The cost to give away two acres of public land to unidentified strangers - 1.4 million dollars. The cost to destroy a city's reputation for commitment to transparent, fair public process for decision making - Priceless.

Portlanders have sometimes been kidded by outsiders for our justifiable pride and commitment to "Process." It's what has made us stand apart from most other city governments. Process is the "soul" and "guiding force" of our city. It's what makes us Portland. On Wednesday October 25, 2006, Mayor Tom Potter shattered that virtuous image by not only allowing but actually voting for a project which had virtually no public process to justify its place on the council agenda much less passage. This is a political blasphemy for which there is no forgiveness. This is a transgression for which a price will be paid. This is a betrayal of Portlander's public trust of the highest order.

When our city government places "project" above "process" we Portlanders lose part of our identity. We become citizens of just another local government where deals made behind closed doors instead of fair and transparent public debate determine the direction of public policy. It doesn't matter how "good" the project is claimed to be. Once we trample process for personal political gain we can turn in our Portland "progressive" ID cards to Al Franken on his Air America radio show in a community mea culpa.

In cahoots with commissioner Saltzman, Potter slipped a resolution onto the city calendar without much notice to anyone. It essentially gave away two acres of public land to a board of directors of a non-profit corporation unknown to both Potter and Saltzman. When asked to provide a list of board members before the vote neither office could produce. The registered agent for Portland Hope Meadows, Robert E. Hirshon (attorney at Tonkon Torp) and the only board member that could be found, Kristen Simmens (employee of Panther Systems in Vancouver, Washington), both refused to disclose the names of board members much less contact information. 

Tom Potter, self-anointed neighborhood champion and ONI bureau chief, in a pathetic performance, went out of his way to denigrate the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association for having the audacity to request a fair and open process which would allow them to decide for themselves which of many proposals might be in the best interests of their neighbors and my neighborhood of 31 years.

Potter made much of two so-called "surveys" done by the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association and Portland Hope Meadows. Neither of which had a scintilla of professional credibility. Had Potter called Lisa Grove, the polling professional who received a Potter approved $13,000 city grant to survey the opinions of North Portlanders regarding noise issues, to assess the value of these two surveys, she, and every other professional pollster, would have told him that the value of both so-called polls ranged from invalid to useless. Yet Potter clutched his green survey sheet like George W. Bush has clung to "stay the course." Reality was not going to interfere with decision making by either man.

Former long time Portland Planning Commissioner Amanda Fritz testified against the resolution. Here is a brief summary of her remarks:
1. Resolution A assigned social services to Multnomah County. Foster care is a county responsibility. The City should fund its own obligations before those of the County. Portland does not have a spare $1.4 million to donate to support a private non-profit social service agency.
 
2. There has been no open RFP process to determine that if the City does want to give a non-profit agency rent-free use of this newly-purchased city property, Hope Meadows is the best choice.
 
3. The Portsmouth neighborhood already is challenged with higher levels of subsidized housing and families struggling to stay in Portland than most other neighborhoods. [Portsmouth has the highest total number and the second highest percentage of public housing clients of all 117 neighborhoods in Multnomah county.] Even if city funding of such a program is appropriate, and even if Hope Meadows is the best provider found in a fair RFP process, is Portsmouth and the Ball School site the best place in Portland for its location?   
 
4. The Portsmouth neighborhood needs owner-occupied housing.

There are too many questions that must be answered before you move forward with any plan for this site.  It is public property - what does the public, specifically the neighborhood, want it used for?  Two years ago, HAP documents report Hope Meadows was interested in buying an area of New Columbia.  Why did this not happen, and why has a separate site been purchased specifically to give to this organization?  Who are the Board members of Generations of Hope (the parent organization) and of Hope Meadows Portland?  I am unable to find this information on the web. 
 
Why is this the city's responsibility to fund?

Why indeed!

The author of the resolution, commissioner Dan Saltzman, ignored every challenge by colleagues and those testifying with the indefensible, self-serving, singular response that argued against a fair and open process  because his project was for children, the newly established raison d'être for city government. Saltzman is enigmatic but he is not stupid. He knew that if he didn't push his project through the back door and fast it could never succeed in a fair and open process. Commissioner Erik Sten was in his usual council zombie sleep during most of the proceeding, awakening at the end to acknowledge that it would have been nice to have a legitimate process but since he made a deal with Saltzman what could he do. 

Commissioner Sam Adams challenged the Portland Hope Meadows board members and his colleagues on a number of points especially the value of due process. But it was commissioner Randy Leonard who stole the show when he read a reasoned and impassioned letter from Jeanne Knepper, pastor of University Park United Methodist Church in Portsmouth, pleading for the city council to follow our city's time honored tradition of a fair and open process for decision making. Randy Leonard has clearly learned the value of listening and process. Both he and Sam Adams deserve a great deal of thanks for their voices and their votes to preserve the democratic process in our city's government against the forces of misguided, arrogant, raw political deal making. Bravo!  

Not long ago former city commissioner Charlie Hales graded Potter's performance a C minus. When the mayor of our city abandons "process", a basic, fundamental, core value of our city government, for his own personal political ends then he earns the grade for Failure to protect what is dear to our community. 

Starting unjustified wars, legislating torture, dismissing science, stealth thievery through legislative earmarks for personal pork projects, ignoring the health of the citizenry, stealing from the public treasury to enrich your friends - these are the practices of other governments. Now, our city, Portland, has joined the club of the selfish and unethical. Thank you mayor Tom Potter for providing this example of "good" government to all the children you welcome to city hall each week.


Richard Ellmyer
3-6-9 Resolution author and project champion
Writer/Publisher - HAP Watcher commentary - Published on the Internet and distributed to 13,000 readers interested in public housing policy in Multnomah County.
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org
President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses. Located in Portsmouth, the neighborhood with the second highest concentration of public housing clients, 17% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.

P.S. Judge for yourself.
Watch the video: Portland City Council 10-25-06 9:30AM
http://www.portlandonline.com/index.cfm?c=28259

Read Oregonian reporter Anna Griffin's brief but informative story:
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1161824148317080.xml?oregonian?lcg&coll=7