PDX Update

By

The Portland Tribune, Jan 22, 2002, Updated Oct 30, 2009

WATER RATES

Increases surprise board

No one was more surprised than Jim Abrahamson, chairman of the Portland Utilities Review Board, to learn that city officials want to raise water rates 12.5 percent.

Although the board is charged with advising the City Council on the need for such increases, Abrahamson first learned about the proposal from the media.

“It would have been nice to at least gotten a call from the water bureau or City Hall,” Abrahamson said. “Personally, I’m a little upset about first learning about this stuff on the news.”

Water bureau officials want to increase rates 6.5 percent for the fiscal year that begins July 1. They also are proposing a one-time 6 percent increase to upgrade security at reservoirs and along supply lines. Abrahamson has questions about both increases and believes that the rest of the board does, too.

The board’s water committee will receive a report on the proposed increases on Feb. 6. The full board will consider them Feb. 13.

ENRON

Lawmakers return money

Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., may have been the first politician in the nation to return a campaign contribution from Enron. She returned a $1,000 contribution on Dec. 21, weeks after Enron declared bankruptcy.

Since then, politicians all over the country have scrambled either to return their contributions or donate them to nonprofit organizations.

Among Oregon’s congressional delegation: Sen Gordon Smith, a Republican, says he will donate $8,100 from Enron and its employees to an appropriate charity. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat, will give $2,200 to a local apprenticeship program that will retrain former Enron employees.

Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican, will donate $1,500; Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat who received only $500, is looking for a charity, too; Rep. David Wu, a Democrat who received $1,250, is still considering what to do.

All Oregon senators and representatives are keeping donations they received from Enron subsidiary PGE and its employees.

POLICE

Measure on ballot?

Activists pushing to create a civilian police review panel will submit more than 31,000 voter signatures this morning to place their measure on the May ballot.

Adrienne Ratner of the Police Accountability Campaign 2002 is confident the group has collected the 26,095 valid signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot.

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