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Category: City Council Review

Who Gets Grants and What Doesn’t – City Council Review 3/18/2024

On Monday, March 18th , the City Council discussed and disbursed tens of millions of dollars’ worth of grants, funds, subsidies, improvements, and more. These plans, all separate from the general budget process, included CDBG funds for community services, FAA grants for the Portland Jetport, Capital Improvement Plan authorizations for infrastructure and maintenance, and a new application process for affordable housing programs. Not every grant applicant was a winner, however, and many more – including one Councilor – were frustrated with the opacity of city spending.

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Cemetery Funds and the Solar Eclipse – City Council Review 3/4/2024

An unusually brief City Council meeting – just over half an hour – took place on Monday, March 6th. A number of straightforward items, (described by one commenter as “thin gruel,”) were efficiently dispatched, including two separate windfalls for the maintenance and improvement of public cemeteries in Portland. The night passed almost without any conflict to speak of, until the inconvenient timing of a solar eclipse threatened to ensnarl the city’s budget process.

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Rent Control Wrangling, Extending Shelter Emergency, and the Passage of H.O.P.E – City Council Review 2/5/2024

In a busy but efficiently-disposed agenda, the City Council on February 5th approved a slew of parks projects and appointed a new member to the Public Art Committee. A financial report from Clean Elections shed new light on how public funds were being spent, the city’s HSO defends itself against attacks from the Press Herald, and the limited state of emergency at the Homeless Services Center was extended until June. The city accepted money from the state to continue supporting asylum claimants, arranged for the replacement of a police robot, and the controversial H.O.P.E. program smashed through dissent and into law. All this and more in this edition of City Council Review.

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Three Absent Councilors Cause Snow Plowing Delay, Rent Board Report, and Rats – City Council Review 1/17/2024

With only six councilors in chambers on Wednesday, a hoped-for emergency measure to adopt Morningstar Road lacked sufficient votes for immediate adoption, leaving residents of the street with ten chilly days without services. A report from the Rent Board sheds light on as many as 471 non-compliant rental units, and concern for rats in Harborview Park brings out naturalists and pet enthusiasts alike.

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Portland, Gaza, and Other Minutiae – City Council Review 1/3/2024

The City Council meeting on January 3rd was shaping up to be a quiet one, but the inclusion of a resolution from Councilor Ali to take a stand on the Israel-Palestine conflict underway in Gaza brought out torrents of emotional comment, both from the public and from councilors. Before getting to this most sensitive of issues, however, the meeting started with a celebration of the bravery of Portland’s finest.

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State of the Schools, LD 2003, and a Surprise Resolution on Encampments – City Council Review 12/18/2023

In the inaugural meeting of the new city council, chaired by Mayor Dion and with Councilors Bullett and Sykes around the dais, a surprisingly lively City Council meeting took place on December 18th, 2023. The State of the Schools address was read, a cadre of unlikely bedfellows passed a surprisingly broad zoning law, and most controversially, the looming sweep scheduled to take place the following day led the council to adopt (wildcat fashion) a resolution against sweeps.

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Farewell Councilors, Ocean Ave Rezoning, and Six Hours of Order 68 – City Council Review 11/20/2023

After bidding Councilor Zarro and Mayor Snyder goodbye at the end of their terms, and congratulating Mayor-Elect Dion, the City Council took on two controversial issues: rezoning 900 Ocean Avenue to accommodate denser development, and Order 68. This latter issue resulted in 845 pages in written public comment, four hours of spoken comment, and a debate which stretched well past midnight and ended in physical disruption and arrests.

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A Portland Soccer Team and Shelter Expansion: Round 3 – City Council Review 11/13/2023

In the first City Council meeting since the election, Portland resolves in support of statewide gun control and gains a new sister city in Kenya. Creative Portland hosts their annual meeting, and more aid for asylum seekers is desperately requested. After two rounds of failure, enough votes are finally marshaled to enact a state of emergency at the mega-shelter, allowing for expansion of beds. And a wave of support from young soccer fans in the chamber precedes approval of a deal to bring a minor league soccer team to Portland.

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