Portland, Oregon
The largest city in Oregon with over 600,000 residents, a major port, and Oregon's commercial hub, Portland is located in Multnomah County, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers in Northern Oregon
Demographics
Race and Ethnicity
Education, Households, and Income
Homelessness
Government
Municipal Government
The government of the City of Portland consists of an elected City Council which consists of the Mayor, four Commissioners, and an auditor. Each of these officials is elected city-wide for a four-year term. The Commissioners, who are elected city-wide, oversee portfolios, termed bureaus, which can consist of City departments and programs, assigned to them by the Mayor. The Portland City Commission [the City's governing body, also called the City Council] as a whole is responsible for approving and adopting the city budget, levying taxes and making or amending city laws, policies and ordinances. As of this writing, the next Portland municipal election is scheduled for May 15, 2018.
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 two exceptions, Healy Heights and Lloyd District) through which the City's funding flows:
- Neighbors West-Northwest (NWNW)
- Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc. (SWNI)
- North Portland Neighborhood Services (NPNS)
- Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN)
- Central Northeast Neighbors, Inc. (CNN)
- East Portland Neighborhood Office (EPNO)
- Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Program (SE Uplift)
Regional Government
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 state-wide ballot measure in the late 1970s. 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 (the organization serves twenty-five municipalities in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties): Districts 1, 2, 5 and 6.
Metro's mandate covers mapping (GIS), 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 oversees a 50-year regional growth masterplan (the 2040 Growth Concept) for the Portland metropolitan area that as of this writing (2017) can be characterized as focused on increased density, transit-oriented development.
The Port of Portland represents another layer of regional government. It oversees Portland's port and terminals, marine operations in and around the City, Portland International Airport (PDX) and smaller regional airports as well as several industrial parks. The Port of Portland is managed by a nine-member commission, whose members are appointed (for four-year terms) by Oregon's Governor and approved by the State Senate.
County Government
Multnomah County, in which Portland sits and is the county seat, manages many of Portland's services (including the Multnomah County Library system). Multnomah County is governed by a Washington and Clackamas counties also form part of the Greater Portland metropolitan area.
The County is administered by an elected commission that consists of a Chair, four Commissioners, the District Attorney, the Sheriff and an auditor. The County government includes a circuit court. Appointed officials fill its Finance, Elections, and Surveyor roles.
State Government
Much of the legislation that relates to housing, transportation, development and land use in Portland is ultimately determined at the state level, in the state legislature in Oregon's capital, Salem.
Like the United States federal government, Oregon's state government consists of three branches:
- Legislative branch, represented by the House of Representatives (sixty members elected to two-year terms) and the Senate (thirty members elected to four-year terms) of the Oregon Legislative Assembly (popularly termed the Oregon State Legislature)
- Executive branch, represented by the states administrative apparatus and its Governor. Oregon governors serve four-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms of office. As of this writing, the next gubernatorial election is scheduled for November 6, 2018.
- Judicial, led by the Head Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court.
See list of enacted Oregon legislation relating to housing, transportation, development, and land use.