As a proud Portland State alumna, I am horrified by this video.
Even if Councilor Green does not actually have the power of the purse he suggests that he does, it's still an attempt to hold a public university hostage BECAUSE that university is trying to hold willful and violent vandals accountable for the harm they did last year. That harm cost the university untold hundreds of thousands of dollars, and left students and faculty too scared to go to classes.
Did the City Council offer any assistance when the university had to go in and clean up the destruction? No? If not, then Councilor Green and his associates are the real thugs here.
Neither the City nor PSU is in any financial situation to approve the performing arts center. The threats Mitch Green is making should disqualify him from his position. At least be publicly lambasted & withdrawn from voting on this issue.
That's the funny bit. The Performing Arts Center seems very unpopular, so this was a real unforced error. Threatening a public university over a vote you probably would have made on financial grounds alone is just pouring heat and drama onto an otherwise unremarkable political situation.
I’m not in the habit of sharing my votes publicly. Doing so in the past has opened me up to attacks and even an actual threat, and at this time in my life I am trying to reduce the drama.
A person’s vote has been private since long before we all stood in curtained voting booths. And if someone chooses not to reveal their votes, their privacy on that should be respected.
At least in our jurisdiction, the district attorney makes the call on whether charges are pursued. Knowing what the current DA has said publicly about holding protestors accountable when their conduct becomes criminal, I can't imagine him dropping the charges for the PSU incident at the request of the university. It almost makes the tactic from Councilor Green even more Trumpian: Any pressure from council would ultimately need to be applied indirectly to an independently elected district attorney.
I get the impression his threat was directed more at PSU admin., as in "you better just eat it cold when my activist buddies decide to start flinging shit like psychotic monkeys and it costs you money, messes with other students or otherwise screws shit up on campus. Nice funding priorities you've got there, it'd be a shame if something happened to them..."
In virtually every jurisdiction in America it is the DA, who is almost always an independently elected official - for precisely reasons such as these . Oregon made the rare smart decision to turn DAs and judges into non-partisan offices in the mis 1970s and most contested elections (like the one in which Vasquez whamped Schmidt) are resolved in the May primaries.
If Mitch were a County Commissioner, this would be perilously close to an attempt to illegally interfere with a prosecution. Although - thank goodness - the City Council has no control over the DA's office budget and funding, note that today (April 24) Vasquez is holding a news conference after the County is trying to hobble his office by denying funding that diminished during the 4 years and 4 months Mike Schmidt tried to destroy what was once the best prosecutor's office in Oregon (speaking as someone who ran the DA's office in Astoria for 25 years).
When ANYONE starts demanding criminal charges be dropped and threatens the use of public money to enforce the threat, the public - and media - should be very worried.
All politics IS local and whatever chaos the Orange Man is creating in DC, trying to hold local law enforcement hostage to local Marxists will have many more consequences on the ground in Portland for locals than Trump's antics.
I'll just add that as protests continue this summer, *if* things get out of hand and Portlanders continue getting the signal from city hall that PPB is being held back so that the Marxists can run amok, you will start seeing calls for the return of federal agents to PDX. We don't want that.
Free speech is free speech until it isn't and we are not helped by City Councilors admitting they don't understand that or don't want to.
I heard Vasquez speak last night and he continues to impress me. I'm disappointed with the budget but it just gives us more ammunition to go after JVP in 2026.
Even in Portland, even the reviled Donald Trump got more votes in District 1 than any of the elected councilors from that district. We have tyranny by the super-minority. Our city elections are a sham.
Wow - he's saying the quiet part out loud. That suggests he's very confident that he and his comrades have the clout to whack PSU for not going along with their antisemitic lawlessness.
Now, PSU has no business building a performing arts center right now. Why?
Well, in December 2024, PSU issued layoff notices to 17 non-tenure track faculty members, primarily from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Urban and Public Affairs. These layoffs are part of the university's efforts to address an $18 million budget deficit, attributed largely to a significant decline in student enrollment—approximately 21% since 2019.
