Council approves controversial urban renewal plan

Unanimous vote sends $19 million in downtown funds to east Portland

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Jun 25, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (34 Reader comments)

The City Council rejected challenges to expanding a downtown urban renewal area Wednesday — unanimously voting not only to collect an additional $334 million in renewal funds from the area, but to send $19 million of the money to the David Douglas School District in east Portland.

The vote came despite questions about the expansion and transfer raised by an influential group of development experts.

The group – which includes former Portland Development Commission officials – questioned the legality of both the expansion and the transfer.

Commissioner Nick Fish, the newest member of the council, said the city should prepare to be sued over the issue.

"There needs to be a Plan B on the legal side of this issue," he said.

At the same time, Fish said the council had approved similar actions in the past.

"Is there precedence for this action?" Fish asked. "I believe there is."

Commissioner Dan Saltzman had tried to delay the vote to explore making the David Douglas property a part of the nearby Lents Urban Renewal Area. Commissioner Randy Leonard objected to that idea, however, saying the Lents urban renewal area could not spare the money.

“I find within the arguments some amazing contradictions,” said Leonard. “This proposal would drain $19 million from the Lents URA.”

The council finally agreed that poor parts of town — like the David Dougas School District — need to benefit from city-subsidized downtown development.

Just before the final vote, Leonard said, “This is a watershed moment for the council to acknowledge the areas east of 205 and the kids in the poorest communities,” he said just before the final vote.

Not legally supported

When the issue first came before the council last week, a group of independent development experts said the plan to expand the downtown River District urban renewal area into parts of Old Town-Chinatown is not legally supported by available research.

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