood film district is one of the most exciting projects I've seen for Portland in years, building on the phenomenal growth of the landmark hollywood theater and the diverse, devoted community is attracted. This energy has expanded into a vision for an actual neighborhood devoted to lovers of film that reflects the vitality and uniqueness of this city and its people. As so much of the communal experience of moviegoing struggles in other cities. Here in Portland, it's exploding. Okay, so we won't go through any more of these. We'll just kind of show you some of the other folks. And this is on our website. You can read more about them, but we have sean baker, who just won the academy award for nora or multiples, kate winslet, gus van zandt, michelle williams, pedro pascal, even julianne moore, natalie portman, kelly reichardt, cate blanchett, jason reitman, guy madden, chuck palahniuk, matt fraction, local comic writer. Yeah, so it's been really exciting to have all these people, and some of them are going to come for events and, and they're happy to help like in any way they can just because it's a very, very unique thing that we're doing. So, so we'll move on now and talk about sort of our timeline and our budget.

Doug, that was some great name dropping.

Oh, yeah. Cool. Thanks. Pedro gets the best reaction. Everything from like my niece to my elderly mother, like they all love him.

It's so good.

So here's our timeline, sort of what's happening for us from September 24th to March 25th. That was our prelaunch and our feasibility. Current status is we already we do have already $3 million committed with a top donor commitment of half $1 million. The movie madness renovations just started last late last month or and probably will be finished in April or so of next year. And during that time, like during 2027. So we've already got the basically the funding in place for movie madness to happen. But we have a $6 million benchmark that we're going for. That's our goal for the hollywood theater renovations and trying to raise that by December of 27. We've got. And ideally starting renovations in about January of 2028. We probably will be closed for five months or so. We really want to sort of ramp up and prep for that. And then, you know, we if we beat that goal, great. But in the meantime, if we just hit that goal, we'll be able to accomplish everything we're doing. We are going to be applying for funding at the state through cultural advocacy coalition. We got through the first round of that, but we are going to be looking for other public private partnerships as we move forward. Also, you know, some of the things that sort of why we're here and what we you know, number one, is to kind of get some advice and thoughts from you on other things we should be doing or what we could be doing. But also, I've never built a district before, so I don't really know what I'm doing. And like, do I need approval or, you know, so we're just saying like, like, we want, like, how do we do we make it officially the hollywood film district is there working with PBOT on signage and murals and wayfinding and so kind of inquiring about that and seeing sort of what's possible and getting some feedback from all of you on that. So do you have anything else you want to say? Cool. All right. Well, thank you for your time. If you have any questions, we're happy to answer any of them.

Thank you all so much for being here and for the information. I think when I last met with you, there were only about half as many prospective tenants as you have now. And and not that long wait list. And hollywood underground was not yet a thing. So it's incredible to see the continued progression, to see that every time there's a big thing happening and that starts to move, another big thing falls into place right behind it. And I think that's how you build a district, right? That that actually is the work of building a district. We can talk to you about signage and wayfinding, but you're doing the work on the ground organically of making this a real thing. And that's really incredible to watch happen. I think the first thing you need to get that help navigating through PBOT and other pieces of the city infrastructure as a champion, I'm guessing that you have a champion sitting right next to me here, given that he asked to have this on the agenda. But I think you will have a number of folks who are interested in this on council.

I'd like to share. Yeah, I can share that.

And, and I think we can help offline with some of those navigation pieces and talking through what the opportunities are there. I do want to make sure we have an opportunity for questions, comments, thoughts from folks who are up here and either anything else you want to learn from our guests or any advice you have for them? Councilor Avalos, your first in the queue. Do you want to kick us off there?

Yeah. Sounds good. Thank you so much for the presentation and for sharing your vision with us today. I lived in the hollywood neighborhood for a few years, and so I spent a lot of time at the hollywood theater and just the surrounding neighborhoods. So I definitely agree that this is, you know, really pivotal part of that neighborhood. And I love the vision you're describing to kind of expand to like a film district. I have some some questions and thoughts on that. I think also, I just what I appreciate about projects like this is that they remind us that economic development isn't just about industrial land or office towers, right? Culture is economic development too. And the places that people choose to visit and build community and spend their time are the same kinds of things that help neighborhoods thrive. So I appreciate that vision and how it will contribute to more than just, you know, the neighborhood benefit, but also to the broader city, especially with all of those celebrities that you, you have in your corner. So I guess I just wanted to get a sense from you all. I mean, I'm, I'm hearing that you're in the middle of a capital campaign. I heard at the end you were saying you want a public private partnership. So can you just tell me a little more about what you're looking for from the city at this stage? Like, are you looking at policy support, financial participation, you know, help, help me understand where you see the city coming into this conversation.

