Budgetmania II! Part II

The Least Surprising Day

This is Part 2 of a series. You can read the first part here.

It means exactly what you think it does.

First, I went back on NW Fresh to discuss the budget and assorted happenings. You can watch here. I claimed the big public safety fight over CPGNRS1 was the most important bit of Budget Week and none of the other amendments mattered all that much. Allow me to prove it.

Day 3, May 20th - The Long Walk

Things begin at 8min with the remaining Prosper Portland amendments.

Prosper Portland Budget

Councilor Candace Avalos (9min) brought Avalos 2 back after withdrawing the day before.¹ This was her Immigrant Affairs amendment other councilors were concerned would hurt small business support. From the text:

…moves the Immigration Affairs Liaison position and the associated ongoing funding from the Mayor’s Office into the City Administrators Office. Additionally, it reallocates one-time funding of $234,603 from the Prosper Portland storefront grant implementation and workforce program delivery support allocation in the Proposed budget to support immigrant and refugee community response efforts.

Let’s call it what it is: a quarter of a million dollars away from storefront grants to battle ICE. Is immigration a storefront issue? Sure. Is it a workforce development issue? Yeah, okay. Would this amendment do anything other than spending money to virtue signal? I doubt it.

Mayor Wilson (13min) made his case for why moving the Protect Portland Initiative out of his office is a bad idea. Smith agreed (16min) and accused Avalos of “a grab.” Pirtle-Guiney was a ‘no’ but presented a compromise option for the future when, at 18min, Avalos came out swinging. Her colleagues are bending the knee to fascism. At 21min, Morillo couldn’t agree more. In fact, the Mayor’s Office is part of the problem. She accused him of “profoundly political acts” to sabotage the good work council is trying to carry out.

Avalos 2
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6 → Aye: Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Dunphy → Nay: Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark, Zimmerman, Smith

I’ll make sure everyone knows what just happened today.
- Candace Avalos (before walking out)

At 25min, Dunphy attempted to draw more money away from small businesses (according to Smith, specifically black and brown businesses) and mess with PBOT contingency/operating funds. It was the Peacock vs everyone else.

Dunphy 3
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6 → Aye: Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Dunphy → Nay: Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark, Zimmerman, Smith

Smith (45min) got an uncontroversial but somewhat complicated Inclusive Business Resource Network Program amendment through.

Smith 2
Votes: ✅ Passed 10/1/1 → Aye: Kanal, Ryan, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Novick, Clark, Green, Zimmerman, Smith, Dunphy → Nay: Pirtle-Guiney → Absent: Avalos

PCEF Amendments - the Hoard of Hoards

Now for attempts by numerous councilors to save their dragon hoard by reversing the Mayor’s plans to use PCEF, which I support fully. I’d go harder, as you know.

Avalos (1hr 13min) gave her spiel about PCEF on behalf of various environmental groups. “Will of voters!” More of the same attitude we’ve seen. Everything she disagrees with is a travesty. Zimmerman was solid at 1hr 23min. Morillo all-but defended campsites dumping into green spaces at 1hr 28min then constructed a straw man, causing herself to cry. Fortunately, straw is absorbent.²

Avalos 1
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Aye’

Novick (1hr 36min) attempted to cleanup PCEF use by shuffling money around for feel-good reasons. Eh.

Novick 1
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Nay’

Koyama Lane (1hr 47min) changed part of Zimmerman’s Urban Forestry/Tree Permitting amendments from last year. Zimmerman and Kanal proposed their own options here but Koyama Lane won. The discussion on this one is long and dull. If you have the stomach for it, you may get closer to understanding how much I hate PCEF. It makes every conversation it touches more complicated and worse.

Koyama Lane 2
Votes: ✅ Passed 8/4 → Aye: Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Novick, Green, Avalos, Smith, Dunphy → Nay: Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Clark, Zimmerman

Rate Ordinances

At 2hr 20min the long rate increase conversation begins with waste disposal followed by transportation fees (2hr 29min) and water rates (2hr 36min). Kanal was the only useful Peacock. The short version is everything is increasing, some of it above inflation rates. These items are not budget amendments so they moved to a second reading.

After a lunch, the budget meeting resumed with…

Misc

Novick Morillo 1 (3hr 37min) was a technical realignment of the Data Privacy Office.

