On behalf of the Portsmouth Residents Action Committee and the 195 taxpayers/voters who recently signed ballots supporting DUE PROCESS in the disposition of the John Ball School site and along with the North Portland Business Association opposed the illegitimate giveaway of this public property to the private Bridge Meadows corporation:
1. We ask that mayor Adams and commissioners Leonard and Fritz honor their testimony of October 25, 2006 and immediately bring forth a resolution placing the disposition of the public John Ball School property on the public table for extensive and expansive public discussion and debate.
2. We demand that the Portsmouth/North Portland neighborhoods be treated with the same RESPECT and DUE PROCESS accorded the Buckman neighborhood in the disposition of the public Washington/Monroe School property which resulted in a $600,000 federal grant to design a community center.
Portland City Council - October 25, 2006 (see complete PDF transcript below)
Every statement in opposition to the distribution of the John Ball School property made by Sam Adams, Randy Leonard and Amanda Fritz was substantive, reasoned, and valid on October 25, 2006 and remains so today. At no time since October 25, 2006 did Sam Adams, Randy Leonard and Amanda Fritz recant these arguments.
Leonard: I've also learned since i've been here with some of my ideas, which I think are equally good, don't get received as well if I don't do a good job working through a neighborhood process. So kind of just what I've picked up in the last week is there's something wrong. Sometimes people object and rightfully so, only because they feel like they haven't been considered, or they've been -- some of the terms have been run over that I've received.
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Adams: I'm not aware that the city ever approached the neighborhood and said, we're going to procure john ball, it's being abandoned, what do you want to see happen?
Saltzman: I went in february to inform them that the school -- that we now owned the school site, and that my preference for what happened there is hope meadows. This is the process, this is the decision. There still will be a land review process.
Adams: Land use review is a totally different and separate track from how we choose to deal with property that we own and have options for its future use. I don't think it's incredibly pertinent to the underlying question of, what's the best use for this site. I think it's a fair question to raise in terms of is this the best fit, is this the best program to go in at this site. It's a fair question to raise. The question was NEVER raised, nor thoughtful process provided, to give a thoughtful answer. We did NOT involve this neighborhood association in a discussion about what their ideas were for this site before we got to the hope meadows option.
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Leonard: This probably sounds unlikely coming from me, but process is very important.
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Adams: What was the process undertaken to look at the future use of this site? How is the neighborhood involved in answering some up front questions about what are the needs of the neighborhoods from their point of view, and what do they want from their point of view? This process came forward with the predetermined idea of what would be happening at that site.
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Susan Landauer: At its October 24 meeting, the portsmouth neighborhood association board of directors passed the following position unanimously. The board of the portsmouth neighborhood association requests the Portland city council to engage in an open process of requests for proposals and public review for the use of the john ball site. In addition, we observe that a rushed or nonpublic process does not protect the city from the liabilities or potential legal problems inherent within the ill-defined time line of the Portland hope meadows project for the john ball school site.
In Portland we have a tradition of open process and requests for proposals, and we respectfully ask that tradition be honored. We ask that this resolution be tabled until there is a good public review process.
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Amanda Fritz: We all agree that helping children in need of foster care and permanent families is a worthy virtue and value. The questions are, is this the city's responsibility, is it the right nonprofit group, and is this the right site? Foster care and elder services are county responsibilities. The city should fund its own obligations before those at the county.
Commissioner Saltzman stated that there is no cost to the city. In fact, the city spent 800,000 to purchase this site and the resolution pledges another 600,000 for site preparation. Do you really have $1.4 million over and above what you need for things like paying people so that they volunteers don't have to clean the bathrooms at community centers?
If the city wants to give a nonprofit agency rent-free use of this newly purchased property, is this the best use? We don't know because you haven't put out an r.f.p. to ask for other proposals from other nonprofits.
The portsmouth neighborhood is already challenged with higher levels of subsidized housing and families struggling to stay in Portland than most other neighborhoods. Even if hope meadows was the best provider found in a fair r.f.p. process, is portsmouth and will ball school site be the best place in Portland for this program?
This area of portsmouth needs owner-occupied housing. The portsmouth neighborhood plan, which you adopted in july of 2002, states promote homeownership among the neighborhoods low and moderate residents. Owner occupied housing targeted for sale to current neighborhood residents would help pull the area into the coming janne hutchins swing of the st. Johns lombard plan and the interstate urban renewal plan. It's in an urban renewal district. Instead of having a tax increment potential of owner occupied housing, we're going to give it away for another nonprofit use. It's also in a home buyer opportunity area. There are far too many questions that must be answered before you move forward with this site. Look at the big picture. Look at the city in determining where is the best place in the city for this program if you think you should be funding it.
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Adams: The poor process that this has been put through up to this point does not constitute the kind of emergency to continue on with it.
