The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-01-02
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (10,608 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
On January 2, 2025, the Portland City Council held a work session with the Mayor focused on winter shelter capacity and broader city priorities. Presentations described a partnership involving the city, Multnomah County, and the Salvation Army to open 200 overnight winter shelter beds at two locations beginning January 7, with figures on funding contributions stated inconsistently across speakers. Discussion covered staffing ratios, affinity-based services for vulnerable populations, pet accommodations, outreach coordination through 311 and 211, neighborhood support models including Portland Street Response, and plans to expand shelter capacity through public-private partnerships, including a future Blanchet House shelter. Data on unsheltered homelessness and mortality figures were also presented, though some figures were stated inconsistently. The conversation then shifted to other priorities, including upcoming leadership appointments for police, the city administrator, and city attorney; ongoing union contract negotiations; the FY budget process and anticipated cuts; the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub; a pending Zenith Energy land use compatibility review; and small business concerns tied to city revenue. Council members raised questions about district-level equity, public process commitments, and budget timing. Votes, where referenced, occurred, with outcomes recorded in the vote ledger. The session concluded with a scheduled executive session in the Rose Room.
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 You have to take a roll call to start this meeting. No, we don't. So I can just invite the mayor up. Okay. Mayor wilson, it's really good. Thank you for being with us today. We have a work session scheduled with the mayor with two agenda items. I believe the first thing is an opportunity to hear from you about your work on opening winter shelters, which has begun. And then we'll have time for some conversation about other priorities of the city that you have and that members of council have. So I will turn it over to you to begin. And. Counselor, would we need to change something?
1 Are we supposed to be on zoom for this one to. Yes.
2 Okay, mayor, as you get started, please give us a minute while everyone looks at their computers. Of course, of course.
3 Council president, can you see that splash screen of the first powerpoint slide on your computers?
4 You see it up there? Okay. It sounds like folks are getting it on their computers. We're going to be ready in just a minute. We're all still getting used to this system. Yes, it shows up on our computers as well.
5 Okay, so.
6 Why don't you go ahead and.
7 Okay, great. Thank you. Well, congratulations. And I commit to working with all of you for the success and the benefit of all of Portland. What we're here today is to talk about addressing unsheltered homelessness, and we want to provide information on that first step to ensure that every portlander has a safe place to sleep every night. Chair jessica vega peterson and I have been working on this the Tuesday after the election, and we've met every week since then, developing plans and partnerships to deliver. And to talk to you about here today. We're focusing on building a strong relationship with our shared vision and that same strong relationship. I'm committing to working with you as well. Our goal, and something I'd communicated for this last six weeks after the election, was to hit the ground running. And I'm happy to report that we're going to do that on the first day of all of us in this chamber. Next slide. We are here to come together to treat the crisis on our street like a crisis. 2017 was the last year we had more people sheltered in Portland than unsheltered. In the years since that, and the years previous to that, we had relied on nighttime emergency shelters and winter shelters to flex up and flex down to reduce the suffering on our streets. We moved away from utilizing life saving night time shelters to pursue other programs and processes. Since that year, and for a host of reasons, unsheltered homelessness has increased 224%. It is now 5398 souls living on the street today. Portland now has one of the highest unsheltered homeless rates in the nation, save for a few cities in california. These are our neighbors. Did you ever think that we would be talking in these terms? To me, having grown up and lived in Portland, this is an unimaginable conversation that we're having right now, but it is incumbent to us to recognize we can do something about it, because those are not nameless, faceless people that are living on the street. Next slide. Skyrocketing on shelter. Homelessness comes with a measured cost in lives. This year, 2025. On the second day, if we don't take corrective action, we anticipate losing 1000 portlanders in 2024. We're expecting when the domicile and known report is presented to have lost 600 to 700 people on our streets in 2023. We just learned two weeks ago that 458 of our neighbors died. Commissioner Ryan, now councilor Ryan and I, who grew up in north Portland, can share stories. I run into high school classmates living in tents on our street. Today, my neighbor elizabeth, across the street, is living in a tent next to the greyhound shelter and has been for the last two years. I want you to know this is not something we deal with in data. This is something we deal with in names. Throughout the campaign, I was very clear with my vision for Portland. I believe, and I believe you do too, that letting people suffer and die on our streets is not Portland. It's not who we are. It is not the shared values that we have today, nor is it the reason. And it is the most important thing. While you're all at that dais, I believe, and I believe you do, too, that we can come together to find a bed for every portlander, every night that isn't in a doorway, that isn't in a tent, that isn't in an unsafe rv. And it's going to be difficult. But the hard work is underway. We're here today to provide information on our city's first step and making our shared vision a reality.
