Scott Bruun: The Problems With Portland’s City Government

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Scott Bruun, GoLocalPDX MINDSETTER™

So maybe they just need a little field trip, right? Portland State University’s Mark O. Hatfield School of Government is only a short walk from City Hall. And while visiting, hopefully they can even make the time to sit in on a class or two. Maybe even take a refresher course on “resource prioritization” or catch a lecture on “proper policy implementation.”

The School is a great resource after all, designed to help teach good governance. And looking at Portland’s street fee disaster-in-progress, the City Council could use all the help it can get.

Let’s recall how we got here. For years, the City Council has focused its attention and our resources on the types of transportation modes that the majority of Portland commuters do not use. Think of the Portland Streetcar, as one example.

Over those years, with resources going elsewhere, the Council stood by and watched as our streets and roads were slowly ground-down to near ruin. This totally foreseeable circumstance has now left the City unable to meet the basic needs for the type of transportation that the majority of Portland commuters actually do use. Like driving cars or riding busses. On streets.

Not only has the City Council long misspent transportation resources, it has also deprioritized transportation investments in general. Meaning, resources that should have gone toward transportation infrastructure and street repairs have been diverted, for years, to other priorities. Priorities like the Regional Arts & Cultural Council, the Portland Center for Performing Arts, downtown beautification and affordable housing in the Pearl District.

Well, there is little argument about the positive role city government can and should play toward arts and beautification. Quality of life, a priori, should be one of the City’s functions. But should it consistently take priority over core municipal functions like public safety and transportation infrastructure?

Seems like the City of Portland should build and maintain a strong house before it spends taxpayers’ money to buy pretty drapes. But now here we are. Pretty drapes and busted streets.

The difference between proper street maintenance, we are told, and the dismal condition that we find our streets in today, is about $41 million-a-year or so. At least this is what Portland residents are told, and maybe it’s true.

What’s also true is that the City of Portland’s annual budget is around $1.8 billion. So consider that the difference between bad roads and better roads, $41 million, is only about 2.3% of the City’s annual budget. Or in other words, our city leaders are either incapable or unwilling to prioritize a little over two cents on the budget dollar. They can’t or won’t find a little over two cents on the dollar to redirect toward the most basic and necessary of city government functions.

So Portland residents are stuck with a Faustian choice between bad roads or more taxes. Some choice.

But wait, it gets worse. Instead of designing and then voting on a new tax or fee structure themselves, the Council now seems inclined to send “options” out to Portland voters in a sort of “non-binding” referendum. Not an ‘up-or-down’ vote, mind you. But instead, an open menu of half-baked tax and fee ideas designed to find the least-worst plan.

To save the City Council from its own bad choices, it wants to toss voters a bunch of “solutions” while simultaneously passing responsibility to those voters for the inevitable bad outcome. Or in other words, throw everything on the wall, from new gas taxes to new income taxes, see what sticks, then leave the mess for others to clean up.

It’s the pasta puttanesca of policy. And it’s a complete abdication of leadership.

So now, with all this going on, chances are the Council won’t find time to take that field trip. Touring the Hatfield School at PSU will have to wait. That’s too bad, but all is not lost. You see the actual students of government at that school itself can still benefit. They just need to take a long look down the street at Portland City Hall, and take some notes.

Looking there, those students will find everything they need to write a thesis titled “What Not to Do in City Government”.

Scott Bruun is a fifth-generation Oregonian and recovering politician. He lives with his family in the 'burbs, yet dutifully commutes every day to Portland, where he earns his living on the fifth floor of Big Pink.

Related Slideshow: Slideshow: 10 Ideas to Help Fix Portland City Hall

GoLocalPDX spoke with over a dozen longtime Portland political experts who have worked inside and outside City Hall, and asked them what could be done to fix politics downtown. Here are some of their ideas.

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10

Admit There's a Problem

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting that it exists. The Mayor and City Council don't have to publicly say they are off track, but beginning to accept that things could be better if there were more cooperation would be the first step in making improvements.

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9

Strong Mayor

Short of a major shift in political sentiment, Portland probably isn't going to get a political system in which a mayor or city manager runs the entire administration.

That said, the city still needs to be led by a mayor who is both a strong-willed leader and someone who works consistently to bring others over to the mayor's side of the issue.

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8

Executive Sessions

Some have said that if City Hall used Oregon's executive session rules more often, relations with the city's press corps might change.

Executive session rules allow reporters to sit in on meetings with public officials but prohibits them from asking questions or directly using the information from the meeting in a story. Some feel if commissioners invited more reporters into executive session meetings, barriers between the press and City Hall might come down.

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7

Breakfasts, Lunches or Cocktails

Some say there is not enough socializing between members of the Council when they are not on duty. Some commissioners meet with one another for informal breakfast meetings. But there is not much mingling after that.

Because Portland's commissioner system is so heavily based on relationship-building, getting together a little more to socialize as colleagues a might not hurt.

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6

Play Small Ball

Rebuilding trust is best done in small steps. Commissioners could try finding common cause on smaller issues first.

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5

Build a Coalition

The reality is if you can get three votes on the Council you can get things done. It's been a long time since there was a governing coalition at City Hall. Building one would be the short path to getting things done in a hurry. An alliance between Novick, Hales and Saltzman might be the most likely option, but even that seems like a longshot at the moment.

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4

Cut Deals

Put ideology aside for a moment and get back to business. In the end, delivering services to voters is what counts. Make a deal and move on.

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3

Work Sessions

"Work sessions" are city council sessions in which no public testimony is taken and no votes take place. The council essentially meets and works on issues in public. Work sessions don't happen very often these days. But they might be a useful tool to get commissioners back together in the same room and working alongside each other when major votes and the pressure of public presenations aren't hanging over their heads.

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2

Work the Second Floor Night and Day

The Mayor, and all the commissioners for that matter, should be campaigning for their ideas at all times. The Mayor and commissioners should be working one another all the time to build support for their own agendas. For City Hall to work, the Mayor and commissioners have to be more engaged with one another, and that often starts with simply walking down the hall.

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1

An Inspiring Agenda

Portlanders love to love Portland. Mayor Hales has taken up an agenda of refocusing city government on basic services. He's made some admirable progress there. But it's a slate gray agenda to stump for day in and day out. While Hales doesn't need to embrace frivolous ideas, picking up a colorful project that will make Portlanders feel good about their city helps rally the troops when times get tough--which is most of the time.