Law and government

See also: Government of Portland, Oregon Portland City Hall

The city of Portland is governed by the Portland City Council, which includes the Mayor, four Commissioners, and an auditor. Each is elected citywide to serve a four-year term. The auditor provides checks and balances in the commission form of government and accountability for the use of public resources. In addition, the auditor provides access to information and reports on various matters of city government.

The city's Office of Neighborhood Involvement serves as a conduit between city government and Portland's 95 officially recognized neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is represented by a volunteer-based neighborhood association which serves as a liaison between residents of the neighborhood and the city government. The city provides funding to neighborhood associations through seven district coalitions, each of which is a geographical groupings of several neighborhood associations. Most (but not all) neighborhood associations belong to one of these district coalitions.

Portland and its surrounding metropolitan area are served by Metro, the United States' only directly elected metropolitan planning organization. Metro's charter gives it responsibility for land use and transportation planning, solid waste management, and map development. Metro also owns and operates the Oregon Convention Center, Oregon Zoo, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, and Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center.

The Multnomah County government provides many services to the Portland area, as do Washington and Clackamas counties to the west and south.

Politics

Portland strongly favors the Democratic Party. Although local elections are nonpartisan, most of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats.

Portland's delegation to the Oregon Legislative Assembly is entirely Democratic. In the current 76th Oregon Legislative Assembly, which first convened in 2011, four state Senators represent Portland in the state Senate: Diane Rosenbaum (District 21), Chip Shields (District 22), Jackie Dingfelder (District 23), and Rod Monroe (District 24). Portland sends six Representatives to the state House of Representatives: Jules Bailey (District 42), Lew Frederick (District 43), Tina Kotek (District 44), Michael Dembrow (District 45), Alissa Keny-Guyer (District 46), and Jefferson Smith (District 47).

Federally, Portland is split between three congressional districts. Most of the city is in the 3rd District, represented by Earl Blumenauer, who served on the city council from 1986 until his election to Congress in 1996. Most of the city west of the Willamette River is part of the 1st District, represented by Suzanne Bonamici. A small portion of southwestern Portland is in the 5th District, represented by Kurt Schrader. All three are Democrats; a Republican has not represented a significant portion of Portland in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1975. Both of Oregon's senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, are from Portland and are also both Democrats.

In the 2008 presidential election, Democratic candidate Barack Obama easily carried Portland, winning 245,464 votes from city residents to 50,614 for his Republican rival, John McCain.

Sam Adams, the former mayor of Portland, became the city's first openly gay mayor in 2009. In 2004, 59.7 percent of Multnomah County voters cast ballots against Oregon Ballot Measure 36, which amended the Oregon Constitution to prohibit recognition of same-sex marriages. The measure passed with 56.6% of the statewide vote. Multnomah County is one of two counties where a majority voted against the initiative; the other is Benton County, which includes Corvallis, home of Oregon State University.

On April 28, 2005, Portland became the only city in the nation to withdraw from a Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Planning and development 1966 photo shows sawdust-fired power plant on the edge of downtown that was removed to make way for dense residential development. High rises to left in background were early projects of the Portland Development Commission.

The city consulted with urban planners as far back as 1903. Development of Washington Park and one of the country's finest greenways, the 40 Mile Loop, which interconnects many of the city's parks, began.

Portland is often cited as an example of a city with strong land use planning controls. This is largely the result of statewide land conservation policies adopted in 1973 under Governor Tom McCall, in particular the requirement for an urban growth boundary (UGB) for every city and metropolitan area. The opposite extreme, a city with few or no controls, is typically illustrated by Houston, Texas.

Portland's urban growth boundary, adopted in 1979, separates urban areas (where high-density development is encouraged and focused) from traditional farm land (where restrictions on non-agricultural development are very strict). This was atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of development along interstate highways, in suburbs, and satellite cities.

The original state rules included a provision for expanding urban growth boundaries, but critics felt this wasn't being accomplished. In 1995, the State passed a law requiring cities to expand UGBs to provide enough undeveloped land for a 20-year supply of future housing at projected growth levels.