8 Thank you mayor. For the record, skyler brucker, now director of Portland solutions. And I'm here to give you a little update on our first step. Like the mayor mentioned, those first 200 beds that we announced today with chair vega peterson. Next slide please. As you might have seen in our press release partnership, as the mayor mentioned, with Multnomah county and the homelessness response system resulted in 200 overnight winter shelter beds that will be open as of Tuesday of next week, January 7th, at two separate locations. We will be partnering with the salvation army to provide those beds and also for their facility spaces at those two locations. Multnomah county provided $375,000 in the city of Portland. Portland matched that amount. After conversations that mayor wilson had with chair peterson. We are adding emergency nighttime shelter to this continuum. This will not decrease any other services we offer or any other shelter beds that are on the continuum already. This is in addition to what's already in our system, and will provide additional beds for folks to sleep this winter for 90 days and beyond. Next slide please. We just wanted to speak briefly about the different partnerships that it will take in order to meet the need across our city and our county. 200 beds is a great first step. It is not the only step. We will need to continue expanding capacity rapidly and aggressively to meet the need on the street. Some of that will be public private partnership and not be reliant solely on government aid. One of those partnerships will be with blanchet house, that's looking to open a shelter in the coming months for 75 women, but there are many others who are looking to lean into the public private partnership potential, and we really want to make sure that we maximize the capacity for all these shelters during this winter months. Some of the exciting new pieces are the business community has leaned in with multiple properties that they want to make available for potential shelter. We are now evaluating those properties and we'll see what works and which properties are available immediately, and then match them with providers. Once we have funding necessary to add additional beds, that money will come obviously, from the city of Portland, Multnomah county, but the state, as well as nonprofits and philanthropy, as well as community members and the business community and the mayors already had some of those discussions and hopes to have many more with folks who might be able to provide some necessary means to actually accomplish this goal to end unsheltered homelessness.
9 Thank you. With that, happy to answer some initial questions. I had walked around this morning to talk to district two and district four, where those facilities can be located. Yesterday, I was given a list of individuals of stakeholders in those communities, and I called them all yesterday. And I must say, from the ones I spoke to, they were all unanimous. They are excited to get going and to see their neighborhoods being used to care for their neighbors. But I'd invite any questions that you have at the time we have remaining to kind of start filling in some nuanced answers for you, if you have any councilors.
10 We have about 35 minutes left for this meeting. I want to start with an opportunity to have questions on this portion before we move into the second portion with more open conversation, so that we can try to make sure to do both. Do folks have questions for the mayor on shelter beds? Counselor Zimmerman, thanks, mayor, I am curious.
11 You know, the ankeny triangle area is an area that has, for the last couple of years, started to organize because they are pinched between two distinct neighborhoods. It's a challenging area in terms of, you know, the city has had some success with good neighbor agreements and enhanced services to reduce the impact of large social services on the neighborhood. Right. This particular intersection is somewhat dangerous just because there is so much going on and a lot of pedestrian traffic, etc. I'm just kind of curious from from your vision, from skyler's vision, in terms of what other types of services are going to go into this area to help enhance it, or what do you need from the city council to help enhance making this a successful endeavor, instead of an endeavor that's operating by itself, which I think was more of a disaster if there's no support services around it, right?
12 I agree, so that's a two part question. What services will the shelter offer? And then also what can the neighbors expect. The first part is there'll be light services for the winter shelters. And in this case it's going to be the salvation army. So our hope is, is that as these guests come in, they'll also be focused with reunification, connection with their families or their friends, or referrals to the day. There are light services, meals and things of that nature. So there are light services. Now, on the neighborhood standpoint, I'm working with chief day on coming up with a comprehensive approach for every neighborhood, every community that sites a shelter to receive enhanced services, not a good neighbor agreement, but just improved community support from our public safety system. And it could be public. Pardon me, Portland street response outreach. You a host of things, and I want you to know the first response is not going to be police, but we will care for that neighborhood more than a good neighbor agreement. Counselor.
13 Thanks. If I could continue. One of the things I've learned in this work for a long time is that most neighbors and most portlanders are pretty darn compassionate. That's right. However, they want a number to call when a problem occurs, small or big, right? I hope that we can find a way to just get that out there for the ankeny triangle neighborhood that when whether it's a crisis problem, we know that that's a 911 call. But also we're aware that sometimes other stuff finds its way to just being thrown into the streets, or the nuisance stuff that has a livability effect. And that's where neighbors generally are compassionate, but just need a number to call. And I hope that you will find a way to get them that number.
14 Counselor, I will tell you that is something that sky has been working on, and it's something that we will talk about in our discussions. How do we get a number for the neighbor in that area to go right to somebody who can help with that particular guest or need?
15 Great. I think that's a good recipe. Yeah. Thanks.
16 Councilor murillo.
17 Thanks for this presentation and taking time to connect with us on this really important issue. I have a few questions about the shelters, just to get a better picture of what they're going to look like, mostly around what safety measures we have for these larger congregate shelters. It's going to be a lot of people who have endured a lot of trauma being put together in one space overnight, which can often be a very difficult time for them. I'm also wondering if we are going to have affinity shelter spaces for vulnerable people, like trans and queer youth are some of the highest demographics of unsheltered homeless. And from what I have read, and this might be a different arrangement now, salvation army hasn't always been a super, you know, queer friendly shelter space. And so I'm just curious if you could address some of those safety questions. And, and yeah, if we're going to have affinity shelter spaces for other other groups that might need, might not be safe in a large shelter space, I'll take the affinity and then I'll give you the salvation army.
18 So, councilor, these are emergency shelters. They're life saving. So as far as focusing on affinity groups, we have 3024 hour shelters. And a lot of them are affinity focused. This is to make sure no one's going to die tonight. But to your point, we have been receiving calls from other people who want to add shelters who are affinity based. And if somebody comes in and says, this is our group, this is the affinity or the group we want to provide for, and that's their mission, we will accept that. You bet. But I just wanted you to know we won't. I don't expect this to have a different patchwork of different affinity groups when our goal is, is, you know, three, 4000 people living on the street. We need to have them bring it, and then we move them into the continuum. It's basically making sure that the street is never a destination. So I appreciate your question, and we will do our level best to acknowledge individuals needs.
