Windowbox · Portland City Council

The City Council passed the FY 2025-26 Technical Adjustment Ordinance 8-3 on April 15 (01:42:51) after rejecting three attempts to redirect its housing dollars, including a bid to restore $2.5 million for two Black-led homeownership developers that failed 6-5.

Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1) presided. Councilor Sameer Kanal (District 2) was absent for the evening's votes, arriving after the meeting reconvened.

The budget fight over housing money

The technical adjustment ordinance, introduced by Mayor Keith Wilson through the City Budget Office, drew nearly two hours of debate over how to spend housing funds. Dunphy warned that the ordinance had to pass that night, so any amendment would require an emergency clause and nine votes.

Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2) moved to prioritize rent assistance for people who receive an eviction notice or have a pending court date, saying it would reach people who "self-evict" on a 10-day notice. Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) said the change "takes a flexible prevention-focused tool and turns it into a crisis-only system" and voted no. The amendment failed 4-7 (00:53:43). Councilor Steve Novick (District 3) noted the roughly 30,000 severely rent-burdened households in Portland paying more than half their income on rent could not all be helped with the available money.

Under questioning from Councilor Loretta Smith (District 1), Deputy City Administrator Donny Oliveira confirmed the rent-assistance money "won't be done by July 1st, 2026" (00:49:48), with Smith saying she had been told it might not reach the street until September.

Smith then pressed to restore $1.5 million for Self Enhancement, Inc. and $1 million for Williams and Russell, two homeownership developers she said were the only Black-led community organizations in the package and had been removed in the Housing Committee the prior week. She said the removal "reeks of institutional racism, anti-Blackness" (00:57:19). After moving and withdrawing several versions of the amendment, she settled on drawing the $2.5 million from the revolving loan and social housing acquisition fund. Avalos opposed council acting as "a grant-giving body" without reviewing pro formas and gap financing. Councilor Angelita Morillo (District 3) said the $18 million fund could grow to $70 million over 30 years through revolving loans (01:40:15). Novick said "I screwed up" in stripping named projects and backed restoring them. Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) said the original December proposal named Home Forward for $9 million and set aside North Northeast Preference Policy funds, calling objections to naming organizations "suspect." The amendment failed 6-5 (01:41:57).

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The Finance and Governance Committee voted 10-2 to send a proposed transportation utility fee — a $12-per-door monthly charge on households — to the full City Council with a recommendation it pass, after amending it three times (02:39:32).

The committee, meeting April 15 as a Committee of the Whole, spent most of its session on the fee, which its sponsors say is needed to arrest the decline of city streets. Vice President Olivia Clark (District 4), the lead sponsor, called transportation funding an "urgent problem" and said the city "cannot effectively serve the public who expects to have paved streets working streetlights and safe crossings."

The transportation utility fee

Councilor Steve Novick (District 3) told residents the stakes plainly, saying the city needs $45 to $50 million extra per year simply to keep its most important streets from deteriorating, and that the fee plus a street damage restoration fee "may raise about $70 million each year." Without the investment, he said, "it is not an exaggeration to say that the city will die," warning that major streets are "on a path" to "revert to gravel" (01:22:12). He attributed the backlog to decades of inaction by past city leaders.

Councilor Mitch Green (District 4) reframed the charge as a utility rate rather than an avoidable fee, saying the transportation network "is a utility that delivers services to our community" (02:27:07).

The two dissenters raised distinct objections. Vice Chair Dan Ryan (District 2), who presided, said he would be "a voice for the hardworking class people of Portland that are really in pain right now" and preferred sending the measure to voters (02:32:18). Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) said the charge "does very much feel like a tax to me," questioning whether it should require a public vote (02:21:03). PBOT's Mark Lear said City Attorney Ken McGare had advised the city was "on pretty firm ground" (02:22:12). Zimmerman also pressed on the flat per-door rate — a five-person and a one-person home pay the same — and Lear explained the model follows 31 other cities using trip-generation estimates.

Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) cast a reluctant yes, saying constituents bring their bills to her meetings and tell her, "if these bills keep going up... I will be homeless" (02:12:12). No public testimony was taken on the ordinance at this meeting.

