The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2026-05-27
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Session summaryEditor-reviewed
Portland City Council convened its regular session on May 27, 2026, opening with a pre-gavel recognition of Vanport Day of Remembrance, featuring remarks from Vanport Mosaic representatives and a descendant of Vanport residents who shared an oral history clip about the 1948 flood. The body then formally called to order, took roll, and reviewed rules of decorum. Agenda approval included a motion to reorder an item; a vote occurred, with outcomes recorded in the vote ledger. Public communications included testimony on policing, homelessness, and community support for the Trail Blazers. The council heard an update on federal intervention response, then discussed and moved to second reading an ordinance establishing a sister city relationship between Portland and Lviv, Ukraine, following extensive testimony and discussion. The council also considered an ordinance appropriating funds for homeownership development projects in District Two, involving Self Enhancement Inc. and Williams & Russell CDC; an amendment changing the funding source was discussed, with extensive public testimony, and votes occurred, outcomes recorded in the vote ledger. Additional items included a settlement payment, grant appropriations for veterans' housing assistance and a mass timber feasibility study, utility rate ordinances, an ordinance on law enforcement identification and masking, an arts tax code amendment, and a proposed ban on force-fed poultry products with a debated amendment on implementation timing. Multiple votes occurred throughout the session, including a procedural appeal of a chair ruling; all outcomes are recorded in the vote ledger. The session adjourned amid time constraints before completing the full agenda.
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0 Good morning. I'm now calling to order this meeting of the Portland city council. Keelan, can we please call the roll? Oh, wait. Before we do that, I lied. We actually have a pre gavel. I'm taking back my gavel. That didn't happen. No one heard that happen. We have a gavel. Recognition of the vanport day of remembrance. I'm turning this over to councilor Pirtle-guiney.
1 Thank you, council president. Colleagues, today our pre gavel is about vanport day of remembrance, which is on may 30th. But as folks who are following the work of vanport mosaic know, the honoring, remembrance and celebration has been going on all week. We are doing this pre gavel as the as the work continues in community, so that we remind our city of this part of our history so that we don't forget the racist policies that forced black portlanders to live only in limited parts of our city, where they often face the most environmental risk. And as we saw with vanport, floods, the most harm. Our city was unwilling to invest in risk prevention for entire groups of our community. And that's something that we must do better on today. This pre gavel, though, is not just a reminder of the harm. It is also a reminder of the incredible culture that flourishes when people have the space to build community. When people are able to come together, and the lasting cultural impacts from vanport on our city should continue to be acknowledged. And we must remember that that is tied to the opportunity of community being able to come together. Vanport is not just history. The descendants of vanport are a part of our community today. One of our speakers today, lavada gilmore jones, is a descendant of vanport. I'd like to turn over the floor to laura lafferty with vanport, mosaic and lavada gilmore jones to share with us a little bit more. Thank you both for being here today and being a part of our work.
2 Good morning everyone. Thank you so much for having us. And thank you so much for the beautiful words that you shared. That's truly the heart of our work. And mosaic is a memory activism platform. We amplify, honor, preserve, and present the many silenced histories of our city and region. And we do it so that we can understand why we got here. We better understand our present, and we can imagine a new story for all of us, one where we all belong and thrive. And we do so with oral history. First and foremost, we built the largest archive of personal memories of life in vanport, the tragic day of the flood and its aftermath. Like you said, the story is not a story of the past. And personally, I came to Portland in 2014 and I've been receiving the gift of this story since then. And and that is why vanport. That's why Portland is my home. It is because of this beautiful community and the lessons of solidarity, resistance and strength. And so since then, we've been telling stories with and not the vampire community. So I'm honored to be here with lavida gilmore jones, who is a descendant and truly a pillar of this work. Before I, I leave the microphone to lavita. I do want to invite you to the next few events of the vanport mosaic festival, which started on Friday with a beautiful concert from from maxville to vanport, and then the very special reunion of the vanport community. Particularly, I want to invite you tonight at the screening of oral history lost city living memories. Vanport, through the voices of its residents. And there are more events coming. The festival runs until the 31st, and you can go on our website to see what events are coming up, and they're all free or by donation.
3 Well, thank you so much for having us here today. My name is lavita gilmore jones. I was born here in Portland, Oregon, and I was born here because in 1944, my grandfather, my grandmother, my mom, aunt and uncle came here to and my grandparents came to work in the shipyards. And ironically, I honestly didn't hear about the story and the community and the people who lived in vanport until really, it didn't cement in my mind until my mom's 80th birthday. And that was 57 years after the flood. Now, for her, the memories came forth before that, but she really sat and shared them with us on her 80th birthday. And I wondered, why did it take so long for that story to come forth? And then I remembered, you know, when traumatic things happen to people, a lot of times we just, we, we, we, we power through them. And then we just move on and we don't stop to process it. And so the vanport mosaic has given not only people like my mom and my aunt, but so many other people who lived in vanport, the opportunity to come together and to remember to remember the stories of joy and also to remember the day when everything that they knew was washed away, and that when they were washed into Portland. And remembering this also helps us remember what we as a city of Portland can do together. Even though we had racist laws on the books in the 1940s and 50s and 60s, we can come together and remember and try to undo and repair that which caused injustice at the time. And so we do have a clip from my mom's story, and the beauty of it is she was able to be in these chambers a few times for the proclamation. I know some of you remember her, Dan. I know you remember her. And so we're going to just share a little bit of her clip and her story of vanport. And technology.
4 Yeah, let me let me troubleshoot really quick.
5 Okay. And one thing I do want to say is this past Saturday, we had a gathering of 60, about almost 70 people, descendants and former people who lived in vanport. And I wish you could I've been there. It was such a beautiful sight to see our elders coming together, eating together, sharing stories together, laughing together. So next year, I can't invite you to the reunion unless you're a descendant. But I can invite you to come to some of the other events that we are having. So please do. Okay.
6 I was in a theater with a bunch of other kids, and we were watching the movie. All of a sudden, one kid came in, ran up to the front and said, the dike broke. And so everybody ran out of the theater. We lived within running distance of the theater, and we ran to I ran to to our house. We tried to put some things together so we could get all in the car to get out. The water was coming. We were driving as fast as we could. People were running and screaming and trying to keep up with their families. And where's my kid? And everybody was taking care of each other. When we got in the car and was going up the hill, I looked back and I saw a wall of water behind the car, and I realized how close we were to being washed away. But we got up the hill and everybody was helping everybody. I stood with a whole crowd of people looking at the flood, just washed the units, the housing units up, and knowing that our possessions were gone. I didn't realize that we were homeless until later on in my life. I looked back and I thought we were homeless. We didn't have much of anything. But the thing about it was people helped each other. We knew each other. They knew each other from being in the shipyard. They knew each other from being in vanport, living close together because it was no other way you were, that you weren't going to know somebody. By that time. I understood the really harsh segregation that was present in Oregon. The contrast was that in las vegas, I felt that I could go into the store and buy things, any store. There were stores that had signs in the doors. No negroes served here. I went in anyway. They served me. So I learned that if I challenged the system, I could probably make a difference. And so I spent a lot of my time figuring out where I was going to go to either challenge or just let things be. And so that was a big job for me in Portland. And whereas in las vegas, I didn't have to do that. It really did throw me back to the flood. And I knew how helpless those people felt. I think that was the first time I cried about what had happened to me, and I couldn't be there to help. But I thought, here, this many years have passed and we're not taking care of them any better than they took care of the people in vanport.
7 And so, in the spirit of b gilmore today, you will hear many things that come before you, and I encourage you to look at them and say, how can we challenge and how can we change? What do we need to challenge and what do we need to change? Just a little note. My mom got to say this. Got to brag on her. She passed in December of 2021, but when she did pass, she passed the way she wanted to because she was the first african American nurse to graduate from the Oregon health science center in 1955. And so she took charge of her medical. And so I challenge you, take charge of what you can take charge of, challenge what needs to be challenged and change what you can change. Thank you.
8 Thank you both very much for being here. And if you want to leave the handouts about everything else happening this month, all of the other events keelan do you want to hand those out to everybody? Is that possible if we get them to you? Okay, perfect. Thank you both so much. Thank you, council president.
9 Thank you all.
10 And remember that we are remembering throughout the year. This is the moment of the festival. But the work is every day. Thank you.
11 Thank you all so much for being here today. Okay, colleagues, with that, I am now calling to order the meeting of the Portland city council. Keelan, can you please call the roll? Kanal here.
12 Pirtle-guiney. Here. Ryan here. Koyama Lane here. Morillo. Here. Novick. Here. Clark here. Green here. Zimmerman here.
Procedural episode · turns 13–21
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13 Avalos. Present. Virtually.
14 Smith. Here.
15 Can you hear me?
16 Yes. Councilor. Avalos. Thank you.
17 Dunphy here. And can we please read the rules of decorum?
18 Yes.
19 Good morning. Welcome to the Portland city council. To testify before council in person or virtually. You must sign up in advance on the council agenda at www.Portland.gov/council. Agenda information on engaging with council can be found at the council clerk's web page. Individuals may testify for three minutes unless the presiding officer states. Otherwise, your microphone will be muted. When your time is over, the presiding officer preserves order. Disruptive conduct such as shouting. Refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others testimony or council deliberations will not be allowed. If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. Additionally, council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. Your testimony today should address the matter being considered. When testifying, state your name for the record. Your address is not necessary. If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the council clerk calls your name. Thank you.
20 Thank you very much, colleagues. We have a very large agenda today, and we should all expect to be going until 130, rather than our normal 1230 time. And I hope everybody's helped to get through a ton of second readings and some things that are relatively ministerial, including three items that were not heard at committee but are time sensitive from the administration. And so we will be hearing them directly. I will call those out when we get there. But I just want to note to my colleagues it is not a precedent to bring things directly to council, but the budget hearings and work sessions sort of screwed everything up. So those will be happening here. Our first item is the agenda approval. Are there any requests to amend the agenda to reorder items or reschedule items to a future reading?
21 Yes. Councilor Smith, I'd like to reorder item number 17 and move that up. I do understand about the the administration, but those other pieces could have been amended back in January, February. I think this is so important to make sure that we hear these words, particularly after the vanport pre gavel. They've been waiting for months and months to get this on the agenda. And so it would be great if we could reorder the agenda and put them at the top.
22 You'd like to hear them after the time certain or after the consent agenda. Where on the agenda.
23 After the after the time certain.
24 Okay. Councilor Smith has moved to move item 17 to be heard between items four and five. Is that correct, counselor?
25 Yes.
26 Okay. And councilor Vice president Clark has seconded. I'm just reading my notes real quick. Okay. Can we. Take a vote on the reordering of the agenda?
27 Kanal I.
28 Pirtle-guiney I Ryan I Koyama Lane I Morillo I Novick I Clark I Green I Zimmerman I pavlos. I Smith. I Dunphy. I the motion to reorder the agenda is approved with a vote of 12 ayes.
29 Okay. Do we need to do anything else on that agenda is approved now right. Or do we. Okay. There we go. Just want to make sure we didn't need a second vote on that just fine. Okay. Thank you everybody. Can we please move to public communications?
30 First up, we have karen cherry.
31 I'm upstairs. I gotta come down. Sorry, I had to go sit upstairs for a few minutes.
32 No problem. Happy to wait for you. Welcome. Please introduce yourself for the record.
33 Thank you. My name is karen cherry. I am a business owner in district four and a resident in district three. And today I was going to talk to you guys about using PCEF money for police, but I mostly have, I guess, some questions. And I know you guys can't answer because we can't go back and forth, but I'm just I'm just curious if the peacock people do you guys just want lawlessness and or. Or oh my god, I just lost the word. Street justice instead of police because I don't think that's the way we should be running our city right now with all the crime that's happening, with all the people getting hurt. I mean, you've seen the news, the lady that got bludgeoned, the guy that got shot in southeast Portland, I mean, it just it just seems like it's just continual, you know, and like, I'm scared. I'm scared of owning a business downtown. I'm scared of owning a residence in southeast Portland. You know, like, where can we go to feel safe? We can't go to libraries because the homeless are hanging out in front of the libraries doing their drugs potentially inside too. But I don't go inside. So I don't know. And then and then parks, you know, like homeless, hanging out in parks, doing their drugs, you know, having their, their weapons. And, and so I just like, it just amazes me how the police are not important in our city, you know, and they are, you know, I understand you guys don't like some of the things that they do, but, you know, there's good people that work for, for the police and they're trying to do a good thing. But when you stifle them and make it so that we don't have enough, which we haven't had enough for years, you know, like, what does that tell us as, as citizens, you know, that we're not important enough to have law and order in our city. You know, and the fact that you guys can't come to an agreement, it's always a six and six. You know, I have a magic eight ball. Maybe this will be your your deciding factor. You know, do the eight ball. You know, I think we need to change the charter to have maybe not 12 people, maybe 11 people, you know, or have the mayor or the city administrator help with making decisions, you know, but something needs to change because we're not safe and we won't be for a long time because more homeless people are not going to be housed anymore. More fees that you guys have are going to kick more people out of their residents. Thank you.
34 Thank you very much.
35 Next up, we have fred stewart. Fred stewart. Next we have michael johnson.
36 Tatsumi. Good morning councilors. My name is michael johnson. Oh, sorry.
37 Yes,
38 Hello, I'm michael johnson, I live in district three, but I also lived all over the city. And with that said is I'm a Portland rip city blazer fan and I'm here to give some words of from others that's in our community. Let me get back to the speech that I wrote. And it was hard to really stick to the piece that I wrote because as I got closer to the chambers, it started to change more and more. And so I had to deny my nature and. Become the big guy that can speak for others. And so here we go, council members. My name is michael johnson, and I'm writing to express my belief in the transformative potential of our city. We stand at a moment where bold ideas, responsible planning, and community center centered leadership can shape the next generation of progress. Our residents deserve a city that invests in innovation, protects dignity in every person, and builds a system that works for all, not just for today, but for decades to come. I believe in in a future where sustainability, economics, mobility, and public trust are not just aspirations, but everyday realities. For example, the blazers have hosted youth basketball clinics that brings kids together, encouraged healthy activities. They also support the local charities and small businesses, which really strengthens the bond between the team and the city. Overall, their presence adds a lot of pride in unity to the community. Blazers are considered a big ticket to support right along with the police department, we stand supporting both absolutely, and that sense of pride in community is exactly why keeping the blazers here benefits everyone and supporting them with the money that they need to establish a presence with the new ownership. And there's blazers that have retired, and there's current blazers that are on the team that gets out in the community and reach out to hospitals, our youth, families and so forth. And I've also had a privilege of receiving tickets from the blazers and sharing those with folks had just gotten married. That is under the poverty level, got married, and then took those tickets that I gave them and went to a blazer game and celebrated their honeymoon at the blazers game. So it's really important that we support our blazers team. I was asked to come down and my blazer gear and so forth. So thank you. And I hope that we move forward as a city to be really enjoyable. Thank you.
39 Thank you so much.
40 Next up we have tish newby. Tish newby. Eddie rogoway. Eddie rogoway. The alternate cristin mclemore. Cristin mclemore. And then one last try fred stewart. Okay, that completes communications.
41 Okay. Thank you all very much for being here today. Next on our agenda I'm turning to our city administrator just to see if we have any updates on the status of the ongoing response to federal interventions in our city.
42 Thank you, council president. No new updates. We're still looking to hear back from the hearing officer on the 5th of June. So we'll once we have that release, we'll have a new update for council.
43 Thank you very much, sir. Keelan can we please call item number four?
44 Yes. Item four. Document 2026-177. Create a sister city relationship between the city of Portland and the city of lviv, ukraine.
45 Colleagues. Today's ordinance is establishing a formal relationship between the city of Portland and the city of lviv, ukraine. It's also an affirmation of the original purpose behind the city's sister cities movement. At a time when cities increasingly play an important role in subnational diplomacy, climate cooperation, economic exchange and humanitarian engagement, sister city relationships continue to serve as one of the most enduring forms of people to people diplomacy available to local governments. That mission remains just as relevant today. Perhaps even more so, uniquely, portland's sister city network has been rooted in grassroots, community driven structure supported by volunteers, cultural organizations, educational institutions, and residents themselves. That structure is what has made many of these relationships sustainable over generations. These relationships have never been simply symbolic. In fact, several of the Portland sister city relationships were established during periods of geopolitical tension or historical transition. Historic? Yeah. Historical transition. When community members believed strongly that bridges needed to be built rather than walls. Today, by establishing a sister city relationship with lviv, Portland continues that tradition. Lviv itself has a long. Has long served as one of ukraine's great cultural and educational centers. Known for its historic architecture, civic resilience, vibrant arts community and strong tradition of local democracy and european engagement. In recent years, the city has also played an important humanitarian role, supporting internally displaced ukrainians and coordinating relief and recovery efforts during an extraordinarily difficult period for the country. This ordinance recognizes that even during difficult global moments, cities still have the ability and responsibility to foster mutual understanding, human connection, and long term partnerships. Councilor Kanal as a co-sponsor of this, I'd like to turn this over to you.
46 Thank you, council president. Thanks, everyone for being here. I'll keep it brief. I think it's fair to say that this is the next step, naturally, of a process that began with the declaration of lviv as a friendship city in 2022. There's a one year period that's built into the process, which we are now a few years past. So I think the people of lviv have been waiting. I think also the people here who've been supportive of this sister city relationship that we're hopefully going to create with this ordinance have been waiting as well, formalizing relationships as sister cities acknowledges work, goodwill and personal and community ties that have already grown within and between our communities. They create opportunities for cultural exchange, economic collaboration, educational partnerships, tourism, and long term cooperation between residents as well as civic organizations. I think this is a program that we have under utilized over over time, and I think it's a place that I'd like to see us push for more out of this process and out of this, this structure. I also wanted to just thank you for, for your work on this and, and the work of the position as well, which is really vital to ensuring that we have the ability to grow and develop relationships across and outside of the united states. I also just wanted to note that our bonds with lviv are deeper than the current political status or the current situation in ukraine, the current war. They're rooted in lasting cultural, civic, and personal connections between our communities. And for that reason, I'm proud to support this ordinance. Thank you.
47 Councilor Ryan.
48 Yeah, thank you, council president, when I first got the messages from all of you, it was about a month and a half ago. I was delighted to make sure that I raised this up so we could make sure this was on the agenda today. So it's really good to see all of you. I look forward to your presentation. Thanks. Thank you.
