By Mark Kirchmeier
Mayor Keith Wilson delivered discouraging news to Columbia Park Pool advocates in a March 16 private meeting.
Wilson had dramatically halted the scheduled demolition of the pool in late March 2025, three days before the razing was to begin.
Now one year later, he asked to meet with Friends of Columbia Park chair Chris Manno and other advocates for an after-hours meeting at the Nite Hawk Cafe and Lounge on N Interstate Ave.
Others attending were Portsmouth Neighborhood Association chair Neveen Hurd and longtime pool advocates Michael Brown and Elaine Mildenberger, whose family owns the Nite Hawk.
Wilson told them the city had a $100 million budget deficit, and he was restarting the clock to demolish the pool, to save the $1 million the city has been annually paying to keep the building standing. The mayor said he’d rather use that money to avoid cutting services at the St. Johns Community Center.
Wilson explained he needed to prioritize his time and city resources on upgrading the Moda Center to keep the Blazers from leaving town.
After the meeting, Manno, while disappointed with the mayor’s remarks, remained determined to look for creative solutions to restore the pool, including a mix of Portland Clean Energy Funds and private-public partnerships.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a North Peninsula Review request for comment before deadline. (See the editorial on page 13).
A few days earlier at the city’s first budget hearing, Wilson warned of cuts affecting District 2. “We’ll protect all parks programs but need to ‘skinny down’ some of them,” Wilson told 60 people at the Double Tree Hilton near Lloyd Center. The mayor said his highest priority was saving those Parks & Recreation programs that serve at-risk youth.
“Nobody wants to talk about budget cuts, but we have to talk about budget cuts — without causing harm,” Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney said..
Councilor Dan Ryan pointed out that budget bloat in city government helps explain why Portland’s taxes are so high, while city services struggle. “How did we end up with so many bureaus and offices?” asked Ryan, to the applause of the audience. He added that the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has created such a huge maintenance backlog that it “needs a big scrub” before getting more fee revenue.
Councilor Sameer Kanal noted that the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct has more territory to cover than Central Precinct, but less staff. He called for a re-look at historical precinct staffing patterns, so that it’s not just based, on how the city has always done it.
Kanal also supports the mayor’s call to hire 14 detective investigators. He explained that more investigators will save costs because it will lead to the arrests of more repeat offenders.
The mayor is scheduled to release his proposed 2026-27 budget by April 20. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled either May 4 or 5 in N/NE.
The City Council will likely take public testimony at its May 18-20 meetings.