Three amendments

The committee adopted a Koyama Lane/Zimmerman amendment 11-1 directing that half of the remaining 25% of fee revenue "shall" go to Vision Zero and to the Sidewalk Improvement and Paving Program, and adding bike-lane sweeping (01:33:16). Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane (District 3) cited 39 traffic deaths in Portland last year — 44% in District 2, 28% in District 1, 18% in District 3, 10% in District 4 — saying "those aren't just numbers... those are members of our community" (01:29:26).

Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) cast the lone no, opposing the amendment's section H because it "fully allocate[s] 100% of these funds to pre-identified buckets" and would tie the council's hands as the gas tax sunsets in 2028 (01:17:16). PBOT Director Millicent Williams told the committee the allocation "does not keep us from serving well" (01:29:26).

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The City Life Committee, in its first meeting, voted 5-0 to send two Mayor Keith Wilson ordinances to the full City Council with recommendations to pass — one amending Portland's Comcast franchise and one approving $7.7 million in Portland Children's Levy grant decisions — after spending most of the session hearing 15 invited panelists lay out the state of the city's economy and communities.

Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2), who presided, opened the newly formed committee by describing a framework of three themes — the future of Portland's economy, community resilience, and the experience of residents and visitors — and said she will set aside 15 minutes for public communication at the start of every future meeting (00:07:00). Today was an exception, with no open-comment period. Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) is vice chair; Councilors Dan Ryan (District 2), Angelita Morillo (District 3) and Candace Avalos (District 1) round out the committee.

Panelists describe job losses and cost pressures

Andrew Hone, President and CEO of the Portland Metro Chamber, told the committee the metro area has lost nearly 23,000 jobs over the past 12 months and that Multnomah County alone lost 10,000 jobs in a single year (00:15:26). He described a "donut economy" with growth concentrated on the region's edges. Dr. Mary King, Emerita Professor of Economics at Portland State University, disputed the sharpest reading of the Multnomah–Clark County contrast, saying young families have left every metro county and that "our total taxes are not higher. The only tax that is higher is the marginal tax level on incomes" (00:45:22). Stephen Green of Better Portland argued that a dollar spent with a locally owned business keeps about 68 cents in the community versus about 33 cents for a national firm (00:26:00), and noted Portland's last disparity study was in 2009.

On the resilience panel, Chief Sustainability Officer Vivian Satterfield said the city must cut emissions 24% in the next four years to meet its 2030 goal and reminded the committee that 70 Multnomah County residents died in the 2021 heat dome (01:11:00). Tracy Scott, co-chair of the Portland Clean Energy Fund and a director at Energy Trust of Oregon, said the fund's Cooling Portland program has put cooling into more than 20,000 homes (01:05:00). Jeremy Van Keuren, Community Preparedness Manager at the Bureau of Emergency Management, told the committee that the city's procurement system is not built for small partners, citing invoices from last September that remain unpaid and a $1 million insurance requirement for a single event (01:19:42).

The third panel focused on residents. Courtney Varano of For All Families Oregon said infant care in Portland averages nearly $20,000 a year — about 50% more than in-state public college tuition — while the childcare workforce, 95% women, earns an average of roughly $35,000 (01:24:00). Lori Wimmer of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council said Portland State University may lay off 200 of its 1,100 faculty and professional academics (01:47:45). Avalos, in closing comments, noted that climate work no longer has a dedicated committee home and said she did not want climate justice "to get lost or buried" (01:56:23).

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The Public Works Committee voted 3-1 to send the City Council water revenue bonds of up to $525 million to help finance the Bull Run filtration plant, with Councilor Mitch Green the lone no (02:05:11).

Water bonds advance over one dissent as costs climb

The bonds would produce up to $525 million in net proceeds for water system capital work and possibly refinance older bonds for about $4 million in savings (00:54:01). Public Utilities Director Ting Lu walked the committee through the filtration project's rising budget: a roughly $500 million conceptual estimate in 2017, about $1.5 billion by 2021, about $2.1 billion at the 2024 guaranteed-maximum-price contract, and $2.6 billion this year (00:37:35). Deputy City Administrator for Public Works Priya Dhanapal said "a good majority" of the latest $450 million increase came from external factors — a land-use appeal, a five-month construction pause and a 16-month delay (01:28:00).

