The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2026-01-27
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (18,620 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are not yet identified (colors just separate consecutive turns). Auto-captions can contain errors — check the recording for anything that matters.
Session summaryEditor-reviewed
The Portland City Council Arts and Economy Committee convened on January 27, 2026 at 9:30 a.m., with roll call and a statement of conduct read into the record. The committee approved prior meeting minutes by consensus and heard broad public comment on arts and economy issues, including testimony concerning ongoing planning around performing arts center proposals and a feasibility report, with figures on seating capacity stated inconsistently. The committee then took up an ordinance to add code prohibiting the sale or provision of certain force-fed poultry products (foie gras), hearing extensive invited-panel and public testimony both supporting and opposing the measure, addressing topics such as animal welfare, farm production practices, public health, economic impact on restaurants, and enforcement logistics. A technical amendment to the ordinance's exhibit language was introduced, discussed, and voted on, with the outcome recorded in the vote ledger. Discussion followed on the ordinance as amended, and a vote occurred on referring it to full Council, with the outcome recorded in the vote ledger. The committee closed with an informal discussion on economic development priorities, including tax policy, small business support, events coordination, and city marketing, before adjourning.
AI-drafted from the session's auto-captions, reviewed by an editor — describes the discussion only; recorded votes live in the vote ledger. Captions contain errors.
0 Good morning. I called the I called the meeting of the arts and economy committee to order. It's Tuesday, January 27th at 9:30 a.m. Diana, will you please call the roll?
1 Good morning.
2 Dunphy here.
3 Smith I Clark here. Green.
4 Here. Ryan here. And, ashley, will you please read the statement of conduct?
5 Welcome to the meeting of the arts and economy committee to testify before this committee in person or virtually. You must sign up in advance on a committee agenda at w-w-w. Slash slash agenda slash arts and economy committee. Or by calling 311. Information on engaging with this committee can be found on this link. Registration for virtual testimony closes one hour prior to meeting in person. Testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard. If a public testimony will be taken on an item, individuals must testify for three minutes unless the chair states otherwise, your microphone will be muted when your time is over. A chair preserves order, destruction, conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others testimony or committee. Deliberation will not be allowed if if you instruction and warning will be given, further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. Additionally, the committee may take a short recess or reconvene virtually. Your testimony should address the matter being considered when testifying and state your name. For the record, if you're a lobbyist identified with the organization, you represent, virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the clerk calls their name. Thank you.
6 Thank you so much, ashley. We'll cover that again when we get closer to testimony. In today's meeting, the arts and economy committee will be approving committee meeting minutes. We will hear public testimony on arts and economy issues. We will hear an ordinance to prohibit the sale and provision of certain force fed poultry products. And if there's time. Something tells me we won't have time today. Looking at what I'm seeing at the moment, we will discuss the arts and economy visioning and that could be held over to the next meeting. Colleagues, I also want to say that if the testimony runs long and we don't have enough time to discuss and then vote, I will check in with all of you. We want to get away from that pattern of voting. Within five minutes after the testimony. I don't think that's good government. I know all of you agree with that, so let's move on. And item one diana, please read.
7 Item number one December 9th to December 16th, 2025. Arts and economy committee minutes.
8 So I'm just looking for an approval. Head nods is how we do this. You're all good with the minutes. Yep. Okay, on to the next item.
9 Item number two public comment on arts and economy issues.
10 Thank you. Public comment on arts economy issues. Diana, you'll call up. We have people signed up.
11 Yes we have.
12 This is broad not the specific topic that I think many of you are here for.
13 Correct. We have two people signed up for this. First, laura curry, next, diana stewart. You both can come to the dais or if you are online, so you can start whenever you would like.
14 Thank you. Good morning. My name is diana stewart. I live in the economically struggling river place neighborhood just behind the keller. I'm also a member of several groups working to support the revitalization of the core downtown. But I'm speaking today on behalf of myself. I've closely watched efforts over the last two years to find a compromise that works for Portland between the two performing arts centers proposals, we have engaged in a long, discouraging process that ignores the fundamental truth that Portland cannot afford. Su's half billion dollar, shiny new project, funded solely on the back of taxpayers. Any suggestion that the state authorized money for a new, Portland capable hall at PSU is false. Now the city has released the misleading, inaccurate feasibility report. I'm disheartened that this report was not pulled back in its many inaccuracies corrected. First, the report went beyond its directed scope, which was to determine if Portland could support two 3000 seat auditoriums which, hunted concluded we cannot hunden was not requested to then make a recommendation. This is important since hunden did not have a completed traffic impact study. Other data or more important, most importantly, an economic feasibility analysis. But even more concerning is the misinformation, which is the basis of its recommendation. The foundation of this report is that the new keller will only seat 2700 people, which is wrong. The final proposal, submitted by the halprin landscape conservancy specifies 3000 seats, the same as the PSU proposal. Hunden then noted current amenities issues with the aging keller, but failed to recognize that the renovated keller was seismic upgrades, state of the art acoustics, better sightlines, correction of the slope of seating, ADA accommodations, back space improvements, corrects etc. Corrects all the current deficiencies. All of these errors will be more fully documented for you in the near future. The study needs to be pulled back in the public, informed of the truth. Otherwise, trust of our citizens will be eroded. When the city does move forward with a project. I've become openly supportive of the stunning keller reimagination project because of its ability to be a catalyst for urgently needed revitalization of the downtown. Will the PSU multi-tenant project consume the dollars for its management that the keller has generated? For p5 over $1 million? We still don't know how su's proposal would pencil out. Finally, the city needs to seriously consider proposals for a temporary facility similar to what other cities have successfully provided to prevent shutdowns during their renovations of their performing arts centers. This should happen immediately. The sensible path now is to pull this misleading report back, correct the information to citizens, and move forward with the iconic keller proposal. We need the symbolism and the win that the keller project will provide. Thank you very much.
15 Thank you so much, diana.
16 And I just want you to know that this committee will be taking this up. And as you said, it's one piece of information and it's a very big, complex issue. Thank you. I appreciate your volunteerism.
17 Next final call for laura curry. If not, then testimony closes for this item.
18 Okay. That's it then. All right. Can you please read item three.
19 Item number three add code to prohibit the sale or provision of certain force fed poultry products. Add code. Chapter 17.110.
20 Thank you so much. I know there's a great interest in this item, so I don't want to take up too much air time at this moment. We need to hear from those of you in the room today. In fact, that's our main goal today is to get through the testimony. I'm going to turn this over to co-chair Green to introduce the ordinance. And before the testimony, I just want to say a couple more things. Okay. It's all yours. Co-chair.
21 Thank you. Co-chair Ryan, and thank you so much for everyone who showed up today. This is a piece of legislation that this community has been fighting for for years, and we're finally having an opportunity to discuss it. This is the first stage in that discussion. And the discussion starts with public testimony. So the way it's going to work today is we're going to bring up a panel of speakers that are speaking, I think, in support of the ordinance. And then I've also asked and decided to create space for folks who don't who don't support it as well. So we'll pull them up to the dais as well to speak directly to this body. So if we can have sam schillinger, eva hammer, connor lampkin, come on up to the front and anyone else that's part of your, your crew, go ahead and fill up those spaces and introduce your names to the record. And let's get into the presentation.
22 This is invited. Invited guest.
23 Yeah. This is part of the speakers and panel.
24 How much time are you allocating for this?
25 I think I think 15 minutes. If we can keep it to 15 minutes, that'd be preferable.
26 That work for all of you collectively. 15 minutes. Okay. Thanks. I'm the clock watcher up here. Yeah.
27 Down there.
28 Are they able to see it, though? They will. Once you start referencing in the council. The councilors.
29 Good morning. My name is sam schillinger.
30 You're going to need to talk in the.
31 Okay.
32 I'm going to catch you up.
33 All right. Let's move this.
34 Yeah. Just go ahead and have a seat. I know it's awkward to sit if you're used to standing as a former college professor, I understand the struggle. Go ahead and introduce your name and let's get into it. Thank you.
35 Good morning. My name is sam schillinger. I'm a district three Portland resident and the campaign director for pro-animal Oregon. Pro-animal Oregon is a movement of voters, volunteers, organizers and donors organizing politically to move Oregon towards a future beyond factory farming. Today, you have the opportunity to advance legislation that could put Portland on the map as a trailblazer for humane and sustainable food. I'm talking about, of course, a ban on the sale of force fed foie gras. What exactly is foie gras? French for fatty liver. It's the disease liver of a goose. Or in the us, a duck who's been force fed until their liver swells up to ten times its normal size. It's typically served as a luxury product at french and upscale restaurants with a hefty price tag. So why should Portland ban the sale of foie gras, for starters? Force feeding is one of the most extreme forms of animal cruelty. Additionally, production requires intensive confinement that is devastating to the environment. Furthermore, animal to human disease poses a serious threat to public health. When you have thousands of birds with diseased livers kept in a confined space. Finally, this clear, limited policy that's focused on a narrow set of products could set Portland apart as a leader in responsible food policy without hindering progress on other economic priorities, such as housing affordability and behavioral health. While this policy would set a precedent, Portland would not be the first to do it. The entire state of california has banned both the sale and production of foie gras, legislation that was upheld by the ninth circuit court of appeals in 2022. The cities of pittsburgh and brookline, massachusetts, have also banned the sale of foie gras, and several major retailers including target, costco, whole foods, and ikea have stopped selling foie gras. Portland's ban would also align with an international legal and ethical trend, as at least 27 countries have banned or phased out the sale, import or production of foie gras. We propose an ordinance that would prohibit the sale or provision of force fed poultry products. This would apply to restaurants, retailers and food services, but would not restrict personal possession. Consumption, online sales or non force fed liver. Following the standard 30 days implementation period, we propose an additional 60 day transition period and clear penalties to ensure fairness and compliance. Banning the sale of foie gras would have no negative economic impact. This is because less than 1% of Portland businesses actually sell foie gras. We've identified seven restaurants and two retailers who do. This is a fraction of a percent of the 2500 plus food businesses in Portland. Still, every serving represents an individual bird subjected to multiple force feedings per day for nearly two weeks. For those restaurants who do sell it, it's an insignificant source of revenue. A single niche product that can easily be replaced with a more local and ethical alternative as proof of concept for the negligible economic impact. Three Portland restaurants have recently phased out foie gras from their menu, with no resulting loss in revenue or jobs. This shows that not only is it feasible for local businesses to stop selling foie gras, but that a formal ban reinforces an already existing trend. There is broad public support for this ban, including endorsements from 58 Portland food businesses, 30 veterinary professionals and 37 nonprofit organizations, indicating that this legislation represents a wide range of community values. Foie gras is a moral blight because production involves force feeding that leads to liver disease, causing severe trauma, and pre-slaughter mortality rates that are 9 to 19 times higher than non force fed birds. These conditions are not exceptional. They are the industry standard for foie gras production. Additionally, foie gras production causes significant harm to the environment due to wastewater being dumped into public waterways. Us producers have been cited for over 1100 violations of the clean water act. Finally, foie gras poses a serious threat to public health. Due to the risk of the emergence and spread of animal to human disease, namely bird flu. Keep in mind we're talking about raw or only partially cooked diseased liver, which significantly increases the risk of foodborne illness due to the presence of bacteria like listeria. This is particularly dangerous for pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems. I'll now pass it off to our second panelist.