Leonard: I would hope it would resonate with some that if i'm sitting here saying this process has left wanting, that it would be something that my colleagues would pay attention to. We get a lot of letters and emails on a lot of subjects. I got one what I considered to be one of the most thoughtful letters I've ever received since I have actually been in public life. This has to do this with this resolution, and it's from, I hope I don't pronounce her name wrong, reverend jeannie knepper, and she addresses it to the entire council. " I am pastor of university park united methodist church and vice chair of the neighborhood association. Robert frost wrote the line, quote -- good fences make good neighbors. The same idea that structure and process helped people to live well together might be rephrased, good process makes good government. I have listened to, voted for and hosted public forums for most of you. I have been repeatedly and positively impressed by your commitment to the essence of good governing. Good process, transparent decision making, full inclusion of all affected parties. It is for this reason that I have been surprised and then dismayed to come face-to-face with the time when ---- when it feels like my city is engaging in a process that is hasty, ill defined and heavy handed. When neighbors responded by inviting interested parties including rhonda meadows to a gathering to dream about how the project could be use and then by taking that list of possible uses, including the hope meadows proposal to the neighbors door-to-door and via the neighborhood website, 49% of the neighbors were open to the possibility of hope meadows 94% of the neighbors polled said they prefer a library on the site. An assisted living center, a senior day center, a charter school, a park, and for sale homes were rated higher than the hope meadows project. To date no one has approached the portsmouth neighborhood association to discuss how we can all engage in a public process to determine the best use for this piece of city-owned property. There have been no requests for proposals. There have been no public process to invite or engage in the community or potential developers in the question of how we can determine the best use of the parcel."
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Saltzman: I think this council is capable of making the determination that in fact housing for foster kids is in fact the highest and best use. It falls upon this council to really endorse what is in fact the highest and best use.
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Sten: I'd like to propose an amendment on the page 2 of the resolution and replace the first bullet under be it further resolved. It says right now Portland hope meadows demonstrates it has adequate funding for the development of the project to -- and i'm open to suggestions, i'm just work ok the fly here -- Portland hope meadows return with a complete financial plan within one year and full funding commitments within two years. {This did NOT happen by October 25, 2008}
Potter: Is that your motion?
Sten: That's my motion.
Saltzman: Second.
Potter: Call the vote.
Adams: Aye. Leonard: Aye. Saltzman: Aye. Sten: Aye.
Potter: Aye.
[gavel pounded] please call the vote.
Adams: On this particular site the city's approach to this particular site and its future use have NOT been done as they have been done in other parts of the city. When the st. Johns study was done and they did a survey of the surrounding neighborhoods around the st. John business district, they found that the census tracks immediately around the st. Johns business district were the poorest of any census tracks around any other neighborhood business district in the city of Portland. I'm responsible for one piece of vacant land in north Portland on north lombard, and we have a process laid out beginning with public town hall next month, we have a citizen steering committee that will help guide decision-making around this piece of property on north lombard. It will be an open process and I believe it is a process that provides north Portland the kind of respect that it deserves from city government. NO
Leonard: I'm really disappointed to hear commissioner Saltzman say this is the highest and best use of this property and there's plenty of process left. And the point is in HIS opinion it's the highest and best use of the property. It feels to people like it was a fait accompli. NO
September 2006 Council Staff Meetings
In September 2006 Richard Ellmyer meet with staff from every commissioner's office to discuss the John Ball School site. He asked each of them what the public process would be for determining the disposition of the property and he officially proposed that the land be used for owner occupied housing and a library which had strong community support. In September 2006 not a single staff person from any commissioners office had the slightest idea what the public process for disposition of the John Ball School would be (Outrageously and with scant notice only a month later, October 2006, there would be an indefensible fast track vote on the disposition of the John Ball School site with NO PUBLIC PROCESS either defined or executed).
As a result, Richard Ellmyer told each of them to do the following:
A. Make a public announcement that the city of Portland will hold a series of public meetings to ask for ideas about a future use for the John Ball School site.
B. Make a public announcement that the city of Portland will be accepting ideas about a future use for the John Ball School site by mail and email.
C. Through a public meeting process reduce the number of proposed uses for the John Ball School property to those with the most support and most viability.
D. Submit the final choices to the Portland Planning Commission for review, comment and recommendation.
E. Bring the final choices and the Portland Planning Commission recommendation before the city council for more public testimony and a vote of the council.
More than 250 Multnomah county print/electronic news media, public policy academics, Portland City Club leaders and the Portland Public Schools board were recently asked to submit any arguments against the proposed public due process for the disposition of the John Ball School site mentioned above. Not a single objection challenged this procedure.
At NO TIME after these conversations did any staff person from any office ever contact Richard Ellmyer to explain what public process the Portland city council had adopted to determine the disposition of the John Ball School property.
At NO TIME during the October 25, 2006 city council meeting did any member of the Portland city council mention Ellmyer's meetings with theirs staffs, his request for information on public process, his recommendation for a public process, or his official proposal for owner occupied housing and a library which had strong community support.
Richard Ellmyer