49 So I'll turn it over to our speakers here in a moment. I'd like to especially recognize tatiana turtle. I may have screwed up your last name. I apologize for your extraordinary leadership, persistence, and community building. Through this effort, tatiana has led the Portland lviv friendship effort, where in Portland established the friendship city association in September of 2022. Alongside tatiana is also is quito de la while I. I'm sorry I screwed it up, but from our city's office of government relations, cheetos worked to help coordinate the formal sister city process and broader intergovernmental engagement associated with this effort. Together, they'll provide an overview of how this partnership developed, the community effort behind it, and the vision for future collaboration. Please take it away. Thank you for being here.
50 Thank you. Good morning, council president and members of council. For the record, my name is quito, delaware, and I manage the international relations program within the city's office of government relations. Thank you. Council president Dunphy councilor Kanal councilor Ryan for introducing this item today. The goal of the international relations program is to strengthen portland's engagement with the world through diplomacy, cultural exchange, economic relationship building, and people to people connections that ultimately benefit Portland residents. And while this work certainly does not exist in a vacuum, a significant part of my role involves coordinating and responding to a wide range of international engagement requests and efforts. One component of my work involves managing portland's sister cities program and coordinating with the coalition of volunteer led, nonprofit organizations that sustain these relationships through sister cities. As previously shared, Portland has a long standing history of international engagement, and while sister city relationships are often viewed primarily through a cultural lens, their value extends much further across the country. Cities increasingly look to portland's model because our relationships are community driven and designed to endure beyond political cycles. We also have seen how these relationships can create trust. Trusted channels for collaboration during moments of challenge. During the height of the COVID 19 pandemic, our sister city of kaohsiung, taiwan, helped facilitate the delivery of personal protective equipment to Portland during a period of critical shortages. And so part of my role involves reviewing and vetting requests and proposals for new sister city relationships. And under those criteria, organizations must demonstrate broad based community support, nonprofit organizational capacity, financial sustainability, active programing, and an ability to sustain the relationship over time. The process also requires a friendship city trial period to formal city sister city designation. Lviv is internationally recognized as a unesco city of literature and is widely regarded as one. As one of eastern europe's great cultural and intellectual centers. Both of our cities share a strong tradition of creativity, civic engagement, independent culture, education and public life. Both communities also recognize the importance of the arts, creative economy and essential components of sustainable urban development and civic identity. Over the past year alone, the Portland lviv friendship city association has continued to deepen these ties through humanitarian fundraising efforts, medical aid, support initiatives, educational exchanges, and public programing designed to raise awareness and maintain direct people to people. Connection between both communities and those efforts will be discussed in greater detail shortly by tatiana. And as mentioned, I do also want to note that while russia's invasion of ukraine has understandably shaped the context of this relationship, the effort began years before the invasion and is rooted in genuine civic and community connection. And so since that time of the the friendship city status being formalized on September 28th of 2022 through resolution three, seven, 588, the Portland lviv friendship city association has successfully fulfilled the requirements outlined under ordinance 176047, which includes sustained programing, nonprofit governance, annual reporting and demonstrated financial capacity necessary to support long term relationships. And so, for decades, tatiana has used her background in international economics. Her experience as a visiting professor at ukrainian catholic university in lviv, and deep personal and professional ties to both communities to be a voice for ukrainians here in Portland. More recently, she has spent time in lviv advocating and ensuring that portland's solidarity with the ukrainian people is not simply symbolic, but sustained and active. I first met tatiana in January of 2019, after she reached out to discuss the possibility of formalizing a sister city relationship between Portland and lviv. Since then, it has been an honor to witness tatiana's leadership and steady work that has brought this initiative to where it is today. And so I want to specifically acknowledge and thank tatiana for her persistence, dedication, and long term commitment to this effort. Building a sister city relationship through portland's process requires years of sustained community organizing, volunteer leadership and institutional coordination, and her commitment has been instrumental in bringing this initiative to this point. It's now my pleasure to introduce tatiana trudel, president of the Portland friendship city association, who provide additional background on this relationship and the work that has been undertaken.
51 Thank you. Chita. Good morning. Thank you for considering this ordinance. I would like to. I have prepared a presentation with a number of slides. I don't know if they will be projected.
52 There is. A presentation.
53 But I can start speaking to to the presentation. So my name is tatiana turtle. I'm president of Portland lviv friendship city association. The mission of our organization is to promote strong ties between Portland, Oregon, and lviv, ukraine through cultural exchanges, educational opportunities, business and humanitarian partnerships. So lviv is a city in the western part of ukraine. It's close to the polish-ukrainian border, just about one hour by car or train. So let's go to the next page. You can see a map of europe. Yes, map of europe. And you can see where lviv is located on the map of europe, just like every other old european city. It's gone through a long period of history being part of different kingdoms, republics, empires. It was founded in 1256 by the king of galicia, danylo halytsky, and named in honor of his son lev, which means lion in ukrainian. So there are lines everywhere in lviv, and it's known as the city of lions. It started the 20th century as part of the austro-hungarian empire, and then started the 21st century as one of the major economic, political, educational centers of independent ukraine. Next slide please. Next slide please. It's a very beautiful city. So this pictures all the pictures that I took in lviv in 2002, 2003 and 2004. So you can see there are lines everywhere. There is wonderful food. So lviv serves rose infused coffee and rose infused lemonade. It's a unesco world heritage site. And as judah mentioned in unesco city of literature, part of unesco creative cities network, it has one of the oldest universities in eastern europe, dating back to 1661. And in ukraine, it's one of the it hubs, the it center, it cluster in vivo is so big that they have even their own mini football and futsal league. So it companies play soccer tournaments among each other. Next slide please. We've had many visitors from Portland going to live and lviv residents coming to Portland, and everybody who visits both cities comments on many similarities that exist between the cities, even those. We are ten time zones away. We have joint coffee culture, book culture, sustainability, food culture, and definitely very strong arts. Next. Next slide please. Over the years, we've had delegations coming to Portland from city government, lviv city government administration, lviv region. In 2006, there was a group through state department program on energy efficiency. In 2017, there was a group on good governance, and people from those delegations expressed strong interest in creating formal ties between two cities, and our community, maintained ties to members of those delegations. So on the picture is from 2023 at lviv city hall, with one of the members of the 2017 delegation. Next slide please. We also have a very large ukrainian American community here in Portland, Portland metro, and many of them have ties family professional to lviv, for example, every year we have a ukrainian day festival. This year it will be August 22nd at westmoreland park in southeast Portland. And please, everybody, come. It's organized by ukrainian foundation. One of the leaders of the foundation is immigrant from lviv. We have a lot of businesses that have roots in veve and ukraine. So some of them you can tell from the name, like ukrainian, ukrainian federal credit union has ukrainian in the name. But then when you think about powell books, you can't tell that it was started by first and second immigrants from ukraine. Walter powell's last name in ukraine was pavelko. So walter powell, volodymyr pavelko. In our community, we sometimes referred to powell books as pavelko books. Next slide please. We have also very talented artists as part of our community. We worked with one of them to create 30 different sketches of logos representing both of our cities. And I wanted to see for you to see this creative process. And then we asked portlanders who came to our events to choose their favorite one, and worked with a lviv graphic designer to finalize this lion on a bicycle with roses representing both our city, of our city of roses and the city of lions. Next slide please. During the year we host many events. We are part of wsu's international night. We host international ivanka day. We've been working for the last few years in the grand floral parade. So you can see a picture of randall here holding sunflowers. In one of the recent parades, we've been having coffee with lviv directly linked to lviv from just bob, which is a great coffee house in northeast Portland that serves lviv latte. And we're also part of the internet of the ukrainian day festival. So definitely, please come see us at the festival. One next slide please. One of our programs that I want to highlight is new europe book club, where we introduce portlanders to books in english translation by ukrainian and other authors from eastern europe. So we've read books by polish, czech, ukrainian authors and been very fortunate to have live conversations with modern ukrainian authors andrey kurkov and lviv, also natalia pirtle-guiney. Next month, we'll be talking to artem pi. Both of his books are at Multnomah county library, so I encourage people to read them and join our live conversations. And then next slide. Part of our mission is humanitarian partnership in partnership with medical teams international, which is a great nonprofit based in tigard. And with logistical support from dawn, we sent a medical supply container to ukraine. So 40 foot container filled with 1200 boxes of medical supplies. And currently they're on a cargo ship going to a baltic port. And from there will be taken by truck to lviv. Artists from Portland who are part of our community have also traveled to lviv for music festivals. And last year while they were there, they also gave a concert at unbroken, just a free concert for people at the rehabilitation center. So just having continuing those relationships between people of our cities. So next slide. Just saying. Thank you, everybody who has been coming to our events, who have contributed to our programs. And next slide, I encourage everybody to get involved. We have a facebook page. We have a website, and you don't have to be part of the ukrainian community to participate in our programs or be part of our organization. The majority of our board members don't have any connections to ukraine or lviv, don't speak ukrainian. They just are interested in building these ties and learning more about lviv in ukraine. And I would like to thank randall, who is one of our founding members, for being here and helping build the organization and the ties, and hopefully he has a few minutes to say something about lviv.
54 Yeah. Thanks, tatiana. Good morning. My name is doctor randall blazak, and thanks for letting us make our case. The shortly after the full scale invasion in February of 2022, I headed to the poland ukraine border to do relief work. Lviv had become a city for people escaping the war in eastern eastern ukraine. So it became a sort of a hub of humanitarian aid. And I went in to lviv the first time, bringing supplies in, bringing things for the internally displaced people. There may have been a drone or two stuck underneath the supplies. We won't talk about that. But I spent the night in a. And the first night I spent the night in a bomb shelter and the word was out that there was this rumor that lviv was kind of a coffee city. And I'm like, well, I'm from Portland. I don't know, you want to step up. So that morning I climbed out of the bomb shelter, and lviv had just been hit for the first time by russian rockets. So the smoke was still in the air. And I was impressed by how the how normal the city was, but also how much the city looked like Portland people on bikes, people in bookstores, people sitting in cafes in the middle of a war. I went and got a beautiful latte, learning that the person who invented the latte was actually from lviv. So thank you. Starbucks should send them a check and had a had a nice latte. And I said, you know, I'm from Portland. And the barista said, what is a Portland? And I thought, okay, we've got some work to do here. But what what struck me was how similar lviv was to Portland in its feel and its literary feel and its coffee culture. The only difference was it was constantly under attack. And it made me think, what? What if Portland was experiencing that? What if Portland had rockets coming and people being conscripted into battle? And you know what? If Portland had suffered the same fate that lviv had suffered. They were very, very similar cities. So returning from the returning from that experience of being in a battle zone, I really began connecting with the large ukrainian community here and finding ways to make a difference. And one of the ways was creating the lviv latte, which is it just bobs on northeast alberta and 24th as a fundraiser for humanitarian aid, but also doing the work through our organization to get to get real, meaningful aid to people, including including the organization on broken that you heard about that supplies real important needs to people who have been the victims who are not just the physical things like prosthetic limbs, but trauma care as well. And so it's been a great honor to do this and get to know the local ukrainian community, who is both long lasting in this city, but also many new people who are here since the beginning of this war. And so that's why I really want to thank you for letting us build this relationship between our two great cities. They are so closely connected, and this is a great way to do it. Thank you.
55 Thank you so much for being here today.
56 Yeah.
57 That concludes presentation. Perfect.
58 Okay, that concludes the presentation. Thank you.
59 Thank you. Keelan is there anyone signed up for testimony on this item?
60 We have one person signed up.
61 Let's go ahead and call them up.
62 Sarah yee. Sarah yee. That completes testimony.
63 Thank you colleagues. Any discussion of this item? Councilor Ryan?
64 Sure.
65 Hello, everyone. Good to see you. When? Laurel porter reached out. I guess it was about six weeks ago. Is that correct? Yeah. Is she going to be a rosarian soon? Correct. Is she connected to this? Am I thinking of another one?
66 So she's one of our rosarian liaison and I believe she's now a royal rosarian. So I.
67 Got to give her some. I have to lift her up right now because she texted me and asked if we could make sure that we got this on the agenda before next week's celebration of all the sister cities. So your new rosarian contact was working on all of your behalf. Not surprising if anyone knows her history. So anyway, congratulations to all of you. I'm so glad that this materialized. It's been great joy to watch it evolve how quickly it's evolved. And I also want to acknowledge when the conflict started, it was such a fascinating moment in the dais when there was the initial when the war started years ago now, and there was some people that wanted us to not have a sister city relationship with the russian city. And it was actually people from the kyiv sister city that said, that's not the spirit behind sister city relationships. And so I think I'm always remembering that right now as well, because conflict, unfortunately, is inevitable. And I don't want to get into that right now because it makes me too sad. But what we do know is the relationship building of sister cities is, in essence, that we must sustain. And I look at you and I think of the program, international affairs, and the mayor knows this. I'm very heartbroken that that was one of our cuts this year. And I hope we can still figure out how to restore it. I can't think of a more important time for us to lean in to sister city relationships than now, when we have some isolationism. That's quite cringey coming from the white house. So it's all about relationships. The oceans are not that big, and we really need to keep connecting with each other in a cultural way. Thanks so much and I'm so happy to vote yes on this.
68 Thank you, councilor Ryan.
69 Vice president Clark.
70 Thank you, council president. I just want to appreciate all the work that you've put into this. It was a great presentation, and I feel like hopping on the next plane to get that latte. I have a special relationship with ukraine in that I worked in the city of Salem, and we had a sister city with simferopol, and we know what happened to simferopol and crimea, and we don't want that to happen to the rest of ukraine. So I'm very supportive of what you've done. And thank you so much for being here today.
71 Thank you.
72 Thank you, vice president Clark. Councilor Green.
73 Thank you, council president, I just want to thank the sponsors for bringing this forward. I I'm highly supportive of this action. We've had a conversation at a couple of different town halls. I appreciate your doggedness in making sure every councilor Understands the importance of this. And I hope to someday enjoy a nice cup of coffee in lviv. I'm going to support for this. Thanks.
74 Thank you.
75 Thank you, councilor Green. Councilor pirtle-guiney.
76 Thank you, council president, and thank you to you all for being here and bringing forward the next step in this process. It's very clear that the work has been done, the fit, the commonalities between our sisters, between our cities is right. And the time is important, both in terms of this. The conditions in ukraine and the support that lviv needs from friends and the conditions in the united states, and the work that we need to do to continue to ally with cities around the world who are fighting against authoritarianism. Sister cities are, by their nature, not political. And I appreciate that, that you said that as part of the work that we're doing, because this should be about the fit and the relationships and the people. And just like we asked another one of our sister cities to step up, councilor Ryan, you talked about this. I think during during COVID, we know that we will need to step up in this relationship and that there will be many times where we ask lviv to be there for us as well. So to commonalities in commitment to humanitarian work, coffee, books and bicycles. I appreciate all the work you all have done and the process to go through those important steps to make sure that the commitment is truly there and that the relationship is meaningful. I look forward to supporting this.
77 Thank you. Councilor pirtle-guiney councilor Zimmerman.
78 Thanks. It's great to have you all here. As a life career long soldier, there aren't many soldiers who don't really value the diplomatic arm of government because when the diplomatic arm works, it means the military arm doesn't have to. And so as a soldier, I value that a lot. And the sister city program, I've always considered it really. It is a subnational form of diplomacy across the globe that that Oregon participates on in on behalf of the country, but also on behalf of our everyday residents. And so it's something we should be proud of. It's something we should invest in. I've had three distinct types of services overseas myself, of course, war, but more rewarding, frankly, was peacekeeping in kosovo and diplomatic in bangladesh. And. This is a good move at a time when it's almost impossible to talk about a sister city relationship without acknowledging what is happening, given the aggressions of of russia in ukraine. Right. It'd be great to make sister cities in in wonderful times. But it's also more important underlying and bold and italic when it's in the hardest of times. And so I remember when that invasion started, and for the first time in my career as an officer, I got a notice from across from the pentagon side of things. Any officer who has connections with ukraine make yourself known at this time. Right? That was the seriousness of the situation. California had a lot of people because they have a partnership with ukraine as a partner nation. And that ability to answer that, call it actually it it isn't just in the forms of government in the state department or in the dod. It also takes form in so many ways, cultural and family relationships. Most family relationships have connection back across borders, that borders are just made on one day of the year, and they hold for a long time. But family relationships cross those borders. California, because of its official relationships, was able to step up in a lot of ways. And I remember that very specifically. And so in a time with with deep aggression happening and assaults against a nation while others are, are maybe pulling back from, I really value the sister city relationship and I value it through the good times and the bad, because these relationships are what help you get through the bad times so you can thrive in the good times. And I'm sure given geopolitics, there will be ups and downs to every relationship that we establish. But I really look forward to this. I'm so grateful to your leadership and continued doggedness and making sure we bring this forward. So happy to support. I think we continue to invest in the things that set American partnerships up as things to for us all to aspire to and not walk away from. So thanks so much and I am so happy. And for the ukrainian families and residents of Portland, I hope that you see yourself in this today. Thank you.
79 Thank you, thank you.
80 Thank you, councilor Zimmerman. Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, this item now moves to second reading. Thank you all for being here today.
81 Thank you very much.
82 Keelan can we please call item 17? We ordered from our agenda.
83 Item 17, document 2026-182. Appropriate $2,500,000 from the revolving loan and social housing acquisition fund for homeownership development in district two.
84 Okay, I'm turning this over to councilor Smith.
85 Thank you, council president. Today I am proud to introduce the ordinance to appropriate $2.5 million for two community community rooted developers who produce homeownership projects, and that would be self enhancement inc. And williams and russell. And I'd like to call to the dais williams and russell. Self enhancement, inc. And andrew hone from the Portland chamber of commerce. Let. Djibril, can you let andrew sit there? Because we will not be able to do three. At the at the invited guests. Thank you. And I just want to say this this is about more than housing units. This is about repairing harm, creating homeownership opportunities, and making a historic investment in black home ownership in north and northeast Portland. I also want to note that councilor Kanal and I are sponsoring an amendment to change the funding source from the revolving loan fund and social housing acquisition fund to the construction excise tax fund. And so I think we need to note and acknowledge that homeownership, when we talk about that for residents of the city of Portland, there is a gap. And we must recognize that black home ownership in Portland is alarmingly low compared to that of white residents. This gap reflects broader systemic issues that require our immediate attention. The current statistics currently statewide black home ownership rates are approximately 36%, while homeownership stands at about 67%. For white homeownership in the Portland area, there are between 25 and 28% black homeownership, while white homeownership is at 57%. These figures are often even more pronounced, underscoring the need for targeted solutions like the ones we're going to hear about today. The reality is that the average black household cannot afford the median home price in Portland. This financial barrier not only impacts individual families, but it also hinders the ability to accumulate and transfer generational wealth. While we cannot overlook the systemic disparities and rapidly rising high costs that contribute to these challenges, addressing these inequities is essential to create a more inclusive housing market, we need to promote local supportive programs. Fortunately, we have williams and russell, cdc and self enhancement, inc. There are several culturally specific programs and advocacy organizations, but not enough dedicated to assisting black portlanders in achieving homeownership. These resources are crucial and fostering financial stability and empowerment from the city is very important, and I would like to have williams and russell to speak first. Can our ceo speak?