19 Okay. And I can speak to the salvation army. So we are working closely with them. They have some new leadership. And I know probably what you are referencing from years ago, but I do think we're in a different place now, and I'm really confident that they're looking to partner with us. They're looking to be culturally specific and appropriate and will work continuously with them. I think our queer affinity village has been a good example of that, and I think we'll just continue to use those same models for this shelter and other shelters, frankly. But to the mayor's point, I think we also need to add to that continuum of affinity shelters as well. So it serves a basic purpose, but it's not the end. I think it's just the beginning, frankly, of this expansion. Yeah.
20 Thank you for answering my questions, because I think that when we are talking about large congregate shelters, I will just say it when we are talking about life and death on the streets, it can also be life and death in large congregate shelters, if people's like if you have a trans unhoused youth that's in a space, they may face different kinds of violence than someone else would in these shelter spaces. And if we don't have the appropriate security measures and ways to protect people, we could be putting them in a dangerous situation that's just going to be out of the public eye. But that doesn't mean that we're keeping them safe. And I think I have I want to make sure that as we're building this out and I don't say these critiques to stall progress, but I think that if we don't do this carefully, we are going to hide the homelessness problem, but we're not going to address it. So I'm just going to be pushing a little bit in that area. But I appreciate you answering those questions.
21 You bet. Looking forward to working with you. Thank you. Jump in.
22 Councilor Ryan. You're next. Thanks.
23 Happy new year. This is exciting. So start with that. And I'm pausing to think about some of the questions that were asked earlier. And I won't try to double down, but I wanted to hear more about the outreach, the staffing model. How about you start with the staffing model? So my experience would be from volunteering at a severe weather shelters, if you will, which feels like this is the most similar to that. And one of the feedbacks I would give to the county and the city was that it always felt like a missed opportunity to build relationships. You know, relationships move at the speed of trust. And so you have people there and you're providing humanitarian care for them. And there's any time you get a little bit of opening, you have to take advantage of that. So I want to hear more about the staffing model, where we can start to break through and build that trust.
24 I appreciate that, you know, and I don't want to speak for sky, but I do want to say commissioner Ryan and now, councilor, you know, you and your work three years, four years ago allowed us to be at this point right now with what you developed with the safe rest villages and then with what mayor wheeler created with Portland solutions and now sky. So you have a lot of advice to provide to us as we go on this journey regarding the outreach part of it, outreach is going to be very important. You know, we're working on what are the first questions we ask when somebody comes in and one of them is through reunification, you know, are you ready to go home? One of the things I've learned throughout my travels around the united states is, is that when you start to end unsheltered homelessness, people are more akin to reconnect with family or friends or whatever the case may be. I'm going to just defer to sky to kind of pick up this question.
25 Yeah, we've worked with the salvation army to establish a 1 to 20 client staff to client ratio. So that's a pretty low ratio. We wanted to make sure there was sufficient staffing on every at every location. And to councilor Murillo's point, just to make sure that every location is very safe. So that's something we were insistent on. The mayor worked with the salvation army on, and we're really excited about that partnership and just made sure that staffing ratio would allow us to not exist, kind of in that similar severe weather shelter. I've worked in some of those myself, and some of those staffing ratios were not sufficient to meet the need just for safety purposes, frankly. So I think we definitely don't want to have that kind of situation. We want to make sure these are sufficiently staffed.
26 Yeah. And to add to that county used to be at a 1 to 45. The new jails program is now 1 to 25. Sky and I over this last six weeks explained. We want it to be 1 to 20. We wanted to provide good care for these guests as they transition back into whatever role or or place in our community they need, but we want to make sure we're caring. And I think it was councilor Maria. You're right. We have entrenched high acute issues. So therefore, to go to a high staff to guest ratio wouldn't be acknowledging the trauma on our streets.
27 And then follow up with that would be you said the hours are overnight. So what time do they leave? And where I'm getting at with this question is how do you build that relationship when they're removed from that location during the day? So the through line is what's the day strategy? And you would think that you'd need like some 24 hour connection time to build that trust.
28 You do. So first of all, if you come into a shelter, that bed the following night is protected for you. So you're never going to not have a bed that night. Once you come in, it's saved for you the next night and then through connectivity. So in this case, it will be salvation army. Helping you enter the referral system will have county outreach workers that will be available to start building that trust. But if, let's say, somebody like sunstone, a homeless service provider, that's through the joint office, they have connections. And working with andy goble, their executive director, he says, this is great, keith. Let's do the nighttime shelter. But then we are also budgeting daytime shelters. So nighttime shelters, life saving first inning, a day shelter, a day center is that second inning. How do we get that person connected with services? But also we'll let you know in a normally functioning society or city, which Portland isn't, 53% of your homeless are working. They're serving your coffee. They're making your sandwiches in Portland. It's not the case. So that's why we also have to recognize not everybody needs service. They are just down on their luck. They've lost their housing. But when we allow someone to go to the street and fall into despair, then the mental illness may come upon or the addiction comes upon their self-medicating. Do you see why we have to make sure that the street is never that final rung on that housing ladder?
29 I'll end with just a statement. We've struggled to build that trust, to establish a list by name. We've also failed to have the providers have the urgency to build that. And so I hope as we're building this system, we've always there's cracks in the system all over the place. The villages and test sites were part of plugging that in. Yeah, but this is an on ramp even to that. Yes. And so we just all want to make that count. So I look forward to more dialog about that. And the final one real quick. Salvation army has always been a severe weather site. And it's not always easy to find those. And we have severe weather. So is the inventory for that also in your brains and how you're putting that together. Yeah. Even though we're taking one off the table. Yes.