Debt manager Matt Giurach said water debt service would grow from $55.6 million in fiscal 2026 to $168 million and that meeting the bonds' legal tests would require "sustained significant water rate increases" — a base case of 9.8% annually through fiscal 2031, then about 6% (01:14:22). Green did the arithmetic aloud: at 9.8% a year, "we are basically committing to doubling the water bill in under 8 years," from an average of $72 to about $133 a month (01:11:13).

Green, of District 4, cast the no vote. He argued the city had not tested whether a distributed point-of-use and point-of-entry filtration system could meet federal rules for far less — "$200 million" at entry level versus billions for the plant (01:55:25). Council President Clark, of District 4, pressed him repeatedly on whether he meant to stop the project. When she asked whether every household would have to buy its own filtration, Green said, "Oh, I say we buy it for them," adding, "you may not like my approach, but I'm just telling you how I'm voting today" (01:59:11). Ting Lu answered that a centralized plant offers "long-term resilience" against wildfire ash, storms and earthquakes and flexibility for future contaminants, while ultraviolet treatment is "just light bulb" aimed at one pathogen (02:02:14).

Clark, presiding as chair, said she wanted an outside audit of the Water Bureau but agreed to wait until the city hires an owner's representative to oversee the project. City Administrator Raymond C. Lee called an owner's rep "a best management practice" and said every change order already crosses his desk for signature (01:02:26). Councilor Loretta Smith, of District 1, questioned contingencies and affordability, noting the average family of four in her district earns $60,000 (01:36:23), then supported the referral after staff warned that delay could force use of a second federal loan carrying a 4.49% rate versus 1.89% on the first (01:44:26). Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane, of District 3, asked about grants and UV treatment and said she planned to support the bonds (02:03:08). Councilor Sameer Kanal, of District 2, joined online during the meeting but dropped offline before the vote and was recorded absent.

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The council voted 8-4 to send its FY 2025-26 budget adjustment to a second reading, adopting a housing package that steers $4.3 million to the general fund while rejecting a competing plan to allocate a larger share of roughly $137 million in unbudgeted Portland Housing Bureau money (04:10:02).

A four-hour fight over housing money

The Technical Adjustment Ordinance became the day's marathon. Budget Director Ruth Levine and Chief Financial Officer Jonas Beery told the council it did not have to allocate the housing money at all — the true-up of fund balances could stand, and the rest could wait for the 2026-27 budget (01:12:10). At issue was money the Portland Housing Bureau had not budgeted: what Councilor Loretta Smith (District 1) pressed staff to quantify as roughly $137 million, comprising the $106 million previously discussed plus about $30 million more (01:02:53).

Smith moved a comprehensive $40 million package (Smith 1) funding rent assistance, eviction defense, homeownership projects and named developers. "We got $137 million. Everybody up here can get everything that they want," she said, urging colleagues to combine amendments (02:16:55). It failed 5-7 (03:01:12). A friendly amendment from Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2) to target rent assistance more narrowly failed on a 6-6 tie (03:00:24).

Councilor Angelita Morillo (District 3) resisted naming specific developers, saying some organizations "were approached by counselors" and "said, 'We don't need those dollars, but we're not going to say no.'" She argued for metrics and a revolving loan fund for permanence: "We should not be doing that without really vetting these dollars" (02:25:37). Councilor Mitch Green (District 4) opposed grant-based approaches outside a tax-increment district, saying a revolving loan could carry a project like Hacienda's for "$8,700 a year" in interest-only payments (03:22:35).

Smith's second amendment, a lengthy set of social-housing definitions and standards she read into the record, drew a sharp response from Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1), the Housing Committee chair, who said the body had passed a Social Housing Study resolution 12-0 and staff were still crafting the language. "It is deeply inappropriate and disturbing to me that we are doing this," Avalos said (03:14:20). It failed 3-8 (03:17:41).

Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) brought four amendments. Her Hacienda Community Development Corporation gap-financing amendment — $3.5 million toward a stalled project with $17 million of public money already committed and more than 50 family units — passed 7-3 (03:25:03). Councilor Steve Novick (District 3) backed it as an "extraordinary circumstance" (02:46:28). Her $3 million for deeply affordable supportive housing (PG1) failed 4-7 (03:28:49); PG4, on homeownership within a social-housing fund, failed 4-8 (03:32:50); and PG3, restoring named projects including Self Enhancement Inc., Williams and Russell, and Urban Plaza, failed 5-7 (03:46:52).

