The City of Portland has passed an ambitious new transportation program that, if all goes according to plan, would invest $50 million per year on sidewalks, improved shoulder pathways, and pothole repairs citywide — with a specific emphasis on southwest and east Portland. It’s one of the most significant pieces of policy passed by council since they convened for the first time in January and a major win for the two councilors who spearheaded it.
The Sidewalk Improvement and Paving Program (SIPP) first came to light back in March and was created by District 1 City Councilor Loretta Smith and District 4 Councilor Mitch Green (since then it’s gained support and is also sponsored by D4 councilors Olivia Clark and Eric Zimmerman). Smith and Green found common cause in a desire to correct the historic lack of sidewalk coverage in east and west Portland.
There’s no funding plan yet; but Councilor Green (an economist by training) is working on a bonding plan that will come before the Finance Committee shortly. He says debt financing should be sufficient to raise $200 million over four or five years. The use of funds secured through the sale of city bonds means the program could be implemented without raising taxes and without impacting the current transportation bureau budget.
While what passed yesterday is just a resolution, and doesn’t carry the legal authority of an ordinance, once a finance plan is in place, this program will have a major impact on how the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) builds out the city’s sidewalk network. And thanks to a successful amendment proposed by Councilor Clark, the program will also permit PBOT to build “alternative pathways” when full sidewalks are not feasible. These pathways give PBOT the ability to address sidewalk gaps by finding creative design solutions that are easier and/or cheaper to build than raised concrete sidewalks with curbs and all the related stormwater features they require. These pathways (which would be used by bicycle riders as well in many cases) are likely to be similar to the “alternative walkway” PBOT built on NE 60th Avenue in the Cully neighborhood in 2021.
Whether or not SIPP projects could happen in Cully, which is in District 2, and whether or not PBOT will be limited to building projects only in districts 1 and 4, was a major point of debate in Wednesday’s meeting.
Surprisingly, District 1 Councilor Candace Avalos proposed an amendment to remove districts from the policy language entirely. Avalos felt like creating programs that target specific districts might set a bad precedent. “I’m trying to prevent us from making this precedent where we’re going to turn this into some kind of turf war,” Avalos said. She believes PBOT should use its existing data and equity toolkit to determine which parts of Portland need sidewalks the most — instead of having politicians dictate where investments go.
Councilor Green disagreed strongly.
“I think if you strike the terms ‘District 1’ and ‘District 4’, it renders the point of this resolution largely moot and we just fall back on the broader transportation planning framework that we already have.” “How long should southwest Portland wait for sidewalks? Is it 50 years? Is it 100 years? Is it longer?,” Green asked rhetorically in a passionate defense of the program.
“I think we were elected to fight for our districts, and I’m doing that right now,” Green continued. “I’m not going to go back to my district and talk to the immigrant community in southwest Portland and tell them I did not fight for them.”
PBOT Director Millicent Williams was on hand to clarify how they would interpret the program. Asked by Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney whether the resolution would prohibit PBOT from using SIPP to build projects in districts 2 and 3, Williams said no. In the end, the Avalos amendment failed as councilors realized that, while the resolution prioritizes districts 1 and 4, other districts could receive investments as well.
Another element of this new program that was clarified on Wednesday was what resolutions sponsors mean when they say “pavement.” “Just for the record, ‘pavement maintenance deficiencies’ [in the resolution language] is a euphemism for potholes,” Councilor Clark said.
When it came time to cast a final vote, one of the resolution’s chief architects, Councilor Loretta Smith said, “We are writing our past wrongs and making sure that everyone in the city of Portland has an opportunity not just to survive, but they have an opportunity to safe streets and sidewalks.” In a statement yesterday, Smith said its passage was, “a watershed moment.” And her colleague Councilor Green added, “I think today is going to mark a turning point in the history of this city where we say we are no longer going to accept neighborhoods in our city to be ignored.”
District 3 Councilor Steve Novick was the lone “no” vote. “I think asking PBOT to spend time planning,= to do things we have no money to do is putting the cart before the horse and I’m not prepared to say that I prioritize $200 million for sidewalks before we have addressed the pavement maintenance deficit,” he said.
From here, Councilor Green and his staff will work on the funding plan that will soon be on the agenda of the Finance Committee. That plan will be an ordinance and, if it’s passed, will give the SIPP the funding and legal backing it needs to be something much more than just another plan. Smith said in a statement that PBOT would begin planning and implementation immediately and said the community can expect major developments in SIPP by this summer. Stay tuned.
