Portland city councilors Mitch Green and Loretta Smith have found common cause on a notoriously tricky transportation funding issue: sidewalks.
As you might have already read in the Willamette Week, the two councilors who represent districts one (east Portland) and four (southwest Portland) respectively want to get their constituents out of the mud and onto sidewalks. They’re looking at a variety of funding sources, including Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) grants, federal grants and bonds.
According to Councilor Green’s Chief of Staff Maria Sipin, the two councilors began working together earlier this month following the release of the city administrator’s draft budget recommendations, which included steep cuts for the transportation bureau. Given how difficult it is to fill sidewalk gaps, and how popular they are with voters, Sipin said in a phone call today that, “an appetite had been growing around sidewalks” among city councilors, “especially for district one and district four.”
While details about funding sources are still being worked out, Sipin said Councilor Green is focused on restructuring the city’s debt and using Portland’s bonding authority. “We’re trying to figure out how we can get sidewalks without using PCEF funds specifically,” Sipin said. The use of PCEF funds is a hot topic in City Hall right now, with different camps forming around whether or not the climate change-focused, voter-approved tax on big businesses is an appropriate way to fill the city’s budget holes. It’s notable that the fund already awarded $20.6 million for sidewalks in east Portland last year.
Why sidewalks? Sipin said Councilor Green and Councilor Smith share a deep interest in government accountability and transparency and in finding resources to invest in the things their constituents care about. “And in the Venn diagram of their world, that thing is sidewalks.”
Sipin continued:
“For the good of the people, we’re really trying to figure out, how do we build something as essential and popular as sidewalks? What kind of vision do we have to do that? What tools do we have, especially with the federal government, and lots of funding opportunities that we have relied on over the years at the state as well? What can the city do independently? Do we have the resources? And I think that’s where the bonds idea really emerged from.”
Councilor Green, an economist by training, feels like the City of Portland has been too conservative with its use of bonds in the past and he sees potential in that avenue of funding.
As to which sidewalks would be prioritized? Sipin, a former planner at the Oregon Department of Transportation, said her office would lean on existing city plans and recent public processes that have already identified which sidewalks should be built. “I know there are lists. So there are places to start.”
A program funding total of $100 million has been set as a starting point for conversations. We can expect a draft resolution to be on the agenda of this Monday’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting (of which both Smith and Green are members of).
In related news, The Oregonian reported today that Portland Mayor Keith Wilson has already begun exploring a street utility fee as a major new source of revenue for transportation.
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