30 No. Excellent question. So the these sites will transition for severe weather to 24 over seven when appropriate. And we are looking at adding to the continuum because we will be taking some of the inventory. So yes, absolutely complete sense.
31 That's a great point. You know we in my conversations with chair six weeks ago I said winter is coming. We know it. December 1st is traditionally when winter shelters come open. We know it. Now let's act. She joined that. And then to her point and credit and skies, we have these facilities that will then pivot to severe. So if an event happens in Portland we can pivot in hours. Now instead of waiting days. Or more importantly, if we run out of staffing, we don't close artificially early and then put people into suffering onto the street in 32 degrees. So it's a great question you brought up, councilor. We've learned we've learned exactly.
32 Summer is coming. So yeah, yeah, there's weather all year round. Thanks. Yeah.
33 Thank you. Councilor Novick.
34 First of all, congratulations on this agreement.
35 And before he took office, I was curious whether some or all of the facilities where these 200 beds will be will allow people to bring their pets, because there are people who would rather risk their lives than leave their pet behind.
36 All are welcome, including pets. So biological or animals or whatever the case, these are low barrier facilities where there's no wrong door for anybody. So to bring a pet? Absolutely.
37 Councilor canal, thank you, mayor wilson.
38 Thank you for being here. And I it's really great to see the level of urgency and focus that you brought to expanding shelter capacity. I have two questions. The first was if you could expand a little bit on the point about the first responder in a to the neighborhood not being police. And specifically you mentioned Portland street response. Have you been in communication with icpsr's leadership over at the public safety service area? How is that conversation progressing at this point?
39 Let me take the psr, and then I'm going to have you talk about how your community. So, councilor, I think all of us over this last 8 or 9 months see Portland street response as a wonderful resource for Portland. And how do we increase its mission to really care for portlanders? I've spoke to the deputy chiefs both. There's two that are involved. I've done ride alongs with Portland street response. I've spoke to the individuals on the street. Are you interested in helping us with this? I've spoke to chief de mike myers, who is our dca for public safety. I have had 100% interest in expanding the mission for psr to become a better, more mission critical and expanded non-armed public safety support system. So the answer would be yes.
40 Great and very happy to hear that. And I think, you know, retaining its behavioral health focus, but absolutely supporting it is really vital to a lot of us up here. The other question I had was around the outreach, and it's a slightly different question about that. There's a really great program that you're both very familiar with in in Portland solutions. So which is shelter services I think the leadership is here in the room. And I first want to just praise them, but also say that they're compassionate, persistent approach to talking to the same folks repeatedly has been effective and really a model for both compassionate and effective work on this issue. And I wanted to understand if that's the model that we're leaning into at this moment in terms of getting folks to come to those shelters, or if there was another part of that prong, another prong to that, that you'd like to give us more info on.
41 Well, the thing that we know now, counselor, is, is that if there's 5000 people on the street and during the campaign, we would hear the commissioners who I was, my opponents would say that, you know, half of them are service resistant. And I would always turn to them and say, you know, if that's the case, half of them aren't and they're ready for care. 200 shelters are not going to save. We're not going to solve the issue on our Portland streets. So let's care for those who want to come in. Take advantage of people who need the care now and then. We'll have that hard conversation in months ahead. But right now, we're treating the crisis like a crisis and we're just providing care for we have such a whole let's start.
42 And may I also just add thank you for that statement. I think the street services coordination center under Portland solutions is an outreach team, and they will continue to work as part of this process and have already started working with the salvation army and in the surrounding areas with stakeholders in the community there. So they will continue working. But I think in partnership with other outreach teams as well, like the mayor mentioned, you know, let me just one councilor Regarding Portland street response, that's not a unilateral decision that I can make.
43 I'm going to need your help on that. So those are some. That's while Portland street response may want to expand their mission without our ability to work together and recognizing from a budgetary standpoint and mission, that really is going to come to the 13 of us. So I hope that you'll help us and this group along as we expand that mission to really help become a vital part of our community.
44 Thank you. And just I'll end with a statement on that. I think the psr is a core part of our our first responder system of the future, and I've been privileged to work in in the next door building, supporting its work. And I think that we have a lot of difficult conversations about steps in the process and how to get from here to there with psr. I'm really excited to work with you, as well as with dci myers on that and his team, to help it meet its current mission now and get it the staffing it needs and the support it needs, because those staff are in dire need of support.
45 Absolutely. Thanks.
46 Councilors. I want to do a check because we have 15 minutes left before our next meeting. We can see if staff are able to push that next meeting a little later. We can continue on this topic and invite the mayor back to talk about other priorities and topics. Another time. I don't want to kick folks out of the queue who are waiting. If folks want to continue through and postpone the second part of our director grewe my comment I think it's covered by what I heard already. Okay, maybe we can do it all.
47 Councilor Smith thank you. Thank you, mayor, for bringing this outstanding 200 beds to district two in district four. Thank you. So the question you know, I have is when are you coming to district one?
48 You bet, you bet. The good thing is, is that, like what, sky? We had a business community come to us with 40 facilities. We're looking at those right now. The right now. It's a funding strategy. You know, we have a limited amount through this fiscal year, right. Sky is working on it. My commitment to you is, is and our goal was to make sure that we do this in a distributed sense, one, two, three, four. Equally, we're not going to overload one district at all, but share, share the share that that emergency focus. So I can guarantee you we will be intentional with one and three now.