36 Thank you. My name is amber canavan. I'm a resident of Portland in district three. I'm also here on behalf of people for the ethical treatment of animals. And our over 20,000 members and supporters in the Portland area. I'm also here as a former cruelty investigator who witnessed firsthand the suffering that ducks endure in the foie gras industry. And I would like to share with you what I saw. Foie gras farms force feed animals until they become sick and slaughter them just before they would die from that force feeding process. What I saw was many of the ducks had difficulty walking and breathing because their huge, engorged livers press upon their organs and make it difficult to breathe, walk, move around, or just be ducks. I discovered that the birds were being kept in wire bottomed pens, suspended over a river of their own, waste. Their skin and feathers of many of the ducks were caked in feces, and some of the birds were suffering from open, untreated wounds. I found the corpses of dead ducks lying beside living birds in several pens, and birds with broken bones that appeared to be a result of struggling during the force feeding process. The city has a lot of complex problems that require complex solutions, and this is not one of them. You can spare so much suffering with this simple ordinance to ban the sale of foie gras from force fed birds. Thank you.
37 Good morning, members of the committee. My name is avery lang. I live in district three and I'm an organizer with the Portland chapter of direct action everywhere, which is an animal rights organization that fights for the total liberation of all animals. Some people have asked, why not just protest individual restaurants? Well, my group already does. Every week we protest restaurants that serve foie gras. Most people we speak with support the ban and agree that foie gras is cruel outside of direct action. Everywhere there have been a grassroots push to end the sale of foie gras in Portland for two decades. Local activists have dedicated years to education, organizing and lobbying, which is what brings us here today. So far, three restaurants have dropped foie gras due to our protests, but many still serve it. And as long as foie gras is sold in Portland, we will continue to oppose it. However, we believe in this committee to do the right thing and fight for a city that prioritizes compassion and empathy. Direct action everywhere is just one of the many groups organizing against foie gras in Portland. Our protests are disruptive yet effective, but the current restaurant by restaurant method is not a long term solution for anyone. This ordinance gives the entire city a clear, long term solution. While this is a challenging time to be an independent restaurant owner, removing a single niche menu item would not make or break a business. This ban requires only a small adjustment that aligns with widely recognized ethical standards. For these reasons, we urge you to vote yes on this ordinance and take a clear stand for compassion, accountability, and the values that Portland claims to uphold. Thank you.
38 Hello. Hi, I'm alex felsinger, resident of district one and co-founder of marietta, worker owned sri lankan restaurant in southeast Portland. We create authentic traditional dishes without using animal products. We try to demonstrate that you don't need meat to cook delicious food. We're not the first to do this. Portland has long led the way when it comes to animal friendly dining. We get tourists from all over the world who come to Portland just for the plant based food. As a chef, I want to be clear that eating at restaurants is a form of entertainment, and fortunately, society is making slow but steady progress in reducing harm done to animals for entertainment, marine parks, greyhound racing and horse racing, including our own shuttered local track, are on their way out and I'm thrilled to have witnessed the end of animal circuses in my lifetime. That came in part due to many cities passing bans. We don't need our entertainment to be based on some of the most egregious forms of animal abuse. I think it's impossible to justify this kind of abuse for what amounts to a fleeting moment of pleasure. Portland has earned a reputation for leading with creativity and values, and we can stay at the forefront by evolving what it means to have a world class restaurant scene. That's why I support the foie gras ban. Foie gras production involves force feeding. I don't believe that portland's dining needs to rely on that to stand out. I think this is an issue where Portland should join with other progressive municipalities to help lead the way. Please support the ban.
39 Good morning, committee members, and thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is lizette bickford. I live in the Portland metro area and I frequently go to restaurants and shops in Portland with my husband and children. Just to give you a little bit of background about me, I hold a phd in bioengineering from rice university and was previously a cancer treatment researcher for over a decade. In the next few months, I'll also have a completed a master's degree in public health with nutrition focus from the university of massachusetts amherst. I currently work at the physicians committee for responsible medicine, where I work on our food for life program, which provides evidence based nutrition education and cooking classes to help people regain their health through food. One key aspect of this program is the focus on community outreach and working with marginalized communities that suffer disproportionately from diet and lifestyle related chronic diseases. Foie gras, which comes most often from ducks, is a calorie dense, high fat liver product often served as paté or chilled spread. As you heard, foie gras is a luxury food item of low nutritional value and, as with other luxury food items, is rare, expensive, entirely unnecessary, and encompasses issues related to health, sustainability and social equity. From a public health perspective, the birds used in foie gras production are frequently immunocompromised due to poor husbandry conditions and abuse. Consequently, these birds are more susceptible to the avian flu, which can infect humans and is also highly contagious to other birds and some mammals. As an example, from November 2021 to may of 2022, france suffered an unprecedented outbreak of avian flu, which largely occurred on foie gras farms. The united states is also currently suffering from a highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak nationwide, which is very alarming. Another factor to consider, as you heard earlier, is the widespread potential for foodborne illnesses and the risk of listeria, which is high risk during intensive farming practices such as force feeding. Lastly, I'd like to point out that research in the last two decades decades has also linked foie gras consumption with amyloidosis, which is a serious disease caused by the buildup of misfolded proteins in organs. This is somewhat conceptually similar to mad cow disease. Portland can continue to maintain its reputation as a sustainable and forward thinking city by eliminating products that compromise the environment, the animal's social equity, and public health. This ordinance is a responsible step that reflects portland's leadership and the value placed on protecting our community, thereby bringing us towards a healthier and more just food system. Please support this ban. Thank you for your time and for prioritizing public health.
40 Oh, I guess I'm up. Oh. Hi, my name is miyoko schinner. I'm a chef, author, and entrepreneur. I founded miyoko's creamery, which grew to be one of the nation's largest nondairy cheese and butter companies. I'm also the founder of rancho compassion, an animal sanctuary. I love and honor french cuisine. I've spent my life trying to emulate it in books, restaurants, and businesses I've had. But with plants only, I don't believe we need cruelty to create luxury. But don't take it from me. Take it from three michelin star chef, french chef dominique crenn, who gave up foie gras in 2019, citing ethical concerns. She lost no michelin stars because she gave up cruelty. In fact, she won a larger audience as a chef. I know luxurious cuisine comes from fresh ingredients combined with technique and ingenuity. I built a successful business and won the accolades of many chefs for my butter and cheeses, simply by leaning on the ancient art of culturing and aging, but using only plant based ingredients. If you're a creative chef, you shouldn't have to rely on a specific ingredient to make or break your menu. But let's look at it from the perspective of the goose running an animal sanctuary. We have a number of geese. We often dismiss animals like geese as being just a flock all the same. But what if I told you that they were individualistic, just like your dog? One of my besties on our farm sanctuary is echo, a goose who was rescued from running around sunset boulevard in los angeles. He is truly unique. His primary job is to be the royal guardsman for angel, a cow, but he's also my boyfriend, goose running to me whenever I call him and jumping into my arms for cuddles. They are every bit as feeling and sentient and individualistic as your dog or cat. The foodie city of Portland is one I love, and it can lead the world and holding the standards, upholding the standards for sustainability and responsible foods. Let's raise the bar for what we call luxury by supporting the ban on foie gras.
41 Thank you. And I just want to note that we're at 15 minutes for the panel now. So if you guys can maybe bring this piece of it to to a conclusion that be helpful, because we do have a lot of people signed up for testimony. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. I think that there's one more person.
42 This up.
43 Hello. Members of the arts and economy committee. Thanks for having me today. My name is connor lampkin and I'm the assistant policy counsel at the humane league. I'd like to end this conversation to walk us through how this proposal would actually work in practice, through effective and supportive enforcement and implementation. So I just want to note that this ordinance was intentionally designed to be straightforward and low impact to administer. The enforcement is compliant complaint based. So businesses so proactive. The city does not have to proactively inspect businesses but only respond to complaints of violations. Outreach is already being conducted with affected businesses with that 90 day transition period after passage, giving them time to use existing inventory, update menus and come into compliance. And importantly, implementation does not require any new city funding or additional staff. We already have conversations with local agencies underway with agencies under the community and economic development service area. They're proving that this fits within existing enforcement frameworks, including discussions around an intergovernmental agreement with Multnomah county's office of environmental health. So this ordinance emphasizes education first, with compliance as the goal, beginning with a written warning and an opportunity to correct any violation before penalties apply. Additionally, pro animal organ is prepared to support the city post passage by assisting with outreach, guidance and informational materials, as well as business education to help ensure smooth and collaborative implementation. So overall, this policy is effective and practical. Practical. It's easy to implement, fair to business, and align with portland's values. Thank you for your time.
