Portland City Council will establish their first-ever set of policy committees at their meeting on Wednesday. Based on documents posted to the council agenda today, there will be eight committees with five council members each.
The new Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would be chaired by Councilor Olivia Clark (D4). Vice chair would be Angelita Morillo (D3) and the other members are Loretta Smith (D1), Mitch Green (D4) and Tiffany Koyama Lane (D3). All but Councilor Smith should be very familiar names to BikePortland readers and/or Bike Happy Hour attendees. And notably there are no members from District 2 (north/northeast).
In Portland’s new form of government, these committees will serve as the primary venues to debate and develop policy proposals. They will also provide oversight of city bureaus and programs. As far as how Portlanders will be able to connect to the committee itself, I’m not clear on that yet. I’m hoping there will be some sort of committee liaison staff person on the administrative side — separate from the councilors.
Clark was likely picked to lead the group due to her extensive experience with TriMet and the state legislature. As vice chair, Morillo will be responsible for leading the committee when Clark is absent. Morillo didn’t have a car growing up and was primarily a transit user prior to getting a bicycle last year. Councilors Green and Koyama Lane are both regular bike and transit riders who made their priorities about transportation clear during their campaigns. Morillo, Koyama Lane, and Green should be very progressive with their approach to transportation policies and projects, while we can likely expect Clark and Smith to be more conservative.
If the committees pass as posted to the agenda, Councilor Morillo could also play a leading role in another committee that will loom large on BikePortland: the Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee. Morillo is listed as co-chair of that committee with Councilor Steve Novick. Other proposed members include Candace Avalos, Dan Ryan and Sameer Kanal.
See the full list of committees and membership here. Council will vote on the committees at their meeting tomorrow at 6:00 pm. Because this resolution is on the “Nine-Twelfths Agenda” it must be approved by at least 9 of the 12 councilors to pass.
Below are all eight committees and their proposed membership:
Transportation and Infrastructure
- Olivia Clark, Chair
- Angelita Morillo, Vice Chair
- Loretta Smith
- Mitch Green
- Tiffany Koyama Lane
Homelessness and Housing
- Candace Avalos, Chair
- Jamie Dunphy, Vice Chair
- Angelita Morillo
- Dan Ryan
- Eric Zimmerman
Climate, Resilience, and Land Use
- Steve Novick, Co-Chair
- Angelita Morillo, Co-Chair
- Candace Avalos
- Dan Ryan
- Sameer Kanal
Community and Public Safety
- Steve Novick, Co-Chair
- Sameer Kanal, Co-Chair
- Angelita Morillo
- Eric Zimmerman
- Loretta Smith
Arts and Economy
- Mitch Green, Co-Chair
- Dan Ryan, Co-Chair
- Jamie Dunphy
- Loretta Smith
- Olivia Clark
Labor and Workforce Development
- Loretta Smith, Chair
- Mitch Green, Vice Chair
- Jamie Dunphy
- Steve Novick
- Sameer Kanal
Finance
- Eric Zimmerman, Chair
- Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Vice Chair
- Candace Avalos
- Mitch Green
- Steve Novick
Governance
- Tiffany Koyama Lane, Chair
- Dan Ryan, Vice Chair
- Elana Pirtle-Guiney
- Jamie Dunphy
- Olivia Clark