86 Sure.
87 Thank you.
88 Thank you. Good morning, president Dunphy. Councilors, vice president. When we got the phone call about coming here, and we've come here quite a few times, we responded accordingly. We got everybody rallied together because black homeownership does matter. We thought that we express our boundless gratitude about the opportunity in and of itself to be funded, to get our builds done. But it didn't happen. But one thing about portlanders, specifically black portlanders, we persevere and we keep going at it and going at it until we get equity, the very thing we talk about so often equity, meeting people where they are. Equality doesn't always work, but equity does because of the intentionality behind it. So for the folks who introduced this ordinance, Smith, thank you so much. Thank you for hearing us. Thank you for realizing how important this is to us and staying and keeping to the fight. Zimmerman, thank you for getting on this. Thank you. Pirtle-guiney. Councilor Ryan and vice president Clark, thank you for taking a chance on standing behind this ordinance. And Kanal, thank you for working with councilor Smith to get this right, to find a funding source that we all can agree in agreeance with. Reparative development is what we stand for. Williams and russell reparative development will be a matter of contemporary policy. And just to reiterate, what it is, is that it's a form of acknowledgment and an apology that happened in 2017 from ted wheeler, who literally came to northeast and said, I'm sorry. Not only did he said, I'm sorry, he acknowledged the wrong that happened through pcc. And not only to acknowledge the wrong he gave us money to build back. Think about that. A politician admitting and saying, I'm sorry, imagine that. But he did that. And that's what set us on this course called reparative development. This is no ordinary build. And we stand here with our partners, folks in the gallery to stand by. What is it we're doing? We're doing nothing more than what you all are doing. And that's getting folks access to housing, home ownership, affordable housing is good. It's needed. It's important. But homeownership matters too. It's about wealth creation. Now, I had a script, but I think it's much more important to talk about truth to light and to be honest, and to look at you all in your eyes, that we have the opportunity to get this right and right wrongs. The world is watching because Portland does it differently. We dare to dream. We dare to be audacious. We were thinking about having a sister city in ukraine. Think about that because we are here to support each other. We are nothing without each other. We are all in this together, home ownership matter. And I thank you so much for your time, and I do hope that today we will find a resolution where we all can stand behind this unanimously and really show how portland's stand together. Thank you.
89 Good morning, city councilors. My name is bryson davis. I'm the president of the williams and russell cdc and the former co-chair of the project working group for williams and russell. Now here we're here talking about the williams and russell knot street townhome project. And this effort represents 55 years of progress on this block. It represents over a decade of many people working together to repair a community. And like this excellent project, we seek to rebuild the sense of home that was lost due to the actions of the past. For generations, portland's black communities and north northeast Portland were harmed by systemic policies, redlining, forced displacement, the construction of I-5, the construction of veterans memorial coliseum, and the expansion of emanuel hospital. They devastated a vibrant and thriving neighborhood. These weren't isolated events. They were part of a pattern of decisions that stripped families of stability, opportunity and generational wealth. The result has been the legalized theft of wealth and the breaking of trust between the city and the communities that it serves. The wounds and russell knot street townhome project is a meaningful step towards rebuilding that trust. As the first project within our broader williams and russell development, it is designed with clear purpose to expand affordable home ownership while
90 Restoring access to wealth, building opportunities for those who are harmed. The project will deliver 20 high quality townhomes ranging from 1200 to 1800ft■!s. The largest units include fully accessible ground floors, making them ideal for multi-generational. An important priority that we heard that many families have in partnership with the Portland housing center, we're using the city's preference policy to connect these townhomes to the people who were displaced by those original actions. Importantly, these homes will be built to earth advantage platinum standards, and they're designed to be collectively net zero. Thanks to the support of the Portland clean energy fund. That means lower utility costs, healthier living environments, and higher quality buildings for the homeowners. The requested $1 million is essential. It will replace funds we've already redirected from other housing projects and our organizational operations to keep this effort moving forward. Without it, we risk compromising affordability and delaying future homeownership opportunities. When we surveyed community members as part of the project working group, we heard the same refrain over and over wealth was taken from us. We need real ownership opportunities to get that wealth back. Many, many people expressed that only building affordable apartments was not sufficient for those families who lost their homes, and the wealth that went with it. Homeownership is a key pillar to the generational wealth transfer, which we know black families lag behind the rest of the country. I've seen many of you out in our community supporting its people, supporting its businesses, and really just adding to that sense of supports and belonging that we all want and that we all want to feel. I know that we all share a commitment to affordable housing, a commitment to equity, and a commitment to restoring opportunity and prosperity where it was once taken. This investment ensures that the not street townhomes achieves their fullest impact. That they're delivering not just housing, but stability, dignity, and a path toward rebuilding stolen generational wealth. Thank you for your continued leadership and for your support. And we're we're here and we're available to you if you have any questions about our project.
91 Trent aldridge from ci. Could you introduce yourself?
92 Thank you, councilor Smith. Good morning, council president Dunphy and councilors. My name is trent aldridge, and I serve as the ceo at self enhancement, inc. I want to start by saying thank you to councilor Smith for your persistence and to councilors. Kanal Zimmerman, pirtle-guiney Ryan and Clark for finding their way to a. Yes, this journey for me has felt a personal essay has been in north and northeast Portland for over 40 years. We have watched families get priced out of neighborhoods we serve, and we have watched the council debate for months on whether an organization with our track record, our relationships, and our documented results deserve 1.5 million to help families own homes on the same streets. Their grandparents were displaced from. And I will be honest with you, when the broadway corridor moved forward, we didn't. It didn't just feel like something other than process. Here's what I would like you to know about our project, which we're calling the ruby mack place. We're building 49 homes in east vanport, 15 to 1800 square foot net zero homes that our community can own. Oregon housing and community service. Community service awarded lift home ownership funds to this project through a competitive process. Because it. Pencils because ci has a proven track record and because the need is real. The state of Oregon has already voted with its dollars. Now it's portland's turn to make an investment. What the ruby mack place delivers is not complicated. Permanent, affordable home ownership. And this $1.5 million is what will make it truly accessible. Without it, units are affordable at 80% ami. With it, we can push down to 70% or even 65% and covered down payment assistance and purchase costs that stop qualified families. Not renting, owning, building generational wealth, creating the kind of stability that means their children don't have to start over. Families who are rooted in stable put money into portland's economy, according to the federal reserve's survey of consumer finances, the median home owner has 40 times the net worth of the median renter 400,000, versus 10,400. That's the door we're trying to open. That is what this vote is about. And ci doesn't just build units. We stay. Harvard's joint center for housing studies found that children of homeowners score up to 9% higher in math and 7% higher in reading. Even after controlling for income. That is not a housing statistic. That is a child reaching their potential in the classroom, a family investing in their neighborhood, and a generation building wealth instead of inheriting instability, wraparound services, resident support, culturally specific programing. That is what we bring. This ordinance is an opportunity to match what Oregon already believes in. And I'm asking this council to take it as well. Thank you.
93 Thank you, john.
94 Good morning, council president Dunphy, vice president Clark and members of the council. I think it's fitting that we're here doing this today, on the day that we acknowledged vanport and the history there. And we're looking at a project on the williams and russell block. We're looking at a project in east vanport and have an opportunity to to make a unified statement that we support black home ownership, not just support black home ownership as a whole, as a community, but we support black home ownership on these sites. I wrote testimony that I was going to share yesterday about 4:00, and was very excited to see that I was going to have to change all the testimony I wrote when I saw the the partnership and the collaboration that went into the amendment that was posted last night. I want to thank all of the councilors that worked on the initial ordinance. I want to thank all of the councilors that were able to work together to get to a place of collaborative partnership and putting the amendment forward that was put forward. You've all heard me talk about this subject. You all have heard me speak about how I feel about the urgent need for homeownership, opportunities for the black community in Portland. So I didn't plan to talk very much more about that this morning. I will echo what trent said just around the goals of our project. We want to make the highest quality homes that we can. We want to be able to build net zero home opportunities. We want to be able to create the highest level of affordability that we can also, and it is not our goal just to create homeownership units. It is our goal to create home ownership units that are accessible to black portlanders who could not afford to buy homes in Portland before these type of projects are able to be developed, funded and stood up. We don't want to build units that somebody who can already afford to own a home can afford to purchase. We want to build units that somebody who could not otherwise afford to purchase a home is able to purchase. I do want to say a little bit about. Something that's really important to me. I want to be able to appeal to all of you, as leaders in this city, who have an opportunity to set a foundation for how future decisions can be made. You are the first Portland city council in this new form of government, and the precedents that you set from the seats of power that you sit in will impact every council that occupies these seats after you. I want to challenge all of you to think about the example that has been set so far this year, and think about how today's events can offer a different example. We've seen a level of hyper polarization on this council that mirrors our national political landscape. We have seen a reality where any portlander paying attention can look at a random vote, a random proposal, and predict what the votes are going to be, not based on the merits of that proposal and the values of each of you, the values that each councilor Holds, but based on who's proposing it. And that's something that I really, really hope we're able to see change. I hope that the collaboration that led to the amendment that was put forth for these projects is able to set a new foundation and able to initiate a new precedent where the leadership of our city is not paralyzed by voting blocks, but the leadership of our city is able to work together to do what's best for our communities, for all portlanders. I know that Portland is better than that. I know that all of you are better than that, and I know that because I know many of you and I have a great relationship with councilor Smith. I also have a great relationship with councilor Avalos. I'm building a very good relationship with president Dunphy and have really enjoyed the interactions we've had. I'm also building a very good relationship with councilor Pirtle-guiney, former president pirtle-guiney and I have enjoyed the interactions we've had in building that as well. I can go down the line with this council and state emphatically that I've never had a conversation with any of you, that I walked away from feeling like this person doesn't align with the values of ci and the excellence that we want to bring to our communities. So I know there's much more commonality on this council than past voting patterns have suggested. And again, I just want to encourage all of you with the hope that what led to the collaborative partnership that brought us to where we are today, the ideals that brought us to where we are today are able to be represented again, over and over and over again. And that's what this council will be remembered for. That's the precedent that this council can set going forward. Again, for every council that comes after you. So absolutely here today in support of this amendment and just really, really encouraged by the collaborative process that brought it to where it is. The last thing I'll say, I am the executive. I am the director of advocacy and engagement at ci. I'm also a steering committee member for the welcome home coalition. And this morning, welcome home. Submitted written testimony in strong support of this amendment. I'm sitting here next to andrew home, the president of the Portland metro chamber, and they are in strong support of this amendment and what we are doing here today. I don't know how much I have to reiterate to all of you the significance of that, that the Portland metro chamber and the welcome home coalition are united in the ideals that this is a valuable a valuable step to take for our city, for our community, specifically for black portlanders. Black, black portlanders deserve this. Black portlanders have had opportunities to press for the entire history of this city, and this is an opportunity for the council to say, we're going to take an initial step right now to move in a different direction, to disrupt the history that has been the norm in our city and do something different. And again, I hope that this is a precedent that is able to be carried forward with this council and future councilors after it. So thank you.
95 Thank you. Cihan. Andrew hone, introduce yourself, please.
96 You have to make me go after him. It's always a tough act to follow. Thank you for those words. And they do strike true. Good morning, council president and councilors. My name is andrew home, president and ceo of the Portland metro chamber. Proud registered lobbyist representing business employers, nonprofits, community organizations across the region. The chamber is here today in strong support of the home ownership investment ordinance introduced by councilors Smith, Zimmerman, pirtle-guiney, Ryan Clark and Kanal. This proposal invests 2.5 million towards home ownership development in district two, and specifically in self enhancement, inc. And the williams and russell cdc project to help expand affordable home ownership opportunities for Portland families. Portland's housing conversation much too often focuses, and appropriately so, on rental housing and shelter capacity in our homelessness response. And those investments matter. But if we are serious about long term stability, if we're serious about economic mobility, multi generational wealth building and preventing displacement, we must also talk about new housing production and critically, home ownership and the opportunity that is before you right now. Today, black home ownership. Home ownership remains one of the strongest pathways to building household wealth, creating financial stability and allowing families to remain rooted in their communities. Access to ownership opportunities continue to be out of reach for many portlanders, particularly black households and historically displaced communities in north and northeast Portland. The ordinance directly acknowledges that history and attempts to create opportunities where few were available before this ordinance is also important because it recognizes that housing policy cannot be one dimensional. Portland needs rental housing, supportive housing, middle income housing, and ownership opportunities. We need all of the above approach. If we expect to close our housing gap and remain economically competitive. The projects are intended to create new units of housing while promoting long term community stability and intergenerational wealth building. The chamber has consistently advocated for housing production, every type to be accelerated, and we were proud to stand side by side with william and russell in the state capitol this last legislative session to support the funding for the project and adjacent business hub. Housing is critical, but it must also be matched by jobs. This is exactly what is possible at williams and russell. The state has done its part and we need the city to lean in as well. In addition to the benefits of the project, I want to talk about sei and about william and russell. They are outstanding partners that will be good stewards of these resources. We have the highest regard for their work and for their commitment to excellence. They should have our community and this council's full confidence. They have earned our trust. We encourage the council to support this amendment and send a clear signal that the city council is dedicated to homeownership, black homeownership and building intergenerational wealth opportunities by getting shovels in the ground now. Thank you for your time and for your consideration.
97 Councilor.
98 Thank you.
99 Is that conclude the presentation.
100 This is the invited guests. Okay. I think we have some other guests who have signed up.
101 And I understand that commissioner Singleton is available online also to testify. So I'd like to welcome her to testify.
102 Good morning. Thank you so much for giving me a couple of minutes here. I just hopped out of our board meeting. My name is shannon singleton. I am the commissioner for district two for Multnomah county, which is north and north east Portland, as well as the city of maywood park. And I'm here today to ask you to support item 2026-182 to appropriate $2.5 million for homeowner development in district two through partnership with ci and the williams and russell project. With the city's role of infrastructure, zoning and housing development, many communities have been harmed by previous city decisions. While you all are not the councilors who made those past decisions, you can be the ones to start seeking justice for these communities and their families. District two was home to many of our diverse community members in Portland, and the black community in particular. They invested in these neighborhoods to make for a better future. Both of these developments are in my district and are critical investments in desperately needed affordable housing. In particular, the opportunities for affordable homeownership, which are critical to address the widening wealth gap for black portlanders. The Portland housing bureau data shows that black households earn an average of an income of just over $44,000 a year, meaning we make less than half of what white households make. It is no wonder that we have no neighborhoods that are affordable to rent, let alone opportunities to buy homes. Please vote yes today and make the opportunity for homeownership a reality for more black portlanders, so we can live our values and make equitable investments in affordable housing development in this community. Thank you for your work on this amendment. Thank you, councilor Smith, for your leadership, and thank you to all my friends. I see out there in the in the audience ready to testify in support of this project. I really appreciate the work and look forward to continued partnership with you all over here at Multnomah county.
103 Thank you, commissioner Singleton councilor Kanal.
104 Thank you. I just in order to allow for the conversation in the testimony to include a reference to the amendment, I'm just going to do a follow our normal tradition here and float the amendment. We'll formally move it afterwards. I want to first say it's the only amendment listed. So what it would do is change the funding source from the revolving loan and social housing acquisition fund to the construction excise tax sub fund is 225020 for the record. And this allows for the use of that particular pot of money instead of the revolving loan and social housing acquisition fund. There is also the addition down at the bottom of the ordinance of a waiver to ensure that this apply that all the the applicability of those funds is is which we think would have applied anyway, but certainly will be sure this way that it applies to both of these two projects. And I just want to thank councilor Smith for her collaboration on this. I also want to thank councilors Morillo and Dunphy, who have expressed support for the amendment as well, and put their names on it as also. And I just wanted to make sure that that's something that that testifiers can speak to. And then we'll discuss it formally after the testimony.
105 Thank you. Thank you, councilor Kanal colleagues, I'm going to have us get to public testimony now, and then we'll take a restroom break after that. So, keelan, can you please call the first panel of people to testify?
106 We have 13 people signed up. I'll call folks up in groups of five. Frieda walker, tanisha, renee, mark jackson, benjamin gilbert, john Washington.
107 You're welcome to start us off, please.
108 All right. Perfect. Good morning, president Dunphy, vice president Clark, and members of the council. My name is bruce willis. I'll be speaking in place of frieda walker, who could not be here today. I want to first acknowledge the name of this project that I proposed the project. To many people, this may simply sound like another development name attached to another funding source, but to me, ruby and mac were real people. Ruby hobson and mac hobson were my wife, my wife's grandparents, two black Americans who migrated from the rural south to Portland looking for opportunity. They worked in vanport and raised their family in north Portland during a time that simply having stability, dignity, and ownership in anything for black people was not something that was guaranteed. And I know that never in my wildest dreams could they have imagined that the same area connected to vanport, a place remembered for one of the most devastating tragedies in Oregon history, would ultimately be a place that was named after them, and then also be an opportunity for black folks to own homes. In that time. That would probably have sounded like a fantasy to them, because for generations, homeownership in Portland, for black, for for black families has sounded like exactly that a fantasy. My wife and I were fortunate enough to purchase a home in 2018, largely because I served six years in the united states army, and I was able to use a va home loan. The sacrifices I made for this country, including two tours of afghanistan, allowed me access to doors that many families do not. And I realized something after becoming a homeowner. The problem wasn't just housing. The problem was access, advocacy, information, and representation. This realization led me to not only dedicate ten years of my life to serving youth and families with my work through ci, but I also became the licensed real estate agent in Oregon and Washington because I understood that if we're not in the room, decisions are often made for us without us. And I can tell you this, that the projects like this have already been talked about throughout our community, and our community has already taken steps today to make sure that they are homeowners tomorrow. Please do not let this become another thing that we almost did. Our communities have experienced too many broken promises. We were promised opportunity before, yet the entire black neighborhoods were displaced through the expansion of memorial coliseum, the freeways, and the hospitals. So much that my brother has said before, we cannot undo the past, but we can absolutely have the power to impact the future. You have the opportunity to help level the playing field, to change the trajectory of generational wealth, and to give working black families an opportunity that for far too long has felt unreachable. And there's something deeply poetic about taking a place connected to the pain and flooding of vanport and transforming it into a future homeownership, future stability, and future blessings for for generations of black families, I've often heard the phrase, I am the dream of my ancestors. Today, I stand before you as proof of that dream, and I'm asking that you help to make that make sure that that dream remains possible for others as well. Please support commissioner Loretta smith's proposal and approve the full funding amount for both housing projects. Thank you.