44 Thank you so much. And at this point, I'd just like to thank you all for, for for taking your time today and motivating this. We do need to move on. In the agenda item today. I would like to create space now for andy from la pigeon. Apologize for the pronunciation, but I'd like to. Yeah, thank you so much. And we will after this we'll then move to a broader community testimony. But I wanted to give you a spacer to to talk directly to us as part of the invited panel. Give a little bit more time, because your business is, of course, you know, directly impacted. So you can have five minutes.
45 Thank you.
46 Councilors and fellow citizens. My name is andrew fortgang. I'm a resident of district four and a small business owner of le pigeon and canard restaurants in district three. I'm speaking in opposition to the proposed ban on the sale. To begin the insertion. The assertions included in the actual text of the proposed ordinance and the supporting documents presented with it, are not representative of the farming and production of foie gras that is actually sold in Portland. All of the foie gras in Portland, and in fact, most of the country comes from one of two family owned, immigrant owned organic farms in upstate new york. I should say all of the commercially produced foie gras in America comes from these two farms. The farms are hudson valley foie gras and la bell farm. They work closely with each other and are open to visitors and journalists. La bell farm, which is where foie gras we use comes from, as well as the majority of foie gras served in Portland is owned by salvadorian immigrants. It is a 40 acre farm that is in the foothills of the catskill mountains. The farm is certified organic and is a vertically integrated farm. They grow their own corn and soy for feed. They have their own hatchery. They do not use antibiotics. They rotate their flocks through different locations, allowing time to wash and disinfect the animals spaces. The ducks are kept in well ventilated, climate controlled barns. They have plenty of space to roam. They are never in cages at all. It should be noted that not only the liver is used, all of the duck is butchered and sold. None goes to waste. This all happens on site. Further, the farm distributes their duck manure to neighboring farms to use in their fields, fully integrating the waste into productive part of the local farming ecosystem. The ordinance is written states that the process of making foie gras causes the quote and causes the animal significant injury and illness. This is not the case with these two farms that would in fact run contrary to the farm's mission, where the higher quality duck is the goal. The ordinance states that foie gras production. This is quote from the ordinance production industry contributes to environmental degradation. Climate change by keeping animals in conditions of intense confinement, thus polluting the air and waterways. This is just not the case at la belle farm. They are not kept in close confinement. It's simply not an industrial farm. The next bit of the ordinance is fear mongering about bird flu, based again on the incorrect assertion that these animals on these farms are kept in close confinement, that is unsubstantiated and meant to frighten the actual validity of the ordinances. Claims as well as mine could be verified if the committee and council so desired by visiting or researching these two farms. The premise of this ordinance in this case is false. The supplemental materials provided by the counsel's office, along with the proposed ordinance are misleading and misdirecting. The include a pan American health study about avian flu that does not mention ducks, specifically, an article about what pregnant women should eat by foodsafety.gov, which does not mention foie gras, and an article from the animal rights initiative website that references the study from belgium about findings that are related to compounds found in poultry livers in europe. The same article makes false claim that birds raised in foie gras farms in the united states are under intense confinement, and, in many cases, hundreds of thousands at a time. That is simply impossible. Based on the actual numbers, it is important to remember scale. Here. There are not any, let alone many cases, of ducks being confined hundreds of thousands at a time. In this country, la belle annually raises 180,000 ducks. Not at a time. Over the course of the year, there are 350,000 ducks raised for foie gras production a year in the united states, as opposed to 9 billion chickens that are produced annually. Here, the true horror story of poultry production in this country is factory farmed chicken, where hundreds of thousands of chickens are kept in close confinement, pumped full of antibiotics because of the squalid conditions. But that industry is too big to go after so small, family owned duck farms become the target. A ban on foie gras would be performative action, making no substantive change for the environment or animal welfare in Portland, or in the united states of America. The question also needs to be asked how would this ban help Portland? Anyone that does not want to eat foie gras or see foie gras can use their choice to avoid it and to not frequent the businesses that sell it. Their lives are unchanged. Either way, folks that want to eat it are having their choice taken away. Let's let that sit for a second. Taking away a choice by law should never be taken lightly at all. Portland has its troubles, some real and some are of perception. Regardless, that has caused citizens to say stay home and has caused tourism to suffer. One of the few things that keeps people going out and enlivening our streets, and a main source of people visiting, people traveling to Portland are its restaurants, and that include a number of restaurants like ours that happen to serve foie gras. These restaurants are neighborhood anchors, brick and mortar activated storefronts that drive physical commerce and get people out onto the streets. What is the benefit for Portland in creating impediments to small, independent businesses that bring the night to life and bring visitors to our city, our new city council president, whose leadership I happen to have a lot of faith in, has made it clear that, quote, there are real crises that we're facing. End quote I add to that foie gras is not one of them. Happy to answer any questions.
47 Thank you.
48 At this time we need to.
49 Yeah, I just want to thank you. And we have one other chef who's in the kitchen. He's trying to get in javier. Is it. Do you see him?
50 I don't see them online. We're having trouble with access at the moment.
51 He was trying to get in. It's not working okay. He's busy in the kitchen like chefs are at this hour. And you understand that. So anyway, I think he would agree with your sentiment. So thank you for being here. Before we go into testimony, I just want to acknowledge thank you for being good listeners. While the opposition, if you will, was speaking, it's really important that city council demonstrates welcomeness. We have to welcome people to the dais. We have to demonstrate civilized democracy. And so in doing that, we will we'll be doing a listening exercise today with all of you. And so we'll be taking notes and such. We don't do a lot of we don't do dialog in this part of the meeting. I know all of us got your lovely postcards as well. Thank you. Some really beautiful pictures. Makes me wish I was traveling. I think that was your intent. So I just want to say that when you're when people are speaking, please don't be audible. That's not welcoming. If you want to do this, that's fine. But just let's just keep it quiet and make sure that we can all listen. Thank you so much. I'll now turn it back over to co-chair Green.
52 Thank you. And I'm eager to get to testimony. But before that, I just wanted to introduce a small amendments that we only have to do because we missed the filing deadline. And it's just a it's a subtle piece. So, colleagues, I'm moving. I think it's called Green one and it's posted on the website. It's just a change in exhibit a that breaks up a complicated clause into two separate, distinct items. It doesn't change anything in the the nature of the text previously under exhibit a, item b, it read, any violator receiving a notice of violation must pay to the city the stated penalty or appeal the finding of violation to the code hearings officer in accordance with the procedure set forth in Portland city council. And now all it does is adds section c, and it breaks that into any violator. Receiving a notice of violation must pay to the city, the city penalty. And then separately, for clarity, it says any violator may appeal to the finding and so on and so forth. So not a substantive change, just a piece, an adjustment to to make it easier to to interpret this code. So looking for a second on that second. Thank you. And I think we'll discuss later when we have.
53 Yeah. We want to make sure that the amendment was read into the record. So all of you testifying have that information. We will discuss that in our deliberations after the testimony. Thanks. Go ahead and diana and call the first few. And they have is it two minutes we're doing today. Correct.
54 Two minutes each.
55 And they will have to quietly but firmly cut you off at two minutes.
56 Thank you. We I'm going to call for at a time. If you're in the room, come up to the table and you can start whoever gets there first. If you're online, you can unmute whenever you get called. So starting with juliette dunn, adriana vos, andrea york hayes and valerie tabitha.
57 Do I start speaking? Okay. When I tell people about foie gras, the citizens of Portland, they are usually completely flabbergasted.
58 For the record, please.
59 Oh, my name is juliette dunn from district four. When I talk about foie gras to portlanders, nine times out of ten, they didn't know it was sold here and they are shocked it is. And that there are restaurants in Portland which are getting foie gras, not from farms in Oregon, but from factory farms thousands of miles across the country. And these are factory farms. They make the claim they are family farms and they are open to the public. They like to paint that. We haven't seen the footage. We've been sent footage directly. They are thousands of ducks in these sheds. When they're during the force feeding process, they're kept in pens of wire. Investigators don't even have to undercover investigate. They go into the farms, they get footage of sick and dying ducks. In fact, hudson valley was sued because it used the humane label and they were forced to overturn and not use that label specifically because it is a lie. It is not a small family farm. Portland prides itself on its food culture, but that food culture should be used for ethical local food, not factory farms, not factory farms, which are a public health risk. And yes, they are a public health risk. People want this ban. The only people who don't are very small, niche businesses who make a profit off of a way overpriced product. Please support the ban. Thank you.
60 Good morning. Chair, chair. Green chair. Ryan. Honorable members of the committee. My name is doctor adriana voss-andreae. My family runs a small business out of portland's district four. I'm a Portland resident and voter, and I'm here to testify in support of the ban on foie gras. Our city's economy should be based on our values in this moment in history in particular. More than ever, we need to put compassion for all above cruelty and exploitation for the benefit of the very few. This policy is humane. It's responsible, and it's long overdue. Please vote yes. Thank you.
61 Hi. Good evening, council members. My name is valerie tabitha and I'm a district four resident. I'm here in support of the proposed foie gras ban. The opposition would like to frame this as hurting local businesses. I think it's time we stop believing that doing the right thing will negatively impact our economy. Viagra is not produced locally. It's not produced by small family farms. Hudson valley processes 312,000 ducks a year. Labelle 130,000 ducks a year. This is an industrial sized scale operation. Nearly all foie gras produced is sold from these two concentrated lots in upstate new york. As already mentioned, many municipalities have already successfully banned this, as already mentioned, and there has been no measurable impact to their local economies. I have confidence in the ability of portland's incredibly talented and innovative chefs and businesses to easily replace this product with something better. I think this will help businesses in the long run, as public opinion is quickly shifting on these issues. Consumers want responsibly sourced products, but at its heart, this is an issue of compassion. Regardless whether these farms are family owned or not, there's no gentle or humane way to force feed an animal. This allows the sale of allows us to accept unnecessary cruelty for the sake of a luxury product. Thank you. Please support this ban.