49 And the last question is if someone who say is camping in district one, I don't know what kind of questions. You said this was a low barrier facility. Can they also go to district two and get one of these beds? And how are you? How are you doing outreach to the community to let them know that these 200 beds are available?
50 Scott. Yes, so a couple different ways, councilor. But I will say, just for example, tomorrow morning we have a weekly call at 8 a.m. On Friday with a lot of different service providers, outreach workers. It's a collaborative call between the city and the county and a lot of different organizations. I plan on announcing the beds and exactly how folks can get access to them. I think that will be helpful for the outreach teams, our city outreach workers, which I mentioned earlier, will be doing a lot of the initial engagement in the surrounding areas, I think, around these sites, but other locations, other districts, folks from anywhere in Portland are able to make use of those beds. We will do some intentional outreach in those surrounding areas, however, as well.
51 So is there a number that we can call and give our constituents to say, if you need a bed tonight or whenever they're available, that we can give that to them.
52 We will work with the salvation army to see if they want to provide a singular number. But our outreach team is always available. If folks call 311, they can get request an outreach worker. There's a list that we keep, and if folks are interested in these beds, we'll also make sure 311 has the information.
53 But I want to be clear. So I know that they have all other services on 311. But I'm talking about these specific beds, these overnight beds and two and four. If they want to go to one of those at the salvation army, that we will be able to have a telephone number or, or an access person that that will put them in one of these new 200 beds.
54 So it won't be a reservation system per a phone number. That's not necessarily what they've set up. Now that might be down the road, what they set up. But because they're starting on Tuesday, it won't start that way. It will be outreach intensive. So folks will be told the hours they'll be allowed to get a bed, especially the folks in the surrounding area at first. And then we will tell outreach teams who are already engaging in the community so they can connect with those individuals and help them get there if they want to call 311. However, that's how our outreach team knows that they're interested in those beds. And then 311 will also have the information about the shelter. So whatever salvation army comes up with in terms of these are hours of operation. These are this is what we're accepting. This is not a family shelter. Any kind of information that they can give 311 is going to be able to provide that.
55 But what I don't want to happen is that people at three, one, one or our partners, they decide they cherry pick for the folks that they they want to put in there. I want to make sure that our diverse bipoc communities are able to access these beds, and that they know where they are and that they are given an opportunity to have a bed at night, too, because I've been through this too before, when people cherry pick and who they want to give the beds to, and I want to not just talk about the Portland 311, but let's talk about the global view.
56 We have 3000 beds already available. These are two 200, 275 that are coming on two one. One is our overall comprehensive focus. Call that if you have somebody in your community community member please call 211 and take it. Take access to the 3275 beds that will only be growing. And what we want you to have as a counselor is to be able to call one number and know that your neighbor is going to have a bed if they're in need that night, and so that you have a resource always at your disposal. But we're just going to take time. Councilor. Thank you. Yeah.
57 Let's transition very briefly to a broader conversation. Mayor wilson, I know you have a number of other priorities that are on your mind. And my colleagues here at the dais also have a number of priorities. Do you want to just share with us in two minutes some of the other things that are on your mind that you'd like us to be paying attention to? And councilors, if you would like to make sure that there are issues or concerns that you have that are on the mayor's radar or put on the record things that we want to make sure to have further conversation about later. Why don't you go ahead and put yourself in the queue so that we can do that? Staff, if we run a little bit late here, is that okay? Okay. We don't have transition time. We need to our next meeting. Perfect.
58 Go ahead. Mayor, let me just I'll pass away some of the comments just to kind of talk about the more immediate issues that we'll have to address in the coming weeks. And we have some important leadership decisions that we'll need to make. I've spent time with chief day, as many of you have, the reduction in Portland shootings, auto theft and other critical safety issues have shown me that he continues to be right for the job. He has my confidence that I hope he'll have your vote on February 5th. City administrator michael jordan has made a once in a generation government transition, one we can all be proud of. He has graciously agreed to continue his role in the coming year, and I asked city council to support his appointment in the same way he's supported Portland and city attorney robert taylor has similarly performed under difficult circumstances. And I ask that you support his appointment as well. We'll be talking about those, and we'll ask that you meet with them at your time to interview them. And I'll certainly explain the why as to why they would be right for the job today and to move us into that next chapter. As you well know, we're also in the midst of union contract negotiations with our partners in labor, city leadership, city workers and the public have a lot riding on getting these negotiations right. I'll keep you all fully briefed. And as we reach every milestone, I'll also rely on you to tell me what you need from my office as we work to conclude these negotiations. It's no secret that we'll face difficult challenges this budget cycle as well. We must make significant cuts to the city budget and cuts are always a painful thing to do. I'll work with the city administrator to draft a budget. Recommendations for your consideration in February, and I anticipate district by district listening sessions beginning in the coming weeks as I develop a budget proposal that takes into account your perspectives and your needs. And I reached out to you yesterday, on the first day with my first emails to each of you, to ask that we meet every other week with your districts so we don't wait for March to have this conversation. We start right now because each of you have ideals and expertise in helping us with the challenges before us. That way, when you do get that budget in March, it already represents an 80 or 90% product that you're already fully aware of and then ready to help us with amendments and or changes. Going into this year, Portland has a unique and exciting opportunity to balance continuity with innovation. While I don't plan any grand restructuring, I'm excited for many opportunities to shamelessly steal ideas from high performing cities that are sister cities that have the same sort of form of government that we can take advantage of in learning best practices and bring them to Portland, the city of Portland must always learn, must always evolve and deliver easier, better, faster, and lower cost integrated services to the public. I look forward to all of us being a part of that effort, and thank you and I look forward to working with you, your staffs, and as I had mentioned earlier in my comments, our wonderful city employees who have been with us through thick and thin, especially through these very difficult years as we rebuild the bond of trust and culture to be a high performing organization and to be one of the most high performing cities in the nation. And I look forward to delivering that success with all of you.
