Portland, Oregon

Government

The government of the City of Portland consists of an elected City Council, Mayor, Commissioners (4) and an auditor. Each of these officials is elected city-wide for a four-year term. Additionally, Portland is organized into 95 officially recognized neighborhoods. These neighborhoods and the city government as linked via Portland's Office of Neighborhood Involvement and the (volunteer) City-funded neighborhood associations of each of the neighborhoods.

The neighborhood associations are further collected into seven geographically-grouped district coalitions (with some exceptions) through which the City's funding flows.

The Greater Portland area (including the City proper)  is further administered as a region by Metro, the United States' only directly elected metropolitan planning organization. Metro is a chartered organization that was put in place via statewide ballot measure in the 1970s. Metro's mandate covers mapping, coordinating urban development, transportation and land use planning, managing natural resources, and solid waste management. Metro owns and operates the Portland Center for Performing Arts, the Oregon Zoo, the Oregon Convention Center, and the Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center (aka the Portland Expo Center). Metro's structure includes a council-president elected region-wide, an auditor (also elected region-wide) and six councilors elected by district. Portland is represented by four of Metro's districts/councilors: Districts 1, 2, 5 and 6.

Multnomah County, in which Portland sits and is the county seat, manages many of Portland's services. Washington and Clackamas counties also form part of the Greater Portland metropolitan area.

Much of the legislation that relates to housing, transportation, development and land use in Portland is determined at the state level, in the state legislature in Oregon's capital, Salem.