The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-10-21
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Session summaryEditor-reviewed
A Portland City Council work session convened on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at 9:02 a.m., held during the Arts and Economy Committee's regular time to allow the full Council to review nominees for Community Leadership Committees (CLCs) tied to three new East Portland tax increment finance (TIF) districts: 82nd Avenue, Sumner-Parkrose-Terrace-Columbia Corridor (SPACE), and East 205. Presentations from Prosper Portland and Portland Housing Bureau staff described the multi-year community exploration process, governance charters, recruitment methods, and application statistics, though figures on administrative cost percentages within funding allocations were stated inconsistently and prompted requests for further clarification. Community members who participated in the earlier exploration process spoke about that history. Panels of nominees—appearing in person and remotely—introduced themselves across ten rounds, describing professional backgrounds, community ties, and priorities such as housing stability, small business support, anti-displacement, and infrastructure. Limited questions were posed to individual applicants. Written testimony summarized by staff reflected one comment supportive of an East 205 appointee. No votes occurred during this work session; formal consideration of the nominees was noted as scheduled for the October 29 Council meeting, with outcomes to be recorded in the vote ledger at that time.
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Procedural markers in this session
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0 But my mom is like it's her religion.
1 Good morning. I am calling to order a work session of the Portland city council. It is 902 on Tuesday, October 21st. I want to. Well, I'll say that in a minute. Let's take roll first. Actually, we don't need roll. It's a work session. Okay. I want to thank our arts and economy committee co-chairs for turning this time over to us. As you all know, usually appointments run through our committees, but for a number of reasons. Arts and economy thought that with this many appointees to tiffs, with three tiffs coming forward at once with the fact that council is still really getting up to speed on how the tiff process works, and this gives us an opportunity to talk about a part of the process that we haven't had the opportunity to engage with yet. Our co-chairs brought forward the idea that perhaps we should, as a one off, not how we usually do things, but as a one off do. The committee style work for these appointments as a full council in a work session. So we are meeting today during their normal committee time to be able to do that work as a full group. So thank you. Councilor Green and councilor Ryan when he gets here for that today, we are going to hear from portlanders who are interested in serving on tif districts in three different tif districts. We'll do a common introduction and then take appointees, one district at a time, to make sure that we can see the the whole scope of each district. We will move through about ten rounds of panels, and I'll back up and say, we'll start with an introduction about these tif districts here, a little bit about the work to recruit these portlanders to help in this work. Some of the outreach that was done. We'll have a few minutes. If there are any questions about the process. We'll then hear about any public testimony, written testimony that has come in because of some timing constraints and other complications, we put out the opportunity for written testimony, which would be summarized by our staff for today. We'll hear in part that there was a lot of process and opportunity for the community to weigh in up to this point as well, and then we'll hear from ten rounds of panels of portlanders about their interest in serving our community on these tif boards. We will have a little bit of time for questions. If there are specific questions for any individual applicant, but we likely will not have time for a round of questions for each applicant. I did say ten panels, so just keep that in mind, colleagues, as we move forward. We'll then have time for a few minutes of discussion at the end, so I will turn it over to dca oliveira to kick us off. And I'll note for folks that we do have councilor Clark on the line. So we do have seven right now. She just wasn't able to join us in person. Dca oliveira, thank you for being here.
2 Thank you, council president and good morning. Councilors. Don oliveira for the record. So first just let me start by thanking you all for making time this morning to meet our fabulous recommended appointees to the community leadership committees. First, I want to thank them for joining us today in person and on online. They're taking time out of their days to to be a part of this. I'm very grateful for that. As a long this whole process. We've been on this journey with them as well. But I also want to acknowledge that they didn't just magically generate out of thin air. This has been based on years of work from city staff, who have been leading community led processes and gaining feedback, giving that feedback back to community through this metabolizing process to get to where we are today, which is really community led voice process to establish these three tif districts, leadership groups who will ultimately be generating action plans that you will contemplate next year. Next slide please. So we're going to start with the background, as the council president outlined, just describing how the east Portland tif districts and the governance charter charters were created, what they say discussed the recruitment process for the clcs. And obviously, we'll get a chance to get the nominees in front of you for a brief conversation. Of course, we'll take questions after for you all about the process and where we're going from here, but we look forward to those conversations after we get through our appointee panels. Next slide please. So real quick with this slide is essentially conveying is how we got to where we are today. This is a roadmap that reflects not just where we've been but also where we're going. So in June of 2023, city council directed prosper and the housing bureau to initiate an 18 month exploration process for the east Portland and central city tif districts through a robust process exploration aimed at assessing community interest in creating new tif districts. So I really want to emphasize that at that point, we were still contemplating if if tif district, excuse me, were necessary or wanted in east Portland, there was a east Portland wide steering committee that was convened along with the three tif district area specific working groups, the 20 member steering committee met monthly with representation from public and educational partners. The county school districts, et-cetera, community organizations, affordable housing partners, and the business community. The working groups were filled through an open call for applications, with 10 to 15 members representing each group that met every other week. To discuss the specific area plans, learn about tif as a tool, and eventually develop and refine the tif plan priorities, eligible projects, and the related governance charters that we'll cover a little bit staff will cover shortly. At the conclusion of the working group process, majorities from each group voted to affirm and proceed with recommended tif plan that council would consider based on the work of these bodies. Prosper and the housing bureau initiated a formal legislative process in August 2024, otherwise known as consultant confer, which included a presentation to the planning commission regarding code and policy alignment and by practice. They also presented to the Multnomah county commission as. As a part of that journey, I must emphasize that along the way, there was deep community engagement throughout the exploration process, which was important to get sort of center the work and what community was looking for to collectively approach these tif districts in a new way that centered community voices and priorities. Equally as important was the work that the community gave in establishing these committees, the investment, both in folks that steer the committees development of that process, the people that applied who are here with us today, and many who that you've worked with in the past, partners and organizations that are collaborative collaborators with the city on an ongoing basis. And that really helped shape where we're going and how we're going to get there. Before we dive into the staff presentation, though, it seems fitting to actually ask some of those community leaders who helped establish this process through the exploration. So we've invited joe lily, annette matson and martina kaufman to speak to the process of exploration. So you all get a sense of that deep community engagement that happens to get to us, this place we are today. So I'm going to step aside and ask j.r. Annette and tina to join us.
3 Thank you all for being here, and thank you for being here. I know that it was a bit last minute putting everything together, so we appreciate you making the time. If you can all just introduce yourself as you begin to speak, that would be great. Okay.
4 Mr.
5 Okay. Who gets to go first? Good morning. Council president, members of this committee. My name is annette matson and my role in the exploration. I was on the steering committee as well as the east of 205 working group. And the group that was reviewed, all of the applications for the community advisory groups. I actually started this in 2022 when we started having some online discussions in east Portland that j.r. Had put together, and there were about 40 of us that participated off and on in zoom discussions for two years prior to the exploration process. As far as the steering committee, it was a very broad group. Specifically, I was representing mount hood community college as a taxing district in east Portland. I am in my ninth year as a board member on the mount hood community college board, and I found it to be a very inclusive, wonderful discussion. Having lived in east Portland for over 40 years since prior to annexation, and having seen literally dozens of unkept promises to east Portland, for sidewalks, for infrastructure, for parks, for housing, for economic development. I was thrilled to finally see that we were in a process where I thought all those broken promises could finally, finally be mended and we could have what we were promised all those years ago in the 90s when we were annexed into the city. So what I'm excited about is for east Portland to get the attention it has so long deserved. With 40% of the city's children, with over half of the people of color in the city, live east of 82nd. And as I mentioned, I have lived there since before annexation. I've also been a member of epap and other things in the city. I'm excited about the community advisory groups, the idea that we will actually listen to the people that live in our community, and they will be the folks who will be giving direction and advice as far as what we want. You know, there was a broad outreach, what, 45% we wanted 45% of the money to go to housing, 45% of the money toward economic development, 10% toward infrastructure. And the broad outreach and the consensus that came in during that was really exciting. So, yeah, I've been heavily involved, and I gladly take any questions about what all of those steps, the preliminary steps, my decades of east Portland involvement, 222nd avenue projects. Et cetera. Et cetera. So I really appreciate the opportunity to be here.
6 Thank you very much.
7 My name is tina kaufman. I work with habitat for humanity Portland region, and I came to the tiff steering, the east Portland steering committee, having also come come off the cully process. So what was interesting for me was to see how what we a lot of what we did in cully and that work that was, you know, went back four years, maybe even more to see that a lot of what we prioritized, the sort of the basic framework is something from that co co-creation with prosper and fb and community is now also being used with in east Portland. And to see that there's still that that focus on priority communities, on serving the residents who are currently there and prioritizing them, and the businesses that are the small businesses that are currently there. I think that really bodes well for for these districts. I also would echo what annette said. It was a very broad group of diverse folks who had who brought different connections to east Portland and helped then inform who was in the working groups. I myself for habitat has built a number of homes in east Portland over the years. I've worked there for 19 years, so I've had in-depth support and work with those communities. So I'm familiar with the issues. What I'm excited about is just to see, you know, here's a theory. This is this is a theoretical idea of this idea of really community led tif districts. Can this be a thing? Can this really work? And I'm very excited to to see how it is currently working in cully and how it will work in east Portland to make sort of that that theoretical idea a reality in for communities.
8 Thank you.
9 Yeah. Chair. Liliana. Good morning. My name is lily, part of the red wings water council. Red winter water people born from the cliff dwelling people. And I had the pleasure of serving on the steering committee, as well as the workgroup for the park rose tif district. I also serve as the chair of the east Portland action plan economic development group, as well as thrive east pdx economic equity workgroup, as well as some other hats I wear in community, and we have been having this conversation about east tif districts in east Portland two years prior to city council passing the exploration resolution and just engaging all the hard questions. We really approached this with a very skeptical lens. What what impact this would have on our families, what impact this would have on different communities, because we we we hear a lot of negative things and positive things around the country. How urban renewal has affected different communities. So we brought in different speakers. We explored all the different processes for two years. And then once the steering committee started, we continued that conversation. And this is a larger conversation also with like the monthly meetings we've been having with our east Portland economic development, various work groups, and how do we bring how to stimulate the economy, how do we increase the wages for families living and working in east Portland? So we it just felt very natural to be part of that conversation and to continue. What does investment look like and what would it look like for us? So we we've begun to explore all of that, and we engage in these hard questions, because what we're most excited about is that tif is we look at it as like it's a portion of money that we're our tax money in east Portland, that we get to keep for ourselves and invest in ourselves, as opposed to somebody taking our tax money and then telling us what it's good for, or what's the best strategy. So we approach that when selecting members of this different committees and advisory panels be like, we don't want somebody else telling us what is best for us, best for economic development, because we live here, we work here, and we know what works for us, where we want to shop, what kind of restaurants we want to be at, and making sure that that voice is included in this process was very much at the forefront of our decision making. So thank you all.
10 Thank you very much. I really appreciate you all being here. We appreciate hearing some of the background on this process.
