6 months in, city council charts new path in Portland governance
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios; Photo: Emily Harris/Axios
Six months into its term, Portland's new city councilors are making strides toward their ambitious goals, even as they weathered a turbulent budget cycle and occasionally clashed over competing priorities.
Why it matters: Portlanders voted in 2022 to overhaul their city government to create a more representative council.
What they're saying: "We hear from Portlanders regularly that they feel better represented, and that they feel like they better understand what the debates are and what the tension points are," Council president Elana Pirtle-Guiney told Axios.
- "It's important to go where people are and not just ask them to come to us," she continued, noting the three councilors in District 2 have held roughly 20 town halls since January.
Context: The new council — three members from each of four distinct geographic districts — replaces a five-member council where members were elected at-large.
Catch up quick: A projected budget deficit of more than $90 million quickly became the new council's top challenge.
- Through several marathon meetings, councilors found creative ways to dampen the impact of cuts to some services and programs — including shifting nearly $2 million from police to parks — and delivered a balanced $8.6 billion budget last month.
- "Doing the budget is the single biggest thing we do," Councilor Sameer Kanal told Axios.
Friction point: There have been tense moments, though, as councilors with competing priorities have clashed over how limited resources should be allocated.
- "The tone amongst councilors right now is not where I think it should be," Pirtle-Guiney said.
- Council vice president Tiffany Koyama Lane has taken on the unofficial role of peacemaker, she said, and believes the council "needs some time to care about each other and listen to each other and remember that we're humans."
What's next: A common theme among the councilors who spoke with Axios was the need to streamline the committee process.
- There are currently eight committees that consider policy before it heads to the full council, but that number is likely to drop.
- "We set up a structure with a whole lot of committees, thinking that we wanted to have lots of different conversations," Pirtle-Guiney said. "What we probably need are fewer committees so that we can have more in-depth conversations."
The bottom line: Councilor Jamie Dunphy said he's proud of what the new city council has accomplished — particularly with the budget and community engagement — while acknowledging the body still lacks "systems, rules, precedents, and bookends" in some areas.
- "We will get there sooner than later," he said.