109 Thank you very much. Go ahead. Mark.
110 Thank you, council president Dunphy and all the council. Today. I want to just begin by saying I'm pastor mark jackson, the co-founder co-pastor of voice of praise international ministries. Also, I'm also on the board of the coalition of african and african American pastors and imams. And I want to thank councilor Smith for your leadership and for your courage and for modeling what it is to be a public servant, not just focused on your district, but the entire city of Portland. I'm here today not to persuade, but to encourage, because I truly believe you all have the conviction to do what is right and what is just for black portlanders. You have all the information you need to make an informed decision. But this vote is not transactional. This vote is a commitment to restorative justice and generational wealth for black portlanders. What will the future your grandchildren, your nieces, your nephews say about you on this day and where you stand for you've been empowered to be in elected office to reconcile some wrongs. And today is your opportunity to be on full display, to let Portland know you have courage, not just individual courage, but collective courage. The signs you see in this chamber. We are descendants of vanport. We are descendants of those who were displaced in the historic albina district. We are here and we're not going anywhere. Support these housing projects. Support william and russell, support sy it's proven and is documented. Thank you.
111 Thank you very much. Ben. Go ahead.
112 My name is benjamin gilbert. I am a tenant in district four and a volunteer lobbyist for the Portland democratic socialists of America. I want to speak in favor of this appropriation for sy williamson, slash williamson russell, as amended by Kanal Smith Morillo Dunphy one. I strongly support removing social housing as the funding source and using the construction excise tax revenue instead. This is a viable source for funding sy and williamson russell projects. We hope for the success of these projects, and the community members will benefit and urge councilors to support the use of the city. I want to thank councilor Smith for co-sponsoring a change to this funding source. By using city. We don't take away from a funding source that was created to fund permanently affordable housing, social housing. It is paramount that we expand municipal capacity for the development of social housing, not further hollow it out. Shelter doesn't need to be another speculative asset for capital. Renting can and should be a stable arrangement for tenants. If we are serious about the economic future of our city and the wealth building of all portlanders, we cannot rely on speculation. A better world is possible. A world where leases can be passed on to your children or rent is controlled, and rent burden is a distant memory. And where our neighbors are housed and not on our streets. Thank you.
113 Thank you very much.
114 Tanisha.
115 Yes. Good morning. My name is tanisha renee, and I am the deputy executive director at williams and russell cdc. And I just want to echo the sentiments of my colleagues that have already shared. This is not just about housing, this is about repair. And for generations, albina and vanport were central to black life in Portland. These are places where black families built community, raised, children, opened, business, worshiped and thrived, and those roots were disrupted by deliberate public decisions that displaced black portlanders, excluding families from homeownership and weakened pathways to generational wealth. We are still living with the impact of those decisions. We see it in the racial home ownership gap. We see it in housing instability, and we see it in limited opportunities for black families to buy homes, keep their homes and pass those homes down. This is why investment in sei and williams and russell's development matters so much. These projects are rooted in historically significant communities that were deeply impacted by displacement and past public policy decisions. And for many first time home buyers, especially those who've been denied access, pushed out or left behind, the purchase price is still the barrier. This investment will help us close that gap, and I really just want to urge council to support the funding to help families come home, stay rooted and build true generational wealth and be able to pass that down. I also want to thank councilor Smith for your unwavering support of the black community and our work, and really thank the rest of the council, too, for coming together and being able to collaborate and work together. Thank you for your time and I appreciate it.
116 Thank you very much.
117 Next up, john Washington. Phil berlin, michael johnson, tyler king, veronica oro. I see we have john online. Go ahead john.
118 Good morning council. My name is john Washington. And I'm toggling between two board meetings right. Right now. But but it's ironic that I'm sitting in the board meeting with pc, I and you know, it. What draws to mind? First of all, I'd like to also appreciate my district grants. And you know, I appreciate you guys coming to the forefront on these issues and staying, you know, in the game with them. And of course, Loretta Smith in the work, the tireless work that I see that you've been doing. And as I continue to think about maxine fitzpatrick, and she used to always say to me that affordable housing is, is not the intention of affordable housing, is not to have it in perpetuity. But what she was also trying to say that there needed to be a structure around affordable housing that inspired people and gave people hope to continue to aspire toward the American dream. And the one thing that I've witnessed and we've been a part of, I also am the executive director of the sole district or the north northeast business association, one of the largest business districts in the city. But what we've come to understand is that the williams and russell project is one of the most comprehensive projects that we've seen today, because not only does it afford people housing, it also affords people the opportunity to dream and the opportunity to advance their lives. You can come into affordable housing structures. You can you're surrounded by the opportunity to grow into home ownership. And if you have a vision for whatever it is that you want to accomplish in this, in this, in this world, you also have a business hub. You can achieve your dreams. What I support is the fact that this project is probably one of the most comprehensive projects that I've been able to be a part of, and I'm proud to be a part of it. But I'm also proud to see how long, over a span of time I've been watching these processes for the last 40 years. And where we've come to today is probably one of the most important, significant times that we've arrived to. I'd like to encourage the council to make sure that they make the right decision today in supporting these two projects and making sure that we're on the road to recovery. I appreciate it, and thank you all for allowing me to share with you.
119 Thank you so much for being here today. Somebody jump in. Whoever wants to go first.
120 All right. Good morning, president Dunphy, vice president Clark and members of the council. My name is phil berlin. I serve as a housing coordinator with self enhancement. In 1978, my mother moved to this country. She rented the same home for more than ten years before having the opportunity to purchase it. And now, today, this home is still in. Our family and her grandchildren are beginning their lives there. That is the power of home ownership. It creates stability routes and the opportunity for generational wealth. Now, at the same time, that opportunity has not been accessible, equally accessible. The city of Portland has a history of policies and practices that have suppressed african American home ownership, denying families access to the very pathways that build wealth in this country. Homeownership is a primary vehicle for generational wealth, and when african Americans are excluded from that system, the impact is felt for generations. That's why projects like the ruby mack development matter. This is more than just housing. It's an opportunity to restore part of portland's black community and to create real pathways towards generational wealth. Let's be honest about the affordability right now. These homes are targeted for those that are about 80% ami. That's around $100,000 a year. That does not reflect the reality of our workforce. Many of the very people providing housing and social services in this city, including myself, earn closer to 50 to 60,000 a year. If we want equity, we have to build it for the people who are doing the work. This investment will lower home prices by 30 to 50 000 30 to 50 000, bringing them closer to what is actually affordable and moves towards a bigger goal of making them accessible. For those who are 50 to 60% of ami. So I urge you to support this investment in the ruby mack project and in african American homeownership, because it's not just about housing, it's about access, equality and access equity and the ability for families like mine to build something that lasts. Thank you very much.
121 Thank you so much for being here,
122 Good morning councilors. My name is michael johnson, and I am an enrolled member of the nez perce tribe and a direct descendant of old chief joseph. I'm here today on behalf of the northwest native chamber and the community economic coalition, to ask for your support of councilor Smith's proposal of 2.5 million in a one time funding for housing. The community economic coalition is a partnership between the black, hispanic native and philippine chambers of commerce. Our mission is to transform the economic landscape and build intergenerational wealth. We are deeply grateful for the council's continued support of our economic development agenda. However, business support is only one piece of the larger picture. Every day, we hear from clients who are devastated by the rising cost of living. Housing instability creates a ripple effect for low and middle income portlanders, and without a stable place to call home, pursuing education, maintaining employment, and building financial resilience becomes nearly impossible. Simply put, home ownership is a critical economic development and growth issue. Without housing stability, our clients remain trapped in a daily struggle to meet ends meet, and it leaves them without the capacity to pursue business opportunities that uplift families and drive portland's grassroots economic recovery. As indigenous and black people, we are not merely secondary characters to the story of this nation. Rather, we are the foundation of all that is and ever was, and we therefore urge you to support the supplemental budget ordinance directly supporting the 2.5 million in unallocated funds toward affordable housing and community development projects that promote home ownership. Thank you for your time and consideration.
123 Thank you very much.
124 Greetings, president Dunphy, vice president Clark, and members of the council. I am doctor veronica oro, a senior data research and analysis specialist at self enhancement, inc. My expertise is in developmental psychology, and I adopt a bio ecological lens to examine the myriad dynamic and multi structural factors that influence human growth and development. Bio ecological theory states that human development is guided by characteristics intrinsic, intrinsic to the individual, such as personality factors in the immediate environment, such as the family and home, and macrostructural influences influences such as the very city ordinance. I am here today to discuss the decisions you make here, have resounding impacts on community members, and can alter developmental trajectories, for better or for worse, particularly for the most vulnerable among us. An individual may have all the grit in the world, but can they truly thrive when systemic barriers hold strong the proverbial foot on their neck? You may not have the power to fully lift this, but you are equipped to relieve it by supporting black homeownership in Portland, a mechanism through which. A mechanism through which, excuse me. Generational wealth, economic mobility can be built and sustained in an equitable way. I'm a fairly new resident of Portland, having moved to Oregon in 2021 and Portland specifically in 2024. I am originally from new orleans, a city that owes all that it is beloved for for food, music, hospitality to the rich black culture there. I was hesitant to move here for a job assignment as a latina, fearful of the culture shock and of experiencing exclusion in a city known for the hashtag Portland so white. However, in the short time that I have lived here, I have found strong community and have come to know what a falsehood the national perception of Portland is, as I played a large part in altering, altering my own perception, I have the great pleasure of working for an organization that is a steward of racial justice in Portland, leveraging culturally informed practices rooted in 45 years of on the ground work in our community to connect with black youth and families and bolster them in actualizing their full potential. Our hub is northeast, home to portland's historic black neighborhoods. However, I can't help but notice the very people we are meant to serve in close proximity, being pushed out in real time. Clients are being forced to relocate due to the housing affordability crisis, further away from critical resources and community that uplifts them. I shudder at the thought that the cultural fabric of this city could be rendered homogenous and unknown. If this gentrification continues to go unchecked, I implore you to support councilor Aurora smith's amendment. Do your part to advance black homeownership and economic mobility in Portland, and entrust nonprofit partners with proven track records in the community to serve as the stewards of this mission. Thank you for your time and consideration.
125 Thank you so much. Council president Dunphy, vice president Clark, members of council. My name is tyler king. I'm a principal broker and a realtor here in Portland and a proud member of the Portland metropolitan association of realtors. I'm here in support of this ordinance. Homeownership is a proven path to reduce poverty, stabilize neighborhoods, and set families up for success for generations to come. And this puts real money behind that idea in exactly the right places. But I do want to touch on the broader picture because I do think it matters. Rental assistance is an operating expense. Down payment assistance is a capital investment. One stabilizes a household for a lease cycle, the other transforms it for generations. The united states is the only country where a family can lock in a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. It is American as apple pie. A buyer closing today knows exactly what their principal and interest payment will be in 2055. No lease renewal surprises, no pet rent, no wondering if assistance will be renewed in the next budget cycle. And while making that predictable payment, they are building wealth. The typical net worth of homeowners nationally is $430,000. For renters, it's $10,000. That's a 43 to 1 gap. That is how generational wealth is built or conversely, not built. Many on the city council have been working to expand its government housing footprint. I understand the appeal, but government housing manages poverty. It does not end it. Creating a floor is well intentioned. We also need to provide a ladder down payment assistance, and projects like we're talking about today is that ladder, the williams and russell project and self enhancement inc. Project both include home ownership units. When a family in north or northeast Portland closes on a home, they are not receiving a subsidy that will need to be renewed next year. They are building equity. They are building something to pass down. They are doing what families displaced from those same neighborhoods never got a chance to do. I do want to name one thing plainly. The city is proposing to spend $10 million becoming a landlord while spending $800,000 helping people build generational wealth. That is a policy choice, and I think it's the wrong one. Every dollar in down payment assistance creates a private asset, permanently removes the household, removes a household from the subsidy treadmill, and frees up a rental unit in the process. Approve this ordinance and then please do more of this. And a special thank you to councilor Smith for her continued leadership in bringing this forward. And I want to point you to a letter of support of this as well. Thank you. Thank you very much.
126 Next up.
127 We can go sit down.
128 Thank you. Next up we have henry schaeffer, hope baraka, lorena guyot, justice. Reggie. Go ahead. Henry.
129 Hi. Thank you. I'm a.
130 Hey, henry. Sorry we're having trouble hearing you. It's still really quiet.
131 That sounded.
132 Better already. Just a little closer.
133 That's better. Thank you.
134 Well, thank you for. Thank you for letting me know. Hi. I'm for the record. My name is henry schaeffer. I'm a renter in district two up here. So first I'd like to say self enhancement incorporated does really wonderful work for our community. And I think we can all agree that we want to increase rates of black and indigenous homeownership in this neighborhood. If you've looked at any of our data, you know that we have really high rates of rentership in north Portland. However, I'm here to support the amendment, I believe, introduced by councilors Dunphy, Morillo, Kanal and Smith to instead of taking that money from the revolving loan fund to instead take it from the construction excise tax review instead. I think it's a mistake to pit social housing against homeownership assistance because those communities, really all communities in Portland, are going to benefit from both of those things. Yeah. Sorry. That's most of what I have to say. Yeah. I think the the revolving loan fund is going to create a long term sustainable way of sort of helping renters who do not have a lot of recourse in other ways by introducing forces onto the rental market that will stop this ever increasing exponential growth of rate rent rates that we see at the moment, which homeownership will hopefully also do. So I don't think we should really be putting pitting these two things against against each other. I think they're both really reasonable solutions that should both be invested in by the city. So I'm here to support the amendment that takes it from the construction excise tax instead. Thank you. I see my time.
135 Thank you very much.
136 Hope.
137 Good morning, council president and members of city council. My name is hope baraka, and I'm here today in strong support of the ordinance appropriating 2.5 million for homeownership development in district two, including support for the williams and russell development and self enhancement, inc. I have worked in residential and commercial real estate in portland's urban core for 20 years. I currently own and manage think real estate, and our brokerage is affiliated with williams and russell cdc as the brokerage of record. Working alongside Portland housing center, I am speaking both as a real estate professional and as someone directly involved in the practical work of helping families move from aspiration to ownership. As you've heard, homeownership remains one of the primary ways families build generational wealth. But access to that wealth building tool has never been equal. Black portlanders own homes at nearly half the rate as white portlanders, and those statistics have barely changed over 60 years. That is not an accident of the market, and it's not in the past. It's a result of policy lending, discrimination, redlining, displacement, appraisal bias, predatory lending. And the loss is staggering. When you look at the broader wealth gap, the median white household holds roughly 240,000 more wealth than the median black household. The williams and russell project promises to utilize Portland housing bureau's preference policy. It is one of the city of portland's clearest tools for for repair. But a policy without funding is only a promise on paper at williams and russell black portlanders were not just displaced from a neighborhood. They were stripped of ownership of equity, of place and the ability to build generational wealth where ownership should have remained in community hands. The right to return has to mean more than the right to apply. It has to include the real financial support needed for black portlanders to come back as homeowners, to rebuild equity, and to regain some measure of what was taken. If Portland is serious about repair, then funding homeownership at williams and russell and self enhancement inc. Is part of fulfilling a commitment the city of Portland has already made. I urge you to vote yes.
138 Thank you very much for being here.
139 Lorena.
140 Hi. Can you hear me?
141 We can hear you.
142 Perfect. Thank you. My name is lorena guyette. I just wanted to speak in regards to this. I wanted to make sure I show my initial support for the funding for housing development, especially for black homeownership. Expressed some concerns that the original writing specifically for the choice of appropriating from social housing and really appreciating and vocalizing my support for the most recent Kanal Smith amendment that's been introduced. Housing to me is deeply, deeply important, not just as someone who is a latina, but also someone who has seen how housing has been helpful for my afro-latino cousins who are who is who. He is currently expecting a daughter. So I'm very excited for him. And it was really, really devastated when Kanal amendment last week to make sure that this had funding was failed to pass. That was really devastating. So I'm really grateful that this is still getting a second, a second shot at life. To me, it's really, really vital to in order to provide this type of funding for district two, but definitely not at the expense of additional investment and other long term solutions. Social housing and programs like this are both gaining traction. There is a wealth of data showing the benefits to social housing, as well as housing for specific marginalized communities. And then there has been recent news that has shown its popularity. I really do appreciate the amendments put forward, and I definitely can't help but feel a pause if the most recent amendments were to be rejected as well. For, you know, the Smith Kanal amendment in order to change the funding. And I do understand that the budgeting session this year was very stressful. So I do feel that changing the funding source from social housing to city revenues seems to be the ideal solution for and ultimately stressful thing, and hopefully that both of these things will cause the necessary long term solutions in order to provide an equitable Portland. Thank you.
143 Thank you very much.
144 Okay. Peace. My name is for the record. My name is justice raji. I am a registered lobbyist for this with the city of Portland. But I am not here in any professional capacity. I am here today as a current board chair of the williams russell cdc, but also a community member who has served and volunteered on this project since its beginning, which is almost at eight years, if I'm correct at this point, which I would remind some of us, is longer than some of us have been in elected office. And that's important to understand, because I was one of the people who took the initial surveys on the site with the community, who experienced almost 50 years of a blank slate of land that was cleared and supposed to be something, and it was nothing. The primary message, the largest message we received from the community was get something done on this site. And I have personally dedicated myself to make sure that happens. So when I'm here in front of you, I'm hoping not to repeat, you know, facts you've already heard. But to give some context to institutions such as the city government have a memory and a history that they are responsible for, regardless if they chose to do it in the past or not, or they thought it was right or wrong in the past or not, or they thought they followed the right process in the past or not. You are still responsible as a person in the seat. The people are looking to you, and I've said this in other spaces to move heaven and earth to get something done the way we have seen other things that had far more resources support access to capital, institutional power, social power, social capital structure around them, people with powerful names and powerful influence to make things get done, receive all sorts of support. I'm also proud to say I'm a former employee of sei and a friend to the service they provide to this community, and in the larger scope and understanding the impact that not only s e, I and williams, but other community based organizations have been doing in leading the way to building housing in this city, building housing in this region, because housing is not just about the city of Portland, it's about the entire state of Oregon. It's about our country as a whole. So with that, I whatever the source, whatever the correct tool or mechanism to get it done, I implore you to get this done, to meet the moment, to meet the people and build the trust. So whatever future programs that this city wishes to hold and say, we're going to deliver on this next idea, we're going to deliver on social housing, we're going to deliver on market rate, whatever it is that it's actually you have evidence that you met the moment that you responded to the organization in a high level of working commitment that everyday people have made to get these things done. So with that, I yield my time and I say thank you for your efforts. Peace.