And before that, in October 2024, PSU had notified 94 non-tenure track faculty members of potential job cuts. Ultimately, 17 positions were eliminated. Additionally, 23 faculty members opted for early retirement through an incentive program, and the university plans to leave some positions unfilled to further reduce costs.
Given Portland State’s ongoing budget crisis, faculty layoffs, and sustained enrollment decline, proceeding with a new performing arts center seems deeply misaligned with the university’s most pressing needs. Even if funded through restricted donations or bonds, the optics are troubling: instructional budgets are being slashed, faculty are being laid off, and students are facing reduced academic support—yet the administration is forging ahead with a high-cost capital project that serves a narrow slice of the university.
It’s also unclear what strategic purpose this center would serve. PSU’s performing arts programs—music, theater, dance—are active but not nationally prominent. In fields where institutional prestige often plays a major role in job prospects, a degree from PSU is not known to open doors. Unlike top conservatories or elite university programs that offer professional pipelines, PSU lacks the industry cachet, alumni networks, and showcase infrastructure that help graduates break into competitive performing arts careers. Without a dramatic rethinking of programmatic investment, a state-of-the-art facility won’t change that equation.
The larger concern is credibility. When a public university is shedding faculty and shrinking its academic offerings, building a showpiece performing arts center feels like the wrong kind of legacy project. This isn’t the moment for architectural gestures. It’s a moment for academic reinvestment and a sober reappraisal of mission and priorities. A building doesn’t confer prestige. A commitment to students and faculty does.
But it is up to PSU to decide whether or not to proceed with a performing arts center, not a Che Guevarra wannabee thug who thinks it's macho to issue public threats to his constituents.
Ollie it’s the progressive way…PPS has no business building the 3 most expensive high schools in America but it’s bombs away on the 1.83 BILLION dollar bond measure.
It will pass…”it’s for the kids” and don’t forget Portlanders love their taxes…especially when they think only “other people” will be paying for them. As if property taxes don’t impact rents??!!
And if enough of them are getting together without noticing properly they may be violating the open meetings act. Give em heck Max. But also be careful
That’s the question. The meetings are publicly displayed on their calendars but not publicized at all. It took Alex Z at OPB noticing them for me to know about the situation.
Good luck, Max. You're not part of the 25-percent who "elected" these people via an opaque computer algorithm--so shut the hell up.
The city charter, enacted without any real media scrutiny, was designed to do what has been done: elect "minorities." This was supposed, in Julia Meier's fever-dream, to be racial, but it turned out to be political. Does anyone believe that an avowed "socialist" would get over 50-percent in a citywide vote? Wanna bet your next mortgage payment?
Green and his compatriots, both in and out of the political closet, know what no one else in our local media does, that they only need to get the votes of an organized, fanatical, cohesive, cultish clique to overwhelm the algorithm. Moderates trying to motivate the easily-distracted, dumbass, uninformed, "We don' do no homework" types will never beat the fanatical few.
It was designed that way.
Any discussions of the higher reaches of policy are irrelevant if you understand the scam. Mitch and his ilk are permanent, pal; get used to it.
Maybe not criminal but surely seems unethical to be promising to use his vote to deny money in exchange for dropping criminal charges. Although they’re definitely not impartial as they state it seems this warrants an ethics complaint to the City Ombudsman:
First of all let me congratulate the voters of Portland, To paraphrase P.T. Barnum No one has ever underestimated the sense of the Portland voting public. Second, How is this legal and third, I am sure this happens from time to time in private personal conversation but you have to have a special kind of stupid or hubris, or both to do it so publicly, the idiocy of the voters not withstanding
As a proud Portland State alumna, I am horrified by this video.
Even if Councilor Green does not actually have the power of the purse he suggests that he does, it's still an attempt to hold a public university hostage BECAUSE that university is trying to hold willful and violent vandals accountable for the harm they did last year. That harm cost the university untold hundreds of thousands of dollars, and left students and faculty too scared to go to classes.
Did the City Council offer any assistance when the university had to go in and clean up the destruction? No? If not, then Councilor Green and his associates are the real thugs here.