Yeah, great. So I think exactly what councilor Pirtle-guiney was saying, like getting connected. I have been having a lot of meetings with PBOT and metro and TriMet and everybody, but like getting just a little bit more connected and a little bit more support behind us to sort of explore some of these, these ideas that we have of, you know, even like there's been talk of changing some traffic patterns around the theater because right now, sandy encourages you to drive right through hollywood, not stop at all and making it safer for pedestrians. I've probably had to dive out of the five cars over the time that I've been there on sandy, you know? So can we create a scramble or something in front of the theater? Like things like that would be really helpful. Of course. Financial. Yeah. I mean, we have a big budget to raise. And so, you know, anything, you know, talking about what are there paths for that? So some sort of financial support from the city would would be really helpful.

Thank you. Yeah. And also agree that, you know, having a champion to like help you navigate the city would be great. I think you've got, you know, some colleagues to my left here, but happy to offer any support where I can. And, you know, I think in general, like talking about the financial aspect of it, if the city is to invest in something like this, for example, how would we communicate? I'm not saying it doesn't. I just want in your own words, how would we communicate the primary public benefits for Portland residents beyond preserving these fabulous institutions? Like how would how are you all describing the impact? I know you obviously shared a lot of that in your presentation, but just kind of want to hear more.

Sure. So thank you. That's a great question. And so I, what we the way, the reason why I personally am so excited about this project, and I was a hollywood theater member before I was ever a staff member. Is that this project really is like a venn diagram of multiple interests. So there's the first, the historic preservation piece, the theater itself. If you look at the architecture, it is an architectural marvel. It's one of a kind. There is it's very important to that. We preserve it and keep it standing strong. Second is obviously the film and the arts piece of it. You know, I believe that film is one of the most accessible art forms that is available to our community. I know that growing up in the background that I did grow up from like an a mountain holler in tennessee, movie movies were a, a window and a path forward for me, and it gave me an opportunity to engage with culture in ways that maybe weren't immediately available to me and where I grew up. And so I always carry that with me when I think about the importance of film. And then the third piece of it is the community aspect. You know, this is a gathering place. This is many people that I speak with say that the hollywood is their church. Like that is the level of reverence that many people have for this place. And it isn't just about the movies that we watch. It's about having a safe, welcoming place where we can connect and talk and spend time, and then we go our separate ways, but then we come back. And so I and then of course, there's the economic development piece. So I feel like this is a project that I think many people can, can kind of, you know, think about what their own values are and what is most important to them in terms of helping co-create the kind of community that we all want to live in and can kind of invest there. And so that's, that's what I think is my short, short speech about the value of this project.

Yeah. And I just want to expand on that a little bit. So like, for me, my favorite thing about the theater and then this whole film district is the same thing, is the audiences and the communities that are there on each and every night because they're so different sometimes like one night, you know, we have the latin American film festival and we partner with them and they do their own programing. The next night we have a motorcycle film festival and it's full of bikers. And the next night we have the eco film festival, and it's environmentalists, and we show a lot of indigenous films, and that community comes out. We have the black film festival, we have, you know, all these different series and all these different groups of people, and everyone kind of feels like it's home for them, which is, is really special. And I just love that it's, it's not the same 100 people coming all the time, you know, every night it's because we're showing a different film or a different event every night. It's just always different. And then watching a movie with people is just much more powerful than watching it home alone, standing in the back of the auditorium, seeing everybody react together, and then watching everybody in the lobby afterwards talk about what they just saw and process it is is very meaningful. And I think what we're doing is just expanding that and like putting that on steroids and saying, okay, now we're just going to, you know, have now we're going to maybe, you know, movie madness that's happening there in the lounge and then maybe hollywood underground and people connecting over a shared love of something. But it's more about just human connection, I think, in general.

Thank you. Fun fact my first job was at a movie theater, and they put the bubbly black tina in charge of doing events for the movies. I had no idea what I was doing, but, you know, I knew then that, like, movies are more than just the movie, right? There's an experience, there's culture. We would art, movie theater happened to have a lot of bollywood movies, so we did programing for the community. So I have a special place in my heart for this kind of work. And one of my questions I think you answered, which is just like, you know what, what would be the success, right? Like if we're looking back after five years and you get this all done, you get the film district, what would how would you measure success? And I feel like your last comments answered that. So I agree that I've really loved going to the hollywood theater, not just for a regular movie, but also the kinds of events that you all put on doing a q and a after doing a a whole experience. So I'm supportive and very curious to see what comes next and happy to tap me in to help along the way.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, councilor Avalos, councilor Ryan.

Dan Ryan: Yes, thank you, chair pirtle-guiney. It's great to see you, doug. It was last July, so it was almost a year ago that I was there in person. Thank you. I've had jobs like yours and they're really difficult to pull off. And I have a question about that later. And then it's great to see the partner. It's great to see you in general from prosper Portland. I think what I wanted to get at is, one, I have a question because the Portland fashion institute is in your neighborhood and they're having their 50th anniversary, and I think they're a resource in the city that we forget about, and they're not far from you. And so I hope that you all can figure out what that partnership looks like. I think you benefit from each other being in the same neighborhood.

Yeah.

There's something about, you know, opening nights and fashion that go together with film.

So we actually, and we actually have a series called fashion and film where people get dressed up that somebody presents on the fashion and the film eden dawn. And then so it might be interesting to kind of bring them in on that.