11 Thank you, thank you, thank you.
12 Okay, so I'm actually going to invite executive director cornel wesley from prosper Portland and director from the housing bureau to come up and start the presentation. The last thing I'll leave you with is this before we dive into the presentation, as you heard from our community champions and leaders, this was a vision that they seeded, that they took the initiative. We obviously are in support of that vision, but this process truly is changing how we think about tif. It started in cully and really manifesting what you have before you today in terms of this process. So thank you for taking the time out of your morning to to listen to the next version of east Portland tif districts. Directors is yours.
13 If we can go to the next slide please. So just a brief background. And first of all, thank you councilors for being here this morning. Once again, my name is cornel wesley, and I proudly serve as the executive director for prosper Portland. So donnie and community partners touched on this during their opening remarks. But I want to underscore our commitment to an authentic community process throughout the formation of the east Portland tif districts and convening of the community leadership committees, prosper Portland and staffers have been working with community members and east Portland stakeholders for over two years on this effort. Our process in east Portland built on the work done with the cully leaders and the development of the engagement plan that led to the cully tif district with the east Portland process was focused on the needs and opportunities present in these three specific communities. Now, while this work predates me, I'm impressed with the agency's efforts at co-creation with community and ensuring staff are meeting folks right where they are. And I'm committed to continuing to lead this work in a manner that delivers on this robust process. Now, I recognize you hear a lot more from our clc nominees in just a minute, but given this historic lack of comprehensive engagement done in the lead up to tif district creation, I wanted to highlight this process, which, mind you, is indicative of how we approach our work with community and is something we all should be proud of. We continue to the next slide, please. Are we still let's go back to the previous one I apologize. So this map, what you see, the map on the right shows the three east Portland tif districts approved by city council one year ago. The districts are 82nd avenue, sumner park, rose, rj columbia corridor, affectionately known as space and the largest of the three districts. East 205. The table on the left shows the acreage across the three tif districts. You will see that the most was allocated to east 205 district, based on the guidance of the east Portland exploration steering committee, with the boundary that generally runs from 122nd as a key commercial corridor to the Gresham border. There are also continuing tif investments and two other tif districts in gateway, consistent with the 2025 2024 council approved and community approved gateway action plan, committing just under 66 million through 2030, and Lents town center, a sunsetting tif district with approximately 14 remaining 14 million remaining in resources focused on prosper Portland and Portland housing bureau investments in and around the town center and the foster 92nd avenue areas. Now, notably, this map is important because it highlights that the majority of east Portland now has access to tif resources, which create a consistent funding stream that is geographically focused and directed at addressing community identified priorities. Now, what are those priorities? Affordable housing, economic development and infrastructure. We can go to the next slide, please. So this slide describes the menu of options for project investment in each of the tif districts. And the total estimated amount for direct project investments over the 25 to 30 year life of each district, the community leadership committees being nominated today will co-create the first five year action plans for each tif district, which will set more immediate and project specific priorities in respect to 82nd avenue. What we've heard is that there's interest in near-term stabilization and ownership and wealth building opportunities that are tied to transit improvements along the corridor as a walkable, multimodal, and nodal development that supports. They are framing as 20 minute neighborhoods in respect of space. There has been particular interest in creating buffers between industrial and residential areas. New recreational access to the columbia river and slo, and creating community centers and affordable retail with a focus on youth programing. In respect to east 205, there's been interest in activating vacant properties to serve a variety of community needs, from homeownership opportunities to community gathering spaces and opportunities for small businesses. Now, while infrastructure investments are limited in each district, this is not because of a lack of need, but out of a desire for tif dollars to be leveraged with other resources. The 82nd avenue working group has a slightly higher percentage dedicated to infrastructure than the other two, because of the large transportation investments already in the corridor and how restricted that is to the corridor itself. These investments are meant to enhance the focus on safety and connectivity improvements that can support the corridors businesses. Once drafted, each of the five year action plans will come back before council towards the end of 2026 for formal approval. One thing that I want to stress before we move on is that while the dollar total listed are significant, these are figures for the entire life of each district. The first five year action plans will include modest investments, but there will be opportunities for the kelsey's to make recommendations on identified east Portland investment priorities. And that is something we all should be excited about. Next slide. Governance. So as I just alluded to, the east Portland tif district plans approved by council each also include a governance charter committing to a community leadership committee to help guide implementation and oversight of the tif district plan and five year action plans over the next 30 years. This builds on the cully cully district model. The committees will include voices with diverse lived experience and with a range of knowledge. Individuals who support housing, production and business stabilization and expansion, with a focus on ensuring inclusive growth benefits. Historically disadvantaged and vulnerable communities rather than their own personal or organizational interests. All committee members must live, work, worship, have children enrolled in school, or have been displaced from within their respective tif district boundary, and demonstrate understanding and support of the stabilization and inclusive growth goals and values of that area's tif district plan. Now, the role and purpose of each committee is to advise staff and decision makers on investment and significant project decisions, and to provide essential guidance, recommendations and oversight regarding the city of portland's and prosper portland's implementation of the tif plan. Again, each committee's immediate role will be to guide the creation of their respective district's first five year action plan. The council requested action to approve the clc nominees next week. Aligns and is consistent with the governance charter direction to staff approved as part of the east Portland tif district plans. And so we are excited to get this work moving, and I will now turn it over to my colleague helmy to provide more context and detail. Thank you. God bless you.
14 Good morning. Am I yeah I'm on. Thank you. Good morning. Helmy, historic director at the Portland housing bureau. I use she her pronouns. And I'm delighted to be here today to talk a little bit about the process for selecting clc members and the partnership that we have with prosper Portland through this entire process. Let me go to the next slide. So the application development, recruitment and evaluation process took roughly six months. During this time, and in partnership with volunteers from the tif district exploration steering committees, staff worked to develop criteria for and coordination with office of community and civic life on the recruitment for these committees. The application opened on April 2024. We extended the recruitment April 24th. Excuse me. We extend the recruitment by three weeks and closed it on June 16th. The application was hosted on the city website and posted on prosper's website, and it was accessible in seven languages including english, arabic, chinese, korean, russian, somali, spanish, ukrainian and vietnamese. The application evaluation committees convened in July, and each district's evaluation committees were comprised of the working group member volunteers, east Portland tif community liaisons, representatives from district council offices, and prosper Portland and Portland housing bureau staff. The evaluation committees were narrowed down to a list of 18 potential nominees per district, including alternates. Leadership. Amongst the Portland housing bureau, prosper Portland, and the deputy city administrator's office vetted the nominees and identified 13 representatives per district. In early August, the nominees were notified of the selection, and by late August, deputy city administrator oliveira hosted a meet and greet with the finalists. On September 10th, prosper Portland brought forth nominations to the prosper board, which were unanimously approved for council consideration. This brings us to where we are today, where prosper Portland and the city administrator and Portland housing bureau. Prosper Portland and city administrator have identified 39 nominations, 13 per district, for your consideration and appointment. Okay, let's go to the next slide. Recruitment engagement efforts were multifaceted and included email blast communications sent by both prosper and Portland housing bureau communications teams. A short youtube video developed by the east Portland tif community liaison and partnership with east Portland neighborhood prosperity network members, small business canvasing staff office hours, one on one meetings, attendance at neighborhood association meetings, open houses and luncheons to help folks fill out applications. For example, staff held weekly coffee tiff open house sessions in places like chicken chucks on 106th and sandy. They held information sessions at community based organizations like apano, the rosewood initiative, and historic park rose. They did tabling at existing community events. They canvased the districts and they engaged 460 small businesses and individuals directly. Additionally, a mailer was sent out to 69,000 addresses soliciting folks who might be interested in sharing their voices and perspectives and applying to be part of one of the three community leadership committees for the team. The most fruitful recruitment efforts came from direct engagement and the mailer. Next slide. In total, we closed the recruitment with 129 applications received broken down per district. This includes 61 applications for the 82nd avenue district, 42 for sumner park, rose terrace, columbia corridor or space, and 53 applications for east 205. The office of civic and community life consider a successful recruitment one with at least with at least two applicants per available seat, and we exceeded that goal. Next slide. We appreciate the time the committee with the committee today for the clc nominees joining us, so that you can hear directly from each community member. We are scheduled for a full council session on October 29th, where the nominees will be considered for council approval. With council approval, the committees will then start to convene in late 2025 as a joint group across all three districts for orientation and relationship building, across the districts and across the leadership councils. They will then initiate district specific action planning work in January 2026, with the goal of bringing back action plans to the city council later in 2026. In parallel, the Portland housing bureau will be leading a process to review and recommend any updates to the tif affordable housing set aside policy. Next slide. Now to the heart of what we're collectively here for today. We're excited to share the names of the nominees for each community leadership committee roster, and you will have the opportunity to hear from them shortly. I want to acknowledge and appreciate the fact that each of the finalized rosters includes a few community members who participated in the tiff exploration process as a steering committee or working group members. They've been working with us for a very long time. We are honored and thrilled that these community members applied for, were selected, and will continue to provide their knowledge and expertise as we move into the inaugural co-created action planning process. Next slide. Okay. On the screen are the names and photos of the community members that are being brought before you for consideration to the 82nd avenue community leadership committee. The group brings a range of expertise, lived and professional experience in affordable housing, small business ownership, finance, higher education, public health, community based advocacy, and cross-sector collaboration. 82nd avenue is a long corridor stretching from fremont to the clatsop or the city line as a long with a variety of lived professional I mean with all excuse me. As with all districts, it was important to balance the geographic balance between the district along with a variety of lived and professional and cross-sector factors. Next slide. Okay. The nominees for space. I think that's how we're saying it. Up on the screen are the names and photos of community members that are being brought before you for consideration for the sumner park, rose park terrace, columbia corridor community leadership committee. The group brings a range of expertise, lived and professional experience in community based organizing, advocacy and mentorship, small business ownership, the industrial corridor, health care, early childhood education and housing support. Notably, the governance charter for space district requires that one seat on the community leadership committee shall be designated to a renter or homeowner in the sumner park rose in terrace neighborhoods. Next slide. And finally, we'd like to present the names and photos of the community members that are being brought before you for consideration for east 205 community leadership committee. That group brings. This group brings a range of expertise, lived and professional experience in civic health and engagement, violence prevention and and advocacy, philanthropy, education, affordable housing, business ownership and affordable housing and business ownership. Excuse me. And that is the end of my remarks. Thank you. And I think we're going to be having a q&a with staff.
15 Thank you all for the overview. Councilor Dunphy, you had a question.
16 Yeah, I just caught something on slide six. If we could go back very quickly and I apologize. This is not specific to any of the nominees. I'm really excited to get into this as well. But back in 2015, I had just started working in this building and there was a campaign by the community to do a tif to 45. Right? This was about specifically getting the affordable housing set aside of a dollars raised from 30% of the total pot to 45. That included administrative costs. And I'm noting that in this slide, it says that total resources for capital investments, net of admin and financing costs. In those situations, it was 45% for housing, 30% for for economic development, 25% for administrative, financial and other costs. And now I'm noticing that we are actually instead taking that the administrative costs off the top and then dividing the remainder to get to 45%. What is the administrative cost expected to be, and what is that as a percentage of the total amount of tax revenue we're expected for each of these districts?
17 I you know, I don't think we want to wing it. I think unless you know the answer, I think we need to bring our technical finance.