145 Thank you very much.
146 That completes testimony.
147 Okay, colleagues, it is currently one. I'm sorry. 1133 I would like to give everybody a 15 minute bathroom break. So if we could please be back here at 1150. We have a long agenda to go. Thank you very much for everybody who testified.
148 And we are coming back from break. Thank you, everybody, for your patience and for your understanding that we are humans also. Councilor Kanal.
149 Hi. I just wanted to formally move the amendment. And I ask I described it already so I won't do it again, but ask for a second.
150 Second councilor Kanal moves the Kanal Smith Morillo Dunphy amendment councilor Smith. Seconds. Colleagues debate to or discussion around the amendment. Councilor Green.
151 Thank you, council president. I just really want to say thank you for working through and slogging through this. Thank you to everyone who showed up once again to provide the testimony. I think this is a really good example of compromise, and it gets me to a place where I can very easily say yes to this. And I see this. Someone put it earlier as we don't have to pit these two things against each other, we can do them both and we're going to do them both if we vote yes on this amendment. Thank you.
152 Thank you, councilor Green. Councilor Novick.
153 Yeah. I'd like to ask a question of donnie oliveira if he's here. Thank you. Dca oliveira my question is, will the different funding source affect the substance or the timing of the projects at all? Depending on I mean, if we were funding this with a revolving loan fund, would that mean any make any difference to what the projects would have to look like or what the timing would be compared to this, this proposal?
154 Thank you for the question. Councilor donnie oliveira, deputy city administrator for community and economic development. The answer to your question is no. This will not have a material impact on timing or our ability to get the resources with any restrictions to the projects.
155 Thank you.
156 Thank you, councilor Novick councilor Pirtle-guiney.
157 Thank you, council president. I'm not actually sure who needs.
158 To answer this question. I know that there is language in the amendment that says that some of the normal requirements of the fund are not in effect for this appropriation, but I just would like the confirmation that no changes need to be made to the projects. There are no complications about whether the project will meet any requirements or not. These funds can be used for the projects as they are currently conceived of, and we don't have to ask people to put in a box that doesn't quite fit to make this work.
159 I see dca oliveira nodding profusely in the back of the room.
160 We're all good. Okay. Thank you. I think it's important to have that on the record.
161 Thank you, councilor Pirtle-guiney councilor Kanal.
162 Thank you. I, I want to first thank councilor Smith for having the conversation, seeing how can we take this from something that will probably happen to something that will be a overwhelming majority support, which is, I think, what happens when the amendment passes? And if while we can't count votes up here. And so I'm not going to speculate as to how that's going to work. I will say that it wasn't just as cihan pointed out, it wasn't just that the Portland metro chamber and welcome home would be allying on it. I also heard from someone from dsa as well, and the realtors, and that these things, this gets more and more rare as it as it keeps going, but we should take those opportunities when they when they last. And I think the other thing, and I really appreciated the written testimony, I wanted to point out that that the overwhelming majority of people who testified it was there were people who supported people who supported what changes. People who opposed that were all. Most of the opposition was about the funding source, not about the projects. And I think we are resolving that with this amendment and helping to unify not only the people up here, but hopefully everyone around the importance of these investments. I'll talk more about those after we have the when we debate the underlying. But I just wanted to say that about the amendment.
163 Thank you. Councilor Kanal colleagues, is there further debate of the. Kanal Smith Morillo Dunphy amendment? Seeing none. Keelan can we call the roll on the amendment?
164 Kanal. Aye, Morillo pirtle-guiney. I Ryan. I Koyama Lane I Morillo. I Novick. I Clark. I Green. I Zimmerman. Absent Avalos. I Smith. I Dunphy. I the amendment is approved with a vote of 11 ayes and one absent.
165 Thank you. Please.
166 Any further discussion of the underlying amendment underlying ordinance now.
167 Council president.
168 Councilor Smith.
169 I would just like to say something on this. The underlying from the beginning was always a document that reflect our values. And I think that us coming together in an amendment, it shows that we value the work we. We value your time and we value what you're going to do for us in the future. Because as we are coming together on this and the underlying is is actually identifying resources to, to organizations that historically have not had those investments. And so for me today, this is very, very personal because I listened to a young woman, my grandparents came here from from brooklyn, new york, to work in the kaiser, my grandfather, to work in the kaiser shipyards. And he was a part of vanport. He experienced the flood. We were displaced. I wasn't living then, but we were displaced from from the coliseum area. We still have a home that we that we've owned for 66 years. My aunt just passed away. She lived in that home last week and it will stay in our family. But. But the idea that you can build generational wealth, like the generational wealth that was built in my family over many, many years, that we're going to offer that opportunity to others. 49 homeownership opportunities for ci. 20 home ownership opportunities from williams and russell cdc. That's just like unheard of stuff. And produced by black community based developers for the black community that is very rich. And so I thank you and urge all of you to vote for the underlying amendment. So thank you so very much. I'm very proud today. I'm very proud of of my colleagues. Thank you.
170 Thank you, councilor Smith. Councilor pirtle-guiney.
171 Thank you, council president and council president. I'm sorry. I know you want to move us along, but I think we need to say a few things here.
172 This is important to say, stuff.
173 I am so proud to have supported this work for a bit of time now. Home ownership should be an option for every single person in my district. In our city, home ownership should be an option for every single black portlander colleagues. Repair means making up for past harm, and that means ensuring that we support the work of rebuilding lost equity through homes owned through businesses owned. That's what we're doing here today, and it is important that we acknowledge that that is what we are doing here today, because home ownership remains one of the most important pathways to building generational wealth and long term stability in our country. This is while the earlier work on this didn't move forward, I am really glad to have the policy back in front of us today. And while we have it before us, I want to note that this is a piece of the work, but our work on homeownership is not done after today because we know that support for wealth building partnerships to match down payments, so many other policies are needed before we can truly say that homeownership is an option for every single person in our city. This does not mean that we stop supporting affordable rental units. It does not mean that that part of the work is not also critical. It does not mean that we don't move forward with new innovative opportunities, but it means we stop accepting a world where some people have a choice about whether they want to rent or own a home, and some people don't. Because in the future of Portland, I want to see that's a choice every single person gets to make when they think about what is best for their family. Councilor Smith, thank you for keeping this on our agenda. For working with many councilors on finding a path forward that could get majority support. Councilor Kanal. Thank you for helping to find the path that's before us today. Colleagues. I hope that this can get unanimous support today. This feels like a real opportunity to follow through and get meaningful homeownership investments over the finish line and take one more step toward that world where every single portlander can choose whether homeownership is the right path for them and can achieve it if it is. Thank you.
174 Thank you, councilor Pirtle-guiney councilor Morillo.
175 Thank you, councilor Dunphy. First, I want to say thank you, councilor Smith, for bringing this forward and how heartening it was for me to see this morning that we got to co-sponsor the amendment together. I think that's really special because we've had our tussle over this, and I think it's really special and important that at this critical moment where there are so many housing needs in the city, that we are not putting social housing against these developments because they are both so important for the community. So it meant a lot to me to see that partnership with you and councilor Kanal and councilor Dunphy and I know that we had tried to bring that forward during the budget process. It was a very tense time with a lot of different things that we were trying to absorb. So I appreciate my colleagues being flexible as we get that information on that. And as people know, it's not a mystery. I've been very consistent that I think that council needs to have a specific process for how we hand out dollars, even if it is going to be a restorative program, because we need proof that the work that we're doing is going to be restorative for the community. And I take that very seriously. I don't take that lightly at all, and I think that I can be a little analytical in my thinking sometimes in approaching that work, but there's also a deep personal and emotional tie in this and how we discuss it. So I want to thank the folks that have flagged that, that have come and testified and councilor Smith for bringing that as well. There were in previous votes, there were times where organizations got the funding without having to show proof, and these organizations did not. And that's not fair. And councilor Smith was able to point that out consistently. While I consistently voted to get proof for any organization, regardless of who they are or where they came from, even if they were from my community, because I think that is the standard by which we should be doing this work. I also see when it's unfair that we are doing that to certain groups and not to others. And so I'm very grateful that we are bringing this forward today, that the amendment has passed, and I'm grateful to the community members who have come in and testified, and I'm sorry that it's been an arduous process, but things are made better by you being here. I also want to acknowledge that it's I look forward to just getting to know all of you more and getting to work with you in the future. So thank you.
176 Thank you, councilor Morillo councilor Kanal.
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177 Thank you. I wanted to take the opportunity to to thank the dca for community economic development dca oliveira, as well as the attorneys who worked in supportive of ensuring everything was above board on on the funding source change and our city budget officer, ruth levine as well. I just wanted to make sure that that their work wasn't forgotten. Here we often are. We're willing to point out when there needs to be something critical and feedback given, but I really want to make sure we're also saying thanks when when they really help make this happen. And all their teams as well. I think when looking back over this to kind of build off of something, councilor Morillo said, I think there have been four votes that somehow related to these projects, and I think every person on the city council has voted yes two times on it, and I think we have the opportunity in the fifth vote on this to make it. We all voted yes a third time, and I hope we get a chance to do that. Thanks.
178 Thank you. Councilor Kanal councilor Zimmerman.
179 Thanks. You know, councilor Smith, you're a champion in ways that I hope others aspire to be. You're a champion sometimes even for district. You no longer represent, but you did for a long time. And I've always very much valued your leadership in in that space. And while I think that there was some shenanigans that held this process hostage, unfortunately, for strange reasons, if I'm ever held hostage, I hope the negotiators, Loretta Smith. Because I'll be free. It might take some time, but I'll be free. And so I remember who brought this to me. I remember from the very beginning when I decided that I was a supporter of it. And I remember every time taking a vote to be supportive of it for councilor Loretta Smith, for you community members who I've gotten to know more and more over these last several months, many of which you're not new faces. This was just a new fight we were in together. And so I appreciate it. A hell yes, and thank you, councilor Smith.
180 Thank you, councilor Zimmerman. Councilor Ryan.
181 Yeah. Thank you, council president. You know, I'm always thrilled to fund legislation for home ownership, especially this one. This legislation has deep roots and the work will continue. Good news is this legislation has survived multiple mayors now and multiple city councils, which I'm learning is never easy. As such, I voted yes on legislation for william and russell multiple times, and I'll continue to do so. That said, this latest challenge has been a long journey since it was part of the original proposal at the homelessness and housing on December 9th. So here we are five plus months later, finally getting it across the finish line. So first I want to look out there and say thank you to the community advocates. You've been here quite a few times now in all different hours of the day and night, and your perseverance is seen and it's really respected and appreciated. And thank you, councilor Smith, for your steady persistence to win this race. Your leadership is inspirational, my friend. You have so much fight. I recall the many point of orders. Point of order. I can't do your voice flying between you and the council president. It's kind of entertaining, let's face it. And thank you. And it also allowed us to stay focused on what the end game is. Stop the shenanigans and let's focus on what we need to deliver. And that's what we have today. So thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations my friend. Again, I am a big fan of homeownership. I've made that clear for the past six years on the dais. It's truly the one way a person, a family can build financial security. I know this from my own personal experience. This is how we build generational wealth. This is how a family is healthier. When you look at all the data. I really appreciate someone bringing up the education crosswalk scores and how it impacts families in that regard. As such, this is equity in action. Since we are focusing on the community who has suffered from injustice and how, in fact, we heard about those red lines from the vanport flood just earlier today. So it's a great day for Portland. It's a great day for the city council. This is targeted economic justice investment that will always build more stability for person, a family and a community. That's why we're here. This is exactly the type of investment we can all feel good about. Again, congratulations, councilor Smith, and thank you, community who has been relentless with her.
182 Thank you, councilor Ryan. Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, this item now moves to second reading. Thank you, everybody for being here today. Keelan can we please call the consent agenda item five?
183 Yes. No items have been pulled from the consent agenda. I'll call the roll. Kanal.
184 Aye, Morillo.
185 Pirtle-guiney.
186 Aye, Morillo.
187 Ryan. I Koyama Lane I Morillo. I Novick. I Clark. I Green. I Zimmerman. I Avalos. I Smith absent.
188 Dunphy I.
189 The consent agenda is approved with a vote of 11 ayes and one absent.
190 Thank you very much, colleagues. We have 11 items on our agenda and a little over an hour and 20 minutes to get through them. I don't imagine that's going to happen, but most of these are second readings that are going to be relatively quick. So we're going to push through and we are out of here at 130, and we will continue items that we are unable to get to. I apologize in advance. Can we please call item number six.
191 Document 2026-179 pay settlement of gabriela rafael bodily injury lawsuit in the sum of $315,000 resulting from a motor vehicle collision involving the Portland police bureau colleagues.
192 This is an item that did not go to committee, as I mentioned earlier, but needs to be moved forward today. So I'm going to just turn it over to dave ferro from risk and lucy olson from the attorney's office. Welcome.
193 Good afternoon. Council. Lucy olson, deputy city attorney. This case involves a rear end vehicle accident that occurred near the intersection of southwest tualatin, sherwood road and southwest olds place in September of 2020. Now retired Portland police bureau sergeant bret barnum was driving a chevy tahoe and collided with a minivan that plaintiff gabriela rafael, was driving. Miss raffi was a minor at the time, and both miss raffi and her mother, sarah immel, who was a passenger in the van, were injured and the city settled. Miss emile's claim for injuries in 2023, miss raffi's lawsuit sought a total of $900,000, alleging that sergeant barnum negligently caused the crash. Sergeant barnum wrote in his police report after the accident that he was going approximately 35 to 4540mph at the time of the crash, and the speed limit was 45. He was driving a take home vehicle pursuant to city policy at the time, and he was headed to his home in sherwood. After he completed his shift, he saw miss raffy's van in front of him, but he didn't see brake lights. He looked down at his cup holder to put his drink back, and when he looked up, he realized the van was actually stopped or just slightly rolling forward. He attempted to break but wasn't successful in avoiding the crash. Miss raffi and her counsel presented evidence of chronic hip and back pain with sacroiliac joint dysfunction, as well as headaches, fogginess, dizziness and nausea. After an investigation, the city attorney's office and risk management determined that the negligent operation of the city vehicle in failing to keep a proper lookout for other vehicles and failing to maintain a safe distance, caused the collision and miss raffy's injuries. We negotiated informally with plaintiff's counsel and mutually agreed on a settlement of $315,000, which includes reimbursing plaintiff's insurer for personal injury protection, the city attorney's office recommends approval of the settlement, as it will allow the city to avoid the expense of further litigation and a likely risk of a higher adverse verdict. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have.
194 Thank you very much. Keelan has anyone signed up to testify on this item?
195 No one signed up.
196 Okay, colleagues, are there any technical or clarifying questions or any discussion? Seeing no one in the queue, colleagues, this is an emergency item, so we will move to a roll call vote as remember, as a reminder, emergency items require nine votes to pass.
197 Kanal thanks to risk attorneys and to pb for sending me the info I needed on this one. I vote aye.
198 Pirtle-guiney absent.
199 Ryan I.
200 Koyama Lane I.
201 Aye, Morillo I.
202 Novick I.
203 Clark I.
204 Green I. Zimmerman I.
205 Avalos I. Smith I.
206 Dunphy aye.
207 The ordinance passes with a vote of 11 ayes and one absent.
208 Thank you very much, colleagues. Can we please call item number seven.
209 Document 2026-180. Appropriate grant award for home ownership assistance program. Veterans restore health and safety and down payment assistance for up to $667,000 to $3230. Sorry.
210 Thank you. Keelan colleagues. This is a first reading of a nonemergency ordinance. This is similarly another item that did not move through committee. As I stated earlier, this is not a precedent, but I apologize regardless with this is john trent from the Portland housing bureau.
211 John.
212 Yes. Good afternoon, president, council. Humphrey, vice president, clerk, council members and staff. My name is john and I am with the housing preservation manager with Portland housing bureau. I'm here to speak to you briefly on an agenda item that put forth together by the grant management office to appropriate the grant of $667,230 for veterans restore health and safety and down payment assistance program. I want to share a screen to do a quick presentation. All right. Okay, so back in February 2027 of 20, I'm sorry, back in February 27th of 2025, I applied for a grant with the Oregon housing community services. On June 9th of 2025, we received a notice that the city of Portland was awarded the veterans restore health and safety and down payment assistance grant for $540,000. The budget split are as follows. For the restoring health and safety, it was $358,650, and for the down payment assistance, it was $181, $181,350. In addition to the restore health and safety, the grantee allowed us to build up to an additional 107,000 559, giving us a total of 466 to 45 for the restore health and for down payment assistance to give us an additional funding of 19,000 that we could build for 19,635, giving us a total of 200,985. So those two together adds up to 6672 30. It took us a while to sign off on the grant agreement due to contract language to comply with the mayor's executive orders, which was signed on December 23rd of 2025. The purpose of the grant is to provide health and safety repair for eligible veterans in owner occupied residents with household income at or below 100% ami, which is area median income in maintaining a safe and healthy home. The other part of money is to provide down payment assistance to eligible veteran households with income below, at or below 100% area median income. This down payment assistance loan is zero interest, zero payment and is forgiven after five years. For context income at, at or below 100% ami for one household size is 88, 80 and $89,810 or family of four is 128,300. The key program deliveries we're hoping to provide for down payment assistance loan from through this grant, and also provide 25 households with home repair grants. This grant is period is July 1st of 2025 and ends June 30th of 2028. With that, I'll open up for question. Thank you.
213 Thank you very much. Keelan has anyone signed up to testify on this item?
214 No one signed up.
215 Okay, colleagues, any technical or clarifying questions or any discussion about this grant appropriation? Seeing no one in the queue, john, thank you very much. This item. Moving to second reading.
216 Thank you very much.
217 Keelan can we please call item number eight?
218 Document 2026-181 appropriate grant for pilot mass timber feasibility study for $100,000.
219 Colleagues. This is the first reading of a nonemergency ordinance. Similarly, this is another item that did not go to committee. I again apologize with us this morning. We have sheila craig from the grants office. Chris gustav gustavsson from our financial analyst. And I can't pronounce. I'm sorry. Say you. I'm sorry. How do you pronounce your name?