Yeah, that seems like fits like a glove right there. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So that's good to hear. When you mentioned the capital campaign goal and you have 3 million to 6 million, I always was pretty quiet until it got well past the 3 million because my experience was the last part was often the most challenging to raise. And then the other part that was always difficult, one I inherited after a capital campaign. And I was the development director after it. And the capital campaign didn't prepare for the fact that our operations expenses would go up based on the new largesse. And I'm sure you're thinking about all this. So is the 6 million. Does that factor in some of those initial new expenses for operations, or is that a conversation that you're having? In other words, being the director after that was a nightmare. Yeah, because we had to suddenly raise like a million more and no one projected for that.

Yeah.

So back to the donors because they're like, we already gave you money for the capital campaign.

Exactly. Yeah. I mean, that's a big thing. Even when you're going through the capital campaign, that you don't get your annual fundraising because they're only giving to the campaign. And so balancing that is a challenge. I think we yeah, we have a pro forma budget for once we reopen. We've got, thankfully, we're going to be increasing revenue. We're going to be adding another till at the concession stand. And actually so upstairs, what we're doing is adding about 50% more seats in each auditorium. So we're also going to generate extra revenue there. Plus movie madness with that's a whole nother 45 seats there too in a screening room. So we're incorporating all that in and it seems to be penciling out. So we are our finance manager is doing a really good job of sort of. And our treasurer of parsing all that out. I have seen other non-profits go on to big capital campaigns, and it sort of ruined them when they got a new big building donated, but then they couldn't afford to deal with it. But I'm feeling pretty good about our future. And I think with everything happening in the district and with the hollywood hub going in and with, you know, the hollywood queue opening up, and it just feels it's just getting, you know, more and more busy there, which I think will be good for our bottom line.

I'm not surprised. We had a little bit of a conversation about this a year ago, so I could tell it's been well formed. And, and I wanted you to express that to all of us. When you mentioned the scramble, crosswalk scramble is, for example, I think this is what you mean. So powell's bookstore. Yeah. West side where all for you can walk in all four directions. Exactly. Okay. That's what you would like in that hub area.

I mean, I want to talk about it. I don't know enough about that to know if that's worth it, but I just have seen.

I think you want that. But but I think it's also like, I want to make sure we were talking about the same thing.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Especially if we have the hollywood underground, then people are going at all three, you know, all three corners. And so they'll be crossing. They could cross diagonally and just get all the traffic to stop to.

What could be said on west Burnside, people are pretty determined to get to their next destination. And I think that it does help that that stop exists, that allows that to occur. Yeah. And so that's why I wanted to bring it up more as a make sure I was really hearing you. Right. Yeah. And, and then when you say that you want to build a district, first of all, there's no better way to build a district than what you've already been doing. So the fact that you've attracted like industry to the area, you, you did what government couldn't do for you. So now it's more like we just have to figure out how to meet you where this momentum and enthusiasm is. And I'll work with my partners in d two and others to follow up on what that looks like. You know, there's always the sign talkers, of course, that help, but there's more than that. And I think it's important that we just figure out in these new roles as legislators, how we work with the city administration to see that through. And so I think what today I'm getting is your clear vision, and you've all three presented that really well. And you can tell this is even evolved from a year ago. And so I just want to thank you for having that clear vision. Having demonstrated success in one year's time. And as someone that had to put pipes in a 1930 home when I bought it in 2001, and I was so not glamorous because you spend so much money and everyone's like, what do you mean you spent all that money in your house? No one could tell, but it's such a big deal. And so I'm glad that you're focusing on infrastructure in your campaign. And that's a big part of the initial phase. Yeah. So everything you explained was was wonderful. Thank you for being persistent, keeping it going for, for this long 100 years. And it was a real big story in 1996, seven, when I first moved back, that there was a threat that, you know, who's going to what are we going to do with this space? So I think a lot of us were thrilled that a nonprofit took over in the preservation could begin. But then what you've done since then and now, even where it is today is, is really exciting. So I can imagine that your campaign will continue to be successful. And I think the city I think that the city is here to meet you where you are and allow you to be successful. But this is like the kind of micro economies that we need throughout the city. And no matter how much there's been a trend towards people wanting to desire to have work from home, for example, the need for connection, the need for place bound industry continues to take off because like minds, like industries like to be around each other and they like to see each other in person. So you're on to something that's very valid. And, you know, I know the big example is nike, but there's no accident that we have other micro economies that are connected to that, even large ones. There's no accident that adidas is here because of nike. North America little concerned under armor's pulling away. But the fact is it's really big on the macro scale settings, but also in neighborhoods. And I think that you're on to something and I really appreciate your creativity and your perseverance. This is a Portland story that we need to really lift, and I'm excited to do what we can to basically not get in your way and help amplify with the necessary gifts that government can add on top of that. So I want to make sure that we stay in touch.

Great. Well, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Yeah.