62 My name is york hayes. Good morning. I'm a district four resident and business owner. Individual business owner. I don't have much to add to what everybody else has said. I will just say that I am in support of the ban, obviously, and from an ethical and moral standpoint, what we always ask people to do is to put yourself in the position of the victim, or put maybe one of your own pets or animals in that position, and regardless of the conditions they're kept in, to be force fed until you're ill and then your life taken from you is is in no way acceptable. So I strongly urge you to vote yes on the ban on that premise alone. Thank you.
63 Thank you all. Next, we have danny rifkin, adrian tourtelot, brave robertson, and molly flanagan. I believe that adrian is online. And so if you want to unmute oh you're here. Oh okay. Whichever you can start.
64 Oh my name is danny rukin. I'm a Portland resident, district one. And I'll simply say I am here to wholeheartedly support the foie gras ban. Thanks.
65 My name is adrian pirtle-guiney. I'm a district four resident and I strongly support the ban.
66 Hey, good morning city council members. My name is brave roberson. I'm a circulator and every day I ask portlanders about animal cruelty. And every week someone asks me, is this about the fall gras thing? I'll sign it. Portlanders hate animal cruelty, and instead of allowing cruelty to be an option for the privileged, that same money that could be divested from foie gras could be used to improve public education, local infrastructure, and health care. I support the foie gras bill to help economically reflect the public interest of portlanders, and to help create a Portland culture we are all proud of. Thank you.
67 Good morning. My name is molly flanagan. I live in district three and I'm also here to support the ban. I submitted some public testimony about my experience with some medical procedures that required me to have gavage, which is a tube down my throat. So there's a special affinity. I feel for the ducks in this capacity, and I hope that you can consider their experience when you make your decision. Thank you.
68 Next we have olga. Look, nikki, dennis, sean rice, and josue plaza, josue plaza. Apologies.
69 I'll go ahead and start. Hi. Good morning to the arts and economy committee. My name is josue plaza. I live in district four. I am a software engineer. I work from home. So these this just being here, I actually had to put on pants to be here. So thank you for giving me a reason to be here. A lot of things have been said already, so I'm going to try to keep this as short as possible. So these are some food items that are already banned in the state of Oregon. We may already be aware of shark fin horse meat, whale. So governments regulating food items. It's not a new concept. So we're just simply wanting to add another one. And the last thing I'll say is so we're the state of the Oregon ducks. And the seahawks is kind of like a fancy duck. So I just think it's bad karma to be messing with ducks in this state. Yeah, and I'll leave it at that. Thank you.
70 Good morning. I can go next. My name is olga eliuk and I'm a district one resident. And I urge you to please support the foie gras ban. Thank you.
71 Good morning. My name is nikki dennis and I am a district four resident and I fully support the foie gras ban. Thank you for bringing it today to the council.
72 Hey all, I'm sean rice, I'm a district three resident. I strongly support the foie gras ban, so do that please. Thank you.
73 All right, next up we have jessica lange michael cold, naomi music, and nicholas brigantine.
74 Good morning. My name is jessica lange. I'm a resident of district two. And I strongly support this ban on force fed animal product.
75 Hello, arts and economics committee. My name is michael cold and I live in district two. I support the foie gras ban in my efforts to educate the public about foie gras and its connection with animal abuse. I personally have spoken to people outside of restaurants that serve it. Many people are likely influenced by bands and other jurisdictions such as california and the city of pittsburgh, pennsylvania, are under the impression that foie gras is already a prohibited item here, and are surprised when I tell them otherwise. Through my experiences interacting with the general public on this subject, I firmly believe most people are troubled by the existence of foie gras, and this low cost ban will improve our city's cultural cuisine identity. Thank you.
76 Good morning, members of the committee. My name is naomi mckusick. I am a resident of council four, and I would just like to say that despite what the opposition says, this is a very niche product. This is not an act of orwell ism to take away the sell of something so niche. This is not something that people go to Portland for. People travel to Portland because of its reputation of very ethically and locally sourced food, and I fully support the ban.
77 All right. My name is nick brigantine. I live by the community center in mount scott. What district am I? Do you guys know? All right. It's a nice community center. A lot of time put into this. Nothing that I can really say that hasn't been said, except I listened to the guys, the business guys, testimony about why he doesn't want this to happen and went point by point on a lot of stuff. And it's like, well, our ducks aren't kept in cages. And this study wasn't quite right. And he went very down the line, kind of like a debate tournament. But at the end of the day, most things just come down to common sense. Political theory can sound real nice, but just like anything, common sense is kind of rules. The day you can manipulate arguments in one way or the other. We cannot torture ducks because we like the taste of it. You use the word civilized democracy. Councilor Ryan, and. Doesn't strike me as anywhere in the definition of civilized to torture an animal because you like the taste of its blown up guts. I think people can find something else to eat. Please just use common sense. I kind of doubt that we'll look back in the future. And yeah, you get it.
78 All right. Up next we have hamish bradley, leah watson, kyle correa and jaden fox. Jaden fox.
79 Hello, I'm hamish bradley and I'm a resident of Portland. And I just want to say that I think force feeding somebody, anybody without their consent is abuse. And I think that all of us are against animal abuse and being able to sell and buy the product of abuse is supporting that abuse. And I don't think that we as a city should support that. So I support the ban on force feeding. And as one of the opposition said earlier, we need to, you know, be careful when taking away the personal choices of somebody, like the choice of people to buy foie gras. But I think that, you know, when it comes to taking away the choice for people to abuse others, I think that's perfectly necessary. And I think that we need to think of, you know, the choices of those animals that they would choose not to be force fed. And we need to support that choice as well. Thank you.
80 My name is leah watson. I am not yet a Portland resident, but I'm moving here soon and I don't want to be a part of a city that would opt in favor of such cruelty when it is entirely unnecessary and despite what the opposition is saying about a farm being family owned and small business, when it processes 300,000 ducks a year, I think that. We we just don't need to humane wash something that in the end is literally force feeding. And I don't want to be a part of a city that does that. So I'm in support of the ban.
81 Thank you.
82 I don't see anybody online. I don't see either kyle or jen's online. So we will go to chelsea swick. Peter heard, michelle casey and garrett arts.
83 My name is peter heard. I'm an attorney residing in district two, and I'm here to speak in favor of the ban.
84 Good morning. My name is chelsea swick. I'm a district two Portland resident. I'm using one of my very few vacation days to be here to say I support the ban.
85 Good morning. My name is michelle casey. I live in district two and I support this ban.
86 Hi, I'm garrett arts district three, and I think especially now, Portland needs to show that it is willing to step up its progressiveness. So I support the ban.
87 Thank you. Next up, beth redwood, sarah hanneken danielle redwood. Sorry, daniel redwood and linda liu.
88 Hi, my name is beth redwood. I live in district two and I support the ban on foie gras.
89 Looks like.
90 My name is daniel redwood. I live in district two and I also support the ban on foie gras.
91 Just checking to see if anybody else is online. I don't see anyone else so. Oh thank you. Go for it.
92 Hi.
93 My name is linda liu. Good morning to the arts and economy committee. I'm a district four voter. I fully support this ban on force, fed foie gras and beg that you do too. Portland can do better. Thank you.
94 Okay, next we have. Rox zardoya, gabriel rucker. Oh apologies. That and then courtney weaver kelsey glasser.
95 Hi. I'll go ahead and start. My name is roxanna. I live I'm a homeowner in district four, and I have protested in front of la pigeon as far back as 2011. I'm happy to be speaking with you here. Now, let's give the protesters and the restaurateurs a break, and let's ban this on the city level. Thank you.
96 Hi, my name is gabriel rucker. I'm the chef owner of la pigeon restaurant. I oppose the ban. And. I think as portlanders, our differences are what makes us great. I have the utmost respect for everybody that's in this room that has a different opinion than I do. I see a lot of Green shirts that are in opposition to factory farming, and I think that you and I might have a lot more in common than you previously thought when we walked into this room. I also oppose factory farming. I do not think that the two farms that produce the foie gras that I sell are the culprit of real problem with factory farming in this country. And I think that if we could come together, that we might actually be able to make a big change with the real issue. I also ask if we are going to oppose foie gras because of the reasons stated. Where is the proposed ban on tyson chicken sold in our grocery store? Where is the proposed ban on mcdonald's and burger king's beef that is being bulldozing the rainforest and having it burnt down in order to give our kids big macs? You talk about public health. The fast food epidemic is the true epidemic of health concern. And as a father of three, that's what I'm concerned with. Now, Mitch, you and I have different views of what a foie gras farm is. And I would humbly ask that you take the time out of your busy schedule, and we could both go and visit la belle farms and hudson valley. That way we could see with our own eyes. Before we make a decision on this, you stated that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. I'd be happy to take a walk with you and I'll bring the gum.
97 Hello, my name is kelsey glasser. I am also here to oppose the ban on foie gras. I also own a small independent restaurant that I've operated for eight years. I would reiterate the facts that andy and gabe have shared, but I. I think we all have different views on what we think these farms do. I'd like to reiterate that 350,000 ducks and geese are raised annually for foie, compared to 9 billion chickens. That to me is is factory farming on a large scale very different than what these two small farms in upstate new york produce restaurants such as mine, such as gabe and andy's, care deeply about the ingredients that we source, whether that's mcfarland, springs, trout, wild roots, radicchio, or hudson valley foie gras. We don't just care about what these ingredients taste like, we care about what they come from. And we make it our point to know about where they come from and have open dialog with our guests. We're not hiding where we get anything. I always tell guests, you know, any of these ducts that are going to foie gras production in the united states, being served in restaurants in Portland, leave a live a far better life than any chicken you're going to buy at safeway. And similarly to what gabe said, you know, I look around this room. I also don't like factory farming. I also don't buy factory farmed meat. These restaurants are not sourcing meat from sysco. We know those food systems that those animals come from are awful for the animals themselves, for the planet's, for our bodies when we eat them. And to me, this bill just seems extremely shortsighted at best and hypocritical at worst, because all it really does is pit us against one another. When I think we actually agree on a lot of points, we all want the best for animal welfare. But what this bill does is demonize small restaurants like mine that I believe have helped carry portland's national reputation through many of its hardest years. And and counselors, you know, after a global pandemic in a city where safety and resources already feel stretched thin, instead of getting to be at my desk where I'm worrying about payroll and rising benefit costs and allowing a small business to survive, I have to be here and defend my colleagues being painted as animal haters, which couldn't be further from the truth. And one last thing I'd like to say. This bill claims that this is an issue of urgent importance to portlanders. I don't find that to be true. We've had foie gras on our menu for nearly eight years, and I can count on one hand the number of emails I've received opposing it. And those came from national campaigns, not local concern. What is true is that foie has consistently opened thoughtful conversations with our guests about food ethics and sourcing. Thank you.
