As the Portland City Council makes its final decision Wednesday, June 18, on Mayor Keith Wilson’s proposed $8.5 billion city budget, prospects for Councilor Dan Ryan’s “Save our Storefronts” plan are going down to the wire.
Ryan recently won council approval for $1 million to restore grants to help small storefront businesses hit by broken windows and criminal vandalism. He recalled that one neighborhood business owner told him, “My business is one broken window away from going bankrupt.”
He hopes to win approval of two more amendments before the budget window closes on Wednesday. The first amendment would create a Storefront Vacancy Assessment to focus public attention on the high number of vacant businesses in N/NE Portland, including in St. Johns, Kenton and on N. Killingsworth.
He is also seeking council support to create a Storefront Response Network to create a coordinated, rapid police response to vandalism and threats to small businesses.
The council earlier successfully resolved a battle over Wilson’s request for $2 million in supplemental police funding by accepting a compromise that instead transfers $2.2 million in unspent police funds to a council-controlled public safety fund that police and other bureaus could use.
At an open house in the Cathedral Park neighborhood on June 10, District 2 Councilor Sameer Kanal said that the mayor was able to raise $25 million in private funding for his shelter program, so fortunately did not need to dip into the city budget. Kanal added that the twelve councilors made 126 amendments to the mayor’s original May 25 budget proposal and were in the process of working through them to come up with a final version. Kanal noted “I supported funding to keep the community centers open. We are now fighting to make sure the hours don’t get cut.” The final budget will take effect in July.