18 Let's get to work on that because we can.
19 Yeah, I know this is not necessarily the conversation we're having today, but that means that if if administrative costs are and I'll be generous 15% as opposed to 25% as it's been in the past, this means we are significantly below 45% for housing, and I would love to know some specifics.
20 At a high level. Quick answer today so we can get to our nominees and then get a more full answer.
21 Lisa abeloff, director of development investment with prosper Portland, joined by.
22 Josh roper, policy and planning director for the housing bureau.
23 So the answer is the 45% does, in fact still include the Portland housing bureau administrative and program and project delivery costs. I believe the administrative that we've been modeling is about 15% over the life of the district.
24 Okay. I'd like to talk about this more in the future. Thank you.
25 Were there any other questions before we move on to hearing from our nominees? Councilor Green.
26 Yeah, thanks again today for coming. I'm excited to talk about hear from these nominees. This looks like a really well vetted and intentional approach to the east Portland tif districts. I'm curious at a high level, is there are there plans to do the same model of governance and community leadership committees for the other three new tif districts?
27 Yeah.
28 So I'll respond to that. When you refer to the other three new district tif districts, I believe you're talking about the central city, west side, tif districts, the community process there came forward with a recommendation to do ad hoc committees rather than seated leadership committees in the east that are being proposed in the east side. I think there is still some discussion with committee, with the community around that. Those topics. And and so I think we're kind of still going through a process on the west side, making the determination.
29 Councilor just taking a step back through the creation of those districts versus the east Portland, as you heard earlier, the east Portland districts were led by community. They had a particular governance structure that they wanted to see. And likely the west side is going to have the same opinion about how they want to see themselves governed. And we're sort of relying on, you know, on their input to sort of outline what that should look like.
30 Okay. I'll be interested to learn more about that as we go forward with those, those other three tif districts. Thanks.
31 Hey.
32 I don't see any other questions right now. So thank you all so much for teen this up and for your work in listening to the community, hearing their ask to do something different, and bringing forward this fantastic slate of nominees to us today.
33 Thank you.
34 So, colleagues, I said we would be taking each of these tif districts one at a time. We'll start with 82nd avenue, then space, as I'm hearing it's called, and then east 205. With each of these districts, we will have panels of applicants who are able to be here in person and then end with a panel of applicants who are online. In each of these districts, there are 1 or 2 applicants who were not able to attend. Today, I will flag those names for you at the conclusion of the panels for that district. We will have with everybody's two minutes each of presentation about themselves, we will have about an extra 15 minutes total. So if you have a pressing question for somebody, please raise your hand. Let's get it in. If you don't have a pressing question, let's hold it, please. Applicants know that we are so happy to have each of you here. We are so pleased that each of you is willing to step up in this way. We know that our tiff clcs take a lot of time and commitment, and if we don't ask you questions and show that gratitude individually to each of you, it is because we want to make sure we can hear from all of you, not because we're not appreciative for the work and time that you have stepped up to take on. So with that, could you please call up our first panel for 82nd avenue? Do you have the list of names or do I? You don't. Okay. Got it. I'll do it. Okay. So we are going to start with our 82nd avenue tif district. And our first panel is erica abdellatif aaron, maxie, jacob loeb and joshua alan pangelinan. Pangelinan. And I apologize for pronouncing names incorrectly, but I'll do the best I can with a long list. And, erica, once you're ready, go right ahead.
35 Hi. You actually pronounced it perfectly, which is so impressive. Hi. Good morning, I'm erica abdellatif. I am a small business owner, a board member of the roseway rna. I'm also a content creator and social strategist. I'm a former union organizer. I'm also a proud egyptian American second generation, and I have lived in Portland for five years. It's a city that is very near and dear to my heart, and I personally love 82nd avenue. I think it's a great place with a lot of potential and beauty. My husband is a city park ranger and I personally have a passion for community advocacy, small businesses, and affordable housing. Thank you.
36 Thank you so much. Go right ahead, erin.
Procedural episode · turns 37–45
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37 Good morning everyone. I'm erin maxie. I have lived in and around the 82nd avenue district for about a decade and care deeply about the community, its people, its potential, and the sense of belonging that comes when neighbors are invested in each other professionally. I work as the director of homeownership programs for habitat for humanity Portland region, where I focus on expanding access to affordable homeownership and designing programs that help keep families rooted in community. For generations, my work has given me a close view of how public investment, community led planning and housing policy intersect, and how important it is that residents have a strong voice in those decisions. I applied to join the clc because I believe that east Portland 82nd in particular, deserves thoughtful, community driven investment, and I want to ensure the tif funds are used in a way that reflect local priorities. So supporting supporting stability, small businesses, and long term affordability, in particular homeownership. And what excites me about this opportunity is the opportunity to bring people together. So to listen, to bridge perspectives and to help shape investment that honors the character and future of 82nd avenue. Thank you.
38 My name is joshua pangilinan. I am a small business owner. I own the bipartisan cafe on southeast 79th dark. I recognize some faces up there from some events I hosted. So congratulations on your victories. I was one of the members of the east 82nd avenue working groups. I did my work there and that was my first exposure to civic engagements. So to be absolutely frank, I'm coming into the civic duties fairly fresh. I've really enjoyed my time there. I have a background in the community. I was born and raised on southeast 88th at stark street, which is within the 82nd avenue corridor. I have lived there since before that was technically part of Portland before the annexation, and similar to a previous speaker, I've seen a lot of broken promises, and I want to be part of the solution to bring those funds to better the area that I live in that I call home. Thank you.
39 Hi. Thank you. My name is jacob loeb. It's nice to be here. This is actually the first time I've been in this remodeled space. I serve on the 82nd avenue business association board. I also serve on the 82nd avenue transit advisory group right now. I served on the build a better 82nd avenue community advisory group. I also write for the Montavilla news, and I've spent just over 20 years living in the neighborhood a few blocks off of 82nd avenue. It is essential to me that 80 section 82nd avenue has a prosperous future, but one of my core goals is to make sure that the people who are there and have put in time and effort and generations into making it. 82nd avenue, a great cultural center of our city, have an opportunity to take advantage of all the prosperity we're trying to put in there. So that has a lot of anti-displacement for the people, but also for the businesses, which sometimes don't fit into standard protocols and and available funds in order to stabilize them and make sure that they can take part of and participate in the growing prosperity we're trying to bring to the area. And that's my core goal in my participation first on the working group and now hopefully here in the leadership group. Thank you.
40 Thank you all so much, colleagues. Are there any questions for these four applicants? Okay. We really appreciate your commitment to the city and interest in serving o. Councilor.
41 Ryan, I just have a point of order. So there's a basic question that I'm listening for since most of the money is going towards economic development and housing, it helps so much when you say exactly what your life experience is and running a business or running an organization. So we have more empathy for those that are really having a hard time running businesses in Portland. And then also if you've developed or built housing. And so I'm listening for that. Thanks.
42 I think we heard that from all of you in one way or another.
43 I did. There's follow ups, but I can do those offline. We don't have a lot of time, but I just wanted to say that maybe at the beginning I couldn't tell the way you were running the meeting, so I just wanted to put that out there. Thanks.
44 Thank you all so much.
45 Thanks.
46 Our next panel is michael liu, pamela hodge, and theo hathaway senior. Welcome, michael. Go right ahead.
47 Thank you. You want to go first?
48 What is your pleasure?
49 Let's go. Go ahead.
50 Go right ahead.
51 Good morning. My name is pam hodge. I'm a resident of brentwood-darlington, a critical portion of which the newly designated brentwood-darlington neighborhood center is included in the tiff. My connection to brentwood-darlington and the larger 82nd avenue corridor is truly lifelong. I was born and raised in brentwood-darlington when it was known as felony flats. My father worked at dwyer lumber at approximately 90th and foster road, just east of 82nd in the neighborhood. My parents built their dream house in brentwood-darlington be close to my father's work growing up. I shopped at eastport plaza, went to movies at Montavilla, ate chinese food at various restaurants along the 82nd avenue corridor, including the iconic canton grill. I've seen a lot of changes over the last six decades, but some persistent problems remain. I applied to join the clc to continue the civic engagement work I've been doing over the last decade, including serving on neighborhood association and southeast uplift boards and serving on citizen advisory committees for park design, public art, environmental risk assessment, and most recently, development of the lower southeast rising area plan. My vision for 82nd avenue will be informed by my six decades of life experience in the area, and all of my prior civic engagement work. What excites me about serving on the clc is the opportunity to help shape a new vision for 82nd avenue that values people more than cars. If we want 82nd avenue to become a true neighborhood where people live and thrive, I believe we need to balance transportation needs with livability. If appointed, I will be present to listen and learn as well as to share my own perspectives. That said, I'm particularly interested in two aspects of the work essential to livability one exploring the possibility of transforming 57 acres of identified brownfields to affordable social housing, and two addressing the persistent problem of human trafficking along the 82nd avenue corridor. Thank you for your consideration.
52 Thank you very much. Go right ahead, michael.
53 Hi, my name is michael liu. I'm with fubon shopping center. I'm the current chair of the Portland metro chamber. I've also served on the here together coalition. The the committees through metro. I was on the steering committee for selecting the lpa for our transportation on 82nd avenue. The library fund bonds. So there's been a lot of projects that have been near and dear to my heart within not only 82nd avenue, but Portland in general. I was born and raised in Portland. My parents immigrated to the united states in the the late 70s. I was the first person in my family born in the united states. My family started a food distribution business in the early 80s, and about 20 years ago, December will be our 20 year anniversary. We opened fubon shopping center at the old Portland community college. It's been quite the project, and through the 20 years we've seen a ton of development and growth in the 82nd area, and I just want to see it continue to happen and kind of give my perspective and work within the coalition to see the continued improvements, not only with safety, but livability and all all the things that make our, our, our road great. We I have built housing in and around 82nd avenue, close to fubon shopping center, and I just look forward to being a part of the committee. Thank you.
54 Thank you very much, theo. Go right ahead.
55 Hey, everybody. My name is theo hathaway, senior. I live in the madison south neighborhood. I'm on the neighborhood association as vice chair. I professionally, I work for Portland community reinvestment initiatives, an organization that builds affordable housing and manages a lot of affordable housing for the black community that was displaced by a previous round of urban development. I want to avoid those mistakes in this tif district. Also on the metro affordable housing bond oversight committee and I serve on the excuse me, serve on the. Committee for Multnomah county. Thanks.
56 Thank you all so much. Councilor. Ryan, are you in the queue with a question?
57 No.
58 Okay, colleagues, any questions for this panel? Okay. Thank you all for being willing to add yet another thing to your portfolio of service to our community. We appreciate it.
59 Thank you.
60 Colleagues. Our next panel is an online panel of applicants. Steven updike, jorge melendez connelly, and soraya. And for our applicants, because we have a slideshow up, I can't actually see you all here. So, steven, if you are ready. Oh, look at that. Please go right ahead.
61 Sure. Hi, my name is steven. In terms of my connection to 82nd avenue, my family have lived within a stone's throw of the 82nd and powell intersection for the last 20 years. My child also attends school along the corridor. C I've been associated with the jade district subcommittee since its founding over a decade ago, and have served as the chair of the steering committee for the last two years. I also work from home and have 25 years of experience within a large financial institution. I find 82nd to be an essential part of Portland with such a wide variety of cultural groups and essential businesses that need our support. With my experiences in the tif process, my focus will be on the difficulty of the tif process itself. From the perspective of a business owner, I find it essential to ease that process. Application process for understanding and also to market it as much as possible. Due to the lack of knowledge along the 82nd avenue corridor. So thank you for your time.