Thank you, councilor Ryan. I know that the theater and the film district are the star of the show today. But elise, I want to ask you a question about something that you said about the industry more broadly. Sure. You said kind of casually, actually in the middle of the rest of of your piece of this, that building this district will make your job easier. And I've been around a lot of the conversations at the state level about the film tax credit and the fact that Portland has always been able to draw more than our fair share of the industry with less than the subsidy that a lot of other locations put in Portland and Oregon as a whole. Because we are a great place to film. But I also have heard that that's petered off a little bit, and that we've had a harder time over the last few years. So I'd love to hear anything you can share with more detail about how the work of developing a film district in a more formal way in our city might help bring back our outsized opportunity for the jobs that come with production in our state, because those are often living wage jobs that help support both local businesses, but also local, independent actors, producers, contractors working around the industry.

Thank you for that question. And you are listening. I love that. So yeah, I mean, what you're referring to is our incentive is pretty on par with about 20 other cities or states. Excuse me, in the united states, which means we're not competing against new york or los angeles or texas or georgia. We're about mid range with 20 million for our state incentive. For example, in 2020, when the pandemic happened, we got very lucky and had top chef, which kind of alleviated some of the pain points and the growing points for our industry, meaning people could stay here and make a livable wage. And just with the way that the studios are squeezed and their just we are our bread and butter in Portland and Oregon in particular, are independent films. And that's kind of our sweet spot. And we do it really well. In fact, most people, including the governor, have said that we punch above our weight, which I love that because we truly do. People move here and they're talented, and then they live here because they fall in love with the city. I think right now what I'm referring to is a little bit of what I think a lot of industries in our city in general, are trying to continue to change the narrative about Portland. There's still places that you go and visit and they ask, is it safe? You know, are we going to be okay? And our job is to change the conversation. It's not just about incentives. You don't come here for the incentives. You come here for the landscape and the talent and the crew and the people and the culture. But when people do bring up the livability and the safety and all of that, it really helps when the rest of the city is doing well. And by well, I mean our tourism. So our heads in beds, our numbers are growing, our events, our foot traffic, and really our small businesses. So when all of those things are thriving, which I believe the hollywood film district will continue to make those things thrive like small business and tourism, then the film industry starts talking again and it doesn't necessarily become a, oh, did they have the incentive? It becomes a you know what? I've heard amazing things about the city of Portland. Let's go figure out how to film something there.

Great. Thank you. That's that's helpful context to have. And I, of course, I have to assume that any positive narrative is positive and helps with that. But a positive narrative that the film industry elsewhere, especially out of hollywood south, a positive narrative that they're paying more attention to because it's about our hollywood probably goes even farther than that type of work in in other parts of the city.

Yeah. I just wanted to chime in quick about, I talked to tim williams about this, too, from the Oregon film office. And he really thinks like the idea of like, you're picking which city you're going to go to with your production. So not only do you have the incentives and everything else and what the cities like, but it'd be pretty enticing for the cast and whoever else crew that are coming to

To be like, oh, you get to hang out in a film district when you're not working. And so he just kind of thought having this here and if it's vibrant, that it would just make it more attractive because it would be a more like a fun place or an interesting place to do your work. And then you're probably going to bring in again, have more qualified crew here and things like that. So we're hoping it can contribute to the it our goal to do that. But we're thinking, oh, this might contribute to the, the industry. So it's kind of becoming part of the goal now.

Great to hear. Thank you. Yeah. I also want to thank you for getting support from other parts of the neighborhood and, and not just the businesses in the neighborhood, but representatives of the residents as well. Often things like this move better, move easier when there is neighborhood support. We all know that. But but people look to the businesses first and the residents second. And to see that you already have the neighborhood association on board that you're working with the the senior center, which serves a lot of people in the broader community, but also in that neighborhood, is a good sign to me that this isn't just driven by those who are hoping to be in on the profits, which is important, certainly, but is not the the only piece of that neighborhood, but that you're talking to the people who live there as well. And so I think as you look to the city for help on what does it mean for this to be a formal district, I hope that you continue to bring in residents in the neighborhood. I know we will certainly hear from them as well. And and they'll be feeling the impacts of changes, whether it's traffic, whether it's street signs, whether it's their neighborhood being rebranded. And so we want to make sure they're on board. I really appreciate the fact that you're already doing that work. So thank.

You.

For bringing that forward.

You mentioned it too, that chad and dana, who are doing the hollywood cue, they actually live in the neighborhood. And then jimmy breslin, who's our kind of angel investor, we call him. He lives like a couple blocks too. So what's interesting is people investing in the neighborhood are also the residents. And so it's been it feels really good. It's not outside people coming in. It's like we're all kind of there and trying to improve it together.

That's fantastic. Colleagues. We have another agenda item and we're actually right at time right now. But are there any last minute questions before we let our guests get on with the rest of their afternoon? Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much for being here, for bringing forward the details. And I think you have interest from at least a couple of us up here and helping you with the navigation of the city, and we will assume that we'll hear from you more as you move forward with the campaign in more formal ways as well.

Great. All right. Well, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

Colleagues. We have one other item on our agenda. Wendy, could you please read item four for us?