Novick Morillo 1
Votes: ✅ Passed 12/0 → Aye: Kanal, Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Novick, Clark, Green, Zimmerman, Avalos, Smith, Dunphy → Nay: n/a

At 3hr 55min, the Kanal 1 discussion began. This was Kanal’s attempt to get in front of the Williams & Russell/Self Enhancement Inc/Black Homeownership Ordinance that’s been working through City Council. Obviously this didn’t work and the fallout will be discussed another day. Kanal’s plan was to dip into a reserve we cannot afford to play around with right now.

Our Chief Financial Officer Jonas Berry engaged in a worrying discussion with Kanal and Green. These risks are of the sort we will be taking if Angelita Morillo and the DSA can get their “strong seventh” in November. The DSA wanted to take the risk and the fact that they don’t have a majority is the only reason this failed.

The entire thing got postponed and resumed later. For “fun” watch the video at 7hr 2min, right after Dunphy warns Morillo against using votes to make comments. Listen to the choice little jabs from Kanal and Avalos. The rules don’t apply to the President’s friends. Children. Avalos is “over it.” Get in line.

Then Dunphy and Smith proceed to have a fight. This is our City Council. It’s 4:30 in the afternoon and they’re having temper tantrums because they’re hangry.

Amendment to Kanal 1
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/5/1, Peacock ‘Yay’ + EPG ‘absent’

Kanal 1
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/5/1, Peacock ‘Yay’ + EPG ‘absent’

Morillo Green Novick 1 - the “pause” to Mayor Wilson’s Core Services Realignment strategy was next at 4hr 47min. This one is a mess, is mostly about labor and layoffs, and even Novick admitted this was handled poorly by himself and other councilors. Green, Morillo, and Koyama Lane were insufferable. The Peacock flexed about “standing up for our workers” after shooting down CPGNRS1 the day before. The whole thing was a show. The Peacock was positioned as “pro labor” and everyone else as “union busting.” EPG called all of it out at 5hr 49min.

I’ve run out of patience for labor, especially CPPW. Costs are spiraling out of control, they keep demanding raises, and they backed the DSA. I wish them luck but will be very conditional in my support moving forward.

The real trouble with this amendment is that it further raids reserves — the same ones targeted by Kanal 1. In the end, Novick ended up voting against his own amendment.

Morillo Green Novick 1
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Yay’

Homelessness

At 7hr 30min Green 2 and Green 5 were moved. This was Green’s anti-Homelessness Plan amendment. Mitch ‘Cabrini’ Green vs Mayor Keith Wilson and the attempted defunding of Urban Alchemy. This is why Angelita Morillo cried for the media later. Zimmerman was a hard ‘no.’ He pointed out this would create another dragon hoard — this one for $29 million — under the Council’s control to hand out to the homeless villages they like.

At 7hr 49min you can hear the Mayor react to this plan. Green responded by trying his new version of the “uncrease” argument. Did you know “taking money away” isn’t defunding? At 7hr 53min Angelita Morillo spoke about her experience being homeless for “about a year.” Then there’s whatever this was from Koyama Lane (8hr 1min).

Green 2
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Yay’

Green 5
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Yay’

Council broke for dinner and the session resumed with a new live feed at 6:30pm. At 11min Mitch Green moved Green 3 and Green 6 to cut money from the Impact Reduction Program, which Green and Morillo only ever call sweeps — as in the “sweeps kill” graffiti all over town. Green’s speech was nonsense and you should show it to every District 4 resident who is still thinking of voting for him. Mayor Wilson corrected him at 17min but Angelita Morillo yelled about this being a “propaganda spiel” at 21min.

It passed because Pirtle-Guiney was the 7th vote.

Green 3
Votes: ✅ Passed 7/3/2 → Aye: Kanal, Pirtle-Guiney, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Dunphy → Nay: Ryan, Novick, Clark → Absent: Zimmerman, Smith

Green 6
Votes: ✅ Passed 7/3/2 → Aye: Kanal, Pirtle-Guiney, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Dunphy → Nay: Ryan, Novick, Clark → Absent: Zimmerman, Smith

At 29min we got Avalos 4 and Avalos 9. More homelessness reserve plans. Pots of cash and meetings to start an assessment to look at a study to have a meeting about evaluating strategies and making recommendations. Anything else? Oh yeah — accountability. This would’ve taken another $1 million out of Portland Solutions and further impacted abatement by causing more layoffs.

Avalos 4
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Yay’

Avalos 9
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Yay’

Parks & Programming

A bunch of small amendments passed. At 1hr 1min Pirtle-Guiney 2 was an easy slam dunk restoring after school programming.