62 Thank you very much, george. Go ahead.
63 Good morning everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to be here with you all. My name is doctor george melendez and I have lived and gone to school in the southeast area since at least the 1980s. I care deeply about this area and ensuring that the tif resources strengthen local neighborhoods, improve access to opportunity, and consider health and reflect the priorities of the people that live and work in southeast Portland. I work in healthcare administration, leading programs that improve quality and equity across diverse communities. I also teach at several universities, including warner pacific university. That's there on the mount tabor area. I see housing as a cornerstone of health equity. When families have stable, affordable, healthy housing, their health outcomes improve. Children do better in school, and communities thrive in a safe environment. And I'm honored to support this tif effort and hopefully have the opportunity to help southeast Portland become even healthier. And with more equity in place. Thank you.
64 Thank you so much. Cully are you on?
65 Yeah. I'm on.
66 Hey, go right ahead.
67 Okay. Thank you everybody. Good morning everybody. Council president and council members. My name is cully. I am a resident of the district and currently the executive director for professional business development group. Also a business owner not in the district. And so been involved in economic opportunities, projects and helping minority women owned contractors across the city to thrive and work for the city. I'm excited. I'm cautiously excited to be involved in the committee and to ensure that tif manifests in a different form to support communities and looking forward to make sure that I don't lose all the diverse restaurants and businesses in the jade district. That would be frustrating, because living in Portland for 35 years, close to the district, that's what makes us unique. So I'm excited to be involved in the committee and thank you for the opportunity.
68 Thank you very much.
69 Yeah, go right ahead.
70 Hello. My name is soraya, originally from the republic of congo. I moved to the us a few years ago and I attended pcc on 82nd. Professionally, I worked with cbos that have businesses in on 82nd, and also have some family members who live around 82nd area. So that's my home place. I joined thief thief 82nd to advance equity implementation, mostly to refugees and immigrant businesses and represent the community community voice of those mixed communities. Thank you.
71 Thank you very much, colleagues. Are there any questions for this panel? Okay. I don't see any. Thank you all for being on with us today. We appreciate you taking the time and colleagues. I'll note that aaron milano and liz winchester were not able to join today. They had preexisting conflicts. But you do have their applications in the packets that you were both emailed and that are, I believe, posted as well. We are going to turn now to our second tif district that we're considering today, the space tif district, which is the northernmost of the three tif districts we have before us, and our first panel is. Alex millett, andrew campbell, angela bishop baker and christopher lambert. Welcome. Thank you all for joining us. And alex, go right ahead.
72 Thank you. It's an honor to be here. My name is alexis millett. She they pronouns I also go by alex. And I am a resident and a homeowner of argyle. I've been there for about five years. I'm also the parent to a kid who goes to shaver elementary school. We also, we very much relish in the opportunity to walk to school every day. I'm a small business owner of one established business and an emerging business. I am a founder and partner of capacity building partnerships, which is an organizational development firm that works with government and nonprofits, primarily with a focus on advancing racial equity and inclusive workplaces. I am also in training to be a personal trainer and open a small gym in the neighborhood with a commitment to making strength training more accessible in our neighborhood. I am also on the intertwined alliance board of directors, which is dedicated to equitable Green space and nature in the Portland metro region. I am here because I fortunately, unfortunately, have more time on my hands due to the social political climate, and I'm really excited and dedicated to going hyper local. I see a lot of my neighbors suffering. I really believe in rising tides, lift all boats, and want to bring my skills and my commitment to really focusing on historically and currently marginalized community members. So thank you for your time.
73 Thank you very much, andrew.
74 Thank you. I've got my little timer here. So it's good morning everyone. I'm andrew campbell I'm born and raised in Portland. I just say all of the gentrified areas is really what the areas I was grew up as a childhood, a product of the Portland public school district, I went to harriet boise, eliot, harriet tubman, benson high school after high school, I left and lived down south for about nine, ten years. Did all my education down there, moved back to Portland about ten years ago. Really only here because of family. A lot of my my family is here and it's just I'm in a fortunate position to really give back to the community that really raised me to who I am today, the kind of the things that I bring is, is really like a community safety, wellness lens. I'm served on several boards since I've been back in Portland with PBOT, with urban development, with a few ODOT committees, and I'm the board chair of a nonprofit currently. And then the work that I do currently, I work in the local government, so I'm in tune on how government operates. I'm in tune how this is a great opportunity for tiff. And also I know the impact that it can have on the communities that's not really in tune or can not be engaged. And I'll be curious to see how the development on the east high will catch the ears and perspective of the other individuals that feel like the funds should be elsewhere. So I'm just really here. I'm excited to bring a community lens to this project, and good to hopeful to be of a support and resource for you all as well. Appreciate it.
75 Thank you very.
76 Much, angela. Go right ahead.
77 My name is angela baker. My pronouns are she her. I've been a parkrose land trust homeowner for 17 years. I work from home as a content creator and I focus on hyperlocal advocacy and food justice. My spouse and I have four children. He's a special education teacher in east Portland, and his students are within the tif district. My interest in tif came from my love for my neighbors and my neighborhood, and our belief that there is so much potential in parkrose that has been overlooked by the city for as long as I've lived here. I watched the city choose poorly for us over and over and over, and the clc process gives me hope that we get to choose for ourselves based on our needs and our quality of life, in particular, as a land trust homeowner, I have a vested interest in affordable housing in our corner of the city. Particularly affordable, equitable home ownership. I appreciate that the city wants to hear from community representatives, and I want to make sure that those of us who are on the clc have a responsibility not to voice our opinions, but to make sure that we are listening to and learning from our neighbors, and that we are representing their needs and interests in east Portland. Thanks.
78 Christopher.
79 Go right ahead.
80 Good morning. My name is christopher lambert. I'm a community organizer, a mentor, and a regional service director of Oregon justice network. It's an initiative led by people with lived experience. And we're all like building safe and stronger communities. After serving 20 years in prison, I came home determined to change the system that failed my people. The same systems that underinvested in my neighborhoods like east Portland. I grew up in parkrose area. My mom is a homeowner and my niece goes to school out there, and I also do outreach work out there and do community events out there. I my purpose for signing up is I wanted to bring the voice of the grounded, real life experience. I've experienced both sides of the system, and I know the power of opportunity. My goal is to bridge that gap between city policy and the people on the ground, so that our decisions are led by our. Our decisions are led by people who are in the community, are being really affected by the things that are not taking place. I believe in community driven change, and I'm ready to make sure that east portland's future reflects the people who live here. Thank you.
81 Thank you all so.
82 Much, colleagues. Are there any questions for this panel?
83 Okay.
84 We really appreciate all of you stepping up to serve. Thank you. Colleagues. Our next panel is kareem hassanein kena harris, lily burnett and lynn felton.
85 Kareem go right ahead right.
86 Good morning. Kareem hassanein they them I am excited to be here this morning although still warming up. So forgive me if I'm a little slow. I'm also egyptian American. So shout out to the egyptians in the house today. This is in one room that I've been around in a while. I am a transplant to Portland. I'm a homeowner in parkrose and my work, which is also my passion. And what brings me to this role is in design justice, which is the movement for racial, cultural and environmental social justice through the lens and the resources and the technologies and tools of design. So my focus is all on the built environment. I'm blessed to have been able to work on organizing and advocacy, as well as design on a couple of the bond funded library projects that happened out in east Portland, holgate and midland library, which, although they're not in our district, are models for me of what's possible when we not only design places but design processes for places to come into being and be preserved. I'm looking forward to bringing my organizing and systems thinking, expertise and resources, as well as the relationships that I've been able to build over the time that I've been in this city, to my neighborhood, my neighbors, the communities within the space which I've been calling spack. So now, thanks for the correction.
87 Thank you.
88 Yeah, and it's a privilege. I'm looking forward to taking on this work. Thank you.
89 Thank you.
90 Very much. And it looks like keena might be online with us. Keena, would you like to go right ahead?
91 Yes. Thank you. I did intend to be in person, but unfortunately that did not work out today. So my name is keena harris. I was born at OHSU and raised in inner northeast Portland. I am a program director at the Oregon public health institute, and I'm also a small business owner with a consultant with my own consulting company. I apologize if you can hear anything behind me by person. Decided to do the lawn right now. So I decided to apply for the tip. Largely because of what happened to my african American community in the displacement. I don't say gentrification because I strongly believe that gentrification is a prettier word to make it palatable for what happens when really you're displacing community. This was the largest one, but it wasn't the only one. We've been displaced about four times, and this last one has just left us with not a real sense of a real central sense of place. My husband was two years old when his family's home was taken by eminent domain and racist policies to benefit emanuel hospital. And when we decided to buy a home, we couldn't compete with the folks coming in and offering all cash or significantly over ask and inner northeast Portland. And so we always knew our second choice was the gate terrace neighborhood. And we were fortunate enough to purchase to purchase a home in 2015. And we have come to love this neighborhood and everything that it offers. However, when we moved here, we experienced again some things being done to our new neighborhood by the city with little to no voice. We since as we moved out this way, learned of all the other things that have occurred without participation of the communities. And it was from there that I really decided that I would do what I could to help protect livability and joy of our gate terrace. We are a very diverse neighborhood. We share, you know, with park row. So what happens with park rows impacts our gate and vice versa. And so I just really wanted to ensure that moving forward, especially with this farmland that is often being eyed for developments, that it's done in a way that preserves our guitarist neighborhood, but also preserves park rows.
92 Thank you very much, lily.
93 Good morning. My name is lily burnett. I live in the russell neighborhood, so I'm right next door to rj, but I'm a business owner. I own park rows coffee shop right off sandy in our parkrose business district. I'm also a business member of historic park roses business connect, which is our local attempt at a business association. Since the parkrose business association dissolved in 2020. I'm a mom. I have a two and a half year old who will go through the park row school district, and last year I chaired the pac to try to pass a teacher's levy in park rows. It failed by 127 votes. I will try again. I joined the clc because. It's really important to me to be at the table. I'm not going to lie, I don't trust what happens at the table I'm not sitting at, especially when it comes to urban renewal. I want to bring to the committee the same approach that I bring to my business, which is that all of the investment should serve the people who live in the area now, not the people we hope would live there in 10 to 15 years, because I think that's what leads to displacement. And we are also a tif district that has an extremely large industrial area. And I want to make sure that the tif dollars are responding to what community members have said we need through this robust process. And I went to many of those open houses. I went to those coffees. I was there for the put the sticky note on the board and dot color dot what people want. And it's not more industrial land. As a small business owner, I employ more people at my coffee shop than prologis does at the warehouse that takes up 260,000ft■!s acros the street from our high school. That kind of development is no longer acceptable. We won't be the dumping ground. So I'm on the committee because it's important to me that that perspective is there. And as a small business owner, it's important to me that we are empowering people who live in the neighborhood to open businesses in the many vacant spaces that exist in our district, rather than building shiny new things that distract from the downward spiral. Thank you for your time.