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Portland's five-year general fund forecast remains balanced only because the city assumes current appropriation levels rather than the higher cost of maintaining current services, City Economist Peter Holzman told a council budget work session, where councilors spent 90 minutes telling Mayor Keith Wilson which cuts they will and will not accept. The session took no votes.

The forecast: a deficit traced to federal tax law

Holzman said current-year revenues are running $17.1 million below the April 2025 forecast (00:16:28). He tied nearly all of it to federal tax law: House Resolution 1, which he called the Big Beautiful Bill, passed in July after the forecast that set the budget. The state's Legislative Revenue Office estimated a $362 million hit to state revenues; Holzman said that translated to about $21.4 million for Portland's business license tax (00:15:07). "Had HR 1 not become law after the April 2025 forecast, there would be no current year deficit," he said (00:16:28).

The five-year outlook is balanced under city policy, but Chief Financial Officer Jonas Biery cautioned that the forecast rests on current appropriation levels, not current service levels, which run higher — meaning a gap is likely next year despite the balance appearing at zero. Balancing the plan requires $50.1 million in reductions: $35.6 million ongoing and $15.1 million one-time (00:20:03). The business license tax was revised up to $217 million in March from $212 million, a net improvement of $2.5 million driven by a state partial disconnect from the federal changes (00:29:06). Holzman said no forecaster carries a recession in the baseline, including him.

Councilor Mitch Green (District 4) asked whether the forecast includes business license tax revenue from the pending Trail Blazers transaction. Holzman and Budget Director Ruth Levine said it does not. Biery declined to give a figure, citing taxpayer confidentiality law and the city attorney's advice (00:25:35). Green cited a press figure of "$4.28 billion" for the transaction (00:26:35); Biery said only that a large payment is expected once any transaction is audited and received.

Transient lodging tax was cut $1 million to stay flat, Holzman said, after projected growth in occupancy and room rates failed to appear. Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2) said convention bookings are in "a very deep valley," looking better two to three years out; Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) called convention data "a trailing indicator." Green shared his screen with an S&P Global Platts jet fuel index, warning that rising fuel prices and cut flights could drag on lodging revenue.

Green interrupts to defend the Housing Bureau

Early in the presentation, Green stopped Holzman to address something said earlier in chambers. "There was a characterization of another bureau As engaging in malfeasance because one of my colleagues did not like the answers that they were getting," he said, adding that Housing Bureau staff "devote their hearts and souls into this work" (00:10:59). "We never just wholesale critique a bureau as being corrupt or engaging in malfeasance, or in previous situations, like maybe you're doing a bad job as the city economist. I'm just going to rebuke that. If I hear it again, I'm going to rebuke it again," he said (00:11:44).

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A Portland City Council committee voted 5-0 to send a Portland Housing Bureau supplemental budget to the full council, after amendments that redirected $8.6 million to the city general fund and folded several named housing projects into a $21 million revolving loan fund. (03:34:04)

The Housing and Permitting Committee, chaired by Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1), met for the first time and handled two housing-finance ordinances.

Housing Bureau supplemental budget

The package, introduced by Councilors Angelita Morillo (District 3), Mitch Green (District 4), Avalos, and Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1), allocates roughly $56 million the bureau identified as appropriable now, drawn from rental-services funds, transient lodging tax, construction excise tax and River District tax increment financing.

Morillo told the committee Multnomah County is "losing about 300 people a month who are becoming unhoused" and cited a 25% increase in homelessness between January 2025 and January 2026, with at least 2,000 area households at risk of losing federal rental subsidies (00:52:41). She argued for permanent assets: "$10 Million for direct acquisition of social housing" (00:52:41).

Councilor Steve Novick (District 3), appearing online, moved the meeting's most consequential change. His Novick 3 amendment sent the full $8.6 million in transient lodging tax to the general fund — split across two fiscal years — and collapsed the social housing, notice-of-funding and named-project buckets into a single $21 million revolving loan fund for construction, preservation and social-housing acquisition. Novick said the general fund covers public safety and parks and called the shift his "found money layoff avoidance proposal." Green backed it, citing a "$160 million budget deficit" and possible fire-station and parks cuts. The amendment passed 4-1 (02:50:09), with Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) opposed because it deleted gap funding for specific ready-to-build projects.

