#portland-city-council

#portland-city-council

A new union representing Portland City Council aides and operations staff filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) complaint against the city for alleged anti-union conduct from Councilor Loretta Smith's office. The complaint, filed January 13, alleges Smith retaliated against and fired a former aide due to his role in organizing the Council staff union. The aide, Adam Murray, worked as a policy staffer in Smith's office for about nine months until he was fired last week.

Owendoff has had a sizable sway over the city's decision-making for the past 15 years. Through his role as a commercial real estate broker, he's involved in several political and business groups. During Sam Adams's tenure as mayor, Adams appointed Owendoff to a panel focused on planning the future of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Owendoff was forced out of a real estate job in 2011 for posting hundreds of caustic comments on the Oregonian website.

In early June, after organizations like HOLLA had been notified of their selection to receive grants from the Portland Children's Levy (PCL), the Portland City Council made an unprecedented decision: voting to reject $70.9 million in grants the PCL allocation committee had awarded for the coming fiscal year and instead extending funding to the program's current large grantees for another year.

It shouldn't be this way; we shouldn't have to take it all the way to the fucking City Council and try to get it in a budget.