94 Thank you very much, lynn. Go right ahead.
95 Good morning, councilors lynn felton I'm a member of the rj terrace neighborhood board member I was raised in rj terrace. Rj terrace became part of Portland in the early 80s when we were annexed as a lily alluded to, which, by the way, plug for the parkrose coffee shop. If you have not been there, it is a lovely place to get a cup of coffee and please go there on northeast 105th and northeast sandy boulevard, parkrose coffee shop. Anywho, I digress. Having lived there so long, we've seen many changes, particularly once we became annexed by the city of Portland. Much of the area to our north was zoned farmland. It is now zoned industrial and intense industrial. We're one of the few tips here that is going to have to span the spectrum of residential to industrial, so I wanted to be at the table to be part of that conversation. Also, I do believe we've experienced past harm because many of those empty shops in the downtown parkrose area, I believe, couldn't be tied to the urban renewal area of cascade station that Portland development commission had for years and lined the city coffers for years. The money moved down the hill and it never moved back up the hill, leading to empty shops in the parkrose area. So I believe having this historic knowledge is important to be at the table and be part of the conversation, and just to be able to serve the community is is a joy. And if there's time at the end of this, I do have a quick question for the councilors and the council, how you yourself see interacting with these new forms of the work groups for the central tifs and the clcs out here.
96 That's a that's a great question. And it's one that there are some technical answers to and also some less technical answers to. I'd like to take the one question that one of our councilors has, and then give my colleagues from district one, which represents the vast majority of the tifs that we're discussing today, an opportunity to really briefly answer that, and maybe the rest of us can hold our answers and leave it to our colleagues who represent that area. But first, I believe councilor Smith has a question for this panel.
97 I do thank you, madam president. Thank you, lynn. Thank all of you for for coming. But I was just curious, lily, when you said that you had more employees than prologis. How many employees do you have?
98 I have five, and I'm referring specifically to the warehouse that they opened or built at 122nd and sandy, which has been there for over a year and does not have a leasee. So they just pay security guards to be there.
99 But that said, if you look at the prologis website, prologis has 12 employees in the city of Portland.
100 But not necessarily at that site.
101 No.
102 Not at that site.
103 Right.
104 Prologis says that they're the largest industrial lease holder in the city of Portland, and they have 12 employees.
105 Well thank you. I appreciate you bringing that analogy. Congratulations on the coffee shop. And I think that for me, I have been impressed with this list of folks who are going to be representing district one. I think all of you are amazing and outstanding, and you bring a different set of values and understanding of the city, longtime residents, people who care about businesses and people who are business people. So I not just this panel, but I want to say thank you all for your service and thank you for being willing to serve. This is going to be a lot of hard work, and some courageous conversation will be had around the table, but I want us to still be friends afterwards.
106 Thank you.
107 Okay.
108 Councilor Smith, I know you just said a little bit, but councilor Dunphy or councilor Smith, do either of you want to say anything to respond to the question that we were asked?
109 Go ahead.
110 Go ahead. I had lily, I had not thought about that. But I know that the district one councilors, we want to be present. We want to be accessible. And I was sitting here thinking that I have all of your bios, but I don't have contact information. It would be great if I could get your contact information, because I'd like to keep up with folks and be able to have conversations outside of this venue. Sometimes we can have a more in-depth conversation than we can have, and it would be great to be able to keep up with you. So I don't know if prosper has a list of your your contact information. I would love to be able to do that and give you mine, so that if there are things that are happening that you think we should know, that you contact one of us to make sure that we know what's going on. We have offices in in the district now, so we're. Yeah. Thank you. So we are making every attempt to be accessible and it's not lost on me. All of the the sides to that question that you had. But I think it is a work in progress and we're willing to go wherever you want us to in terms of how to communicate with you.
111 Yeah, I will say that it is my intention that you all are sick of me and my my staff, that I plan on making sure you all are as well resourced as possible, that my team is available at every, you know, attending as many meetings as possible, and that I'm a resource to help make sure that the work moves forward in the way that you all see it happening. I'm really excited about every single one of you so far, I will tell you and the ones who are coming up, I'm really excited. But as a parkrose neighbor, I am particularly excited about this back panel. I'm really looking forward to you all. I just want to also give lily another quick shout out. It was mentioned how she got concerned when I said this. You all may have heard that she mentioned she was the chair of the parkrose school levy campaign, and you also heard her say she has a two year old. She does not have a student in the parkrose school district, and yet ran one of the best campaigns that I have ever seen. And I was an honor to work with her. And I look forward to working with her and everything else that I can, and also have been excited to be able to host some constituent coffees at parkrose coffee, because it's only about three blocks away from my house and it's fantastic. So thrilled, so thrilled for all of you to be here. And I extend this to everybody who is going to be on one of these east Portland boards. I would love to have an opportunity to have coffee with you, or a phone call or lunch, or just sit down to get to know you and how I can best support you all, because it's a dynamite crew. I'm really impressed and we got a lot of work to do. So thank you guys for being here.
112 Thank you.
113 Thank you for that question. And I'll just note that councilor Avalos had a preexisting conflict that she couldn't change, but she did send me a text about 20 minutes ago saying, I'm watching on youtube. So she is hearing from all of you as well, and I'm sure would have an answer to your question as well, lynn, that she can get back to you all on as well. So thank you. Thank you all for being here and for stepping up in this way for the community colleagues, we have one more in-person panel for this tiff district, oak sunfest and sarah joy johnson. Welcome. Go right ahead. Okay.
114 Hi.
115 My name is oak sunfest. I use they them pronouns. I am a homeowner in parkrose. I've been there for about four years. I've been a resident of Portland for about ten. My background is I'm currently a medical student. I took a slightly nontraditional path and I just completed a fellowship in advocacy, education, and advocacy for the medical student national association. So this was a platform that brought me to dc, working on initiatives with congress, with the senate, to advocate for physician and mental health access to transgender healthcare, as well as access to reproductive health care in our country. A lot of the work that I have experienced so far has been on a national setting, and I was one of the people who, when I received the fliers about the opportunity to join the tiff board, I was like, wait, this is what I want. I want to be more involved with my community. So I'm here doing that and very excited to be a part of it. So thank you.
116 Good morning. My name is sarah joy johnson and I am the home repair coordinator for community energy project. We're a nonprofit that provides no cost home energy upgrades and repairs to low income Portland homeowners. And I applied for the space back kelsey, as I care deeply about the the clients that we serve in east Portland and the resources that are available to them, and ensuring that these communities are stable, inclusive and supported through this growth and through the clients that we serve in and around this district. I hear daily from from folks that are needing their voices heard and stating the resources that they need in order to stay independently in their homes and safely in their homes. In my role, I work again with low income homeowners, most of which are seniors, those with disabilities, and those that are longtime residents of the area to make critical home repairs again. So that way they're able to stay safely in their home, and also that housing stability that protects not just them, but generationally. The housing stability over time of their families. It excites me to serve on this committee and have the opportunity to help guide investments to what really reflects what the community truly needs, and whether that's affordable housing repair, small business support, safe connected spaces. I believe that the real progress happens when the city and local organizations and residents are able to come together and work together and share their perspectives and the power in the decision, the decision making of of this district. So yeah, I'm really proud to bring my experience and to be a part of this wonderful committee and group of individuals in order to move the work forward. Thanks.
117 Thank you both. Councilor Smith, is your hand up with a question for this panel? Okay, colleagues, any questions for this panel? Okay. Thank you both so much for being here today and for being a part of this work. Colleagues, we do have one more panel, an online panel for this tiff district. Alexis elias and nicole leland. Alexis, go right ahead.
118 Hi. My name is alexis elias. I'm relatively new to the columbia community. I've been working for a nonprofit, the columbia corridor association, since early 2024. Specifically has been around since the 80s with the mission to drive economic prosperity in the columbia corridor. And through this work and my previous roles, I've seen firsthand how collaboration between businesses, residents and local agencies can strengthen communities and create impactful change. I want to serve on the space community leadership committee because I care deeply about the future of east Portland and the people who live and work here. I've spent much of my career focused nonprofit and community engagement roles, work that's been meaningful but often centered in specific projects or causes. And I feel like joining this community is an opportunity to be a part of something bigger, a team that's shaping long term, community driven change, and a part of Portland that I believe truly deserves more investment and attention. I think this district holds so much potential, and I want to be involved in informing the decision making to ensure that we're supporting family wage jobs, healthy neighborhoods and the environment. Serving on this community would allow me to contribute my experience while helping to ensure that the decisions we make today build a stronger, more connected east Portland for the future. Thank you for your time.
119 Thank you so much, nicole. Go right ahead.
120 Hi. Sorry, sorry. You'll have to bear with me. I got called into work kind of last minute. I was supposed to be there in person. Good morning everyone. My name is nicole leland. I prefer nick. I have lived in Portland for over a decade and have been a homeowner in the sumner neighborhood in east Portland for the last four years. I also currently serve as the secretary for the sumner association of neighbors. I am, professionally, by trade, a preschool for all teacher at one of our pilot preschool for all sites out in east Portland, and I have worked in early childhood education as a lead teacher, as a director in many different capacities for the last 13 years. And I get to see firsthand how community and community support shapes the lives of young learners and children. I applied to join the community leadership community, the committee, because I wanted to help make sure that tif dollars were used in a way that truly benefits the people who live here, not just through development, but through community stability, accessibility, and opportunity. I'm excited about the chance to bring a grounded, neighborhood based perspective, one that connects policy decisions with real families and local businesses, and everyday quality of life in east Portland. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm sorry if there's any children noise in the background.
121 Thank you for being here and no need ever to apologize for kid noise in the background. Councilor Dunphy, did you have a question for this panel?
122 I just wanted to point out that nick is the only person on the panel representing the sumner neighborhood. I think that's important to note. It's a tiny little neighborhood, so tiny, in fact, that they don't have a place for their neighborhood association to meet. And they meet in rose city park. But I just wanted to give nick a special shout out. And thank you for representing your neighborhood, and we'll make sure that sumner gets their fair share of the investment in this.
123 Thank you for noting that, councilor. Thank you both for taking the time to be on today. Colleagues, we do have one other applicant who is not able to attend today, emily winokur, but you have emily's materials in your packets that moves us to our third tif district, the east 205 tif district, and we'll have two in-person panels and an online panel for this district as well. Our first in-person panel is david lin, Eric knox, wes ayers, and karen wolfgang. David. Go right ahead.
124 Good morning.
125 David lin, Portland state university running back. Thank you. Yes, I'm sure you all know the rest. It's great to see everybody. Of course, david lin, east Portland I've grown up east of 82nd my whole life. Served on several neighborhood associations, chaired Montavilla neighborhood association as well. Currently is the few years at centennial community association. I was recently reelected to the centennial school board. Happy to represent them, although I'm not representing them here on this. I serve on the neighborhood emergency team. Save. Serve with epap serve with thrive east pdx. I have a master's in public administration with local government specialty, and I guess in my side time I serve on run a state agency. So whole life just dedicated to community involvement and having the community actually have a genuine visioning process and actually see some results in the neighborhood. So thank you very much.