Neither the City nor PSU is in any financial situation to approve the performing arts center. The threats Mitch Green is making should disqualify him from his position. At least be publicly lambasted & withdrawn from voting on this issue.
That's the funny bit. The Performing Arts Center seems very unpopular, so this was a real unforced error. Threatening a public university over a vote you probably would have made on financial grounds alone is just pouring heat and drama onto an otherwise unremarkable political situation.
Yep, good points. Hey, I’m curious, who did you vote for in our last City Council election?
I’m not in the habit of sharing my votes publicly. Doing so in the past has opened me up to attacks and even an actual threat, and at this time in my life I am trying to reduce the drama.
Yeah I get it. Portland is an intolerant place.
Hard to believe since you won't offer an opinion under your real name.
A person’s vote has been private since long before we all stood in curtained voting booths. And if someone chooses not to reveal their votes, their privacy on that should be respected.
At least in our jurisdiction, the district attorney makes the call on whether charges are pursued. Knowing what the current DA has said publicly about holding protestors accountable when their conduct becomes criminal, I can't imagine him dropping the charges for the PSU incident at the request of the university. It almost makes the tactic from Councilor Green even more Trumpian: Any pressure from council would ultimately need to be applied indirectly to an independently elected district attorney.
I get the impression his threat was directed more at PSU admin., as in "you better just eat it cold when my activist buddies decide to start flinging shit like psychotic monkeys and it costs you money, messes with other students or otherwise screws shit up on campus. Nice funding priorities you've got there, it'd be a shame if something happened to them..."
In virtually every jurisdiction in America it is the DA, who is almost always an independently elected official - for precisely reasons such as these . Oregon made the rare smart decision to turn DAs and judges into non-partisan offices in the mis 1970s and most contested elections (like the one in which Vasquez whamped Schmidt) are resolved in the May primaries.
If Mitch were a County Commissioner, this would be perilously close to an attempt to illegally interfere with a prosecution. Although - thank goodness - the City Council has no control over the DA's office budget and funding, note that today (April 24) Vasquez is holding a news conference after the County is trying to hobble his office by denying funding that diminished during the 4 years and 4 months Mike Schmidt tried to destroy what was once the best prosecutor's office in Oregon (speaking as someone who ran the DA's office in Astoria for 25 years).
When ANYONE starts demanding criminal charges be dropped and threatens the use of public money to enforce the threat, the public - and media - should be very worried.
All politics IS local and whatever chaos the Orange Man is creating in DC, trying to hold local law enforcement hostage to local Marxists will have many more consequences on the ground in Portland for locals than Trump's antics.
Thanks for this. Agreed.
I'll just add that as protests continue this summer, *if* things get out of hand and Portlanders continue getting the signal from city hall that PPB is being held back so that the Marxists can run amok, you will start seeing calls for the return of federal agents to PDX. We don't want that.
Free speech is free speech until it isn't and we are not helped by City Councilors admitting they don't understand that or don't want to.
I heard Vasquez speak last night and he continues to impress me. I'm disappointed with the budget but it just gives us more ammunition to go after JVP in 2026.
Even in Portland, even the reviled Donald Trump got more votes in District 1 than any of the elected councilors from that district. We have tyranny by the super-minority. Our city elections are a sham.
Wow - he's saying the quiet part out loud. That suggests he's very confident that he and his comrades have the clout to whack PSU for not going along with their antisemitic lawlessness.
Now, PSU has no business building a performing arts center right now. Why?
Well, in December 2024, PSU issued layoff notices to 17 non-tenure track faculty members, primarily from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Urban and Public Affairs. These layoffs are part of the university's efforts to address an $18 million budget deficit, attributed largely to a significant decline in student enrollment—approximately 21% since 2019.
And before that, in October 2024, PSU had notified 94 non-tenure track faculty members of potential job cuts. Ultimately, 17 positions were eliminated. Additionally, 23 faculty members opted for early retirement through an incentive program, and the university plans to leave some positions unfilled to further reduce costs.
