Willamette Week exposes PR expenses behind I-5 Rose Quarter project

The cover story in this week’s edition of the Willamette Week pulls back the veil on how the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is building support for their $1.9 billion I-5 Rose Quarter freeway expansion project.

The story, by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nigel Jaquiss, is a must-read for anyone who cares about state transportation funding, ODOT, and the future of the Rose Quarter area. It focuses on a consultant hired by ODOT to facilitate meetings of the project’s Historic Albina Advisory Board (HAAB), and the amount of money ODOT has spent on planning the project in general — despite claiming they are out of money and despite having not yet broken ground.

Here’s an excerpt:

Instead of bulldozers and wrecking balls, ODOT comes this time bearing lucrative contracts and gift cards. Over the past four years, to make its pitch to Black leaders, the agency deployed an army of consultants, none more important than a loquacious preacher from Vancouver, Wash., named Dr. Steven Holt…

Holt’s company, Try Excellence LLC, which includes Holt, another consultant and his son, has charged ODOT $2.7 million since 2020. (A recent contract with another government agency shows the firm charges $650 an hour.)

Try Excellence’s billings are a fraction of the more than $127 million the agency has spent on the Rose Quarter project so far, but also a measure of how hard ODOT is promoting the project.

Holt is the facilitator for the HAAB, a committee ODOT has leaned heavily on in order to turn the tides of political opinion about the project. Recall that ODOT created the HAAB only after they dissolved a similar committee whose former members said the agency silenced them because they spoke out against the project. The HAAB is now credited with helping ODOT win the $450 million federal Reconnecting Communities grant. (The Willamette Week article reveals committee members have been paid $48,000 in cash and gift cards for their time since 2021. According to the committee’s charter, members can receive $30 per hour for their time after completing required paperwork.)

Jaquiss also touches on a lawsuit filed by Holt against other community leaders for what he alleges is defamation of character.

It’s an important article that illuminates the people and public relations behind ODOT’s massive effort to make sure their controversial project moves forward.

Read the Willamette Week article here.