126 Yes, my.
127 Name is Eric knox. I've been in Portland 31 years. I have a mentoring organization that believes in the power and potential of black and brown youth. Plus, we launched the school four years ago on 145th and stark, a k-5 committed to the abundance, brilliance and creativity of our black and brown and indigenous young folks. It's a k-5 school. Beautiful. I, I applied because I wanted to continue the story, and the story is every year in the spring, we interview our kids to see if we want who we can match. We just don't have enough adults that look like and embody our kids ways of being in the world to match our kids. But I remember a few spring few years ago during the spring, we we, one of my staff asked a young black girl, what do you want to be when you grow up? And she was about 7 or 8 years old. She said, I want to be myself. And I thought that was pretty powerful, right? That she understood that being black and being black in Portland would be the fight of her life, and we wanted to make sure through our mentoring and our school, that our kids would have a place for them to experience who they were and in a very deep way. And because of a lot of displacement that happened in inner north and northeast Portland, I've been living in east Portland for about ten years, and I wanted to be committed to this story of recreating belonging and no longer displacement. And so being part of the tiff felt like another step in in my story. And the story, particularly of black and brown, of folks in east Portland. So I'm just excited to be a part of this work.
128 Thank you very much.
129 West, go right ahead.
130 Hi. My name is wes ayers, so I'm a small business owner. I have a small design build firm. We specialize in housing and urban infill development. My professional experience encompasses architecture, construction management, and housing development. I've served in leadership roles with the elliott neighborhood association. I was on the board for about six years there and lived in northeast Portland. There and with the Portland chapter board for four years as well. I also volunteer with the architecture foundation of Oregon, with the architects and schools, as well as architects without borders, which I hope sort of demonstrates my commitment not only to sort of industry and housing, but also to community minded. And focused initiatives. As a construction manager, I spent years of my life building housing out in east Portland. I'm very familiar with pretty much anywhere to eat lunch. There could be, you know, some more places. And then of course, all the, you know, normal routine of finding something that you need. And, you know, I spent a lot of time in east Portland and so and also as a student of urbanism and urban design, I'm particularly interested in sort of the opportunities in east Portland. It's it's an area of large superblocks. It's got it's developmentally fragmented. I think there's a lot of opportunity there. And I find it really interesting. So and I guess, you know, from my years of kind of working with budgets and having to meet timelines strictly and getting stuff actually built, I'm hoping I can offer sort of that real world sort of experience to, you know, kind of help, whatever offer, how this might all come together.
131 Hi, everybody. Good morning. My name is karen wolfgang, and it's really exciting to meet some of my colleagues for the first time here. I'm humbled, really, to be in this room of public servants and leaders from east Portland. This is really exciting and it's daunting. But I think together we have kind of a hive mind here that's going to get some really exciting things done. I am here because paula bird, so paula's name hasn't come up yet today, but she's been an amazing community advocate for this process throughout, and I'm here as a continuation of my service on the exploratory committee, but also just because of her consistent support and effort. So thank you, paula. I acknowledge that previous efforts have had sort of a really big gap between intention and impact. I think we need to close that as much as possible as a team. You know, Portland includes east Portland. East Portland is a vibrant and important part of our economic development strategy for this whole city. So we need to treat it that way. We need to envision. Thank you, david, for bringing that. Envision what we want here and work together to pursue that. I know there's a lot of different visions of what it could look like, but, you know, you're absolutely right. We have a very interesting sort of built environment. And through the strategies that we pursue here, we could we could do something really exciting, like not just exciting for Portland, but exciting for the world that we need to build together. I have I grew up in Portland, in the west loop neighborhood, where my parents and brother and his kids still live, moved out to 84th and clinton, then to 85th and tolman. And now I'm 168th and woodward in a land trust house. So thank you. Proud ground. I'm committed. I'm there for the duration. This is going to be my kids house in the future. And I'm really into community resilience. I don't really know how to build community resilience, but I'm trying and I'm really glad again, to be in the room with these people and to be in this process with so many other people who are doing the same thing. Yeah, there's other things about me, but I think that's probably about two minutes. And yeah, I'm just looking forward to getting to know everybody through this process. Thanks.
132 Thank you all so much. Councilor Dunphy, did you have a question?
133 Yeah, I just wes specifically. Okay. As near as I can tell, I think you're the only person on this on any of these three panels who actually is an owner of a development firm. You are like, like doing a lot of the bricks and sticks work that this will, this project will eventually fund, which is both really exciting because we need your lived experience and your professional experience to help inform this. But I also just want to understand, you know, is this becoming a, you know, if you were, you know, if your work is in east Portland and a lot of the funding for this future work is going to be coming from this, does this conflict you out of being able to pursue jobs or are you, you know, are you making a bigger sacrifice here? But also are there things we, you know, are you worried about that I guess,
134 Yeah, I mean, I should always be worried about that, but I'm not you know, we I'm mostly a builder, right? We help design. We help people. Developers. Right. Sort of imagine, you know, what it's going to be with our. So we're we're more of consultants, right? People come to us because they want our experience and how to build something efficiently, effectively and on budget. Right. So, you know, the work that we're going to be doing is, is many, many years out, right? We're planting small seeds. You know, we're not harvesting trees right now. So I'm hoping to be able to use my experience to help, kind of like just guide the process. I don't think anybody's going to. Yeah.
135 Great. Yeah. I just, you know, I hope you will help us. Also, as we're thinking about doing things differently and understanding, you have a good understanding of how things have worked and how they don't work. I also it doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it anyway that, you know, if there is a you know, this is not an opportunity for grift. You're not in position to, to, to enrich yourself. But I just want to, you know, hopefully we can benefit from, from your experience specifically because you do bring something different. So I just wanted to call that out and say thank you.
136 Absolutely.
137 Well, thank you all for being here today and for being part of this work.
138 Thanks. Can I ask a question?
139 Go right ahead.
140 Okay. I really appreciated councilor Dunphy bringing the question of the administrative overhead. My question for council is, how do you see prosper being a good partner for our communities? Outside of the tif process, specifically bringing its expertise, relationships, web of connections to to benefit our part of town.
141 I'd kind of like to let prosper take a stab at that question, because there are so many resources that I know prosper has brought to other tif work that maybe you can talk about in relation to some of these tif districts.
142 Yeah, maybe. Karen and I have had this conversation directly too. I think it's really important to remember that prosper has other programs that are general fund supported or otherwise supported that are really important complements to tax increment finance investments, things like our office of small business and small business assistance. I think the other thing we've had a lot of conversations about is also just what kind of role we can play in navigating, like interest in learning more about how development happens, how does kind of real estate think about investment out in east Portland? And I would say we've had this conversation of like treading very lightly because we want to make sure that we are not kind of the intermediaries of that conversation, but that it's also happening with industry partners. But we have talked about how can partners like paula bird or neighborhood prosperity networks offer programs that build up that knowledge base out in east Portland? But again, tiff is ultimately kind of one financial tool, takes other financial tools, and acknowledging that it takes a more robust kind of capacity building effort across kind of prosperous programs to support what community needs to engage in this, and also to make sure that we're investing appropriately.
143 Thank you. And I'm hoping we'll have time at the end for councilors to all weigh in with some comments. So I'm writing down these questions to remind us then. But I will say council passes the prosper budget. So if there are things we should be thinking about from your experience, all of you on our new tif clcs as we pass the prosper budget that we need to either maintain, do more of, do less of to support the work in your communities. That's a really important thing for us to hear back from all of you. Great. Thank you all for being here.
144 Our next.
145 Panel is emily hutsell parker fitzpatrick, tamara booth, and elena burova.
146 Elana is going to be remote.
147 Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I thought you had moved to in-person. We will get to you also, then. Emily, go right ahead.
148 Thank you. My name is emily hutsell. I use she her pronouns. I'm really excited to be here today and have the opportunity to speak with you. All this is in just my experience in Portland. I've lived here for a little over 20 years. I've lived east of 82nd. When I first moved to Portland, I lived on 83rd and duke moved into inner east Portland and have lived east of 82nd since 2016. Over the last few years, I've also worked at a nonprofit in east Portland that serves unhoused neighbors, which has given me some unique perspective on different needs of of that area, as well as having served on the mill park neighborhood association for the last eight years. As karen mentioned, it's a really impressive group of people. A lot of folks that I've had light touches with through my experience and so excited to be a part of this group of people who get to guide what happens in east Portland. Echoing that we have been overlooked. We have been missed out on opportunities in the past, and I think that the focus of this community led effort is extremely important for shaping the future of east Portland and bringing in as many voices as possible. Someone else also mentioned it's not necessarily about our vision or our need, but using our connections to make sure that all the voices of the community are served and heard. And so that's why I'm here. Thank you.
149 Thank you very much. Go right ahead. Parker.
150 Good morning all. I'm parker fitzpatrick. All pronouns are welcome. I'm part of a modern family that works and joys and lives in the hazelwood neighborhood in northeast. So the top half, we can't really be considered native to the neighborhood the way a lot of our neighbors who have lived out there for decades can be. But we do have a, a, a habitat range of say. Gateway to glendoveer and adventist health. And these communities, east Portland community center up to about the airport. I'm not affiliated with any commercial, institutional or political entity. I'm only affiliated with the thousands of working people in east Portland who are doing their best to pursue happiness in a modest home with some degree of security, privacy, and peace. I volunteered to work on the east 205 committee because I'm really hoping that this this initiative can be one of the first to really take on board the goals of the charter reform. And by which I mean. Use a really, truly transparent process to really meaningfully engage with the 98,000 people who already live in the district, many of whom, like I said, have have spent decades making the area what it is. And over 60% of whom happen to be people of color. I hope the committee will. Our committee will take the time to understand the strengths that are already present in the neighborhoods and question assumptions about what the the entire city of Portland needs, particularly with an eye to 30 years from now of when Portland will be hotter, drier and more expensive. I don't think it's going to get any easier to attend school or get and keep a living wage job in the future, and I'm hoping to contribute to a plan that respects the cultural and environmental assets that make east Portland a specific kind of place. And to build neighborhoods that don't segregate or separate people. Walkable neighborhoods that are that are climate resilient, human scaled, where people can take care of their essential needs within 20 minutes of home and can still connect to the city at large by shared transportation and muscle power. And I just want to acknowledge that this is this working on this committee will take me out of my comfort zone, but I figured I should show up or shut up. Thanks for your time.
151 Thank you. Tamara, go right ahead.
152 Great. Good morning, chair and members of the committee. My name is tamara boothe. My friends call me tammy. I'm deeply rooted in east 205, and my lived experience actually spans all three of the districts. I'm really excited to be a part of this. I was born and raised and currently own a home right here in east 205, and I'm a mother of four children. I my connection isn't temporary. I've seen it through the experiences, my lived experiences, and some of my work experiences. So I was an employee at parkrose school district in the past, and a parent who is navigating david douglas school district, watching buildings around and businesses close, and noticing that this is my my home and my community and my future for my kids. And it's really crucial as a community, we get this right and build it up alongside. And so what I've seen is some really incredible resilience in the community and from the community members. And there's also some deep pain identified with some structural inequities. And so to me, it's an honor to sit aside a very wide variety of of lived experiences and learn and grow and choose what's best for our community through that. And so I want to listen and learn and advocate for our children, small businesses, and then my close and expanded neighbors into a five. And then more broadly, looking across all of the the tif districts, what's happening. And so as a professional background that I bring to the table, I'm a current budget director for Portland public schools. I my role has been historically in the finance department at different school districts. And so the lens is looking at listening to the community needs and translating that into dollars. And so looking at fiscal responsibility and balancing that with the ability to, to to target these investments in a responsible way. And so the excitement that I, that I bring to this community is centered around the commitment for co-creation, anti-displacement and shared leadership. So really bringing the voices that are already there within our community and elevating the people that are there today to have opportunities that might not happen if not for this district. Thank you.