Yes. Thank you. Item number four, document number 2026-216. Extend lease with urban office and parking facilities for the city kids child care and development center space by five years. Amending clm contract 10014.

Thank you and colleagues. We will be hearing from ron zito and I believe, pauline goebel about the need to renew this lease and what we're looking at in terms of benefits to the city and changes in the lease lease terms. Ron, do you want to kick us off?

I think we're going to start with pauline to kick us off. Thank you though.

Perfect. Thank you.

Good afternoon councilors. My name is pauline goebel and I'm part of the bureau of fleet and facilities real estate team. And I'm here with the director of human resources, ron zito. His program or the bureau? His bureau manages the program, the city kids program, and the joyful noise operator contract to run the program. And we are here today to request the authority of or. Excuse me. Oh. Thank you. I was wondering where that went to. Oh, thank you so much. Thanks. Yeah. And we're here today to request that council obligate the funds for a five year lease extension for city kids at crowne plaza. And so for a little history, the city kids program was established in 2000 at the Portland building, and that was to support the city's employer of choice program. And it was lease was was entered into with joyful noise for running the program, where it remained at the ground floor of the Portland building through 2016. When at that time, due to the Portland building reconstruction project, the daycare had to be relocated. So at that time it was. We became aware of a vacant daycare available. Our city excuse me, childcare facility available at crowne plaza. And so after a feasibility study was conducted to confirm the viability of relocating operations from the Portland building to the crowne plaza building, we entered it into a ten year lease with the landlord at crowne plaza, and included in that lease lease was a five year option to renew. And so that's why we're here today, is we are looking to extend the child care program, the the space at crowne plaza for an additional five years to operate the childcare, the city kids program. So ron.

Thank you, pauline, and.

Good slide.

Thank you. Good afternoon, councilors and committee chair for the record, ron zito, interim director for the bureau of human resources. And we're. Pauline just shared some details on the history of the lease agreement. I wanted to briefly emphasize the value of this program, which is in many ways both an employee benefit and a community asset. For more than two decades, city kids have supported working families by providing accessible, high quality childcare in the downtown Portland area. While the program was originally established to support city employees, it also serves families who work throughout the downtown core, and so that helps contribute to the vitality of our area. And then secondly, it's also an arrangement that supports workforce recruitment and retention for our organization, having access to quality child care near the workplace. That reduces stress for working parents and supports the retention of experienced staff. In addition, this agreement establishes priority enrollment for city employees, particularly those working downtown. And then finally, city kids also complements other family friendly benefits we offer at the city, including city paid parental leave that lasts six weeks. And that's just exactly when city kids allows folks to come into that program. So by maintaining this arrangement, the city continues to support employees, working families, and the broader goal of making downtown Portland a place where people can work, raise families and access child care services. And so for those reasons, we believe extending the current lease remains the most practical and cost effective option for continuing this important benefit and an option for our community. I believe at this point, we'll open it up for any questions you have about the program or the lease itself. We actually also have representatives from joyful noise here with us today. If you have any questions for them as well.

Great. Thank you so much. And do we have anybody signed up for public testimony? I'm asking at the most inopportune time. I'm so sorry, wendy and diego.

No, there were no sign ups.

Okay, then why don't we launch right into questions and discussion? Councilor Avalos, go right ahead.

All right. Thank you. Yeah. I have a couple questions about like, how city employees access this program. So first, can you help me understand the practical benefits city employees receive from city kids beyond the priority enrollment, our families paying standard market tuition, do they receive any reduced cost benefit as a result of the city's investment in this program?

Yes, councilor. There is some benefit there. In fact, I almost want to call up val ellis and courtney to help speak to the program if I could. I'm not sure who's best suited to come join us.

Please come right up. And just before you introduce the program, if you can introduce yourself, that would be great. So we have that for the record.

Hi. Go ahead.

Hello, I'm valerie moreland, I'm the director at city kids child development center, and this is my executive director, alice Smith, with joyful noise. And courtney ziegert, her successor, will be taking over in August.

Perfect. Thank you so much. Go ahead, ron.

And councilor, I just want to reemphasize, you asked for sort of what's the priority consideration for city employees, any access or benefits they would have beyond the public and rates, was that.

Well, yeah, mostly I'm asking it sounds like you have the priority system, which I'm aware, but our families paying standard market tuition, or are there any reduced cost benefits for city employees as a result of us investing in this program?

Families pay the same tuition rates, regardless of whether they're city employee or from the public at large.

Okay. So do we. I'm curious about what kind of data we keep on this. So do we have any information on income levels or job classifications of families that are using city kids? And I'm asking because I'm interested in understanding, you know, whether this resource is accessible to employees across our workforce, including our lower paid employees, or whether that cost remains a barrier even with the priority enrollment.

Well, I think we've been able to offer child care across the spectrum. We tap into erdc monies from the state child care initiative monies through the Multnomah mount hood, and we have our own tuition assistance programs, and we're now accessing preschool for all. And so, you know, children three and above by September that live in Multnomah county will come for free. So I think we've been able to really offer quality care to many of the communities, not just the downtown core.