98 Good morning, I'm courtney weaver, I'm a district four resident. I moved to Portland several years ago to work in food production. The city is and can continue to be a leader in cruelty free food production. I support the ban. It would help attract talent and businesses that value ethics.
99 Thank you. And we had missed sarah heineken online. Sarah, you are free to unmute and begin your testimony.
100 Thank you so much. My name is sarah hannigan and I'm a district one Portland resident. I strongly support this ban. I've been following the proposal for years. I'm also an attorney with experience litigating false advertising cases. My previous role, I was involved in litigation against the very farms that supply the pigeon and canard for deceptive, humane marketing claims. So the claims you're hearing about these being family farms, humane, actually had to be abandoned by those producers because of the legal challenge. Their practices have not changed. So just consider this perspective, which I haven't heard yet, is that allowing foie gras sales in Portland means allowing deceptive marketing to Portland residents that are repeated not only by the producers, but even by the chefs who pass those claims along. So this ban protects consumers and chefs from exactly the kind of humane washing that our laws are meant to prevent. Thank you so much.
101 Next, we have kurt huffman, chastity honecker huang, ted bascom and nicholas selby.
102 Hi, I'm ted, I live in district three and I support the ban on foie gras.
103 Hi, I'm nicholas selby, I'm in district two. The opposition has told you the same lies that those same factory farms have spouted out. You can go and tour the factory farms, and they will give you a white glove treatment and show you exactly what they want you to see. I support this ban on foie gras. Thank you.
104 Good morning. My name is kurt huffman. I own a restaurant group called chef's table. I'm also currently the chairman of travel Portland. I'm here on behalf of my own views and not that of travel Portland. My principal concern with this is not necessarily that the content of of of the proposed initiative, but rather the process through which it's come about, rather than engage the restaurant community ahead of time. You know, mr. Graham, mr. Dunphy, you've kind of pursued, you know, a goal that I understand animal cruelty is clearly something that we're all concerned about. But doing it in the context of not engaging dialog ahead of time is unfortunate and I think, shortsighted. No, no industry in this town and as as the chairman of travel Portland, I can attest to this, has impacted portland's reputation more than independent restaurants. Over 50% of everybody that travels here cites independent restaurants as the reason they come here. No industry in Portland has promoted responsible sourcing of products and specifically meats, than any other group in the city of Portland. Our group actually doesn't allow commodity protein from anywhere, and I'm not aware of any single independent restaurant of status here in Portland that serves anything that you know that gabe and others have attested to previously relevant to factory farmed chicken and so forth. We've been proactive on promoting ethical sourcing of products for the 17 years that I've been in town, and I think it's unfortunate that it puts us in an optic of kind of conflict and demonization, rather than contributing something to the conversation that allows us to collaborate. So thank you.
105 All right. Next we have finn sporer, jan stephenson, lindsay vierling and greg socrates rhodes.
106 Hey, I'm finn, I'm a district four resident and I support the ban.
107 Yeah good morning council. My name is lindsay heilig, testifying on behalf of myself as a Portland metro area resident who regularly, regularly dines within the city and on behalf of the animal legal defense fund, the nation's preeminent legal advocacy organization for animals. I fully support a ban on foie gras. As you've heard from many testifiers today, the production of foie gras involves exceptionally egregious cruelty. More and more people are turning away from this cruelty, and the food itself is has been banned in over two dozen countries. Ducks who survived the absolute torment they're forced to endure have their disease livers sold as food by producers such as new york's hudson valley foie gras. Previous investigations into hudson valley foie gras revealed appalling conditions dead ducks tossed into garbage cans or lying alongside living ducks struggling to breathe, unable to escape with untreated sores. Left festering hudson valley foie gras, the largest us producer of foie gras, once tried to define itself as the humane choice in its promotional materials while brutalizing ducks for gourmet profits. That's why in 2012, the animal legal defense fund filed a landmark false advertising lawsuit against hudson valley foie gras, which we've heard about a couple of times, resulting in the company removing its humane choice language force feeding. Force feeding damages the livers of the birds so badly it induces an extremely painful disease known as hepatic lipidosis. Scientific studies also show that consumption of foie gras is associated with a fatal disease in humans, called secondary amyloidosis. As others have noticed, an extremely small percentage of restaurants in Portland still sell foie gras. Passing this ban would be a common sense and low impact way to reinforce portland's commitment to high welfare standards. Thank you.
108 Good morning. Thank you, committee, for hearing on this topic. My name is jan stevenson. I am a Portland metro resident residing in hillsboro, and I'm here today to throw in my support for the ban. I feel very strongly about animal sentience and about cruelty and inhumane treatment of all animals. And no one asked the duck or the goose if they were down with this process, this procedure. It is inherently and just egregiously cruel. There is no upside to it. There is way too much. What I call a lot of us call humane washing going on here. Wherever there is a profit motive and a large profit motive, there is going to be abuse. It's just baked into the process. Thank you for hearing me on this and please, please support the ban. Thank you very much.
109 Hello, I am greg, a longtime Portland resident and constituent in district two, and I'm here opposing this ban. These bans on foie gras get proposed because they're this is a meme ified easy target. Garage makes for an ugly video. But the committee should not anthropomorphize the ducks because the footage looks disturbing. We must remember that waterfowl physiology is fundamentally different from our own. Practically, this industry is vanishingly small. Portland has only a handful of establishments that sell foie gras. Naturally. Nationally, three producers combined slaughter less than half a million ducks annually. Compare that to the 9 billion broiler chickens slaughtered each year, an industry where suffering is leagues worse on both intensity and scale. However, if this committee proposed making popeye's carry only free range chicken, there would be an army of lobbyists here. And when you go after foie gras, you only get me. I do feel the disingenuous claims presented in the supporting exhibits must be addressed. The claim that 27 countries have restricted foie gras is misleading. Only india has banned imports, the other countries banned production, none of which had any meaningful production to ban. Bulgaria is also listed as restricting foie gras, which is simply false. Bulgaria is the second largest global producer. The claim that 15 towns in france have banned foie gras is also misleading. From french language sources. I identified roughly 13 municipalities that have banned foie gras from school lunches and municipal functions, not outright bans. This is a path that I could support in Portland. Finally, the public health arguments are a bit illogical, given that foie gras represents such a tiny fraction of u.s. Poultry production. A Portland ban would have zero measurable effect on avian flu prevalence. This proposed ban is symbolic politics, providing no real reform while needlessly victimizing a very small number of Portland flavor nerds. Thank you.
110 Next.
111 Next we have brandon shock, mackenzie martineau, sean christine, leslie bourque, and marissa krause.
112 Good morning.
113 My name is brandon shock. I'm a district three resident and I support the ban. I moved to Portland about two years ago, in large part because of the values that I associate with the city, and this ban reflects those same values of why I moved to Portland.
114 Hello, my name is sean christine. I'm a resident of district three and I strongly support the ban on foie gras. Thank you.
115 Hi, my name is marissa cruz. I live in district three. I am a local chef and the owner of orange and blossom patisserie, a bakery here in Portland. I support this ban because Portland is a city that prides itself on its compassion, empathy and supporting our local community, banning foie gras and force feeding poultry does not inhibit chefs, restaurants or stores from selling chicken or duck liver products. In fact, it would encourage them to sell locally raised poultry products because this is not a local industry here in the pacific northwest. As we discussed, foie gras as a product and a process is by nature and intentionally cruel and wasteful industry and is not aligned with the good nature of portlanders. We can and must do better. Please support this ban. Thank you.
116 Good morning. Committee chair Ryan and committee chair Green and councilors. My name is mackenzie marino and I am here on behalf of the Oregon restaurant and lodging association. Also represents over 11,000 food service locations across the state. And I am here today to urge you to oppose this ban. While the intent behind the ordinance may be rooted in animal welfare, something our industry is strongly not opposed to, we must look at the economic reality facing portland's hospitality industry today. Portland's well known foodie city reputation and is under immense strain. In 2025 alone, Portland saw at least 77 restaurant closures, including long standing institutions. Portland has essentially been in a hospitality recession since 2023. Employment in the leisure hospitality sector remaining 15% below pre-pandemic levels. Owners are battling a perfect storm of significantly high operating costs, costly losses around regulation and permitting, and utility price hikes that continue to put pressure on the bottom line. Focusing on food bands while the city faces a $32 million general fund deficit and significant retail vacancy signals a deep disregard for our local economy. The experience of other major culinary hubs proves that these bans are economically destructive and can also be legally unsustainable. New york city's attempt to ban was overturned by the state supreme court in June of 2024. The court ruled that such local bans are unreasonably restrictive and violate state agricultural laws. Portland's restaurant scene is a bright spot in our city's image. We ask the council to focus on meaningful economic recovery, rather than imposing bans that further handicap our struggling local businesses. Please vote no and thank you.
117 Hi, my name is leslie burke. I live in district three and I support the ban.
118 I'm thank you all. Last, I'm going to do a last call for kyle, for jayden's, for chastity. I don't see anybody coming up. So with that, public testimony is closed.
119 Oh that's fine. Okay.
120 Thank you. We're going to go ahead. And that completes all the testimony. All right. And colleagues the person who couldn't get online, it was handed out to all of you. I think that it's important that we start with the amendment first, because that was just put on the table today. It was moved and seconded. If you could repeat the actual amendment, I think we all would like to hear that again, and then we can have some deliberation about that. We vote on amendments before we, of course, vote on the entire package.