59 Thank you. Mayor, councilor Green, thank you, mayor wilson, for this on here for giving us a brief and being willing to kind of show up today for this work session.
60 My question to you is, and I've had this conversation with you personally, but but now that we're in the open and the work session, I get a lot of emails every single day from my constituents about zenith energy. Right. And there's an open and active. My understanding is there's an open and active land use compatibility statement process right now, and the community right now is really, really requesting a public process. And so can I get your commitment for that?
61 Yeah. Thank you. I've asked donnie oliveira, our dca, to be here to answer that question. I think he's going to bring that experience from the previous administration as we begin this new conversation.
62 Thank you, mayor. Thank you, councilor Donnie oliveira. For the record, I'm the deputy city administrator for community and economic development. Thanks for having me here this afternoon. Councilor Green, to your question, you're accurate in that we are currently evaluating a request from zenith energy terminal for a land use compatibility statement. Where we're at today is staff is evaluating that request. And we're also working with the state to consider information like some information sharing. So we have the best available information to make a decision. I too, and the mayor as well, have received a lot of information and requests from our community stakeholders and partners who are very clear that they want more information on zenith and the city's role in a lux and future action with the state may take on an air permit. And to that end, if it so pleases this council and it's of your interest, staff are preparing information to present at a work session if this council deems it necessary. And we had a conversation and a briefing before council, Green and council were there, and we'd love to provide that information. This is a very complex issue. It's something the city has been engaged on for about five years now, and I think staff would welcome the opportunity to daylight some information, do a little myth busting and truing up of what's happening and the action that this council can take to support the mayor and the administration to go forward, not just with zenith but the cea. Thank you. I'd welcome that and eagerly thanks.
63 Thank you. And thank you for the added information, councilor. Koyama.
64 Hi, mayor. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you for the time that you've spent to meet with all of us and hear from us. I feel confident that you really care and you're here for the right reasons. I have some thoughts that kind of apply to almost everything, but. I think what I'm hoping is that you will make sure to really focus on and listen to the folks who are closest to the pain and closest to the challenges, because I do believe that they're oftentimes closest to the solutions. And so this can be applied as we're talking about unsheltered homelessness, making sure that there are people in the room who have experienced unsheltered homelessness or are currently experiencing it, I. Am proud that angela murillo is my colleague here, and she's spoken openly about experiencing unsheltered homelessness. To my understanding, she's one of the only people up here that has shared that. And so I urge you to really listen to her, lean on her, and lean on community members that are closest to the pain and the challenges. And I think that can be applied when we're talking about labor negotiations and we're talking about, you know, basically any issue you bring up, we bring up, remember that those that are closest to the pain are oftentimes closest to the solutions and should be closest to the power two. So I'm very glad that she's sitting up here as a councilor. And I also just want to end with saying I feel optimistic because every time I reach out to you and say, hey, do you want to hop on the phone about this, that you're you seem really open and you make time right away. And so thank you for what I've seen already, and I look forward to collaborating more.
65 Thank you. Councilor. You know, the first stop this morning was to put my briefcase down and then to come bother you and all your offices for the ones I saw. So you can expect that. And I appreciate that to just kind of talk about what you talked about lived experience. It's not just lived experience. It's every job that our city has and holds is important. If we're going to be making decisions that address the street cleaner than we talk to street cleaners, if we talk and or address Portland street response, we speak to those that are doing the work because we will make great decisions. More importantly, if we make a decision that they don't like, they will still make it work because we involve them in that decision, and there's going to be a lot of decisions collectively that people aren't going to like. People don't like change, but so long as we do the hard work, we find the information. We go talk. It's called go to the gemba, go and see yourself. And one of you had said in a meeting we were talking about, would you have the opportunity to go and visit other departments or dcas or police or fire or do ride alongs? The answer is absolutely yes. You have complete access into that enterprise to go and look and talk to whoever you want, whenever you want, because you will make the best decisions, forming relationships and going and doing a ride along with a street cleaner. They would love it, and they would appreciate every, every moment they spend with you. So the answer to your question is absolutely yes. Thank you.
66 Councilor Clark. Thank you.
67 And thank you so much for being here. I feel so enthusiastic about our future. And thanks for laying out all the immediate issues, some of which we may have taken for granted. But what I wanted to ask you is where on your radar screen is the cei hub? It's not on the list of immediate issues, and I know it's a very complex with different levels of government, different laws that affect it. But do we have a task force or a group that's working on this? Because this is something that some of us, particularly from districts four and two, heard a lot about, learned a lot about, and now want to know more about what we're going to do?