Great. Yeah. I was going to ask about preschool for all that's good to hear that we'll be able to tap into that resource. Absolutely. And yeah, I mean, I'm asking this because this child care is one of the biggest challenges, as we know, for working families. And I really am grateful for this, you know, long standing commitment that the city has made through city kids and appreciate that, you know, for this particular ordinance, we're trying to continue that care. And I definitely don't want to disrupt that care. But I think it's just a good opportunity to take a step back and just look at how we're maximizing the value of this investment, especially for city employees. I mean, we're dealing with a lot of labor contracts, a lot of struggles of meeting the needs of our employees. And this feels like an opportunity to look at what that could mean to expand those benefits. So, you know, there's the, the base, you know, cost for the lease, right? But then hearing that one preschool for all is going to be available, I think is good. Obviously, you know, I figure you have different kinds of scholarships. But yeah, just this just piqued my interest as this came on the agenda of like, where are there opportunities for us to offer more of that? You know, I used to work at PSU, we have the helen gordon cdc, and it's kind of a similar, I think, model to what you all do, but it was just very cost prohibitive. And so I'm just trying to figure out ways that our employees can truly benefit, and not just the employees that are in the upper echelons of the, the pay ranges. You know what I mean?

One of the things I would add is that so we have four centers, federally sponsored, one sponsored by metro and one from you. And we have different. That sponsorship encompasses anywhere from free rent, janitorial and utilities to some, you know, those those benefits have changed over the years. We've kind of absorbed more and more of that, but it's allowed us to bring in higher quality staff, pay them a higher wage, better benefits, and also keep city kids. Rates are probably one of the lowest in the metropolitan area tuition wise, because we don't have to pay for some of those costs.

Got it. That's good to know. Yeah. And yeah, I would love, you know, back to my question on like data, I think I'd love to get that information out right now, but it's just something I would love to learn. Also, you know, if there are city employees that want to use city kids but are unable due to cost or availability, would love to know how we're tracking that unmet need. Because again, I feel very strongly that this is an urgent benefit for working families and because we have it in house, you know, it feels like a good opportunity to ask those questions about how we could expand that for families. I think those are all my questions. Let me look.

Also so that, you know, we've averaged in the mid 70s enrollment for city employees, you know, so it's been substantial.

Mid 70s. What that's number of employees.

Percentage of enrollment.

Or percentage.

Of is for city employees has been in the 70s over the last 25 years. It's kind of averaged that I.

See 70% of city employees are using the service. Is that sorry?

Yes. I'm not saying it accurately, but out of out of our total enrollment, 70% are city families. Okay? Have averaged approximately 70 something percent.

Got it. And just for context, councilors, there's about 80 or 90 slots available at this location downtown. And, and we make up a vast majority of those in terms of enrollment.

Got it. And then also, could you just tell me a little bit about. I'm aware I remember when the Portland building was getting renovated, and it seems like that was the reason to move it. But just curious if there's any discussion about moving that back in the Portland building at some point.

Not that I've been involved in councilor.

I don't think so, no.

Okay. I was just curious. Yeah. Thank you. I definitely plan to support on extending the lease, and would love to continue conversations about how we can make it more accessible and expanded, and especially with preschool for all coming online. Let's make more if we can. So thank.

You, thank you, thank you.

Thank you. Councilor. Councilor Ryan, would you like to go ahead?

Yeah. Thank you. Chair, I'm so sorry that I missed your presentation and I anyway, I'm sorry I missed it. It was really quick. Of course, I want to support extending the lease, but I think it's an opportunity for us to just ask more questions about how this is such a benefit for us here at the city of Portland. And so mine are similar to some of the questions candice councilor Avalos asked. And in fact, you did ask the questions connected to preschool for all. So thank you. The business model for joyful, joyful noise is based on a subsidized lease. But that's really where my understanding of this whole business model kind of ends, so I. Pardon. Pardon my ignorance, but what would the cost of tuition be if without the city subsidy?

A guesstimate would be probably 4 or $500 more a month.

4 to 500 more a month.

Per child.

Per family.

That really puts it into context just how expensive it is for families.

It's really expensive.

So that's the subsidy. So what is the actual what's the cost that I would have to pay if I my kid went there.

Right now. Yeah.

Infants 21, 69 a month for five days a week for infant through two and a half years old. And that's those, that tuition rate is lower than many of the for profit.

Because of the subsidy chains.

Absolutely.

And how do other childcare centers operate if they don't have subsidies? They just have to spend it at that market rate. That's much higher than that.

Yeah. I mean, I don't think that they pay the wages that we pay. I don't think they have the benefits that we pay. Okay. I think that they have to. It's tough. There's very little money to be had in child care. And so. I can't answer that for other companies.

That's okay. I'm just trying to understand because this is a big issue for parents. And it's it's a big issue for work life. It's even been one of the biggest issues with, with COVID when, when people were able to go home, one of the big reasons why they wanted to continue to work at home was because of the cost that we're discussing right now. And I think everyone knows that. And so it's just important for me to understand this from that perspective. Have we ever had to deny city employees who want to get into the center because we've had capacity issues?