121 Thank you. Ryan, just to remind you folks, the amendment just amends exhibit a in the ordinance as originally filed and under exhibit a, section b, it basically just splits apart a sentence, a complex sentence, and makes it into two simple sentences. So we add section exhibit a section c that continues the sentence that talks about the appeals process for someone who's found to be in violation of the code, whereas previously it said something about the violator receiving no notice of violation. And then it goes on to the appeal, it just separates into two subelements changes nothing about the substantive nature of it, and just makes it easier to read and interpret the the code.
122 Thank you. It was moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion now that we have a little more context from colleagues? You good. Okay. Go ahead and call the roll.
123 Dunphy.
124 Hi, Smith.
125 On the resolution.
126 On the amendment.
127 No.
128 Clark. I Green. I Ryan.
129 I think the technical amendment that you're proposing for this legislation has some merit. I'll go ahead and support it.
130 I with four eyes and one nay. The motion to amend the ordinance, as shown in Green one has approved, has passed.
131 Okay, colleagues, we have had a lot of testimony and that's been helpful. Thank you all for being so thoughtful and allowing those that were not in agreement to be listened to. I really appreciate that. We don't always have that in the chambers of late. So in in our country in general. So thank you. It was really appreciated. So colleagues, now we have a chance to discuss this before we move on to a vote. We have, let's say 40 under 45 minutes. We have to be very tight on our time constraints with committees. And so I now open up the room for discussion. Thank you. Council Green.
132 Thank you. I figure I'll get us started. Colleagues, I know that oftentimes we'll take up some difficult legislation in this city that changes the nature of how we approach the regulation of economic activity in our city. This is one of those and I just want to acknowledge that this is this is an area that there's going to be some intense feelings around. I just for the record, I'll note that my wife is strongly opposed to this, this ordinance. But I don't do things because the people who are closest to me are satisfied or want me to do a certain thing. I do it because I, I think about what my constituents want, and I think about what the community has been asking for for a long period of time. And then I weigh that against my values. And I think that the city of Portland has a long practice of trying to approach this regulatory environment, environment in such a way that brings those those values into the city code. And I see that as part of this. There's been a couple lines of critique that I want to address. Probably the one I've heard the most is this idea that, why are we spending our time on this when the city has much more pressing concerns to consider? And I'll and I'll simply say it again, that when we think about the business before our city, there are some issues that are big, that are complex, that are expensive, and that take a long period of time to address our budget cycles are months long processes where we engage in a lot of deliberation, but there are also areas where we can make an impact with a very light touch. And this ordinance falls into that second piece. And so, you know, I have supported our broad economic development aims in this committee the entire time. I was a strong supporter of the save our storefronts resolution, because I knew that was also urgent. I was a strong supporter, and I argued in favor of it, and I moved some of my colleagues who didn't initially support the system development charge waiver, because I knew it was a good thing for our economic development. During the budget process, I used my scarce resources in my office to fight for money for the james beard market, money to keep the Portland center stage institution, which is I mean, these are two institutions that are central to our downtown core whole. And I also got money for building capacity in our public safety system. And we're seeing the fruits of that investment now as we're able to fill the vacancies by investing in a recruiter that operates full time. And so I can walk and chew gum at the same time. And so I've been able to have my staff work on this ordinance over the course of many months by sort of throttling the priorities that we give it. And so I just want to dismiss that critique right now, because this is a very narrowly focused, clear piece of legislation that does not cost a lot to to administer, but it's very meaningful to the to the animal rights community in the city of Portland who's been asking for this for a very long time. So that's why I'm bringing it forward. Colleagues, happy to answer any questions and engage in a dialog. I know, I know, it's not going to be easy, but I, I respect all of you up here. So let's get into it.
133 Thank you so much. Co-chair Green. Councilor Smith.
134 Thank you. Thank you, co-chair. And I want to thank all of you who came today to hear your testimony on why you're supporting this ordinance. I have a couple questions, though. Which bureau is going to be responsible for enforcement and what staff time is assumed, given the finding that this requires no additional funds? Who would be regulating this new regulatory?
135 I can speak directly to that. So my my staff has had conversations with the bureau of planning sustainability, which would be the and I see director engstrom up there. And if we have to get into the details we can call them down. But the the ordinance was crafted to be a complaint, complaint driven system, and so would only engage on this. The city would only engage on this as it receives complaints. And I think the the intention here is to to provide education. First a notice of violation. Here's how you cure the situation. And so my understanding is that's really not requiring any incremental resources for the city. And this can be rolled into our existing kind of work that we do. As one of the testifiers also suggested, we have opportunities to to develop an iga with the county that already does health inspections and already engages in this work. And so if there's fees based upon that work, then we can pay for the iga in that way. So that's how we've envisioned it on our side. And if you have any further details, maybe we'll call it director engstrom.
136 Director engstrom, could you come up, please? And that was the reason. And I know that the county regulates food, restaurants and all that. And I was wondering why we were jumping into their business once again. I wanted to figure out. And I. And I think I got the answer. How many Portland businesses? Because I think the young lady said that there were like ten businesses, restaurants, specialty grocers, caterers, and that would have to comply to this. So I do think that there's going to be a cost. There is going to be some sort of cost that people have to track this. So whoever is lodging a complaint, they're going to have to send that somewhere. And that's that's not somebody's job right now. And they will have to bear some sort of cost. That's why I want director engstrom to give me an idea of what this would look like.
137 In transit.
138 I think I saw him, yes.
139 He came from upstairs. For those of you in the chamber.
140 Good morning. You thought I wouldn't call you because you were upstairs, right?
141 For the record, this is Eric engstrom. I'm the director of the bureau of planning and sustainability. I'll start. Thank you, councilor, for reaching out to us beforehand. We appreciate the early involvement in the potential logistics of this. So that's appreciated. I'll also just say for the record, that my remarks are neither for or against this. This is just information for you all about how we would approach enforcement.
142 I just have one thing. I want to ask you a question. I don't want you to give me remarks. Director engstrom, could you tell me how much time and resources that we would have to put into this if this was implemented?
143 Yeah, happy to answer that. As was already alluded to, I think the three bureaus or entities that are implicated in this probably are the bureau of planning and sustainability, Portland permitting and development, and potentially the county health department, the county, because they're already in restaurants on a regular basis, doing other enforcement bts, because we're also involved with that through our waste program and other sustainability initiatives, and then Portland permitting and development, because they have expertise in the working with the hearings officers and the more formal part of the the financial fines and those sorts of aspects. I would agree that this is not a large lift because of the small number of of situations that we would likely encounter. There is some expense. There would have to be some staff time spent on. If there is an iga, there would have to be some staff time spent on education before we start active enforcement. The ongoing enforcement is probably not a significant lift, but the the staff time would be up front in kind of gearing up for that. We do have other I will say that, you know, this is one of a number of things that we have been assigned that does not come with resources, and that is an ongoing issue. If a large number of these things pile up. Other recent examples are the leaf blower ordinance and facial recognition ban, for example. But I would also agree it's not a huge lift.
144 But I imagine, director engstrom, that if this takes effect within 60 days after the ordinance passes, there has to be an outreach plan to businesses and institutions during this transition to let them know that this is an issue and someone's going to have to do that work.
145 Correct.
146 And so in that ongoing, we're going to have to keep letting folks know what what is real, because I think at a time when we're trying to keep restaurants and small businesses from leaving Portland, putting one more regulation on them may cause them to actually leave even even further. I, I, I just think that this is this it is shortsighted for us to think that this is not going to cost any resources. And I want my colleagues to understand I respect the intent here and the values that Portland holds around humane treatment of animals and public health. But we are in a capacity and triage moment right now. My focus is on housing production, homelessness response, infrastructure, livability and public safety. I don't think I'm prepared to give the city of Portland after we cut permit permitting personnel last year to support adding new regulatory and enforcement burdens when our staff and community. We don't have the bandwidth and we're stretched already too thin, and I'm told that we're $120 million in the hole and a gap. So we're adding more to the kitty right now. And I know you haven't said that you were in support or not. So when you tell me that you're neutral, that means to me, I'll just tell you that means that you're not in support of it. Because if you were, you would be speaking on behalf of of the city, on how you would be able to better do this and how you would incorporate that into your current book of business. So for me, I think I'll be voting no on this. I just want to tell you I do respect you, councilor Green, but today I'm going to have to go a different direction. Thank you, director engstrom.
147 Okay, next we have councilor Dunphy.
148 Thank you. You know.
149 Thank you, everybody.
150 Who came and testified. And I really appreciate the way that we just got through a large volume of testimony that was actually really impressive. I am I continue to be proud to co-sponsor this piece of legislation. I'm deeply sympathetic to the testimony we heard about the specific state of restaurants. I used to own a coffee shop and and restaurant in the Sellwood neighborhood. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, and I will never work in food again. And the people who can do that professionally, I have enormous amount of respect for. I also am deeply sympathetic to the argument why are we also not going after foster farms? But I don't play what aboutism we only have a limited number of tools that we have at our disposal as the city of Portland, and I would love to be able to demonstrate to other jurisdictions that may have better ability. You know, often this this going wisdom is as goes Portland, so goes the state. This is a I also think that this this piece of legislation is I mean, as it reads, it is not a ban on foie gras, but rather on the production and treatment of force feeding poultry. Specifically, if the industry if hudson valley. Farms, I don't know what they're called, but if they are a trying to create an ethical path forward for their products and can raise animals in a standard that meets us where we are trying to lead the city, I, I think that there's a path for them to continue to serve this. If it doesn't meet that standard that is on the producers. And I hope that we can use economics to to influence those outcomes. It is a smaller market, and in theory, market production should be able to shift more easily than the enormous factory farms like foster farms. I will be supportive of this. I have deep levels of sympathy for our recovering economy, but I do think that the we are at a moment where our economy is in rough shape, we are seeing job losses, and we have an inflection moment as a city to determine what kind of city we want to be. And I think that we need to use opportunities to lead with our values. I yeah, so that was all I have to say. I am I will be supportive of this and will. Yeah, that's the end of my sentence. Thank you.