Green then trimmed the Broadway Corridor allocation from $5.6 million to $4.8 million, moving $800,000 into the loan fund. He said he had asked to see the Melvin Mark developer's pro forma and was refused, adding that "$800,000 on $140 million is not the reason why this thing won't get done." That passed 4-1 (02:55:24).

Novick's proposals to reallocate the $9 million in rent assistance failed: Novick 1A fell 2-3 (03:02:05), and 1B died for lack of a second. Avalos said the often-cited figure that 16% of people facing eviction are evicted misses those who leave before a judgment. His eviction-defense amendment, drawn from the Oregon Law Center, passed 5-0 (03:06:07).

Pirtle-Guiney's amendment rewriting the debt buydown section — renamed "Non-market Affordable Housing Portfolio Stabilization" — passed 5-0 (03:15:23). Her bid for $3.5 million for Hacienda's Monarca project, a half-built, abandoned development that Hacienda's Diana Nunez-Caceres said could deliver 57 units at 60% AMI in eight to ten months, failed 1-4 (03:31:07); Green and Novick said the loan fund could serve it through a competitive process.

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A committee reviewing an ordinance to bar concealed-handgun-license holders from carrying loaded guns in city meeting buildings held the measure without a vote so councilors could draft amendments, with the item set to return in June (02:17:02).

Guns in city meeting buildings

The Community and Public Safety Committee took up an ordinance from Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1) that would remove the affirmative defense letting concealed-handgun-license holders carry loaded firearms in buildings where the council and its advisory bodies meet, implementing state Senate Bill 243. Multnomah County adopted the same restriction in November. Policy advisor Evan Jundorf-Hoffer said the change would apply chiefly to City Hall, the Portland Building, the 1900 Building, and any city-owned space during an official meeting, and that the cost would be minimal, essentially signage, after a check with the City Budget Office (00:38:33).

Dunphy said he had applied for his own concealed handgun license earlier this year after tense interactions with the public, then concluded "that was the wrong direction," arguing "nobody involved in those conversations should be armed to kill" (00:29:15). Councilor Loretta Smith (District 1) backed the measure, saying she was afraid in chambers on February 18 knowing someone present could be armed (00:47:30).

Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) opposed the ordinance, reading aloud the requirements to obtain a concealed carry permit and arguing that permit holders, who pass background checks and fingerprinting, are not the threat. He noted staff had reported only three documented cases in five years of a permitted concealed weapon brought to city facilities. "I don't think this will actually do one thing to make anybody safer," he said, and asked colleagues not to pass it that day (02:07:37). Chair Steve Novick (District 3) cited the Violence Policy Center's count of more than 2,500 non-self-defense deaths involving concealed-carry killers since 2007, while acknowledging that was a small fraction of permit holders (01:25:05).

The sharpest exchange came over how Dunphy got his own license. He said he completed the process in "less than 30 minutes," doing an online questionnaire while watching a movie and never attending a gun-safety course or handling a firearm (01:07:37). Zimmerman replied, "Then that sounds like a Multnomah County problem of not following the law" (01:08:30). Dunphy later summarized his view: "75% of people don't need a law in order to do what's right, and 10% of people will never do what's right regardless of the law. So we govern for the 15%" (01:15:01).

Councilor Angelita Morillo (District 3) said she would support the measure with amendments, recalling the 2022 Normandale Park shooting, where an armed protester at a vigil stopped a gunman. She said a person intent on violence would not obey the law, but that the restriction made sense for City Hall.

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Portland's new Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole voted 10-1 to send a street-damage restoration fee — amended to recover 100% of the cost utilities impose on city pavement — to the full City Council with a do-pass recommendation, while continuing the larger transportation utility fee to April 15. (03:35:00)

Two transportation fees, one referred and one held

The committee took up two measures from the former Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, both sponsored by Council Vice President Olivia Clark (District 4). Clark said the city's streets "touch every Portland resident" and warned that failing to act would cost "up to 10 times more" to replace roads later. Portland Bureau of Transportation Director Millicent Williams told the committee the bureau faces a budget gap of at least $25 million without new revenue, has absorbed $42 million in program reductions since 2019, and would need more than $6 billion to bring a nearly $22 billion system up to fair condition.