Given Portland State’s ongoing budget crisis, faculty layoffs, and sustained enrollment decline, proceeding with a new performing arts center seems deeply misaligned with the university’s most pressing needs. Even if funded through restricted donations or bonds, the optics are troubling: instructional budgets are being slashed, faculty are being laid off, and students are facing reduced academic support—yet the administration is forging ahead with a high-cost capital project that serves a narrow slice of the university.
It’s also unclear what strategic purpose this center would serve. PSU’s performing arts programs—music, theater, dance—are active but not nationally prominent. In fields where institutional prestige often plays a major role in job prospects, a degree from PSU is not known to open doors. Unlike top conservatories or elite university programs that offer professional pipelines, PSU lacks the industry cachet, alumni networks, and showcase infrastructure that help graduates break into competitive performing arts careers. Without a dramatic rethinking of programmatic investment, a state-of-the-art facility won’t change that equation.
The larger concern is credibility. When a public university is shedding faculty and shrinking its academic offerings, building a showpiece performing arts center feels like the wrong kind of legacy project. This isn’t the moment for architectural gestures. It’s a moment for academic reinvestment and a sober reappraisal of mission and priorities. A building doesn’t confer prestige. A commitment to students and faculty does.
But it is up to PSU to decide whether or not to proceed with a performing arts center, not a Che Guevarra wannabee thug who thinks it's macho to issue public threats to his constituents.
Ollie it’s the progressive way…PPS has no business building the 3 most expensive high schools in America but it’s bombs away on the 1.83 BILLION dollar bond measure.
That's a firm "NO" from me. Maybe the 1.83 billion bomb will finally be too much - and not just in the monetary sense - for the beleaguered voters?
It will pass…”it’s for the kids” and don’t forget Portlanders love their taxes…especially when they think only “other people” will be paying for them. As if property taxes don’t impact rents??!!
https://cascadepolicy.org/education/pps-bond-request-is-too-big-and-too-vague/
And if enough of them are getting together without noticing properly they may be violating the open meetings act. Give em heck Max. But also be careful
That’s the question. The meetings are publicly displayed on their calendars but not publicized at all. It took Alex Z at OPB noticing them for me to know about the situation.
Good information here: https://www.orcities.org/application/files/9717/2857/0679/FAQ-NoticeRequirementsforPublicMeetings.pdf And here: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/hlo/pages/file-complaint.aspx
And now the Oregonian has picked it up:
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/04/portland-city-councilor-threatens-psu-project-funding-over-pro-palestinian-occupation-response.html?outputType=amp
Good luck, Max. You're not part of the 25-percent who "elected" these people via an opaque computer algorithm--so shut the hell up.
The city charter, enacted without any real media scrutiny, was designed to do what has been done: elect "minorities." This was supposed, in Julia Meier's fever-dream, to be racial, but it turned out to be political. Does anyone believe that an avowed "socialist" would get over 50-percent in a citywide vote? Wanna bet your next mortgage payment?
Green and his compatriots, both in and out of the political closet, know what no one else in our local media does, that they only need to get the votes of an organized, fanatical, cohesive, cultish clique to overwhelm the algorithm. Moderates trying to motivate the easily-distracted, dumbass, uninformed, "We don' do no homework" types will never beat the fanatical few.
It was designed that way.
Any discussions of the higher reaches of policy are irrelevant if you understand the scam. Mitch and his ilk are permanent, pal; get used to it.
Maybe not criminal but surely seems unethical to be promising to use his vote to deny money in exchange for dropping criminal charges. Although they’re definitely not impartial as they state it seems this warrants an ethics complaint to the City Ombudsman:
https://www.portland.gov/auditor/ombudsman
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/ombudsman/64986
This threat from Green seems like a good basis for a formal govt. ethics complaint.
Please file one. Would be great to see him censored.
First of all let me congratulate the voters of Portland, To paraphrase P.T. Barnum No one has ever underestimated the sense of the Portland voting public. Second, How is this legal and third, I am sure this happens from time to time in private personal conversation but you have to have a special kind of stupid or hubris, or both to do it so publicly, the idiocy of the voters not withstanding
It’s a pity they can’t both lose