You haven't. Know anybody?

No.

And that's why we closed the Portland building one, because there wasn't the need.

Oh, next door. Yeah. No, that was simply because you were remodeling the building.

It was the building was being reconstructed, so.

Oh, yeah.

But it was never it was never thought that they would remain there.

We actually had a space there. They had a dedicated space for the child care center. I think there were a couple of variables about that. There was a computer system underneath, and I'm pretty sure they didn't want to have any kind of water accidents that might.

I'm sorry.

Adam, to the rescue there.

Excuse me.

Okay. I think I'm bringing up a very fascinating topic. And I didn't realize that when I.

Asked the.

Logistics of it were were strained and then how long the project would take to actually get going. And we were going to be just down the road for a short while. That turned into much longer while. And then we decided that with all that we w. And it wasn't that far away from city hall. And we've just stayed where we are.

Got it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for being transparent. I seriously had no idea. Yeah. And so that was helpful to listen to you. Did you already know that.

I, I knew why we left. I did not know that there were maybe some complications beyond square footage of real estate to coming back.

Okay. I thought it was like it had to do with capacity issues. And so anyway, it's so helpful to get this real information.

Councilor is I just want to add that now the new location is about two blocks south from here near the keller building, right behind walkable. I was lucky enough to go on a tour of the facility, beautiful facility built out specifically for the needs of child care at varying ages. So again, a great location.

Now you should come.

I, I really do want to see it. I promise staff that's listening. Please make sure that I go visit the the child care centers that's only two blocks away. Yeah. I think I was a little bit surprised with the answer about how expensive it still is, and I apologize for being insensitive to that. And so we had the pre the preschool for all conversation. And so it seems like that's needed. But is there a sliding scale for employees. So if you're a director of a bureau, do you pay more than the someone that has a job that. No, there's just one size fits all.

And it's also really hard to budget. If you had like, sometimes there's a two tiered rate, you know, if you have siblings, the second one comes in at a at a smaller tuition rate, but that's just very difficult to project who's going to enroll, how many children are, how many families are going to come in with siblings, whether, you know, whether you're going to subsidize city employees at a lower tuition rate by charging higher to the public, it's just more simple to just have one tuition rate structure.

And I thought I heard this earlier, it's it's open to the market. It's not just for city employees.

Correct. Well, we prioritize city employees on the waiting list and their siblings always. Their families always.

Yeah.

But you don't bump someone out. That doesn't work at the city based on people from the city wanting it. You just prioritize them on the waiting list, correct? Yeah. Okay. All right. I have a lot more understanding of what this is. And of course, since I'm on this committee, I just had to be curious and ask questions. The extension does seem like the right thing to do. And thank you so much for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you, councilor Ryan. I have just a couple of questions. And the first was what percent of city employees or what percent of your kids are kids from city families? We got that answered. I appreciate that. I want to touch on that in a minute. This is a lease renewal. Are there any changes to the terms in the renewal that we should know about?

Rick, do you want to come up and. Oh.

Here I can.

Okay.

Hello, councilors. Rick dyer for the record with bff no there. The only terms that were changed were the financial terms, the new rent rate. Yeah. That was the only material change.

Okay. And is that rent rate? I know we have it in here. Is it consistent across all five years? I think we have total numbers in here but not an annual number.

It's right.

Yeah it's consistent.

Okay.

You're right. It's a 3% annual increase.

3% annual.

Consistent year over five years.

Yes. Correct.

Okay. And everything else is staying the same. And then do we have an automatic renewal at the end of those five years, or will we.

We need.

To renegotiate if we want to keep the program in this location.

Right.

So we should expect that there may be if there are questions from councilors about the program, the location, the possibility of co-location. Again, I heard a couple of people talk about I know that would be an impact to the program. We don't want to take something like that on lightly, but any questions like that that we have, we should expect to have those be timely questions about three years from now. Is that accurate two years from now?

We looked at the market in terms of this particular and mentions in the ordinance itself, but we did we did a survey of the market to see, well, is there an opportunity to relocate? Is there any reason to relocate the entire operation, which of course includes new tenant improvements, also includes a new license, a license location, expensive location specifics would have to be reapplied for, we think, and the feedback we received from the community is that yes, there are some opportunities to relocate. However, the least stressful, most least stressful opportunity was to stay in place if we could negotiate a favorable lease with the current landlord, they were motivated to retain us. So the terms were, we felt, were compatible with what we would go outside, and it was at least disruptive to stay where we were. We think that we didn't try to negotiate an additional extension because we think two things. One, is there more than likely want to work with us to retain us. They see us as an asset to their building tenants. And secondly, that the market may have some opportunities. So around year three, mark will go back out and start to look again in anticipation of a renewal time and see if there is an opportunity, like there's been intimated now, to maybe pick up and relocate if there's more motivation to do that. So we think we've reserved our opportunities to look at whatever's coming up down the road and just stay with one five year exercise, one the renewal option now and not add another.