220 Masaya yoshida.
221 Asahi, hokkaido, with the housing portfolio finance coordinator. Thank you, I apologize. Take it away.
222 Hello. City council members, thank you for your time today. For the record, my name is sheila craig from the grants management division. I am here presenting with the Portland housing bureau. This agenda item. Request your approval to appropriate $100,000 in grant funding for the 2526 budget. The purpose of this ordinance is to formally establish the grant budget authority required to expend grant funds to ensure grant revenue and related project expenses are accurately reflected in the city's budget. This appropriation increase in the grants funds specifically to carry out the work supported by this grant. At this point, I'm going to turn it over to the housing bureau bureau staff to provide a brief program overview. Today is grant day. We're just here to bring the city more money.
223 Love that.
224 Good morning, city council members. My name is masaya yoshida. I'm a housing portfolio finance coordinator with the Portland housing bureau. I'm joined today by colleagues who will introduce themselves. If they address council. I will provide a very brief overview of this grant. The Portland housing bureau is partnering with the usda forestry and the softwood lumber board to create a pilot mass timber feasibility study program. We are joining other cities across the nation to identify as an accelerator city for mass timber initiatives. The total grant program is $450,000. $100,000 is being provided by the usda, forestry and the softwood lumber board. 350,000 is being provided by city funds. This grant program is intended to provide six small micro-grants to six new construction projects within the city of Portland to explore the use of mass timber as a structural system. The entire grant program is expected to be ending by the end of this calendar year. The feasibility study report will be made public. The new construction projects will be making public presentations on their findings, and we look forward at this time to answering any questions.
225 Thank you. Keelan has anyone signed up to testify on this item?
226 No one signed up.
227 Thank you colleagues, technical or clarifying questions or council discussion? Councilor Smith.
228 Do we know?
229 Thank you, council president. Do we know who is going to do the feasibility study?
230 Yes. At this time, we have a total funding for six grantees. We've awarded five. And so we have provided award letters to five grantees to provide those feasibility studies. Three of those grantees have actually submitted their final feasibility studies for review and acceptance.
231 Okay. So you know what I'm going to say. You awarded the funds without appropriating some of these funds first. So do we know exactly who those folks are? You can you can email me who the who the grantees are.
232 We are trying, we are trying.
233 I know, I know, I saw you over there looking to see if I was going to say something, but I'm gonna be consistent.
234 I'd be happy to read off the names of the parties at this time. Or I can email you just in the interest of time. Would you like me to read them off?
235 Yeah, that would be great.
236 All right. We have the broadway corridor parcel for a. We have the master plan district parcel a, we have the lens ap parcel. We have short stack. We have the lan su chinese garden expansion.
237 Okay, I see why this is an emergency. Thank you.
238 Thank you, councilor Smith. Vice president Clark.
239 Thank you, council president. I just have a couple questions. So let me make sure I understand this. The feasibility is for the use of this new form of building materials. Is that what the feasibility studies are for?
240 Yeah. The feasibility study is to explore the potential to use mass timber as a structural system in these proposed new developments located within the city of Portland.
241 Okay. So each of those individual developments. Gotcha. And I'm just curious, are you do you have a partnership or are you working with osu, Oregon state university, which has a large mass timber study unit?
242 That's a terrific question. We're so fortunate within this region to have many different public agencies deeply involved in addressing the mass timber industry and how to move it forward, both for economic development opportunities, design construction within our region. While we don't have a formal partnership with osu, we are in contact with them and we think that what they're doing is fabulous.
243 They're doing a lot of experimentation with the actual lumber. What it can take, not take, how it operates under certain weather, seismic situations. It just seems like that's a natural partnership for us. Are there other are there some private sector partners here in the region that you're partnering with aside from the grantees.
244 Aside from the grant? Yeah. At this moment, no, we don't have formal partnerships. But just to let you know, I've been down to the I've been down to visit Salem, the fabulous prototypes that are going on.
245 Yeah. I thought there were other prototypes going on in our region up here in Portland as well. On the private sector side.
246 One of the grantees is exploring prototypes and mass timber for home ownership. So we're happy that this grant is able to support them with their research.
247 Great. Okay. Thanks.
248 Thank you, vice president Clark councilor Novick.
249 Thank you, mr. President. Could you just take a second, explain what mass timber is and is the same as mass laminated timber?
250 So mass timber, I didn't expect actually to have that question come up. But mass timber is actually a different form of a structural system. And so it is utilizing instead of it being a solid wood product, it actually is a laminated panelized product. There are many different approaches to mass timber. There are many different construction types, and we are so fortunate within the city of Portland, within our region, that we are considered to be kind of forward thinkers and leaders within the mass timber industry.
251 Thank you.
252 Thank you. Councilor. Novick. Councilor. Ryan.
253 Thank you.
254 It's good to see all of you. It's always fun to talk about grant investments and the leveraging that we can take place. This is exciting. I do have a couple of questions about how we're envisioning this going forward. I want to know if maybe you can answer this, any of you, or maybe dca oliveira has to come up or one of his deputies, director engstrom. But how are we how are we looking into this investment turn of the effort currently at prosper? Portland's been talking about this. So are we in conversations with them, first of all, about leveraging these dollars?
255 Yes. So this pilot mass timber feasibility study program is in essence a pilot. So we have identified new construction projects that already have a preexisting existing public private partnership with the city of Portland, who expressed an interest in exploring mass timber. We're providing them with 75,000 in grant money, up to 75,000 to explore and formalize a feasibility study report as to whether or not they can utilize mass timber. That report will be made public, which we hope will create a ripple effect for other people to learn about mass timber.
256 When can we expect that report?
257 We expect all reports to be available publicly by the end of this calendar year.
258 Okay. All right. And so the planning and sustainability is involved in the plan there at the table. Yes. Okay. So hopefully this will come to city life because that's where we're doing economic development conversations.
259 We can discuss, we can discuss ways in which we plan to create a public website and make the feasibility study reports public, as well as providing a public presentation of the feasibility study reports, and will continue to partner in ways that will make the best use of that communication.
260 Thank you. Thank you so much. It's exciting, dca oliveira, that we can talk about an investment and how we're leveraging it. We haven't had a lot of these presentations lately.
261 Yeah. Councilor. Thank you. And just echoing the report, when those those reports are published, it's not just a standalone live on a shelf thing. The teams have been working together across the service area looking at what sort of, you know, zoning permitting changes will have to make to accommodate mass timber when necessary. But to that question about where prosper's, you know, participation is, this is us looking for the angle for our market, like what is the right place for investments? And so the idea is the feasibility studies present a pathway for future prosper investments.
262 That makes sense.
263 Pathway for code to be adopted by you all to improve the feasibility for mass timber construction and in theory, makes it a better place to build Portland. Be that place because our codes are streamlined for it.
264 Perfect.
265 Thank you so much. That helped a lot.
266 Thank you, councilor Ryan. Vice president Clark.
267 Sorry, just a couple more questions. I think it's great that we're working cross service area and that we're focused on Portland, but it seems like there's a this is a much larger issue with so much more potential. I just wondered if we're in contact with or if I see the Oregon forest industries council or other state organizations, because this is all transferable. I think there's a lot going on, and it seems like we're often kind of factionalized or we're doing a little over here, a little over there. And I just wonder if there's a larger body and organ that's coordinating these, these kinds of the kind of research, the application, because we are a forest industry state. So this has so much potential statewide. I just was curious if you're connected.
268 It's actually one of the exciting things about this mass timber feasibility study program is just the ability to develop partnerships and relationships with so many organizations right now that are exploring mass timber. The Oregon mass timber coalition comes to mind, as well as Oregon state university, university of Oregon. These are large public institutions, you know, as well as coalitions who are actively exploring mass timber. We currently host one of the largest and most respected mass timber conferences on an annual basis. It happens every year within the city of Portland, and we are so fortunate that what it does is highlight that we do have world class design and construction expertise towards mass timber.
269 I really I really appreciate hearing that. I just want to know that we're really integrated in everything that's going on in this state. So it sounds great.
270 Yeah. Councilor. I think the our response initially was specific to the potential in Portland, but to your broader question about that, that networking and coordination, our partners at the port, you know, they have the accelerator there. T two, there's so much rich investment and prototyping and piloting going on in the region that it'll just make whatever we do in Portland that much stronger.
271 I think that we're demonstrating the transferability among other local governments with, as I just said, code changes or code updates, that sort of thing. So thank you so much.
272 Thank you, vice president Clark. Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, this item now moves to second reading. Thank you all for the presentation.
273 Thank you.
274 Thank you so much.
275 We now have seven second readings in a row and about an hour to get through them, plus an additional extended first reading of an item. So we're going to try and get through as many of these things as possible. Keelan can we please move to item number nine.
276 Document 2026-158 amend Portland clean energy community benefits fund code to allow transfer of interest earned in fy 2020 425 for the fy 2020 627 budget. Amend code section 7.07.060.
277 Thank you. This is the second reading of a nonemergency ordinance. Colleagues, is there any discussion? Seeing no one in the queue. Keelan can we please call the roll?
278 Kanal. I pirtle-guiney absent Ryan.
279 He's online.
280 Oh.
281 I thank you.
282 Ryan.
283 I Koyama Lane. I Morillo.
284 No.
285 I'm sorry, was that. No thank you.
286 Novick aye, Morillo.
287 Clerk I.
288 Green I. Zimmerman I Avalos.
289 Councilor Avalos. Councilor. Can you hear us? I see you're unmuted. Absent.
290 Can you hear me now? Sorry.
291 You can hear you.
292 Okay, I vote no.
293 Smith.
294 Yes.
295 Dunphy. I the ordinance passes with a vote of ten ayes and two no votes.
296 Thank you. Can we please call item number ten?
297 Document 2026-159. Adopt solid waste and recycling rates and fees for franchised residential collection and the commercial tonnage fee, effective July 1st, 2026.
298 Is the second reading of a nonemergency ordinance. Colleagues, is there any further discussion? Counselor Green.
299 I'm going to vote yes on this, but I want the haulers to take note that you skipped my trash again. Please don't do that ever again or I'll vote no next time.
300 Thank you, counselor Green. Counselor Ryan.
301 Yeah. I just wanted to make a statement that I made it clear. I only support rate increases that remain at or below current inflation, which is 3.5% in our market. As such, my no vote should not be a surprise. We're experiencing such severe affordability challenges for working class, taxpaying portlanders, and I just know they want us to live within our means. But the first one I will be supporting because it's below that. Thanks.
302 Thank you, councilor Ryan. Seeing no one else in the queue. Keelan can we please move to a roll call?
303 Vote Kanal. I pirtle-guiney. I Ryan. I Koyama Lane. I Morillo. I Novick. I Clark. I Green. I Zimmerman. I Avalos. I Smith. I Dunphy. I the ordinance passes with a vote of 12 ayes.
304 Thank you.
305 Please call item number 11.
306 Document 2026-160. Revised transportation fees, rates and charges for the fy 2020 627 and amend transportation fee schedule.
307 This is the second reading of a nonemergency ordinance. Colleagues, is there any discussion? Seeing none. Keelan. Can we please call the roll?
308 No, I pirtle-guiney.
309 I Ryan no.
310 Koyama Lane I.
311 Aye, Morillo I Novick. I Clark. I Green. I Zimmerman. No. Avalos. I'm sorry. Councilor was that.
312 I did you hear me?
313 I didn't sorry. I okay, thank you Smith. I Dunphy. I the ordinance passes with a vote of ten ayes and two no's.
314 Thank you. Please call item number 12. Read item number 12.
315 Document 2026-161. Revise sewer and stormwater rates, charges and fees for fy 2020 627.
316 The second reading of a nonemergency ordinance. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. Keelan. Can you please call the.
317 Roll Kanal. I pirtle-guiney. I Ryan no. Koyama Lane no.
318 Morillo I.
319 Novick I.
320 Clark I.
321 Green I. Zimmerman no.
322 Avalos I. Smith I.
323 Dunphy I.
324 The ordinance passes with a vote of nine eyes and three nose.
325 Thank you. Can we move to item 13, please?
326 Document 2026-162 adopt rates, charges and fees for water and water related services for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027.
327 This is the second reading of a nonemergency ordinance. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. Can we please call the roll.
328 Kanal I.
329 Pirtle-guiney I.
330 Ryan no. Koyama Lane no.
331 Aye, Morillo.
332 No.
333 Novick I.
334 Clark I.
335 Green I. Zimmerman no.
336 Avalos. I Smith. I Dunphy aye. The ordinance passes with a vote of eight eyes and four nose.
337 And can we please go to item number 14.
338 Document 2026-111 ad identification of law enforcement officers. Code to prohibit facial covering. Require badge visibility and require identity verification for individuals conducting law enforcement activities. Ad code chapter 23.30.
339 Thank you. Keelan. This is the second reading of a non emergency ordinance. Colleagues, is there a discussion? Councilor Kanal.
340 Thank you, council president. I'll keep my opening brief and pass it along to fellow cosponsors and colleagues for their final comments. I'll place myself back in the queue to close at the end, but I wanted to just note for the record, the addition of councilor Sorry, councilor Morillo was a scrivener's error not being on as a co-sponsor on the online version before. She has been a co-sponsor for a while. And then I also wanted to note councilor Pirtle-guiney being added as a co-sponsor, and I think recognition of the work in the amendment we passed last time we brought this up. Today, we will be taking a final vote on important legislation that has been corrected, has been amended, has been revised. It's been coming through several steps and as a result has come a long way. And I think it reflects the spirit of collaboration that we have said we want to embody and that we've embodied earlier today as well, while also responding to calls from the community for action. So I just wanted to start by saying thanks to all my colleagues for staying engaged through this public process and for thoughtful and certainly robust discussion along the way. Thanks.
341 Thank you. Councilor Kanal. Councilor.
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342 Novick. Thank you, mr. President. I just wanted to thank councilor Kanal for working with councilor, pirtle-guiney and me and probably others to answer questions and take suggestions, work through confusion. It's been a really good process and I really appreciate it. It's gotten to us a place where we have something that isn't what any of us would have written ourselves alone, but something we can all support. Just a couple of public expectation things. I do want to make sure that people know that this is not going to result in Portland police physically tearing masks from people from ice agents faces, but it hopefully will result in them documenting instances where there's violations of the law and there's a provision in the law that allows for a law for us to compel compliance through a lawsuit. And speaking of lawsuits, I need to say again that I think there's a high likelihood that this will be struck down in court because of the ninth circuit decision on the same topic in california. But we do have strong legal arguments, and it's an important cause. So I think it's worth taking a chance that we might prevail.
343 Thank you. Councilor Novick vice president Clark.
344 Thank you, council president councilor Novick said something that really resonates with me and that is public expectations. And I'm really concerned that we have raised public expectations about what we can do and not do. I think we may be doing a disservice to the public by creating those expectations. I would really appreciate the opportunity to have chief bob day come up and if he's available, and talk to us a little bit more about what
345 This really can and can't do or what? And I would also like to ask the sponsors to really clarify, what do you think this really does?
346 What point of order? This is the second reading. We've gone over this during the first reading. We've already heard from chief day. Numerous times we have outlined what the ordinance does. Councilor Kanal has repeatedly stated that this does not mean our police are going to magically arrest ice agents and rip the masks off their faces.
347 So what's the point of order here?
348 The point of order is can we move on to our business?
349 I.
350 I don't find that to be a point of order.
351 I think I'm I'm asking for more clarification again about what this really can do and can't do and what the expectations are for the sponsors. What does this really going to do? I think we've raised the expectations on the public. So aye, Morillo, and I don't think it's legitimate. It really concerns me that we're not going to be able to do the kinds of things that people think we can do with this. It seems very symbolic to me, and I know that we all received a letter from chief day. I don't know if council president, if you mind, actually asking chief day to come up and maybe talk a little bit about help me understand what's really going on here. Is that possible? Do you mind coming up, chief?
352 Take him up.
353 I just I really think we've raised expectations among the public that our unreal unrealizable.
354 We. Good afternoon. Thank you. Council president, vice president, councilors. City administrator. Lee. For the record, I'm bob day, chief of police. With me is deputy chief brian hughes. Appreciate the moment just to be able to respond. You all did receive my document. I want to be clear on a couple of things. One is that we are in agreement on intent. The should not be taken away from anyone on the dais or dais or listening that the Portland police bureau is opposed to identification of police officers and has been testified to many times. The police bureau policy regarding our own identification has been the gold standard that's been looked upon statewide and is really what the house bill was built upon, and we've made several efforts in the last 18 months to distinguish ourselves from the federal law enforcement, including multilingual videos and ongoing outreach, and frequently asked questions pages and doing many things that I believe has really allowed for our constituents in our community members to understand who we are and what we represent and how we do business. We're also guided by state law, which requires the identification of a local law enforcement officer within 14 days. So even if I were to operate today with a mask and no badge and. Et cetera, but somebody were to ask, who is that? We would be mandated by state law to provide that information within 14 days. And we do that. I have asked in my letter for the clear understanding. I appreciate already councilor Novick has addressed one of the primary concerns I have. But in our position in reviewing this is I do not anticipate there to be significant change, both in the behavior of Portland officers and what we've been doing for the last 18 months and what we will be doing going forward. And it certainly is not going to change anything on the behalf of the federal law enforcement, because it's been made abundantly clear that we cannot correct that or change that behavior. So the ordinance has been asked to me several times. If it doesn't change anything, then does it matter if it's codified or not? And for me, it doesn't because we're going to continue doing business the same way. Whether this language stays or whether this passes or whether it doesn't, we do all these investigations based upon reasonable suspicion, based upon probable cause. The context of preliminary investigation is essentially early on investigation that we do, and we have been doing for the last 18 months to the course of maybe over a dozen times, where we've been called to look at incidents or review incidents that may or may not involve federal law enforcement. So we already have a policy in place that requires our officers to respond, requires them to do investigation, requires them to document them. So I am just concerned that people would walk out of here and think that there's going to be some sort of dramatic change in police response as it relates to the federal. And I want to be clear on the record that that's not the case. The other piece, the other two pieces around the bargaining. I've heard council pirtle-guiney address this, but we are bargaining now currently with the pba contract and several issues identified that are part of bargaining. I don't believe that every single time that council or the state wants to act, that that's a subject of bargaining. But there are aspects of this that I do believe have a safety component that are. And I would just ask that we initiate the bargaining process as soon as possible with labor to demonstrate a commitment to the cba. And then finally, the changes that will occur. I would like you to be sensitive to the fact that this is going to add an administrative burden to the police bureau. This is going to require us to develop a policy. It's going to require us to train to that policy. It's going to require the documentation for the granting of the exceptions. These are all additional tasks, and they may seem small or insignificant, but they do add to an already workload that's already substantial. So there I'm sure there will be a great deal of clarification needed after the ordinance if it is adopted, because we will want to make sure that we're meeting the expectations of councilor and so forth. But I think there's a path forward. I think continuing to work on house bill 4038 together, working on the existing policy that we're putting together for that, and working with many of our immigrant groups that we have been doing for the last several months, is the path forward. But primarily, I see this as a language that does not have a direct impact on the actual behavior of federal officers or Portland officers, primarily the new administrative burden placed upon us around identification and reporting.
