PORTLAND, OR – In a city where police staffing has been an issue as well as officer retention, the Portland City Council has now voted to take away nearly $2 million in one-time funds from the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and give it over to Parks and Recreation.
According to FOX12, the vote came after a 12-hour heated debate and was a result of a budget amendment that was proposed by Councilor Candace Avalos, who represents communities east of I-205, such as the Lents neighborhood in District 1. Avalos told the Council that she felt the allocation of $1,991,616 would be a necessary boost to the Parks and Recreation budget, saying that there are parks in the Lents area which have not opened yet and face maintenance cuts.
She said, “Number one, this is not about reducing police effectiveness. It is about a balanced approach to public safety and that includes well-maintained parks where families feel safe gathering.” MyNorthWest reported that the controversial amendment was approved 7-5 near midnight after a 15-hour session.
PPB Chief Bob Day was called in via video and asked what specific impacts the loss of $2 million would have within the community. He said he did not have an exact answer, but that services would be reduced. Not all council members were on board with the funding shift as noted by Councilor Eric Zimmerman who said, “I’ve never seen a city council or county commission in my life be so giddy to cut public safety. This is not a laughing matter … This is city who was rocked five years ago. This is a city who has difficulty retaining officers. This is a city who has built back over the last five years. This is a city who has renewed its investment in the Portland Police … Right now is not the time to cut public safety.”
One concern voiced during the meeting was a need for reduced response times by PPB, acknowledged by both the Bureau and Council. Day told the council the $2 million comes from a total of $11 million slotted for the bureau to increase its recruiting and retention efforts; new hires on the force would increase response times and PPB currently has 91 vacant positions.
While at a drug enforcement mission, not even 24 hours after the meeting, Day said, “We are underfunded overall. The funded vacancies help us to have the money we need to spend on the overtime. Programs like this could suffer. This is being done on a significant amount of overtime on a daily basis.”
To better understand the need for city services, business owners downtown explained why they don’t call the police. Matthew de Gruyter, CEO of Next Level Burger said, “Many parts of the city are struggling with things that I just don’t think we should have to struggle with. This isn’t the front lines in a war somewhere. This is the city of Portland.”
He said he has relied on private security firms rather than police, feeling that they are on more critical calls elsewhere due to the staffing challenges. He said, “When someone has to be exported out, it’s not up to my manager on duty to be a bouncer. That’s why the security has to be there because the police aren’t really there to be a bouncer either, unless they have the capacity to be.”
Next Level Burger became the final business to evacuate the block across from Providence Park, joining the likes of Wells Fargo and Verizon. De Gruyer said he is “doubling down” on safety at Next Level Burger and Veggie Grill’s remaining Portland locations. Even the Timbers, alongside the Trailblazers, asked the city not to pull funds from PPB in a direct response to this budget amendment.
A letter co-signed by team leadership reads, in part, “The Blazers and Timbers both employ our own security on our campuses and pay overtime for City public safety staff for every game and event at our own expense. Our staff call on Portland’s first responders for aid when appropriate, and in the past year, we have experienced unusually long response times from public first responders on non-event days — some in excess of 10 to 20 minutes when calling for assistance.
We know these response times are caused not by any lack of dedication, but by the current public safety staffing shortages at the City. If public staffing levels worsen, response times could be exacerbated. The same extended response times that impact us also impact fans, families, and small business across Portland.”
KATU reported that Mayor Keith Wilson’s budget, which was released earlier in the month, focused on curbing spending and increasing revenue. It included funding boots for public safety and livability. Despite his big push for funding police, the city council voted to redirect some of that money away.
