Dear Compassionate Change District Coalition Members,

What a week! While we still have no news to report from the CEIC regarding their intent to either work with us or go ahead with their January 30th City Council hearing date, a lot has been happening.

On Tuesday 1/15, a group of CCD coalition members attended a meeting with CEIC board members as well as policy directors from three Commissioners’ offices at Venture Portland.

The CCD proposal was presented by some of the groups closest involved in the design and implementation to this point: Right 2 Survive, WRAP, Sisters of the Road, Voz, Multnomah County Democrats, Portland DSA, PTU & JOIN. ACLU attended as an observer.

The CEIC board representatives in attendance: President Brad Melsin (BEAM development), Vice President Deane Funk (PGE), CEIC staffers Rina Jimmerson and Kate Merrill, Debbie Kitchen (InterWorks), Juliana Lukasik (@Large Films), Brigid Blackburn (Cargo), Eric Cress (Urban Development Partners LP), Randy Lauer (American Medical Response), Lisa Lamanna (The LaManna Company, LLC). Heather Hoell from Venture Portland hosted the meeting.

Commissioner staff attending: Jamey Duhamel (Commissioner Eudaly), Derek Bradley (Commissioner Hardesty) and Claire Adamsick (Commissioner Fritz).

Key takeaways from this meeting were that while there is agreement that the houseless community was insufficiently involved in the ESD program design, and that there is a lot of promise in the CCD proposal, there is no time to go back to the drawing board because of funding constraints on the CEIC’s side. Commissioners’ staffers strongly urged the CEIC to reconsider and extend their timeline to allow for community input. Jamey Duhamel offered to facilitate weekly meetings to this end. The CEIC board said they’d discuss.

Also on Tuesday 1/15, the Hosford-Abernethy Neighborhood Association voted to send a letter in support of the CCD proposal to City Council. HAND is one of the three neighborhood associations in the district; the other two are Buckman and Kerns, who have yet to take a position on the CCD but are in favor of the ESD.

On Thursday 1/17, the Mayor’s office hosted a meeting intended to discuss the ESD proposal and community concerns around it. The invitation was understood to extend to the full CCD coalition, which, as it turned out, was not the intent. While a group of CCD partners were allowed to silently observe, the only participants who were seated at the table and allowed to speak on our behalf were Sandra Comstock and Ibrahim Mubarak from Right 2 Survive (who did a fantastic job under really trying circumstances!)

In attendance and seated at the table were the CEIC board, representatives from Venture Portland, Clean & Safe, City Attorneys, Prosper Portland and the Revenue Office, as well as staff from all commissioners’ offices, the Mayor, and Commissioner Hardesty.

Key takeaways from this meeting were that the CEIC still have not reconsidered their January 30th City Council hearing date, but that the Mayor would prefer them to do so. Commissioner Hardesty reiterated her concerns with private security and lack of input from affected communities, restated her support for an extended timeline, and again urged the CEIC to take up Commissioner Eudaly’s office’s offer to facilitate weekly meetings.

To recap: As of right now, we are looking at a City Council meeting on January 30 where the CEIC will present an ESD that has not incorporated any parts of the CCD proposal. We will want to mobilize for this eventuality in the coming week, and will communicate with all coalition partners about the best ways to do so for each organization! For now, we have window signs in support of the CCD available; please let us know if you or your organization can help distribute them across the Central Eastside!

In solidarity,

/Emily von W Gilbert (Portland DSA)