68 Sure. You know, I'm going to refer to the expert.
69 Thank you mayor.
70 Thank you, councilor Clark. Daniel rivera for the record. So, councilor, last year, the bureau of planning and sustainability got a FEMA grant for about $600,000 to specifically begin the research for the tools that the city of Portland has, whether it be land use or policy, to really think about the future of the cei. However, for many years now, we've been partnering with the state and the county to look at different models and tools that we could use to both address the future of the site, but also, frankly, address the seismic concerns that our communities have about a cataclysmic event that could, you know, directly harm our neighborhoods, because we're talking about a very, you know, aging infrastructure, but an area that needs a future, you know, a future strategic state. Like, what are we going to do with that area given its location? And last but not least, you know, as you all know, the cei is responsible for about 80% of the state's fuel. So we have to think about if we're going to move it, where does it go. So that's a larger conversation beyond the city of Portland that I think we welcome being a part of, of course. But so the answer to your question is yes, we are very much activating around putting together. I don't know if it's a task force, but a work plan at bts to address that.
71 Thank you for that response. And I'm hoping that you'll keep us informed, particularly in districts two and four, about the progress of your FEMA grant, your plan.
72 Absolutely, and will do.
73 Thank you so much.
74 You know, councilor, let me just also add that Portland doesn't stand alone. We must stand with Multnomah county because they have very important programs that are working on mitigation mitigation insurances. Let's make sure that all of us getting out of the gate, we work on that collaboration with county, just like with homelessness with chair peterson. The only reason we're here to announce this opening of the shelters was because of that direct conversation. Let's make sure all 13 of us are working closely with county to make sure we're addressing that as well. And then the focus on cei and I've always focused if we reduce the use on liquids, we do everything we possibly can to transition away from liquids, and then we focus on removing and reducing those tanks when we can. And then we focus on restoring that waterfront back to Portland. Thank you, councilor Canale.
75 Thank you. And I first want to echo the concern raised by councilor Green about a public process for zenith. I also have been receiving, and I imagine we all have received some community input on that, and I want to support it. My question or I guess my the thing I'd like to add to your agenda, busy as it already is, is looking at ensuring for part of the budget process that there is shared sacrifice and that there's a focus on prevention, in particular in the public safety space. We've seen our gun violence, which was at historic levels a few years ago, reduced significantly, thanks not only to the great work of the public safety service area, but in particular a historic level of investment in violence prevention, both in terms of the office of violence prevention and in terms of our crime prevention through environmental design. And I'd like to see that retained that focus even as federal money expired in June of 2024. For it, as we all know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And so that's one core philosophy. And then also ensuring that previous governments choices to not have shared sacrifice when there are cut ears is not maintained just because that's how it has been making sure that we're all that everybody's being asked for the same level of information so that we're all more capable of making those choices together.
76 Yeah, and I appreciate that. Councilor canal, you know, you and I had the ability to have a conversation in the last many weeks. And I know we've got another one scheduled. And a lot of your councilors had really messaged very similar. And city administrative officer michael jordan is here. I'd like to kind of give you some information on where we're going to take a direction on that.
77 Yeah, well thank you. Thank you, mayor, and thanks for the question, councilor. We have been working under budget guidance from the previous administration that asked for a 5 to 8% cut across the board, save public safety, police, fire and emergency communications. So we now are hearing both from you all and from the mayor that at least we would like to understand the impacts of cuts across public safety also, and what would those look like? And realizing that that can be a matter of choice in some cases. And so I think having the ability for you to have the information and the understanding of what that means across some of the public safety programing also is an important aspect of your decision making as you get the budget. So we're working on that right now.
78 Thanks. And just once again, public safety is obviously those three bureaus, but it's also pbem, which has faced some significant cuts in the past. Yeah, ovp safe blocks. And I'm curious to see how that holistic view is incorporated into your budget proposals.
79 Thank you. Thanks. Thank you.
80 Mayor. I promise we will let you go soon, but we do have a few more comments or questions. Councilor Zimmerman, would you like to go ahead?
81 Mayor told me he's here for the whole night, so I think we're okay. Mayor, thanks for coming. I think that one of the things that's interesting about this new form of government will be how our districts both advocate for the needs within our own geographic area, but also that look across the city. And I've told my colleagues in district one that I want to be a partner to district one, getting the attention that it has not had for a very long time. Right. And while I can make that statement to them, you sit in an interesting position. So does michael jordan to be able to kind of tell us when it is time for our advocacy to also go to district one? Right. And I guess I'm asking you to keep an eye toward that. As we do the work. There are members of this council who are interested in supporting it where we're not turf protecting, but actually helping our colleagues. But you sit in a position to see the whole picture in a way that will be helpful to me, and I hope you'll share that when it's time to make sure that we are. There may be times I expect that downtown maybe doesn't get a certain amount of attention, because it is time for district one to get that attention. So it's an invitation, I guess, mr. Mayor. And then secondly, and similarly, is that I hope, from the city administrator side and the dca side, I think this is one of those aspects where this culture can start from the top, which is how things happen in each of these districts. I sure hope that we have a say in how they happen, right? I am not so interested in park development happening exactly the same in every single neighborhood, or how public plazas happen across the city. I think each geographic area has a say in what works, what their needs are, what they're interested in. That won't happen unless we force the issue in terms of, from a leadership standpoint, that the bureaus understand that there is a district perspective, and there are great things that have worked in in my district that have not worked in others and vice versa. And so that that lens that I to it is okay to have some differences in how things are implemented on the ground is from my seat, very welcomed. I'll use you know, there have been some public plazas or pedestrian type plazas in downtown Portland that have been super successful and others that have not. Right. I think being able to move and move in and change those slightly or certain lanes or traffic changes that we want to hear from the bureau, but we also want to make sure it makes sense specifically for that area. And I think it would be welcome. My constituents and I personally feel that too much has been one size fits all in the city of Portland for a generation. And so I again, this is a second invitation that my support will be so much easier to get for everything we do. If I know that there's a lens for the district perspective on everything we do.