The transportation utility fee would charge $12 a month for a single-family home, $8.40 per multifamily unit, and 4.3% of the utility bill for commercial properties (00:46:02). PBOT reported that of more than 600 people who weighed in, 76% supported the fee, with the $12 scenario most popular. The committee did not vote on the ordinance itself; it continued the measure to April 15.

It did adopt one change. Councilor Mitch Green (District 4), seconded by Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1), moved to add "or new rate design proposals" to a directive letting PBOT bring rate changes through the annual budget, which passed 8-2 (02:47:25), with Councilors Dan Ryan (District 2) and Loretta Smith (District 1) opposed. Green said, "no one wants to be the city councilor that votes yes on a new fee ... but that's the job, and I'm prepared to do it," and stated "my intention is to pass a TUF" (00:25:12). He separately described, but did not move, a land-area-based fee concept of $3 flat plus a charge scaled to zoned square footage.

The street damage restoration fee would charge utilities for pavement they cut into, set at 75% cost recovery, or $10.38 per square foot (00:50:00). Williams and chief engineer Alex Maharno explained that trenching cuts a road's useful life by more than 60%, and that the fee would be waived where utilities coordinate their digs. Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) moved to raise recovery to 100%, which passed 12-0 (03:04:25); Green, seconding, said a stronger signal means "if we do it right, then we won't collect this fee at all." The committee then referred the resolution to the full council 10-1 (03:35:00), with Ryan the lone no.

Where councilors pushed back

Ryan cast his no votes on grounds of process and readiness, saying of the referral, "I would have needed more time to get to a yes, so for today I'm a no" (03:34:26). He earlier pressed PBOT on operational efficiency and on which streets belong to the city, county, or state, arguing residents "are feeling like they're being ... invoiced from all 3 sources."

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The council raised the business license tax exemption toward $100,000 for the city's smallest businesses, passing an amended ordinance to second reading with the amendment adopted 11-3 (02:42:50).

Business license tax exemption raised for small businesses

The ordinance, co-sponsored by Mayor Keith Wilson and Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4), lifts the business license tax gross receipts exemption from $50,000 to $75,000 for tax years beginning January 1, 2026, then to $100,000 the following year. Zimmerman said the threshold had not changed since 2007 and that the increase brings the city into alignment with Multnomah County (01:50:34). Chief Financial Officer Jonas Beery said the change is a roughly $1.2 million ongoing general fund reduction at the first step, rising to about $2.4 to $2.5 million once fully phased in (02:22:51). Tax Division Manager Tim Mercer explained the exemption is a yes/no threshold based on gross receipts, while the tax itself is on profits, with a $100 minimum (02:24:18).

Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) supported the measure but noted the reduction came "with no specific offset yet identified" and that the per-business benefit is "around $200 to $500 a year" (02:08:00). Councilor Mitch Green (District 4) disputed testimony that Portland has the nation's highest tax rates, citing a District of Columbia benchmarking study that ranked the city 13th on tax burden for lower-income earners (02:19:59). Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1), presiding as Pirtle-Guiney chaired the session, was not the presiding officer; Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) presided and said she had owned a coffee shop and introduced the policy three times as a councilor (02:14:12).

Four people testified in support. Jose Cienfuegos of the Revitalize Portland Coalition said, "We have the highest effective tax rate in the country, period" (01:56:29) — a claim Green answered on the record. Andrew Hone of the Portland Metro Chamber said Portland has been in a localized recession since 2023 and ranks "80 out of 81 on real estate investability nationally" (01:57:37). Nate McCoy of NAMAC Oregon said about 65% of businesses receiving relief are small proprietors. Kira Pressler of Better Portland said her first business paycheck was for 72 cents. A running "hair" joke tied to 2007 ran through the discussion; Green, describing his support, said, "I am a socialist on city council after all, but that's a joke."

Council procedure overhaul stalls over amendment deadline

The council could not finish a first reading of changes to its own organization and procedure code, continuing the item to April 16 by unanimous consent (03:33:40). Pirtle-Guiney, a co-sponsor with Dunphy, described the package: three defined committee actions, a three-month deadline for committees to schedule referred items, a 180-day inactivity standard for stalled legislation, and a requirement that amendments to items before full council be filed 24 hours in advance (02:46:46).

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