355 So thank you for that, chief. I, I think you answered my question, but I'm not sure. Just let me ask one more time. If we just adopted the state law. 4138 as opposed to this, what is the difference? What are we doing differently under this?
356 Primarily, what we're doing differently under this is the imposition or the the additional requirements you're placing on the Portland police bureau. Okay. That's that's the primary change that's happening, is the additional requirements that you're placing upon the Portland police bureau and potentially placing upon our partners who may want to come from other state agencies. Once again, remembering we can't do anything to affect the federal behavior. So all of this is a local context. And a concern that I have would be that, as you know, local agencies, that we've worked really hard to establish our memorandums of agreement with and so forth as they come into the city, you know, they're going to be expected to abide by these same expectations that are being placed on the police bureau, which the ultimate irony of this whole conversation is, five years ago, we were disciplining officers for not wearing a mask. And now for, you know, now we're going to tell them we're disciplining them if they didn't wear a mask, and now we're going to tell them we're going to discipline them if they do wear a mask. So there are a lot of exceptions built in. And we will be working through those exceptions. And I appreciate the efforts that have been made to try and find a way to to meet those. But at the end of the day, it's the impact of this has to do with the impact on the Portland police bureau. It does not have context in the larger in the larger space.
357 Thank you for that, chief day. I appreciate trying to delineate what the real differences are between the state law and this ordinances. Colleagues, I think it's really speaking of irony. It's difficult for me to think about this in terms of the added burden, because we're in the process of cutting the public safety budget, cutting the training budget, cutting the p3s. So I don't know how this work is going to be done when we can't even guarantee a reasonable response to 911. So I think we've got a little bit of a disconnect here that really concerns me. But thank you, chief, for helping to clarify the difference between just adopting the state law as it is, maybe tweaking it later and adopting this ordinance, which creates a whole nother burden on the on the police without any real impact. Thank you.
358 Thank you, vice president Clark councilor Pirtle-guiney.
359 Thank you, council president colleagues, I know we've heard some of this already from councilor Novick and councilor Clark, but I want to say a few things about what this ordinance does and doesn't do, and why I still find it to be important to pass. This ordinance does not give the city of Portland the authority to control or direct federal law enforcement. It will not get ice out of Portland. It will not stop the terror that they are inflicting on our communities. And barring a miracle in the cards, it will not in the courts. Excuse me. It will not allow us to unmask federal agents. It will also take time to implement, because there will have to be a rulemaking process. And because parts of this ordinance do impact working conditions and safety, which means that implementation will be bargained. I don't say any of this lightly. I don't say I am looking for a miracle in the courts because that's where I want to be standing. But I think that we need to be honest with portlanders about what this does and doesn't do. And I think we need to be honest about what our intent is. If we do think this will go before the courts. And colleagues, I say this to all of you, not to our constituents. I think it is incredibly irresponsible when we either personally or through not correcting our surrogates, allow misinformation to be spread about the work that we're doing. It's irresponsible because it sets expectations that we know our city cannot meet, and it's irresponsible because it sets an expectation that will be turned to in the courts. That might make it harder for us to prevail and get that miracle. Despite my concerns there. I am excited to be supportive today. When this first came forward, I had some serious concerns about not only what was being said about it, but also some of the structure. And I also ran for office saying I would be a pragmatic progressive. And that means sitting down and doing the hard work of figuring out how to make policies like this workable and councilor Kanal. I know we sometimes have our disagreements, but I appreciate that you took the time to sit down with me and talk through those structural concerns and figure out how we could make this an ordinance that we both felt would achieve the goals portlanders were asking for. Respond to the call from community for action, and also be implementable on the ground. I think we've gotten there, and I want to say a huge thank you to both of our staff, who took even more time than we did to make sure that we got the language right. While this ordinance does not do the things I mentioned before, it does a few really important things that I think are worth our support. Even if we are hearing from the chief that much of what is in this ordinance is how our police operate. Even if we hear from other cities that Portland has the standard in the state for how we should be operating. If community does not know that we're not building trust, and this ordinance ensures that we are all on the same page about what to expect in our city, it adds important clarity on how we deal with people who cannot be identified, at least on initial glance, to make sure that portlanders know what our police officers will do, and that police officers have a laid out order of what the work looks like. And it pushes our police to do a little further investigation to make sure that those calls are made every time, not just most of the time that we're logging and reporting the details. And critically, what this does is it creates that reporting requirement, which our community partners have said repeatedly will give them records through public records, requests that can be used in court cases. We are fighting in the courts. We are fighting in the courts over and over again against the federal administration, and we need the data to do so. These are tools that we're passing today. They don't end the terror that the trump administration has brought forward, but they give us tools in the fight. Portland has never been a city that sits back and waits for others to act. We are a city that pushes. We are a city that says, what tools do we have and how do we get ourselves more tools? And I think this does that. I think this allows us to be clear about our high standards, to continue to try to do repair work and build trust between portlanders and our police officers who serve us, and to make sure that we have the tools in place that our city and our partners can fight against the encroaching authoritarianism and overreach of federal law enforcement that we know we all want to push back against. I am supporting this ordinance with some reservations about the expectations being too high, but also with hope that those increased tools allow us to continue to do the hard work that we have been doing together as a council, and I hope that others are able to join me in supporting today. Thank you, council president.
360 Thank you, councilor Pirtle-guiney councilor Green.
361 Thank you, council president. I got in the queue because I was hoping to motion to limit debate to those in the queue, because it is. 11254 and we I would love to have an opportunity to have a first reading on my item.
362 Okay. I will limit debate to those who are in the queue right now. So councilor Clark will be our last on this item. Thank you, councilor Green, councilor Smith.
363 Thank you, council president, I just want to go back to our first reading. Is robert taylor here. Thank you. Could you come to the dice, please? My colleagues have failed to to bring up something important that you said, and I want to make sure that I have it right. The last time that we talked about this, the first time that we heard it, you said that this ordinance is unconstitutional. Is that still the case? Is that still your opinion?
364 Thank you. For the record. Robert taylor, city attorney. According to current ninth circuit precedent, the city cannot regulate the federal government's identification or masking requirements. So that portion of this likely would be unconstitutional.
365 And that's binding.
366 It would be binding. That decision by the ninth circuit would be binding on us. So that portion of the ordinance would be unconstitutional. Ordinance also has a severability clause. So that portion would be struck and the rest of it would remain in place.
367 Okay, great. I, I will not be supporting this. If, if our opinion from our attorneys are saying that this is a binding opinion from california, we should take heed to that. And I know that many of you. Councilor. Pirtle-guiney. I have a lot of respect for you and I support your opinion. I know we move forward and we. And we push a little, but we also have to understand where boundaries are. And I am still. I have not been moved by the testimony. I have not been moved by the co-sponsors to do anything different other than if this is unconstitutional. We should not be supportive of this amendment. Thank you.
368 Thank you, councilor Smith. Councilor Novick.
369 Thank you, mr. President. On the issue of constitutionality, the state, when it passed its law, thought we had a strong they had strong legal arguments that it was constitutional. The state of california, when it's passed a similar law, thought they had strong legal arguments, was unconstitutional, and so do we, because there was this unanimous bipartisan decision by a three judge panel of the court of appeals, it seems highly unlikely that that decision will be reversed. But it is barely conceivable that if the issue goes to a larger panel of the court of appeals, it could be reversed. So we are kind of hoping for a miracle. I do want to note, in response to councilor Clark's question that our ordinance is different from the state ordinance, the state's ordinance, through what I believe was an oversight, effectively exempted ice from the identification requirement because it said that it only applied to people involved in criminal law enforcement and isis, primarily civil law enforcement. So our ordinance, if it does survive legal challenge, actually does apply the identification requirements to ice, whereas the states did not. The state also its enforcement mechanism was simply citizen suits. An ordinance specifically authorizes the mayor on the part of the city to bring suit against an agency that's violating the law. So there is a there is a substantive difference if the ordinance or the state's ordinance for that matter, happened to survive judicial scrutiny.
370 Thank you, councilor Novick councilor Ryan.
371 Thank you, council president. First, thanks for everybody that's been showing up to testify. It's been helpful. And I really appreciated, councilor Clark, that you did bring up the chief to have some more dialog. We listened to the testimony, but we didn't really have a lot of chance to do the this type of dialog that we're doing right now. Ditto to you, councilor Smith, on your stand on this. This legislation will put us in a place where we are overpromising and under-delivering. It places our police in a no win situation, just as half this council are comfortable defunding the police with cuts to training and the ps three who are focused on primarily on property crime. Yet we want to pass something and gamble with taxpayers money at horrific odds. 1 in 1,000,000 shot. This is big hat, no cattle and I won't be supporting it. Thanks.
372 Thank you, councilor Ryan, councilor Zimmerman.
373 First, thanks to the city administrator and the chief, I asked last time, given the amendments that you weigh in and you both have done that. So I do want to say thank you for that. It does help. I wasn't sure what the outcome of the amendments that councilor Pirtle-guiney had worked on was going to be, and so that was helpful. You know, the impersonation laws that exist on the books have allowed, I think, Portland police to do a good job at those who break that law. The. Gold standard, as was discussed to us by representative willie johnson when he appeared here months ago and talked about this when they passed house bill 4138 was the reason why I wrote an ordinance that I offered up behind the scenes that if, if, if this was going to go too far or not be seen as constitutional, that we let the state take the lead on that part and we just enact what is state law, which is we have to do. 4138 I still think that was the right thing to do. I think it remains the right thing to do. Constitutional questions, labor law questions, those were pretty important in my decision here. But what I'm most disappointed about is what some folks have alluded to is this this lie that's been told to the public that somehow Portland police are going to be snatching masks off of federal officers. And I think it's very clear with the chief of police and others that one, that remains a thing that would be illegal for the city of Portland to do to them, and isn't something that will happen. And I'm sorry that that misperception has grown so much as this went forward, because 41, 38 was designed to be a good, good step forward, a good promise to Oregonians across and Portland could have been a teammate in all of that. So I'm upset by that. But I at this point am you know, I think that there was a reason why that has remained in this in this in the ether, if you will. With the way that the sponsors have put things forward. That's that remains deeply concerning. But for all the reasons that councilor Pirtle-guiney laid out, I think those are all the reasons why a no vote on going further than 4138 is the right thing today. I think that what she laid out, when you have questions of constitutionality, questions of labor law, question of perception for your public. I'm not in the business of lying to my public. And I think that this will further that in an unfortunate manner. So I also will be a no vote today moving forward. Thank you. I hope that others will consider that so that we can work on a house bill 4138 compliant ordinance, as is available as soon as this body is ready for it.
374 Thank you, councilor Zimmerman.
375 Councilor Kanal. Thank you. Colleagues. Community today is the culmination of nine months of outreach, listening, collaboration and workshopping with community public safety leaders, state legislators, including the prime sponsor of house bill 4138, who came in support of this, and attorneys and many of you here in the room, also, the tireless result of tireless advocacy from portlanders who believe that we should be a city that holds true to its values and stands up for our immigrant, refugee, and latino communities. Portlanders have been asking us to do something, and today we will see if we do. Fundamentally, this has always been about a single, simple premise. You have a right to know who's policing you. I said throughout this process that when it comes to the federal government, there's a lot we can't do. But everything we can do, we must do. I believe we've arrived at a piece of legislation that does the most it can to protect portlanders within the limits of federal law. We cannot forcibly unmask it, but we do get to decide what we want our laws to be. And I want to thank my co-sponsors, councilor Morillo and councilor Pirtle-guiney, for their willingness to roll up their sleeves and spend countless hours working through code, laws, constitution and public safety practices to thread the needle on legislation that is both meaningful and implementable. I know other colleagues have also been involved in that, such as councilor, Novick, and I want to thank everyone who shared testimony and reached out to our office in support. Hundreds of people shared stories of why this means so much to you, from parishioners to afraid to attend church services to individuals who filed restraining orders, worried about how easy it would be for their abuser to put on a mask and harm them to the need to protect the integrity of law enforcement's role. The common sense masking policy and minimum identification standards we're voting on today are a step towards greater transparency and accountability, without which there is no true public safety. Verification and documentation policies will help combat the increasing threat posed by imposters, and help us understand who's operating in our city and where. And the injunctive relief provision offers a pathway for pursuing enforcement when our masking and identification policies aren't followed. I want to take the opportunity to speak directly to the conversation with relation to the letter from chief Dan. I want to thank chief dave for taking the time to write that as well to adc hughes for his time, which he's put in a lot of, to provide several rounds of feedback. What I appreciate the most about that letter is that it was clear about what the needs were, and there were three specific asks in it. First, establish a clear understanding between your offices and the public that this ordinance cannot and will not unmask ice agents. Councilor Novick already spoke to this so-so of some others, but since I'm the primary sponsor, let me say this clearly this ordinance cannot and will not unmask ice agents. Second, acknowledge and initiate the bargaining process. I absolutely have acknowledged the bargaining process. It's been written into both the ordinance and the code, that any portion which has a bargaining component needs to be bargained before it can be implemented. As a councilor, I personally can't initiate the bargaining process, but I joined the chief and other councilors in asking the administration, cully and his team to do so. Third, worked with the PPB to reduce operational inefficiency and the administrative burden of this legislation. Mayor certainly has a role in this administration as well, but on the council side, I remain as committed as always to our role in reducing operational and efficiency. And as we think of specific administrative burdens, we can help to alleviate. I'd love to be supportive and helping, and I might disagree with other components of the letter and other opinions that people have on this, but I think these specific asks are very fair. One other thing on this, and this isn't from the letter, but from the conversation that came from it, this ordinance cannot both be something that does not significantly change police activity and procedure on the one hand, and on the other hand, pose a significant change to response times, which is a valid concern that has been brought up by councilors who unfortunately voted no on amendments to assist with getting those police staffing cuts from the mayor filled, and I'm disappointed by those votes, but either of those can be true. They both can't be true. And just this week, a noticias telemundo investigation, which you can look up, it's on nbc news as fake ice agents terrorize immigrants amid trump's crackdown, told the harrowing stories of a few of the people who've been harmed by law enforcement impersonators since the current federal administration took over a man whose forehead was split open by the butt of a gun, a woman beaten and raped after leading him, leaving a medical appointment, imposters pointing a gun at an infant as they robbed the baby's parents. Many of our community members are terrified that something like this could happen to them, and with this vote, we can show them that they are not alone, that their city has their backs, and that secret police have no place in a democracy. I encourage you to stand with those portlanders colleagues and help build trust in local law enforcement by voting I. Thanks.
376 Thank you. Councilor Kanal councilor Clark. Last word, vice president Clark.
377 Thank you, council president. I'm going to speak from my heart here to all the people that are in the audience. I believe you have the highest motivation and I share that with you. We desperately need change at the federal level. No question. There's no question that we all oppose federal overreach. We're all on the same team. And I'm very concerned about encroaching fascism. I think, as you are to most of the people in this audience, I'm sure. But I cannot in good conscience vote for something that does really not make a difference, but maybe make people feel good. I think that we need to, if we're really going to do this, the folks that are voting for it need to be willing to restore the cuts that have been made in the public safety budget, that are going to make it more difficult for our, our, our friends and public safety to protect us. There's a real disconnect here. But I want to I want you to know that I appreciate you. I appreciate what you've tried to do. I don't think it will make a difference. And I think we're doing you a disservice. So with that, I am going to vote no.
378 Thank you. Vice president Clark keelan, can we please call the roll this item?
379 Kanal.
380 I.
381 Pirtle-guiney I.
382 Ryan no.
383 Koyama Lane good work colleagues. I'm proud to vote aye.
384 Novick.
385 I.
386 Did you oh, I'm sorry sorry, sorry. I was like, wait a minute. Aye, Morillo I thank you thank you. Novick I Clark. No Green. I Zimmerman. No Avalos.
387 Great work.
388 I.
389 Smith no.
390 Dunphy I.
391 The ordinance passes with a vote of eight eyes and four noes.
392 Congratulations. All in bold. Can we please move to item 15?
393 2026-147 amend arts tax code to provide tax relief. Promote sustainability of arts access fund. Define define critical terms and respond to community and audit recommendations. Amend code chapter 6.10.
394 Thank you colleagues. This is the second reading of a nonemergency ordinance. Is there further council discussion? Councilor Smith, is that a legacy.
395 A legacy?
396 I'm sorry. Thank you. Any further discussion of this item? Seeing no one in the queue, can we please call the roll Kanal.
397 Aye, Morillo pirtle-guiney. I. Ryan. No.
398 Koyama Lane really grateful for your leadership, council president. Proud to vote.
399 I Morillo.
400 Appreciate this improvement.
401 I Novick. No Clark. No Green. I Zimmerman. No. Avalos.
402 Smith. No.
403 Dunphy I.
404 The ordinance passes with a vote of seven eyes and five noes.
405 Thank you, thank you. Colleagues, can we please call item number 16?
406 Document 2026-149. Add code to prohibit the sale or provision of certain force fed poultry products at code. Chapter 17.110.
407 Colleagues. This is amazingly still the first reading of this ordinance, which was first heard in the former arts and economy committee on January 27th of this year. I want to thank councilor Green for his grace and patience as this item has been postponed repeatedly to make time to make space for time sensitive legislation, most recently waiting a full month between public testimony and the completion of this first reading. This item. That delay was triggered by councilor Green's choice to pause this item specifically to ensure that the Portland children's levy testimony could be heard. So I hope that that does not go unnoticed. Councilor Green, would you like to reorient us to this to this ordinance, and then we can enter debate in the queue?
408 Yeah. Thank you so much, council president, and thanks for acknowledging the willingness of my office to prioritize other things ahead of this. And I just hope folks are paying attention to that. So, colleagues, what this does, we first talked about this in the arts and economy committee. This ordinance would prohibit the sale or provision of force fed poultry products, aka things like foie gras in the city of Portland. It also covers foods where force fed product is an ingredient. The key piece here is that it doesn't sort of require the bureau to go out and actively inspect and make sure that there's compliance, but rather this is sort of a complaint rate, complaint driven system where the ordinance creates a rebuttable presumption that any item advertiser represented as far gore is a force fed product. So if you if you have foie gras on your menu, there's a presumption that you're you're feeding. You have an ingredient that doesn't comply with the ordinance. And it can only be rebutted by documentary documentary evidence showing that the product is not force fed. It also does not ban. Gras products that might be non force fed. There are some specific cases where you can produce foie gras without force feeding poultry. So that's the basic contours of what the ordinance does. I just want to know that the community you see, you've seen in these chambers many times, this has been something that they've been looking for this body to take up for a long period of time. And it's not just when we started in city hall. It is it is something that goes back many, many years. And I want to thank the advocates for being dogged in this. And I'm happy to be your champion on this. So, colleagues, I hope that we can have a good conversation around this, and I hope to have your support for the ordinance. And I also noticed that there's been an amendment that's been filed. So, councilor Clark, do you want to speak to your amendment?