82 So thank you, councilor. I think that's great. So tackle that. First of all, I grew up in a sacrifice zone, so I know scarcity similar to district one. I grew up in district two next to the columbia villa, the new columbia. So I know what you're talking about because I lived it. It's not something I am angry about. It's something I'm knowledgeable about. And I understand the haves and the have nots in our city. And you're talking about scarcity. We are always going to be addressing scarcity, but it's making sure that it's shared commitment to different investments in different communities. I'm looking forward to that. And to your last point about having perhaps a bike boulevard in a community. It's wonderful having 12 voices with 12 different experiences and 12 different neighborhoods. And when you say it doesn't make sense that we're putting $1 million into this bike Lane and it doesn't make sense to you and your neighbors, you now have a voice to bring that idea forward. And what I commit to in every one of you, if it makes sense, if we think slow, look at the data, talk to the neighbors, find out different best practices. Then we stop. We pivot, and we act fast on a change. So that's one thing I'm really looking forward to is it's just not five people that live in district four anymore. It's your experience. And we're going to deliver a city that has resources for your district. And I bet you we're going to make some great changes that your neighbors are going to love.
83 Councilor Ryan.
84 Yeah, I just have to say, this is a this is really refreshing and exciting that the mayor is here and we're all here and we're having a conversation. So thank you. We need to figure out how to do this now and then, not just on the first day. I really appreciate the dialog about the cei hub and what I'm not hearing that I think we're going to do it. And I see sam chase here. Hi, sam, is that this is going to take a state and a federal alignment with local. It's not going to happen without big dollars coming from on high. We all know there's a big infrastructure bill that was passed. So I just hope that we align this as a top priority since it keeps coming up as a top priority. And we all know the revenue doesn't exist locally for that, but one that I really wanted to hang my hat on. And what made me want to get up here again is the testimony earlier today is something all of us heard by campaigning. Small businesses are really suffering and most don't have great stories like the convenience store owner near the thorns and timbers stadium. They haven't really been successful leveraging that prosper Portland money. So I just want to say that that voice that we heard today is a really common voice out there, and so many need relief. And as we have a revenue problem right now and our revenue is tied into business licenses. So I think I just wanted to amplify the testimony we heard earlier. And then in our in your budget to give some more love to that revenue that keeps our small businesses whole at this time.
85 I appreciate that. To talk about the cei, I want you all to know that county and state will not advocate for us when it comes to cei. We are going to speak loud and clear with, I hope, a collective voice, and then we will ask them to come along with us. But we are going to take an active and very vocal approach of addressing this very important issue. It's going to take years, but let's work on this right now and continue to advocate at the top of that mountain as loud as we possibly can. And that's how the county and the governor and the governor will come along with u. Regarding small business. Councilor Ryan, I want you all to know I was very clear on the trail, and all of you have heard me say these things over and over again. Our number one priority, my number one vision is to end unsheltered homelessness, to reduce the burden on our overloaded public safety system, because our officers are spending an inordinate amount of time arresting the unsheltered. We're arresting the wrong people. They shouldn't be there. And third, when we accomplish those two things, we can revitalize our community, and a business can open up knowing that they're not going to have someone come in in an organized ring, whether it's unhoused, the housed, or taking advantage of the unhoused, because we're spending our time on arresting the wrong people. You're 100% right, councilor. We've got to address those three things in that order, and we will revitalize our community. So a small business can not only just survive in Portland, but can thrive.
86 Mayor, I'm going to ask a question myself. I have heard you now say a couple of times that you will be working with the city administrator to bring us a budget proposal in February, and that is a really important statement for us, because we have a number of folks on council who are interested in being involved in the budget process. What's laid out as required is that we receive something from the administration in February, and that you would then weigh in later in the year. I just want to clarify that when we receive that budget proposal in February, can we expect that you have seen that and that is your current working draft as the mayor moving forward? And we can then as we do our process as well, work from that, knowing that that is your current version of the draft of the budget council president, we expect to deliver a budget to you on February 28th.
87 So let me clarify what the mayor meant to say. And I think cfos in the room, if he wants to come up and clarify also what our intention is, is to deliver a set of recommendations on February the 28th, from the city administrator to the community, to the council and to the mayor. And mayor's obviously going to be very involved. We expect to involve you to before that comes out. But because of local budget law, we are not able to deliver a balanced budget because it would trigger certain legal requirements. So what we will be delivering is a set of recommendations that we want to take to the public. Obviously, council can deliberate on those early in work session. We can talk about all of them, and obviously we'll be working with the mayor. We expect to work with you before those recommendations come out, so that you can have at least some input and fingerprints. We'd like to frame what our what we think are some of the really challenging decisions that are going to be before you, when you ultimately deliberate so we can get your input. I think the last thing I or the mayor wants is a budget that's dead on arrival. And so we certainly want your input as early and as often as we can get it.
88 Thank you for the clarification. And I think we also don't want a budget that's dead on arrival and have a number of folks who are interested in the council's role in that process. Mayor wilson, I do not see any other comments from council right now. We do have an executive session that we need to get to. So I think I am going to adjourn our work session and take a you want you want it louder. Yeah, yeah. And let's take do we have time for a ten minute break before the executive session. And where are we meeting for the executive session?
89 In the rose room.
90 Okay.