There’s been an important shift in how policy is made in Portland City Hall. Last week, council voted in a new committee structure that come with significant changes — including a new member of the committee that oversees the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Portland is just one year into a brand new form of government, so when they adopted the committee structure last January, it was their first time doing so. The idea is that committees can get deeper in the weeds on topic areas and hash out policy details before final votes at the full, 12-member council. It’s been a good system in many ways, but almost immediately there was grumbling about how many committees were stood up (eight), and the fact that some of them lacked representation from all four council districts.
The new structure reduces the number of committees from eight to five, aligns them more closely with existing service areas, and comes with changes to membership. Most of the stuff BikePortland cares about was in the (now defunct) Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. That committee no longer exists and PBOT-related issues will now be discussed at the Public Works Committee. (The other four committees are; Housing and Permitting, City Life, Community and Public Safety and a Committee of the Whole.)
Another key change is that District 2 (North and Northeast Portland) is now represented on the committee (the old T & I Committee didn’t have any councilor from D2). The councilor who will represent D2 on the committee is Sameer Kanal (he takes the place of Councilor Angelita Morillo). This is good news for folks who know Kanal. He’s a thoughtful leader who’s shown himself to be interested in transportation issues, is a policy wonk who cares about the details, and is a good listener. He’s come to Bike Happy Hour several times and I’ve watched him spend hours talking to folks about a wide variety of issues.
In addition to transportation matters, the new Public Works Committee will also take on issues related to the Water Bureau, Bureau of Environmental Services, Parks programs, and Fleet and Facilities.
Speaking at the Council meeting this morning, Kanal said he’s grateful for being named to the committee.
Councilor Kanal also wasted no time playing his new role. During a discussion about a crossing and sidewalk project on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Kanal spoke up about other things going on in the nearby area.
“The Boise neighborhood has been bringing up, with some of the other neighborhood associations as well, improvements to crosswalks on Northeast Seventh, Irving, and Skidmore.” Then Kanal added, “I think there’s a lot of work that’s been done on planning, but not necessarily on implementation and I’m looking forward to collaborating with folks in the administration who I know share the desire to implement all of those types of improvements as well.”
Kanal also made a point to mention that he wants to hear more from PBOT about projects in his district.
If you live, ride, or work in D2, you’ve finally got a strong rep for your area! It’s my district too, so I’ll be sure to invite Councilor Kanal on a ride soon.
Stay tuned for more details, agendas and schedules for the new committee.