Another transportation-related policy change, made unilaterally by the city’s administrative wing, has rankled city council members.
According to the Willamette Week,
Members of council, led by Councilor Eric Zimmerman, said Wilson’s unilateral directive to extend the hours of paid parking from 7 to 10 pm in pockets of the city this summer—a move that has frustrated many Portlanders—is an overreach of Wilson’s administration.
“We could revert back to the paid parking hours as they were on the last fiscal year if we want to get serious,” Zimmerman pitched to his colleagues, “and take back our control as the legislative body at this city.”
An “overreach of Wilson’s administration”? Hmm, why does that sound familiar? Oh yeah, it’s just like how an office overseen by Mayor Wilson unilaterally decided to remove traffic diverters on two neighborhood greenways in Northwest Portland. In my coverage of that issue back in August, we learned that most members of city council hadn’t even heard about the plan. In fact, City Councilor Mitch Green was so peeved by this lack of consultation that he’s shared an intention to change city code so it won’t happen again.
Green pulled out a statute in Portland City Code that states, “City Council is the road authority for all public streets.” Then he told a city advisory committee that, “The city administrator is allowed to execute our vote. It’s inappropriate for the city administrator to pull back on investments they’ve made without at least notifying city council and asking for permission. That needs to change and that will change.”
On the paid parking issue, it looks like city councilors are split on the merits of the policy, but united in concern over how it was implemented.
On a related note, I can’t help but notice the hypocrisy here from Councilor Zimmerman. He’s concerned about administrative overreach when it impacts a policy he dislikes (paid car parking), but he didn’t speak up when it impacted a policy he likes (removing the diverters).
The Willamette Week story makes it clear that even City Administrator Mike Jordan isn’t sure who has ultimate authority over transportation decisions. Seems like this is an issue we need to rectify immediately. Either that, or maybe the mayor and other administrative office staff should do a bit more outreach to their colleagues before moving forward with major policy changes.
Thanks for reading.
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Micromanagement by the elected city council versus administrative overreach by the city administrator?
Democracy versus efficiency?
Public process versus authoritarianism?
Transparency and open government versus your tax dollars at work?
Portland: A City That Wants It Both Ways.
No, Zimmerman wants it both ways (and sometimes Clark, who supported diverter removal). Voters wanted council to pass the laws and mayor’s office to see they were enacted. We were sick of The Wheeler Way of mayoral back-room fixes.
You are capable of great insights when you want to, but you seem to have taken up trolling as a hobby… pity.
The form of government that Portland voters chose to implement is specifically designed and tailored for back-room dealmaking, as any other city with a similar form of government can tell you – y’all chose the most opaque black-box type of government whereby most power is now in the hands of the bureaucracy and the mayor – yet y’all chose it because y’all thought it would be the most efficient. And it is efficient, extremely, none more so. By eliminating most public debate, aside from 12 elected city councilors, y’all have implemented what most mayors come to expect from their cities – a mayor-appointed city-administrator run bureaucracy that pretty much just answers to the mayor. If y’all had wanted a more open transparent form of government, y’all would have left the previous sloppy and imperfect bureaucracy run by amateur elected officials alone and simply changed the way you elect your city councilor administrators.
Who wants it both ways? These two councilors want it a certain way.
I came here to make a point similar to David’s, but I would want the city council to take a more nuanced approach and pass more broad-based ordinances and resolutions that the city administrators then carry out. I’m not sure I want my councilors wrangling over whether parking is charged from 7 to 10pm or 6 to 8pm. Instead the council should provide broader guidance about balancing revenue generation and livability, and let the administrator work out the exact details.
David is right: the council trying to micromanage every aspect of city gov’t is doomed to failure, so getting the balance right is critical. Fortunately this infant gov’t has many other examples to look to – Portland isn’t unique, though we like to think we are.
That was my fear when the system changed, that once budget got approved, city officials will just do whatever they wanted with no oversight.