Pirtle-Guiney 2
Votes: ✅ Passed 10/0/1 → Aye: Kanal, Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Novick, Clark, Green, Zimmerman, Smith, Dunphy → Nay: n/a → Absent: Avalos

At 1hr 5min we got Koyama Lane 7 to restore “age friendly” programming. Morillo admitted she undervalued my entire profession at 1hr 7min, which is cute because we’re a lot more useful than she is for significantly lower pay. I guess the upside is that she learned something?

Koyama Lane 7
Votes: ✅ Passed 9/3 → Aye: Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Clark, Green, Zimmerman, Avalos, Smith, Dunphy → Nay: Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick

1hr 22min gives us the Dunphy 2 amendment which changed the funding for his amendment from the previous day.

Dunphy 2
Votes: ✅ Passed 7/4/1 → Aye: Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Clark, Green, Avalos, Dunphy → Nay: Ryan, Novick, Zimmerman, Smith → Absent: Pirtle-Guiney

Avalos 3 and 6 emerged at 1hr 32min to restore some Parks Positions by overdrawing the Parks Levy and/or taking even more from General Contingency Fund and assuming savings. Novick hit his breaking point and delivered his “magic money” speech at 1hr 55min. Avalos was offended, again.

Avalos 3
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Yay’

Avalos 6
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Yay’

Koyama Lane 6 at 1hr 59min was the Reverend Sara Fischer amendment to provide a covered shelter for her park church services. Special treatment for just one park because our current system would never allow neighbors to raise money and prioritize their own space. I’m with Novick on this one. No. Fix Parks’ broken funding options and stop letting councilors call in favors for friends and endorsers. The amendment ended up being withdrawn after a lengthy discussion about funding.

Pirtle-Guiney 3 (2hr 11min), the plan to pay for the Columbia Pool, got crushed worse than the recent Gas Tax. Morillo (2hr 14min) took her time scolding EPG.

Pirtle-Guiney 3
Votes: ❌ Failed 1/9/2 → Aye: Pirtle-Guiney → Nay: Kanal, Ryan, Morillo, Novick, Clark, Green, Zimmerman, Smith, Dunphy → Absent: Koyama Lane, Avalos

Kanal 3 (2hr 22min) was the “drive towards democracy”³ to take more money from the golf fund to shore up small donor elections. The small donor system is supposed to help ensure PACs are not determining the direction of our elections but it doesn’t succeed. Kanal knows this because the Peacock are PACed up, flush with union cash. What the fund does is ensure that someone like Eli Arnold or Kellie Torres can tread water against the ascendent DSA/Working Families Party/Union juggernaut. It’s still a hard contest. This was a bad move. EPG was the 7th vote again.

Kanal 3
Votes: ✅ Passed 7/4/1 → Aye: Kanal, Pirtle-Guiney, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Dunphy → Nay: Ryan, Novick, Clark, Smith → Abstained: Zimmerman

Koyama Lane 3 (2hr 37min) was an attempt to restore equity analysts. No debate.

Koyama Lane 3
Votes: ❌ Failed 6/6, Peacock ‘Yay’

Dunphy 4 (2hr 41min) limited cost of living increases for high earners to salvage a bit of the public safety cuts.

Dunphy 4
Votes: ✅ Passed 7/5 → Aye: Kanal, Pirtle-Guiney, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, Dunphy → Nay: Ryan, Novick, Clark, Zimmerman, Smith

Koyama Lane 6 came back at 3hr 1min and Zimmerman was the 7th. Eh.

Koyama Lane 6
Votes: ✅ Passed 7/5 → Aye: Kanal, Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Zimmerman, Avalos, Dunphy → Nay: Pirtle-Guiney, Ryan, Novick, Clark, Smith

And that’s it.

The budget is over.

Mayor Keith Wilson won by default because the Council can’t stand each other and there’s a partisan bloc gumming up the works.

My favorites? Ryan, Clark, Novick⁴, Zimmerman

The worst? Green, Avalos, Morillo

Budgetmania II in the books!

Council hasn’t taken the final vote and the Peacock and unions have one last big play.

Is this our last best chance to save everything or the most fiscally reckless plan they’ve proposed yet?!

Will Steve Novick don the trench coat one more time and save us all?!

Next time on Dragon Ball Z Budgetmania II...

Circuses First

1. The withdrawal method can work but it doesn’t here.

2. I should have kept a tally for all the times she and Avalos used the phrase “be so for real.” TikTok councilors.

3. Ugh.

4. Still don’t like him but he was okay on budget stuff.