  Video of Portland's Urban Growth boundary. The red dots indicate areas of growth between 1986 and 1996. (larger size)

Oregon's 1973 "urban growth boundary" law limits the boundaries for large-scale development in each metropolitan area in Oregon. This limits access to utilities such as sewage, water and telecommunications, as well as coverage by fire, police and schools. Originally this law mandated that the city must maintain enough land within the boundary to provide an estimated 20 years of growth; however, in 2007 the legislature altered the law to require the maintenance of an estimated 50 years of growth within the boundary, as well as the protection of accompanying farm and rural lands.

The growth boundary, along with efforts of the PDC to create economic development zones, has led to the development of a large portion of downtown, a large number of mid- and high-rise developments, and an overall increase in housing and business density.

The Portland Development Commission is a semi-public agency that plays a major role in downtown development; it was created by city voters in 1958 to serve as the city's urban renewal agency. It provides housing and economic development programs within the city, and works behind the scenes with major local developers to create large projects.

In the early 1960s, the PDC led the razing of a large Italian-Jewish neighborhood downtown, bounded roughly by I-405, the Willamette River, 4th Avenue and Market street.

Aerial view of central Portland

Mayor Neil Goldschmidt took office in 1972 as a proponent of bringing housing and the associated vitality back to the downtown area, which was seen as emptying out after 5 pm. The effort has had dramatic effects in the 30 years since, with many thousands of new housing units clustered in three areas: north of Portland State University (between I-405, SW Broadway, and SW Taylor St.); the RiverPlace development along the waterfront under the Marquam (I-5) bridge; and most notably in the Pearl District (between I-405, Burnside St., NW Northrup St., and NW 9th Ave.).

The Urban Greenspaces Institute, housed in Portland State University Geography Department's Center for Mapping Research, promotes better integration of the built and natural environments. The institute works on urban park, trail, and natural areas planning issues, both at the local and regional levels.

In October 2009, the Portland City Council unanimously adopted a climate action plan that will cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

According to Grist magazine, Portland is the second most eco-friendly or "green" city in the world trailing only Reykjavík, Iceland. In 2010, Move, Inc. placed Portland in its "top 10 greenest cities" list.

As of 2012 Portland was the largest city in the United States that did not add fluoride to its public water supply, and fluoridation has historically been a subject of controversy in the city. Portland voters have four times voted against fluoridation, in 1956, 1962, 1980 (repealing a 1978 vote in favor), and 2013. Most recently, in 2012 the city council, responding to advocacy from public health organizations and others, voted unanimously to begin fluoridation by 2014. Fluoridation opponents forced a public vote on the issue, and on May 21, 2013, city voters again rejected fluoridation.

Free speech

Because of strong free speech protections of the Oregon Constitution upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court in State v. Henry, 732 P.2d 9 (Or. 1987), which specifically found that full nudity and lap dances in strip clubs are protected speech, Portland is widely considered to have more strip clubs per capita than Las Vegas or San Francisco. Portland has been titled as "Pornland" for its strip clubs, erotic massage parlors, and high rate of child sex trafficking. The term was heavily used in 2010, but the term was referenced by Chuck Palahniuk in 2003.

A judge dismissed charges against a nude bicyclist in November 2008 on the grounds that the city's annual World Naked Bike Ride was "a well-established tradition" in Portland. The first instance occurred sometime around 1999 and had less than 7 participants; at the time it was jokingly referred to as "critical ass" (a play on Critical Mass bike rides). Participants would 'purchase' a bike from a local chain department store and then return it the next morning. It used to take place at midnight and lasted until the participants were stopped/arrested. The prankster aspect of it came in when the arresting officers didn't want to touch the naked cyclists in order to arrest them. The 2009 Naked Bike Ride occurred without significant incident. City police managed traffic intersections. There were an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 participants. In June 2010, Portland's World Naked Bike Ride had an estimated 13,000 people.

A state law prohibiting publicly insulting a person in a way likely to provoke a violent response was tested in Portland and struck down unanimously by the State Supreme Court as violating protected free speech and being overly broad.

Crime

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Report in 2009, Portland ranked 53rd in violent crime out of the top 75 U.S. cities with a population greater than 250,000. The murder rate in Portland from 2005 to 2009 averaged 3.9 murders per 100,000 people per year, which was lower than the national average. For crimes other than murder, Portland is generally somewhat higher than the national average. According to the Portland Police, Killingsworth St., 82nd Ave., and the St. Johns Woods Apartments are the most dangerous areas of the city. In October 2009, Forbes magazine rated Portland as the third safest city in America.