409 Councilor Clark, vice president Clark.
410 Thank you.
411 Thank you, councilor.
412 Councilor Green and council president. I do have an amendment. I think it's filed. Everybody should have seen it. Basically, it would change the effective date of the ordinance to July 1st, 2027. And I'm asking for your support for this for a variety of reasons. I think, you know, we do have a minority of restaurants, just a handful in Portland that do serve foie gras and that actually have a reputation for that service. They're known probably internationally, but if this thing passes today without this amendment, it's going to be very difficult for them to rapidly change their way of doing business, their marketing strategy. They need to develop a whole new, different kind of menu. There are some restaurants that that focus on foie gras. So this really definitely impacts their ability to do business. So I'm asking you to consider giving them additional time to change their menu to draw down on their inventory, to come up with a different marketing strategy. You know, we're already penalizing restaurants that have put us on the map that has helped, helped us through difficult times, have brought people here from all over the world to eat at our restaurants. So we're already penalizing them. I'm just asking you to give them more time to adapt to this new world order. Should should the underlying ordinance pass?
413 Thank you. And so are you formally moving your.
414 Please. I would like to move my amendment.
415 Okay. Clark Clark one and councilor Smith seconds colleagues discussion to the amendment. Councilor Smith.
416 I think this is so important. Thank you. Council president and councilor Clark, I appreciate you because as a small business owner to previous to this, having an unfunded mandate put upon you as a business owner, this. This gives them the kind of time that they need to to recoup. And I support you in this effort. And I think it's so important to remember that. These are small businesses. They're the ones who, who pay the blt, which also helped to pay some of those things that, that we, that we like in support in our city budget. So I will be supporting you. Thank you.
417 Thank you, councilor Smith. Councilor Green.
418 Yes, this is to the amendment. I appreciated our brief phone call this morning. And thank you for motivating your reasons for this. You know, I I'll say at the outset that I'm not comfortable waiting a year, but I am interested in the spirit of compromise. I am interested in having a conversation about whether we can meet in the middle on this. I'm. I am compelled by the idea that perhaps 60 days effective upon the. Passed. The effective date of the ordinance might be a bit of a tight timeline to change menus and to sort of do different marketing strategy. And so I would move to amend your amendment by just replacing, let's see here, just replacing it to six months so that the effect I think that's January 1st, 2027. We. I think it's better to say 120 days since the effective date of the of the amendment.
419 Would you consider a compromise of eight months? No. Okay.
420 No, no, I think six months. Okay. Is is about as far as I can go.
421 I don't consider that a friendly amendment.
422 Well, there's no friendly amendments.
423 No, not a thing. Okay. Okay. So councilor Green has moved to amend the amendment to read six months. And councilor Kanal has seconded. Councilor Novick.
424 First of all, I should just say that I was hoping you'd say yes to eight months. I'm not sure where I am in six months, but I actually, when I first saw councilor Clark's amendment, my reaction was don't restaurants change their menus every week? But I looked at the menu for le pigeon and actually two of the seven items on their non-vegetarian menu are foie gras. It is a significant part of their business. And I was just wondering, is andrew fortgang from pigeon here today? Yeah. Would it be okay if he came up and just sort of described the significance of foie gras to his menu, and whether he thinks the additional time would make any difference?
425 I'd be happy to, but I will just note we have 13 minutes left today, so come on up, andy.
426 Question or.
427 Yeah, yeah. The question is, you know, what, why and how would having additional time make a difference to adjust if this does pass?
428 Well, kind of as, as you put forward, we're, you know, we have the vegetarian menu and then we have our omnivore menu. There's there are two foie gras items. We've had those for a long time. We're celebrating our 20th anniversary in district three, I guess since there's been a district three, but we've been there for 20 years and this has been a part of what we've done. So 60 days is incredibly short. And I feel strongly that this whole conversation is silly, that we're even talking about this ban. And I'd like the opportunity to talk a little bit more about that. But a year would really give us the time to to make changes that, you know, it's not realistic for us to change how we're known. We're known nationally, we're known internationally. People come to the city to eat at a restaurant. And we're here. Come on. 60 days is absurd that we're that it's even a thing is absurd. I'm sorry that I'm getting upset. And if I can, once you've discussed the amendments, I'd like to speak for 60 to 90s.
429 Does it mean you say 60 days is absurd? Would it really make a difference for you, whether it was six months or eight months or a year? I mean.
430 I mean a year. Yeah, a year would be great. Time goes fast, seasons go fast. Okay. We have employees, we have staff. We have, you know, we have plans. We have people who have made plans to come here to eat at our restaurant. So it does make sense.
431 Do people book?
432 We take bookings up to 90 days ahead.
433 Okay. Thank you.
434 Thank you. Councilor. Novick. Councilor. Ryan.
435 Yeah, I'm glad you're up here. Andy. Thanks. So you mentioned the amendment to me on the way in this morning, and I was confused, of course, because I was hoping we could vote this down in general. But you've been in touch with restaurateurs, hence andy. He made it really clear that a year was something that if forced to live with this new policy, that would be helpful. Correct. And so we just established that right now. Okay. I just want to thank you, councilor Clark, for being the person on the former committee who reached out to all the restaurants that this is impacting. When we make decisions up here, the first people we should talk to are those being most impacted by legislation, and they all made it really clear this would be harmful to them. Congratulations on 20 years, by the way. That's amazing. Not too many restaurants can ever say that. And anyway, I, I will support the one year and remain a big no on the overarching thanks.
436 Thank you, councilor Ryan. Councilor Zimmerman.
437 I thought that this year amendment would be easy. I mean, it just seems like such a simple, meaningful change to this that I'm actually amazed that this has now become something that doesn't a quick pass through. So I'm pretty disheartened by that. I thought that that would make this workable, and I'm sorry that it seems like it may be more controversial than makes any reasonable sense to me. So I, I think this feels like. The city almost punching down or bullying in a way. So councilor Clark, I 100% support your amendment.
438 Thank you, councilor Zimmerman.
439 Councilor Kanal thank you, council president. I guess my my question for I guess I was originally going to direct it to just councilor Clark, but I guess I'd add in councilor Zimmerman as well. Based on that comment. I just want to understand workable in this context, are you saying that if this were to go a year out, you'd be voting in favor of the underlying ordinance? Okay, no.
440 So what's the point?
441 Yep. Thanks.
442 Thank you. Councilor Kanal councilor.
443 Is not punishing businesses. That is the point.
444 Councilor Novick, I'm sorry, councilor Greene, is that a legacy hand?
445 No.
446 It's not okay, I apologize, councilor Green.
447 I just wanted to say in response to councilor Kanal question that although councilor Clark would not be voting against the ordinance, I'm voting for the underlying ordinance. Regardless of the extension, I would.
448 Councilor greene.
Procedural episode · turns 449–457
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449 I think that when you talk about compromise, oftentimes it's a negotiation. So my initial position was 60 days on this ordinance. Then I saw an amendment that says, what about a year out? Now, I already know that councilor Clark's going to be a no on the underlying. But if the if the intention here is to change this for the sake of making this more palatable for a broader set of councilors than going halfway, seems like the definition of compromise. Six months is halfway between the two. I don't think you can hold inventories on, fog off for longer than a couple of weeks at a time. Okay, well, that's all right. Six months is plenty of time. Six months is plenty of time. And, you know, two things can't be true at once. I've heard that that this is a waste of time because it's such an insignificant share of the restaurant scene in Portland. But that also banning fog of will fundamentally destroy the restaurant scene in Portland. Those two things cannot be true. At the same time.
450 The argument that the other that you're making on the other side.
451 Sir, you're not recognized right now. And so I hope to have your support on the amendment to the amendment, and I hope we can move forward on this discussion.
452 Thank you, councilor Green. Councilor Morillo.
453 That's really generous. Councilor greene, I'm not going to be supporting the amendment to the amendment now because of the behavior that I've seen up here. When we're being told to compromise constantly. This council has supported small businesses. We supported it a lot through the amendment process. And yes, even the socialist voted in favor of amendments to support small businesses. Crazy as it may seem. So I will not be supporting an amendment to whittle this away any further. This is a very simple policy. I think that you have a fantastic restaurant. I think it's going to continue to succeed. I think six months is generous, so that was plenty of time to make those changes. And this is very simple and and very simple. Things get dragged out by this body quite a lot. So. I it's also just funny, like the, the decorum things who gets to have outbursts about what and when and how councilor Zimmerman looking at you. So I will be for sure voting in favor of this and just making sure that it passes. Thanks.
454 Amendment okay. Six minutes.
455 Okay. Seeing councilor Novick. Is that a yeah.
456 Actually, this is just an appeal to councilor Green, recognizing that there's not really a lot of science to this. I just really would feel more comfortable with eight months and with six. So is there any chance that you will be willing to reconsider that?
457 Just based on vibes?
458 Sorry.
459 No.
460 All right. Not at this moment.
461 Okay. Thank you, councilor Novick seeing no one else in the queue, can we please call the roll on the Green amendment to the clerk amendment?
462 Can you please restate what that is? That is just changing it to six months, correct?
463 Yes. This the Green amendment to the clerk amendment would reduce it to a six month timeline rather than a 12 month timeline.
464 And then sorry, just to clarify, are we saying six months or are we saying January 1st, 2027?
465 I'll clarify my intent. The original language had a relative date marker. So 60 days after passage of the effective date of the ordinance, councilor Clark's put a date. That was a year out. My intent would be to just change it from 60 days to 120 days. Yeah.
466 180 days.
467 I'm sorry, 180 days. Thank you. 180 days.
468 So to be clear, the amendment is for January 2027.
469 No, it's 100 and 180 days after approval by this body.
470 Okay.
471 After approval or effective date, or is there a difference between them?
472 Yeah. Effective date.
473 Okay.
474 So just to clarify, this is.
475 This is not currently an emergency ordinance. So if it's 680 days after the effective date, this is the point of information. I apologize that it actually be seven months. Just to clarify from the date of the final vote.
476 There's a 30 day activation after the end of approval of non emergency ordinances. Okay. Can we please call the roll Kanal.
477 I pirtle-guiney.
478 No.
479 Ryan no.
480 Koyama Lane. I aye, Morillo.
481 Because I expect we'll have seven votes with the compromise then yes.
482 Novick.
483 I Clark.
484 I Green. I Zimmerman.
485 No.
486 Avalos I.
487 Smith I.
488 Dunphy I.
489 The motion to amend Clark one is approved with a vote of nine eyes and three noes.
490 Do we now take a vote on the underlying amendment, the now amended Clark one okay. Can we please call the roll on the now amended Clark one.
491 Can you read it?
492 No.
493 And this this is now to have a six months. This is codifying what we just fixed or what we just changed. And Kanal.
494 This overarching. No. No second amendment.
495 This is the we amended.
496 We amended.
497 Councilor clark's amendment, and now we have to vote on the amended amendment. I know, I know, okay, sorry, sorry.
498 Kanal I.
499 Pirtle-guiney.
500 I Ryan.
501 This is for a year.
502 Six months.
503 Six months. It's changing.
504 It's changing it from the current 60 days to 180 days from the effective date. It is changing it from 60 to 1.
505 So it's a little bit of aspirin. Okay, I.
506 Aye, Morillo Morillo. I Novick. I Clark. I Green. I Zimmerman.
507 I.
508 Lewis I.
509 Smith I.
510 Dunphy I.
511 The amendment is approved with a vote of 12 ayes.
512 Okay, colleagues, this is the first reading of a non emergency ordinance. It is 130 and I am moving us to a second reading discussion. Right. That's a good point. You're right. We didn't actually. So I actually have to continue this to a continued first reading because it is 130 and we are at a hard deadline.
513 Andy's here and he just wanted a little bit of time. Can we please give him that?
514 I'd be happy to give andy 60s.
515 Okay.
516 I wrote something out. Just. Okay, hold hold the start time. Thank you for the chance to speak here. I don't want to reiterate too much of what has been covered already in prior council meetings or things that I've said before. This body already briefly, it has been laid out already that the text of the ordinance itself and the supporting documentation is misleading, contains clear inaccuracies and fearmongering half truths. Sadly, to me, that does not seem to be disqualifying for the ordinance. I can't understand how inaccuracies can not be disqualifying for an ordinance, but apparently it is. That's the way it is. As a restaurant, I am deeply concerned that the ordinance, the ordinances, plans to implement the ordinance plans to implement this proposed ban by tattle telling. By partnering with the group that used guerrilla tactics to disrupt and disturb small, independent restaurants, businesses that were operating lawfully, that bullied restaurants, and then that the city looks to reward and empower that bad behavior and not support the restaurant industry. That hurts. And it it really seems wrong to me. Separate, not as a business, but as a citizen. The city I watched last week, the tough choices and discussions over the budget, the hard cuts that had to be made. It makes me slightly incensed, frankly, that this proposed ban will cost the city money in time and money with its implementation. This is the fact that councilor Smith demonstrated in the committee meeting back in January. Further, the city will have to defend this bill in court. That is a completely. Squandering the city's resources to defend this bill with time and money of the city attorney or outsourcing to other attorneys. All of that, when all sides acknowledge that only 6 or 7 businesses even sell foie gras portlanders, the city deserves better than that. The city budget deserves better than that. The city's resources deserve better than that. It just does not feel like responsible governments. It feels like politics. And I urge all of you to think about this vote. What is really best for this city. Thank you.
517 Okay, colleagues, we will have the ability to discuss this at our next meeting, but I am moving this to second reading.
518 And are the animal rights folks in the audience going to get a special time slot as well?
519 We will see when we get to second reading. Thank you.
520 Council president. How do we move to a second reading if we haven't gone through the discussion? Or are you just eliminating that?
521 We will have time for discussion at the second reading. We always have time at second readings.
522 So you're eliminating one half of the time we have for discussion, which is first reading, and then we always have the option during a second reading for council discussion.
523 I am I am moving this one forward. So. And with that we are at 132.
524 I object to the motion by the chair.
525 That's noted with that. Yes.
526 I think they can overrule the decision.
527 Okay, great.
528 Ask for votes in the past on that.
529 Great.
530 Let's councilors, we.
531 Will.
532 Discuss this now. Councilor Kanal.
533 I'm not.
534 In the.
535 Okay. Councilor Zimmerman okay. There is a discussion about whether or not to move this to second reading or continue a first reading. Do we discuss do we vote on this?
Procedural episode · turns 536–544
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536 Was there a second?
537 Yes.
538 Okay, counselor Ryan, seconds.
539 Thank you.
540 I'm sorry. Point of order. Is this just a challenge to the chair's decision to move to second reading? And that's what the vote we are about to take.
541 Yes.
542 This is a non-debatable motion. There has been a second about whether to move this to a continued first reading, or move it to a second reading. Can we.
543 Vote yes? What? And vote no means what.
544 A vote. That's a good question. This is just a standard appeal.
545 I just wanna make sure I understand what I'm voting for. So yes, means that I agree with council president's decision and no means I do not.
546 The opposite. The opposite.
547 If you vote yes, that means that you agree that this should be moving to a first reading and overrule the ruling of the chair.
548 And a vote of no means. I don't want to overrule the chair's decision. Correct? Yeah.
549 Thank you, thank you.
550 Okay. Move to a vote, please.
551 Point of information. What happens with did we already have public testimony on this? And I didn't notice it? Did nobody sign up?
552 Public testimony happened a month ago.
553 Okay. Thank you. It's been a while ago.
554 Only 70 or so, 80 something. Okay.
555 Saying the opposite.
556 Everybody hold on a second. I'd like to verify we've got conflicting information in my chat here about whether a yes upholds the vote of the chair or upholds the motion.
557 On the floor.
558 Saying the opposite. So why don't we go with robert? So the opposite, yes, will uphold the ruling of the chair and a no would support zimmerman's moving, keeping it as a first reading.
559 Just switched it.
560 Just going to switch it. A yes is to vote for me and I know is to vote for Zimmerman. Let's take the roll, please.
561 I don't know that I don't love that.
562 That's the official city attorney's ruling because that doesn't make sense to me.
563 This is.
564 What.
565 If robert.
566 Councilor Zimmerman is saying that he does not agree with your decision, then he's trying to overrule your decision. So me voting no would mean that I want to keep the decision right.
567 You're at this point, I'm just going to just say, because as long as we all know what we're voting on, I have made a ruling. It has been challenged. If you agree with that ruling, vote yes. If you disagree with that ruling, vote no. Okay. Thank you. Call the roll, please.
568 No. Oh, sorry. No.
569 Yes.
570 Pirtle-guiney.
571 I have questions about this still and because this is not a debatable motion, I wasn't even able to ask if I could ask those questions if we move to second reading. So I'm sorry, council president, but I have to be a no right now.
572 Ryan.
573 No.
574 Koyama Lane.
575 I think she has dropped off.
576 Absent Morillo.
577 We had over 70 people testify. That is extensive public process. Let's get it done.
578 I Novick.
579 Yes.
580 Clerk no.
581 Green yes.
582 Zimmerman.
583 No.
584 Avalos.
585 Yes.
586 Smith.
587 No.
588 Dunfee.
589 Yes.
590 The motion carries with a vote no. Sorry. The motion fails with a vote of six ayes and six noes.
591 Okay. This item will be moved at continued as.
592 Is it five nos and one absent six.
593 It's six.
594 Sorry, sorry. My my fault. Six eyes, five no's, one absent.
595 Okay, we're moving to first reading and we are second. Nope. We're moving to first. We're moving this to a continued first reading of this item because the appeal, the chair was not upheld.
596 So is there anyone in the queue right now?
597 No.
598 We are.
599 The chair.
600 Oh, right.
601 If the appeal.
602 Of the chair was not.
603 Upheld.
604 Then the appeal of the chair failed, which means the chair.
605 Is recalled. The appeal. If that's not. The case.
606 Okay.
607 Yeah. Hold on. Yeah.
608 Appreciate everybody sticking with us at home.
609 So yeah. So the appeal of the chair stand or no, no, the chair's ruling stands. The appeal was failed.
610 The appeal failed, which means the chair ruling of the chair has stood, which means this item is moving to second reading. And we are adjourned. Thank you.
611 Which means it should have been a no no.
612 Yes.
613 She's like, that's right.