153 And Elana.
154 Hello everyone. I'm going to be remote again. I apologize for that. I'm actually east coast and newark, new jersey representing the model I work for. So my name is Elana and I live in hearst gilbert neighborhood and work as an implementation manager for the east Portland community investment trust, also known as plaza 122. In case you don't know, community investment trust or katz, the first in the united states financial model that is affordable and loss protected, that creates a pathway to shared ownership of commercial property, allowing local residents in east Portland. That's four zip codes who have long been excluded from ownership and wealth building, and many of city investors are first time investors, immigrants, working families to finally have a real stake in local ownership and economic growth. In my professional role, I lead community engagement with over 350 local families and support 30 for profit and nonprofit tenants at plaza 122. As an immigrant from ukraine, and almost a year and a half ago, I became citizen and homeowner in east Portland. Single mom of eight grader attending Lane middle school. He's enrolled in russian immersion program. I'm deeply rooted with this community of east Portland, with immigrant population. My lived experience, combined with my professional work in community driven development, my connection to the diverse immigrant community for east Portland has deepened my commitment to making sure that. Is still five. This district becomes a model of equitable, community led revitalization. I'll be honored to bring grounded, resident centered perspective to this committee. Thank you.
155 Thank you all. Colleagues. Are there any questions for this panel? Okay. Well, thank you all for being here today and for being a part of this work and the work moving forward in community. Colleagues, our next panel is all online. We have daniel carrillo, terrance hayes, andy miller and chad bentley. Daniel, are you available?
156 Hi there.
157 Perfect. Yes. Go right ahead.
158 Hi. Good morning everyone. My name is daniel carrillo. My pronouns are he him, and I'm a alumni PSU and have a bachelor's in school of public health with a focus on community health development and my professional life. I currently am a lrt which is licensed renewable energy technician and it's installed solar panels around Portland. I joined the the east 205 tiff because I've been into other groups as well, like the advisory board and the trillium continuum of care, and I've seen that being in these positions, I'm able to voice my opinion and help my community, and hopefully being with tiff, I can use my experience as a case manager, and my previous work experience, and look at the barriers that low income populations have seen with the bureaucracies that have impeded them from getting low income housing and living here near between centennial and hazelwood. I've seen a lot of immigrant populations struggle with a lot of current politics and and the situation around here in east. 205 and I would just like to voice my opinion how we can. Promote more health and more income into the community. And I would just like to say thank you for the opportunity to be here. I hope that that I could come in person one of these days to one of the community groups or when we meet. But today I got sick, so unfortunately I can't be there. But thank you all.
159 Thank you very much for being with us online, terrence. Go right ahead.
160 How y'all doing? My name is terrance hayes. I am a small business owner in east Portland. I own a home in east Portland. My children go to school in east Portland. I have a vested interest in the disconnect between small businesses and homeowners and government funding in east Portland, and I just want to bring that experience to the table. I know what it means to have government city as well as state contracts and what small businesses struggle with when assessing funding, using it, and then entities, government entities making the adjustments necessary to support small businesses and homeowners. So I just want to bring that lived experience to the table. It's what I do. My company particular hires, formerly incarcerated black men and women. This is it's an understatement to say that formerly incarcerated people is an underserved class. So I just want to bring that to the table, be able to talk about it and continue that work and bring that experience to this conversation. Thank you.
161 Thank you very much, andy miller. Go right ahead.
162 Yeah. Good morning. Members of the council. My name is andy miller. I use he him pronouns. I'm sorry I can't be with you in person today, but I am coming to you from east Portland, from the offices of our just future, which were built with tif resources. So we have experience working with east Portland tif to do positive things for the community. Our just future is a nonprofit organization that's anchored here in east Portland, in the gateway tif district, and also anchored in east county. We've been here for 37 years. We like to say our mission is to push back on the forces causing poverty and homelessness in our community, and our work includes the operation of three homeless shelters, serving families with children and unaccompanied women experiencing homelessness. We also provide rent and utility assistance that helps people keep their housing here in east Portland, and also to transition from homelessness into housing. We do employment and career counseling work and importantly to to this conversation. We're a developer, owner and operator of affordable housing. Currently have 18 communities across east Portland and east county, including housing, as I mentioned, developed with tif proceeds and gateway. The aurora, which which sits in the center of the east 205 tif district and transformed a troubled property there into affordable housing, now serving residents in that district. We also have a project lesion commons that will be completed next year. It'll provide affordable housing that will be within the 82nd avenue tif district. In my past, I worked for 13 years with the city of Portland with what is now the Portland housing bureau, worked closely with the tif, set aside resources to create affordable housing. My interest on the clc is really to see if we can do something in other spoke of this, to do something really hard and without a lot of precedent here in Portland or nationally, and that's to engage in neighborhood redevelopment in ways that do not land. The kind of harm that we've seen these investments have historically harm landing on community, especially communities of color, and instead to do something different. And that's actually create real, enduring benefit for all neighborhood residents as we transform neighborhoods. Kind of an early advocacy point with you all is to say that to do this, to to reach that outcome. And my sense is that this council is pretty familiar with the challenge history of urban renewal here in Portland wants to see different results. And I think to get those different results, we're going to need to think beyond just tif dollars. Tif is a resource. It's not a strategy. If we're going to invest in holistic neighborhood redevelopment, we all we need to kind of simultaneously think about the bricks and bricks and sticks investments that tif can provide, but also the people based investments that help people keep their housing through things like eviction prevention, improve their lives through things like employment services and people based services, and also investments that grow community power and capacity to do more of the development ourselves and to really be part of transforming the the district that we're creating. My hope is we will invest differently and we'll get different outcomes in these tif districts and become a national model. So I'm excited to be part of that process. Thank you.
163 Thank you very much. I shall go right ahead.
164 All right. Good morning. My name is toya bentley, and I'm a lifelong Oregonian and the founder of the ebony collective cdc. I bring over a decade of experience working across government, nonprofit and business sectors. I'm also a homeowner near 122nd and proudly serve on the board of education, mount hood community college in position seven. I have a degree in small business and entrepreneurship and a degree in community development. Through my work with the ebony collective cdc, I had the opportunity. I had the opportunity to serve as a member of the east Portland tax increment finance exploration stakeholder group in 2024. My organization deeply engaged black residents across all three tif areas. We canvased neighborhoods. We left fliers on doors, we hosted community conversations that address institutional harm of tif practices and solutions that participants came up with. Together, it was important to raise awareness about how tax increment finance was being used again in neighborhoods that black Oregonians occupy. Because tif has been used historically, often without equitable outcomes, and displace black homeowners, renters, and businesses for the benefits of housing and transportation. However, there can be an opportunity for tax increment finance to be used differently today as long as there's inclusion, ownership, and accountability. This work is a snapshot of what I do every day, creating spaces for honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations that leads to solutions by the community, for the community. As we move forward with the planning around east 205, I'm excited to be a part of the next phase, ensuring we explore equitable practices that centers our most vulnerable residents so that the communities we have long been left out of finally be a part of shaping what's coming next. I encourage all of my peers on the committees to consistently think about who is missing in the conversations we will have, and how we can make sure we don't continue the institutional harm in space that we call home. Thank you.
165 Thank you so much, colleagues. Are there any questions for this panel? Okay. We appreciate you all being here today and stepping up to be a part of this work. Colleagues, there is one individual who was not able to attend today, kristen. Romain, you have kristen's materials in the packets that you were sent. I am going to look to our team from prosper, but I believe that closes out all of our panels. Okay, because this is a work session, we don't have all of the normal tools that we have at a council or committee meeting. But craig cook from our council operations team graciously offered to take any written testimony from the public and compile it so that he could report that out to us today. Craig, do you have any written testimony to share with us?
166 Good morning, madam president and councilors craig cook from council operations. For the record, we received one written public comment via email. And it was general themes were supportive of an appointee from the east 205 district. That was the only public comment we received. Thank you.
167 Thank you very much. Councilors. We now have just about 25 minutes. So we gave all of the folks who testified today two minutes each. That gives us about two minutes for any comments that we would like to make before we gavel out for the day. Counselor Smith, do you have comments to share?
168 Yes. Thank you. Thank you, madam president. I want to thank all of you for joining us today for this presentation and discussion. I am really thrilled to see three new tif districts in east Portland actually coming to reality. And right before our eyes, it's taken a few years of work, but the results show it was really good work by a lot of people, and I appreciate prosper for that. We have almost 40 people willing to serve the city in roles where they will be under close scrutiny. The communities they serve are expecting a lot of our new tif districts, but these folks look like they are ready to deliver. They were strong, confident, assured, and I was very impressed with every single one of you. And not only to lead the districts, but to continue leading with the same spirit of community engagement that started this entire process. My staff will be reaching out to all of you all soon to schedule some time and meeting with me, and I would like to sit down with each leadership council as a group at some point, but also meet with you individually in the meantime. Thank you for volunteering to serve. Thank you for your service. I think we can all work together to make district one a better place to live, as well as a better place in the city of Portland. I look at east Portland as not the furthest east in the city of Portland. I look at us as the new front door of the city of Portland. So make me proud, you guys. Make sure you come to all the meetings and I look forward to meeting you.
169 Thank you. Councilor councilor Dunphy.
170 Yeah. First of all, I just want to share that councilor Avalos is currently watching this on youtube from an airplane, and she is texting me, and she just wants to share that it is her intention to to prioritize all things east Portland, all things tif, and to be a resource for all of you. So thank you for your leadership and looks forward to meeting one on one and meetings as you start. Collaborating towards this. Getting these tif districts online. Colleagues, I just want to take a moment to note the incredible community assets we have here in east Portland and the amazing leaders that were selected from an amazing pool of leaders. Cream of the crop. But this is also just, you know, an incredibly resilient crowd, an incredibly focused crowd. And I will acknowledge I have been a vocal critic of tif in the past and in the present. And I, I want to see things work different. I want to see these tools work. I want to see our community flourish. These are the kinds of folks that we need to push in the right direction to make sure that we're getting the most for our our precious public dollars, that our neighbors are being served. That, as someone said, that we're not building our neighborhood for who's going to live there in ten years, but rather how we get the people who are living there now to live for the next ten years and into the future. I'm incredibly proud of my east Portland community. I'm incredibly proud to be representing you up here, and to make sure that we really nail this. It matters. It matters to each of us. So thank you all for, first of all, driving all the way across town. I-84 is a nightmare. And for your dedication to our community to make sure we we can do something different and do something that really affects our neighborhoods. So thank you all.