151 Thank you, councilor Dunphy. Next we have councilor Clark.
152 Thank you, mr. Co-chair and both co-chairs. Thank you. I grew up in a restaurant, like, sort of like you, councilor Dunphy. My whole family worked in a restaurant. I know how hard people work in restaurants, that they get no vacations, and it's really outstanding to me that we're known in Portland for our restaurants, our industry. And it was really important to hear from travel Portland about that. I want to thank everybody who came today. I understand your passion for this. You've been an exemplary group of people in that you've really maintained comportment here. I really, really appreciate that. And I want to say I appreciate the people who came from the restaurant industry and oral.a very much for taking the time out of your workday to be here as well. I don't think there's any argument that we all support ethical sourcing and animal welfare. It's I think it's a matter that we all care about in Portland. And I believe that your intentions are very good. However, I think relatively when 18 billion pounds a year of chicken are sourced and foster farms are cutting off the beaks of chickens, and you see them running up and down I-5 all the time in little cages, that I'd prefer that we focus there. I appreciated the comments of. I think it was chef rucker that we actually have more in common that we that we don't. I would prefer to work on those issues. I understand that we're spending a lot of civic energy on what I consider to be misdirected. I would just say that politely. I think that if animal welfare is really the goal here, that we need to start at scale and not symbolism. With all due respect, I would really prefer that we focus on larger issues and that we focus on really helping our residents understand that the food choices that they make do have consequences, and maybe a place to start is in looking at the choices that we make in in our schools, in our menus and schools. But I really support the farmers and the restaurants that are doing it right. Lastly, I'll just say that and I know this is a touchy subject. We talked about choice choices that we make. To me as a woman, this is very akin to the abortion debate. I'm very pro-choice, and if you please don't. Okay, I'll take back my comments about comportment. If you don't believe in something, then, you know, don't force me. Don't force my behavior. Truly. And I think I will actually I will be opposed to this measure today. But I do appreciate your bringing it forward and I appreciate your passion.
153 Thank you, councilor Clark. Again. No, no, no, thank you. Thank you, councilor Clark. Counselor Green, you want to go one more time or is that a legacy hand?
154 No, I'm going to go.
155 After you. Okay? Sounds good. City council should always be a place where portlanders can share ideas and aspirations. And that happened this morning. I want to read some testimony that the chef was trying to give, but they were in the kitchen and their phone didn't have updates on zoom, so that's why they didn't participate. They couldn't be here because they're doing their job. This is very brief. I'll just read a little bit of it. It's from javier contreras. He owns a small restaurant in in northeast Portland. I want to be clear from the beginning. I'm not here to make a passionate argument about myself. I understand that people have strong feelings about it, but I'm here to talk about is choice and the impact and the. And the intimidation tactics are having on small businesses like mine. I serve occasionally in very small amounts because it's part of the spanish culinary tradition. Customers choose whether or not they want to order it. No one is forced. In. Many guests simply choose not to, which is completely fine. I just at this moment, the testimony was compelling. It made my brain stretch into the poultry farms, which I think all of us experienced, that I concur that you have a lot more in common than you do apart, and I think sometimes it's just important to say that out loud. I just don't see how this proposal moves the needle in a meaningful way. What I am, what I do hear over and over again, is that small businesses want help succeeding. They want us focused on revitalizing our city. And that's, of course, why I led the effort to have a storefront support program. I'm out there listening to small businesses that are on our that are along our sidewalks, struggling portlanders like choice. This is a city of rugged individuals, and at this moment, I don't see how this would be helpful to move our city forward at a time in a big budget deficit. I will also not be supporting this, and I respect you immensely for how you've handled this. It's been it was easy for me to say yes to get this on to the calendar. I think it's important that we discussed it. So thank you for that, councilor Green, and I'll turn it over to you, councilor Kocher.
156 Thank you, co-chair Ryan. And, you know, thanks for that acknowledgment of the of the sort of process that we got to get here. You know, I don't have the I don't have the support of this committee at this time. You guys have all made your made your arguments. I won't I won't try to change your minds any further. I'll just note that, you know, I do come out of a political tradition that's quite radical. And one of the things that I was browbeaten over many, many times through that development process was, why are you trying to change this all at once? Why don't you approach your work from a basis of incrementalism? I guess that led me to be an elected office. So maybe some of my old comrades are disappointed in me in that. But this is this is an incremental approach to changing our food system. It doesn't have the support of this committee at this time. But I want to be very clear that if we can't solve the big picture problems because the the institutions and the political base is not there to end factory farming writ large doesn't mean we can't make a difference in some part of it. And that's why I'm supporting this or this ordinance. That's why I brought it forward. Despite the protestations of my best friend who is my wife, and many of you who I respect deeply, I really do. So, colleagues, thanks for the dialog and the discussion. I'm going to move this forward to the full body though, through the four councilor Relief action we tried through this committee, it failed. So I'll be I'll be doing that in some future and it will be prioritized as the council president sees fit. But thanks for the dialog today. Sure.
157 Diana, please call the roll.
158 There wasn't a motion so I can call the next item if you would like. There. There wasn't a motion to move it forward because he's going to be doing it in another process. No no no no.
159 We're still voting on.
160 I move I move this amendment to add code to prohibit the sale or provision of certain force fed poultry products.
161 Thank you. As amended.
162 As amended. Thank you.
163 Second.
164 Okay.
165 Thank you. Okay. Now, diana, please call the roll.
166 Give me just a second to catch up. All right. Dunphy.
167 Hi.
168 Smith.
169 No, Clark.
170 No.
171 Green.
172 Yes.
173 Ryan.
174 No.
175 And with a vote of two eyes and three nays, the motion to refer the ordinance as amended to the city council with the recommendation it be passed, has failed.
176 Thank you. Diana, if those of you would like to stay, that's fine. Usually what happens at this moment is those for this item leave. And so we're going to take like a one minute recess to allow that to happen. And then we'll come back to the next item. Thank you. Two minutes. Yeah. Here. Yeah. Good.
177 Go find out. What are you doing?
178 I'm good.
179 Are you ready for the next item?
180 What's that?
181 Are you ready for the next item?
182 Yeah. Let's go ahead and move on. I'm sure co-chair Green will join us soon. Can you please read the next item?
183 Item number four. Committee discussion on economic development. Visioning.
184 Thank you so much, diana. Colleagues, co-chair Green and I were having a conversation. We knew that the first item might take up the whole meeting. And so we didn't want to land a new ordinance on the on the calendar and the agenda. What we wanted to do is just have an opportunity to do some throat clearing on our thoughts about what our priorities are for this specific committee going into this year. And so this is an opportunity just to think out loud together a bit. And so was there anything else you'd like to add to that co-chair Green.
185 Yeah, thanks. I'm really excited to tee this up. We we do our weekly sort of agenda setting meetings. And what we have been talking about a lot lately is just the need to make sure that we're postured appropriately as we approach the budget, and that we are really focusing our work on making sure that, you know, if there's if someone's having a conversation about, you know, changing our tax code, if someone's having a conversation about economic development, we really need to create a space to have that visioning here to start first. So this is informal. This is about us kind of spitballing. It's very similar in spirit that a councilor Clerk had modeled in the tni committee where we we did a very informal conversation about revenue. And I think that has yielded fruit. So I'm excited to get into it.
186 Thank you. Co-chair Green councilor Dunphy.
187 I think there you go. Well, this is exciting because I, I will forecast that I almost certainly will not be on the arts and economy committee for much longer, but I'm I still have an enormous amount of energy towards specifically the intersection of arts and our economy. You all are, I'm sure, at this point tired of me talking about music, but the music and arts and culture of our community are not just nice to haves, they are essential light, touch, economic development. They are public safety. They are about getting people out of their homes and into the public square and activating public spaces. That may otherwise be a problem. And it's about getting people a reason to go out to restaurants, to bars, to shop to, to be in the public square around each other. I think that we, you know, we desperately need jobs. We desperately need economic activity. We also need a call for community. We need a call on the local level for people to come out of their houses and out of from in front of their netflixes and from in front of their devices, where it is dividing us, and come out to parks and street fairs and. Events along business corridors. To that end, I am going to be bringing a series of of policies around noise code regulation. I'm looking at parks and how we do our parks permitting. Right now. It's it's very complicated. And for a park event, you actually don't know how much your park permit is going to be until the end of the process. And at which point you get a quote from the parks bureau saying, well, this is all the things we're going to have. I think that information should be upfront and to have some clear examples of what things might cost and what sort of hurdles you have to look at. And third, and I know this is a cut year, and I'm trying to figure out a way to make this happen, but I believe that the city of Portland needs a large events coordinator embedded in the bureau of emergency management. This is a best practice across the nation, and it's specifically because when we have those big events like the blues festival or some of the things that cross over multiple jurisdictions, when you're having to talk to transportation and permitting and parks and police, it is actually something that emergency management does enormously, really well. That is something that they are explicitly doing, is working across those bureaus and trying to coordinate complicated answers out of a system that is not really that flexible. And so I'm interested in trying to find something specifically so that we have a staffer whose job it is to meet with the event planners and take on some of that burden and that responsibility, even if it doesn't make it cheaper, at the very least, could make it easier and will demonstrate to the community that we are serious about leaning into the things that make Portland unique, that the 12 of us will never be able to create from whole cloth. I hope that to work with travel Portland and with our business community here, to really lean into our identity, because, again, Portland is the fourth largest music city in America. Music tourism is the number one form of tourism in the world right now. The average person who comes to a city in order to see live music spends on average, 7 to $900 on on not just hotels, but restaurants and shopping, transportation, all of those things. So I think that there's an opportunity, considering we're having less dollars and a lot of the economic development work that we historically do is very time consuming and expensive. I would love to see us lean into that natural resource which already exists here, which is our artist community. So thank you, colleagues.