Great. Thank you. And just for some context, because I don't know about my colleagues, but I'm not an expert in where the commercial real estate market is right now. How does a 3% increase a year compare.

To market? That's very.

That's very average for what we expect in the market over the next five years. Okay, perfect. Thank you. I think those are my only questions on the lease, which is the document before us. But I will just comment on city subsidies for child care. I appreciate the lower rates. Are those are your costs for the full seven a m to six p m hours that you operate. There's not additional before and after care costs.

No. All day program.

Colleagues, that is truly a deal. Then, because the prices that you are listing are what affordable, but still within the realm of average programs that I see cost for an 8:00 to 3:00 or 8:00 to 4:00 day. So the fact that you're not paying for those aftercare programs and before care, and you're still getting that price is pretty remarkable. It is not lost on me, though, that we are subsidizing importantly, that cost is important. And the pay and benefits for child care workers is important. And actually, I don't want to pass by that too quickly. We know that this is an industry where families can't pay enough to support a living wage for the workforce, and there is a mismatch there, and this industry will never support families and providers without public subsidy. We know that that just is the reality for this industry. This is one way to do that. And also, it's not lost on me that we're talking about a pretty significant subsidy that's supporting 60 to 70 families of city employees. So I, I do think that at a time that is not now, when we're not cutting $160 million from our budgets, we may want to think about how it is that we support families more broadly with child care, either through. Some sort of sliding scale subsidy on the city end to support families who want to use the program, because I would guess that if we do that, we would fill all the slots or through some other method. And that's, you know, I'm saying this wrong with you sitting there because often these are bhr and, and negotiation pieces. But I think there are probably conversations we need to have there in the future about how we make sure that this pretty significant chunk of money is helping more than just 60 to 70 families of city employees. That doesn't affect my willingness to extend a lease today. But as we think more broadly about the program, I think we can be doing more for our staff. Thank you all for being here, though, and thank you all for the program that you run. I know it is a very high quality program that people are interested in getting their kids into both the city kids location, but also your locations that you partner with other public employers employees on.

Thank you.

Councilor Ryan, did you have something more?

Just a quick question. I think that you put it in perspective with how many city employees are utilizing the service. A little over 60, you said.

Correct.

Okay. And what was it pre-covid? What was the number roughly?

We're closer to 75.

So it was only it was 75. Okay.

At times. Yeah.

We've definitely struggled since COVID. You know, with the downtown locations. I have the one federal center downtown at first and second, stark and grant, harvey milk. Now, both centers have had challenges, but that's why we were so anxious to join with preschool for all, because now we're running at 100, almost 100% occupancy.

Wow.

And we're not just serving the downtown core. We're really serving broader communities at large. So I feel like our outreach between the four centers is really significant.

Well, and let me add that as they get ramped up on the PFA program, that takes up 40 slots for the PFA program allocated. Right. And those are governed by the county. So they they say who can go into those 40 PFA slots? And so we discussed with the team. Is that well, does a child have priority access when city's kids will always have priority access? How do you ensure that. And they've told me that because they're not at capacity, that they always make sure that they have a little capacity in there. So they're not they're licensed for more than they're actually budgeting for. So they always have a little room to grow. So if they had a need for another child to come in, they're never 100% full, right?

We can, we can always bump children up. We've got probably in, in our what had been a kindergarten classroom is now an older preschool classroom. And it can have it can we can have a group size of 20 children in there. We're currently capping it at ten. So if a city employee wanted to come in, we can bump children up into that classroom and make room for a city employee down below.

And the point of that is they've never turned down a city kid trying to come in.

That was helpful. I'm glad we had more dialog on that, because earlier I thought I heard it was just prioritized on the waiting list. I didn't realize that you could go to this extent to get them into the program.

There. If there if there is a city kid that wants to come in, they've never had a wait list for a city kid to come in. To date, you've always had a slot open that a city kid could fill.

Well, it used to be that we had a three year waiting list for city for everybody at all the centers. But at this point, if a city employee wants in and they're able able to enroll, we have spaces for them. Like we have filled all our spaces for the fall except for those ten oldest, oldest, that oldest classroom. There are ten spaces that we are just running, one teacher with ten children instead of two teachers with 20 children. So we have the ability to wick children up into the age groups to make room for anybody else that would come on the waiting list.

Thank you.

It's a little complicated, but we are making we are able to service city employees as they come in.

Thank you colleagues.

Any other questions about the city kids program or about the lease extension? Okay. We are being asked to refer the lease extension to full council with a due pass recommendation. Would anybody like to make that motion?

So moved.

Second.

Wendy, could we call the roll?

Thank you. Sorry. Who was the second councilor?

Morillo.

Thank you. Ryan. I Morillo I zimmerman's absent Avalos. I pirtle-guiney I. The motion is approved with four eyes.

Perfect.

Thank you all so much for being here. Thank you for allowing us the privilege of asking some additional questions about the program as well.

Thank you.

Thanks for your time.

Is that is our last item of business today. Our next meeting will be after the recess. And with that, we are adjourned.