171 Colleagues. I had said I would repeat the two questions that were asked of us, and then I did our district one colleagues a disservice by not doing that. First, apologies. But before others speak, I will remind us that we had two of our applicants ask us questions, and if you want to address that as you speak, you're welcome to. It was how we plan to interact with the clcs, and how we and how prosper can support the work that they are doing. Councilor Green.
172 Thank you, madam president, and thank you today for everyone who stepped up. I have been incredibly impressed with the cohort of people who are going to be guiding what is 54% of the total new resources across the six tif districts. That's a pretty big deal. That's that's over $1.5 billion in tif resources over the next several decades. So you've got a huge task in front of you. And I feel really confident that we've assembled a team of folks who have a variety of lived experiences. Which gets me to the question, how can I what are my expectations for engagement? The clc, you citizen volunteers, I expect to I expect you to feel empowered to come to the the relevant council committees to raise issues as you see them, or provide recommendations as you see them to not only my my committee that I co-chair with councilor Ryan arts and arts and economy, but I would also encourage the housing committee as well to hear directly from you. Given that chair's prerogative, I think the new form of government creates a really good opportunity for that level of direct engagement. Our oversight on the tif spending happens at two junctures. One is the approval of the action plans, which which this group is going to be advising, the development of which I feel really confident in, and then also the budgets that we've passed. And so when we hear from community members directly on what's working and what's not working, we'll be able to act accordingly. So I think I think that's probably all I need to say right here. I think I've answered the questions and if not, you know where to find me. So thanks so much for stepping. Oh, I will say one last thing. Really looking forward to seeing how the east Portland, the three districts, three tif districts on the east side of the city perform, we won't have the same governance structure for the west side ones, as it turns out, but I'll be looking at those action plans with the same eyes that I'm going to be looking the action plans from the east side to see how the different styles of governance inform those action plans. So thank you.
173 Thank you, councilor, councilor Ryan.
174 Thank you, council president. First of all, thank you so much for your service. That was impressive to have all of you here. And I really look forward to supporting your work. You all deeply represent your community. That's my biggest takeaway. There's a lot of people here rooted deeply in their community. Thank you for sharing that. I want to just give a couple suggestions. I hope that when you come to arts and economy, can work with you to see how you're measuring success. I think it's important to establish those data sets at the beginning. Perhaps prosper Portland already has those, and we just didn't see that. Of course, in this presentation, you know, we'll living wage jobs increase. Will homeownership increase. Will there be a rise in least businesses in your district. So I hope that you'll be measuring those or I don't know why we'll be doing this. So I just look forward to tracking that and holding that type of accountability for the progress. I also hope that you pair up with those that have different skill sets with you. I hope that you do some mentoring with one another. Some of you might have much more deeply rooted experience in the neighborhood, and then others might have more economic development experience. They might have more building and operating of housing experience. Again, since economic development and housing are the two biggest challenges of this committee, I hope you can humble yourself to lean in to those that have that lived experience. It's complicated and I think it's really easy to say we know a lot about something, but we don't really know that until we listen to those who've experienced that. So I just encourage you to, to be to humbly serve in, in and really lean in to what the main charges are of the tif districts. Thank you.
175 I can't believe you timed yourself. Good work, councilor Zimmerman.
176 Thanks. First.
177 Just want to. Recognize those.
178 Who stepped up. I think. This is an interesting group of people with an interesting task in front of them, and.
179 I appreciate.
180 You diving in. I think it's great. This is the the type of thing that makes us, makes us know that a transition toward district based government has its way of getting its tentacles into everything that we do. And I think that we're seeing that here, where district one has significant representation. And today's list of folks who stepped in front are not the normal faces we've seen for decades in front of this council when it comes to advisory panels. So I appreciate that a lot. And I know that you're going to spend time, you're going to miss certain dinners with your family, etc. You're going to miss practices with your kids, and I appreciate that. Or your grandkids. I also, as the representative who and a person who lived and bought my first home in the pearl district, I look at that as one of the great examples of what can be, and I offer this up to you. The pearl district gets made fun of a lot by by people, not just in our community, because it's seen as ritzy or it's seen as as high value, etc. Etc. But it's also one of the most mixed income neighborhoods in our community. It's an area that at least at one point, I don't quote the figures here, but it was about 45% of the units were affordable housing units next to million dollar units. I care about that a lot because I think mixed income neighborhoods are the greatest success for the future of any community. Mixed income buildings are great success for a neighborhood. And so that cascading effect that I think can help us achieve is important, that economic growth, that boom, and the opportunity for a young kid like me returning from iraq to buy a unit would not have existed to buy my own home in the middle of a recession, when my peers were trying to figure out how to stay afloat. But for the units that were available because of what occurred in the pearl district. So I for that not to say we need the pearl district of east Portland. No. But that the neighborhood gets to craft what they think is most effective, most most responsive to the needs in creating opportunity for your residents, inviting new residents, looking at helping Portland become a town that has multiple what I call the micro downtowns. And I think that those are really healthy and I'm really looking forward to all of your work. So thank you for volunteering. Thank you for knowing that that tif can be a good thing. Mixed use, mixed income is a good thing and happy to be on this journey with you. Thank you.
181 Thank you, councilor Councilor canal.
182 Thank you, madam president.
183 I'll start. By not burying.
184 The lead. I'm very impressed.
185 With.
186 The group on on the.
187 Whole for all.
188 Three, and I.
189 Appreciate everyone who applied those nominated and those who weren't for putting yourselves into consideration. Looking forward to the full council consideration. Thanks to council leadership and the arts and economy committee for setting this up, I think it's really important that we do comprehensive review of people who will later be making recommendations to council, so that council does not have excuses later to disregard volunteer recommendations. We reviewed them. So now we have to at least engage with you. And that's a really important test. Thanks to all the staff who are presented here, as well as the the folks who contributed to the selection process who weren't here. I want to take the chance to to say, I think that getting 3 to 1, which is the actual number you had for at least each of the districts, was really, really a good goal. And we should push civic life to go further. To answer lynn's question, for me, it's more about the lloyd holliday tiff, just because it's that's a district two. I'm I want to be a regular check in with any tiff that would like it at the cadence that works for you, for the for the clcs. And then if there is a specific ask, I'm also happy to do a one on one at any time with either leadership or with the whole group. And for speaking of lloyd, holiday today at three is lloyd holiday working groups meeting. It's on the prosper website. If you search lloyd holiday district there I'll just add one thing on the space spac one specifically. I'm really happy to see the connectivity because it does border d2 to see that at least one of the members lives in in district two and is part of that. So shout out to sarah for that. And then also related to that one, I want to express support and advance for the community center creation that director wesley mentioned as a goal, and I'm happy to work with any of the three. If it's relevant to you to build any sort of free third spaces for people in east Portland. And the last thing I'll say, and this is something that I think everybody in this room already knows. But for those who might be watching online, you know, urban renewal has risks. It's very clear that people understood that. I was struck by how many of the nominees said that they personally had been displaced primarily from district two, and how many of those who said it were nominees of color? The the awareness that's in this room is a really good starting point, a foundation that you can build on to figure out the specific ways in which urban renewal efforts have led to that displacement, both intentionally and unintentionally, and how to avoid that going forward in your work. And I just wanted to volunteer that my office is willing and able to be a partner in that and assist wherever possible. So thank you, madam president.
190 Thank you. Councilor councilor Novick.
191 I want. To second.
192 Councilor green's.
193 Suggestion that the community leadership and the tif district should.
194 Interact with council.
195 Through the committees, and I think.
196 It's not just arts and. Economy and housing.
197 One of the nominees for the 82nd avenue. District raised the issue of human trafficking on 82nd. And that's something that's of concern to the community in.
198 My office.
199 It's something that we can address in the public safety committee. I also wanted to note that my chief of staff.
200 Was involved in the selection.
201 Committee for the 82nd avenue tif district, and their priorities were to get representation up and down the 82nd.
202 Avenue corridor.
203 A mix.
204 Of experience.
205 People who've been involved.
206 In all sorts of public involvement.
207 Opportunities over.
208 The years, and. Some who are wanting.
209 To.
210 Get involved now. And experience some. Priority investments. Like urban development, economic development, infrastructure and affordable housing. And that was such a great pool of applicants that we were able to.
211 Get a team.
212 That reflects all those priorities. So we're really impressed by and grateful for that.
213 Councilor Dunphy thanks.
214 My staff yelled at me because I forgot something. In the last couple of weeks here. The district one councilors have been really showing up to the community to talk about the future of gateway. With the closure of the gateway, fred meyer, there's a lot of anxiety about what the future of that neighborhood is going to happen. But I'm also hearing that same level of anxiety about every part of our community, east Portland. So I have an ask for all of the folks who are going to be on this. We will be having a series of additional town halls across the district, focusing in on what do we want from our community. How can we, as city councilors, directly translate what the community wants to see into our policy and agenda priorities? And I'm going to ask that anybody who would be willing and interested to help us with those town halls, please let us know. We would love to have you help us facilitate those. Help us convene community conversations. Help us reach out to your communities, and also to demonstrate that this is a whole of government approach that we are trying to take. This is not us trying to have one off town halls, but rather to try and show that we are showing up differently to east Portland. So you will probably be hearing from me. I will hope to hear from you. I would love your help in trying to make. Our priorities known in this building. So thank you guys.
215 Thank you councilor. It has been amazing to hear from so many people with so much talent and deep roots in your communities about the work for a community driven process that is about finding space for investments from your community to go back to your community. That's one of the more amazing things that our tif districts allow. And like my colleague, I sometimes have questions about how tif has been used, concerns about how it was used in my own district in the past. But this is the best of what tif can be, and it was inspiring to hear your stories and comments about how you hope to see that play out. I know all of us were looking for different things as you were speaking and I, for one, was really looking to hear an interest in supporting the people, the residents, the workers who are in your communities right now. I was heartened to hear that from a few of the applicants, to hear specifically working people who live in neighborhoods, brought up to hear specifically that interest in supporting not just the future, the potential future of your neighborhoods, but the people who are there right now because there is immense potential in the future of your neighborhoods. And also a lot of investment by the people who are already there. And I know you all know that we heard that loud and clear from many of you. To the questions that were asked. I hope you feel comfortable reaching out to all of us, especially the councilors who represent the districts you'll serve in. But to any one of us, when there's need, I hope you'll reach out to our committee chairs of the relevant committees. When there's need our economic workforce. Rather, I'm sorry, our arts and economy committee and our housing and homelessness committee. And I want to reiterate what I said previously, which is I hope you let us know what investments you need from prosper outside of the tif work, so that we know what to be looking at when we look at those budgets. This is a work session, colleagues, so we don't have a vote today. But I want to thank you all for being here, for sharing your stories and interest, and for being a part of this conversation today. We don't take a vote. We we will put this straight on the city council agenda. I believe it will be on the council agenda next week, on October 29th. I'm sure that folks from prosper Portland have said this to you, but I will reiterate, you do not need to be here for that meeting. We don't want to make you drive to city hall twice or take time online for a few hours twice. You're of course, welcome to listen in if you'd like to, but there's no need to. We know that everybody has busy schedules and lots of other things happening in your day. This was really the place where we wanted to engage in a conversation with you. So thank you. We'll look forward to bringing this to full council. And with that, we will conclude our work session today.