188 Thank you, councilor Dunphy. And I'll never get tired of you talking about arts and music. And also, I really liked where you're where you were going on the big events. I thought it was actually back in the old days, the commissioner in charge was suddenly that person that was doing the cat herding between all the three, as the planner would be yelling at me when you have that rule, because they were really exhausted from trying to connect those dots. So I think having that type of sherpa, if you will, is really important. So thank you for those comments. I, I just want to make it really clear that when we were at last week's, it was just last week, the work session on the budget, and I asked the city economist, so what are we going to do with the pretty rapidly escalating fixed cost? And how are we ever going to balance this budget with those going up at this level, which was a spike. And that's happened especially in the last five years. And the answer was our two bread and butter revenue streams for the general fund are business license taxes and property taxes. He said it will take $10 million increase each year from those two revenue streams for us to balance our budget. So as a leader on this committee that has the word economic in it, economic development is what I think about. I'm going to make decisions that bring in more revenue for the city, and we are the most taxed city of when it comes to those that are working, middle class folks that are paying property taxes. If you get rid of the outlier, which is new york city, their threshold is around 25 million for individuals to pay those high wealth taxes. I can see why there's an argument from the current mayor there to make a different, to make some proposals. We're kind of the well known nationally as already taxing those that are doing okay. In fact, we tax working class families at a pretty high level. And so we're the most taxed city. So we have to think about getting revenue from those traditional sources of business license taxes and also property taxes somehow. And right now those are struggling mightily. So we have to figure out how the city doesn't get in the way with more regulation constantly. But how can we actually support them with services they've been asking for, like when they call 911 because there's an incident that someone shows up, start there. That's why the storefront support program was a unanimous vote from this body. We've heard from our constituents, we've heard from the main streets in our district. And so really, I'm going to see success when we see less for lease signs going up than we know we're on the right track. And I think that we have to come up with some metrics that actually see if we're on the right track. This work is going to take a while, but it's time for this council to work with the mayor to focus on an economic development agenda for this city. I don't want to live in a city with a bunch of for lease signs. People don't want to travel to a city with a bunch of for lease signs, even though they were on the opposite end. What I heard from the testimony earlier is people love living in Portland because they like choice. They like vibrant restaurants. We're a foodie culture. Portland. They came to show up to just say, that's one of our number one reasons people love to live here and they love to visit here. So I would like us to get very focused on how we can generate more revenue here in the city of Portland, from those true blue bread and butter revenue streams that I think we've been neglecting for over a decade, we took ourselves for granted. People have left, businesses have left, families have left. We have to get out of that denial. We have to believe them. Yes, there's an uptick. According to some metro area u-haul's situations, but I need to dive into that data because it to Clark county. Is it to Clackamas county? I think it might be. I just don't know. We have to dig deeper into that. But right now let's I hope this committee will focus on revenue streams. Thank you. Councilor Clark next and then councilor Smith. Oh, sorry, councilor Green. I thought you spoke at the beginning. No.
189 I helped us up, but I haven't.
190 Oh, you set it up. But that wasn't your. This is your a formal statement. Yeah. Got it. Okay. Thanks.
191 Thank you. No, I appreciate the discussion. And we do need to work with the mayor. The mayor in December communicated to a broad business community some ideas on how to spur economic development. And one of the things that he mentioned was raising the exemption for small businesses from $50,000, your first $50,000 exempted from tax liability to $100,000. I think that's a really smart thing to do, and I want to find a way to support that. I want the mayor to come to our committee, and we can keep space for him to come here and start to present these ideas so we can actually take action on those ideas. And maybe if we think that there's ways to improve on that, amend that, or kind of work with them. What I don't want to see as us sort of sit passively and wait for him to give us something to three, four months, five months down the road, we don't have time to wait. I think we have to send a very clear signal now that if we're going to do a revenue, an income tax, a business license, tax, revenue change, we that's a big deal. And that's something we need to deliberate on in this committee. So this is sort of an open call, an invitation for him to bring that out of his office and into this committee. The other thing I think he said he's supportive of is providing sort of matching grants for tenant improvements, which will help clear out the leases. I also support that. And that's one of the things where it's not it's not an expenditure unless someone takes advantage of it, which means if someone's taking advantage of their opening a storefront. Right. So we've we've helped them do that. And it's not just money going out the door hoping that they'll take advantage of it. Those are two items I really want to see him bring here, so we can talk about it and find a way to support him. I know though, however, they're going to cost some money and I think that's probably why it's a little hesitant because he's got a big task ahead of him, which is to balance that $8.6 billion budget in the face of $120 million loss. And I think it's time to have a courageous conversation about increasing the ceo surcharge, the ceo pay ratio surcharge on the business license tax, which affects those fortune 500 firms who do business in the city of Portland. And they can't move to tigard or Beaverton to avoid the tax. These are this is walmart. This is amazon. This is these are the big blue chip firms that frankly are undertaxed relative to the rest of our businesses. And so if we can find a way to increase their their share, then that can offset the tax cuts for the small businesses. And that will keep our stores in play. It can also pay for this large events coordinator. It also can provide the resources that I'm sure the bureaus are going to come back with. Pursuant to their work on the save our storefronts. I mean, that's not free either. If we're going to provide direct outreach and help to these, to the to the business community, it does take resources. And so just kind of laying my cards on the table that that's how I think we can pay for encouraging sort of, in some sense, a supply side approach to keeping our businesses who struggle on thin margins in the city of Portland. I also think that, you know, when you file your taxes, you don't have to be an expert in the tax code, right? You just need to know how to answer one question at a time. So you go on to turbotax and it says, you know, are you single or are you married? Then you start from there and then you plug in your information as you have it. I don't know why the city of Portland doesn't have a similar tool that says, oh, you want to start a business? Okay. What? Give me one, one piece of information at a time. And it's sort of a flowchart, an algorithm that helps you get to a place without a lot of training and a lot of lot without a lot of hand-holding to say this is exactly what you need to do to be successful. That, I think is very much in the spirit of of what you've been leading on. Councilor that's something I think, that we should think about finding a way to support, again, not free. But, you know, I think that there's ways to pay for that if we're willing to, to take on some of the big dogs. And then finally, I do agree that we need to we need to lower the barriers that it takes for someone to get into the entrepreneurial space. One of the things I've heard from folks who have lamented our current business climate is it's not clear to them how much commercial lease space costs you'll have this sort of advertised brokerage rate, which is still something like 18 to $23 a square foot, which is quite high. And then there's the settled negotiated rate and there's a big spread there. So I know that there's some landowners who are willing to deal, but if you don't know that, then you might decide, you know what, I'm not going to bother in Portland. I'm going to tualatin, I'm going to lake oswego or elsewhere. And so we can't force these landlords. We can't force these landowners to to set their rents. We don't have that kind of a policy framework here. But I think we can encourage a conversation about saying, if you're willing to get to a lower number, maybe do that upfront and see if see if that has an effect, because I do think it's just supply and demand. Right. And if the prices don't adjust, then you won't get takers. And so I think I'm running along. But I want to have this conversation again so I can keep rambling.
192 Thanks. We will co-chair Green and we have three minutes. We have to be sensitive to staff's turn around for the next committee meeting. Next is councilor Clark and councilor Smith is a leadership skill.
193 Really, really quickly, really quickly. I love what I'm hearing from my colleagues, especially council president, leaning into our identity. And I think leaning into our identity means working out our reputation and working on our reputation means being a safe city where people feel safe, a vibrant city, artsy city. And it means dealing with the taxes, which is, I think, what our co-chair was saying. It means removing, if not lowering barriers. I would just say that really quickly. And it also means that we need to keep our assets, the arts assets, in good repair so that we can make them, as the mayor likes to say, sweat. And I think we're going to be working on that on a parallel path. That's all my asset management kinds of stuff that I love. I think it's really important if we're going to do what we want to do. Okay, I'll just stop there.
194 Thank you, councilor Clark. Councilor Smith.
195 Thank you, co-chair Ryan, I really appreciate this. I think we need to also market the city of Portland. We have a lot of things that are going well, particularly our events and our festivals and our in our sports activities. In 2030, we're having the ncaa women's final four here. I mean, if you're if you're a sports fan that is just like amazing and outstanding. And and I love that. I think that we should spend more money on travel and tourism and the music thing. People do come here and they will spend their money. We need to also put some resources into our minority chambers of commerce. We have to change. Change the trajectory of what Portland is is looked like outside of the city of Portland. And we also need to give access to capital to the storefronts that we voted on. So when we put resolutions through that, we have a a mechanism in which, like the committees have dollars associated with these committees, most committees on the state and local levels, they have dollars attached to their committees that they can have come out of their committees so that when you pass a a storefront, that it's just not an empty resolution without any funds. It's an unfunded mandate. So we can come up with all the great ideas that we want to. But if we don't have the money and we have to be clear, are we going to be a city that is bound to an iga for housing and homelessness? Are we going to continue to spend over $130 million above what we should be spending, because we have this agreement with Multnomah county? And will we be willing to give that same kind of money to the marketing for the city of Portland? Now, I remember I thought this was really cool. Greater Portland, inc. In 2024, they were down in Salem lobbying. They got $5 million to market the Portland metro area. That's like unheard of. And so for me, more of that needs to happen for the city of Portland to talk about the good things that we do have going on here. So I'm with you. Hopefully I'll still be able to sit on the arts and economy committee in whichever form they come back with it. But we have to and we also have to have people who have been business people. I am I'm not there with you yet, councilor Green, about raising the the business licensing tax, because I look at it like this. You're in business to make money, right? It can't be a hobby. And if if you are creating funds, you, you, you make money and you have to pay into the system, that is just what it is. So we'll get there.
196 Thank you, councilor Smith. We're all in mid sentence, which means this meeting could go on another half hour. I'm looking at the staff say don't do that. We got to do a quick transition. So I'm going to go ahead and call. The meeting is over. It's been a great meeting. Thank you staff and thank you all. All of the portlanders who showed up to testify today. The meeting is now adjourned.
197 Well, I.