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to
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[1:55] » Heat. Heat.
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Heat.
[2:59] » [music]
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[6:29] » Hey,
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[7:01] » [music]
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[7:39] [music]
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[8:10] » Hey, [music]
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[music]
[8:21] » [music]
[8:28] [music]
[8:34] » Okay. And then other than that, do you
have everything you need?
[8:37] » Yes.
>> And I'll be counselor.
[8:40] Perfect.
>> Good afternoon. It is September 8th at
[8:44] 2:03 p.m. I am calling to order today's
meeting of the Civic City Life
[8:52] Committee. Thank you all for being here
today. Wendy, could you please call the
[8:57] role?
[9:10] » While you're getting your microphone
working, I will just apologize that
[9:12] we're starting a few minutes late. My
computer screen was doing some sort of
[9:17] weird blitzy thing.
>> And calling the role, uh, Mario
[9:24] here. Zimmerman
absent. Avalos
[9:30] » present. Virtually
>> Ryan
[9:32] » here.
>> Hurdle Guini
[9:35] » here. Thank you. And colleagues, we have
a new uh council operations staff person
[9:42] starting today or starting last week I
guess, but we didn't have a meeting last
[9:46] week. Kevin, welcome and thank you for
being here. Could you please start us
[9:50] off with our rules of decorum? Thank
you.
[9:53] Welcome to the meeting of the city life
committee. To testify testify before
[9:57] this committee in person or virtually,
you must sign up in advance on the
[10:00] committee agenda at
www.portland.gov/countselagenda/city-life-committee
[10:10] or by calling 311. Information on
engaging with the committee can be found
[10:14] at this link. Registration for virtual
testimony closes 1 hour prior to the
[10:18] meeting. In-person testifiers must sign
up before the agenda item is heard. If
[10:23] public testimony will be taken on an
item, individuals may testify for three
[10:28] minutes unless a chair states otherwise.
Your microphone will be muted when your
[10:32] time is over. The chair preserves order.
Disruptive conduct such as shouting,
[10:36] refusing to conclude your testimony when
your time is up, or interrupting others
[10:41] testimony, or committee deliberations
will not be allowed. If you cause a
[10:45] disruption, a warning will be given.
Further disruption will result in
[10:48] ejection from the meeting. Anyone who
fails to leave once ejected is subject
[10:52] to arrest for trespass. Additionally,
the committee may take a short recess
[10:57] and reconvene virtually. Your testimony
should address the matter being
[11:00] considered. When testifying, one, state
your name for the record. If you are a
[11:05] lobbyist, identify the organization you
represent. And two, virtual testifiers
[11:09] should unmute themselves when the clerk
calls your name. Thank you.
[11:14] » Thank you very much, Kevin. Colleagues,
today we will have three uh we have
[11:19] three things on our agenda. We will take
public input on city life committee
[11:24] related topics. We will hear from the uh
folks bringing us Portland geek week and
[11:30] the sneaky squatch search. And then we
will spend the bulk of our meeting
[11:35] talking about climate and our city's
climate policy. I'll speak more to that
[11:41] last agenda item when we get there, but
we have a packed agenda. So, for now,
[11:45] I'd like to lead us right into our first
agenda item. Wendy, could you please
[11:50] call our public input agenda item?
>> Thank you. Yes. Item number one,
[11:55] document number 2026-317,
[clears throat]
[11:58] public input on city life committee
topics. We have four people signed up.
[12:03] Um, the first two I'll call up, Galib L
and Joseph Howard. Please come on up.
[12:10] » Welcome. Thank you both for being here.
[12:17] Just a reminder, you'll hear a uh two
timer. One indicating you have 30
[12:24] seconds left and then a second one
indicating your time is up. Please state
[12:28] your name for the record and get
started.
[12:33] » Uh my name is Charles Joseph Howard.
[12:37] » Go right ahead and begin.
>> I defer to you. Okay. Um, good
[12:44] afternoon, Chair Per Pleg Guinea and
members of the committee. My name is
[12:48] Charles Joseph Howard. I'm a District 4
constituent and a public sector strategy
[12:53] consultant and an active volunteer with
Potluck in the Park here in the Pearl.
[12:59] I want to bring to you an observation
from the pavement and a lowcost, high
[13:04] impact opportunity to make the city's
existing resources work smarter. When I
[13:10] began volunteering in February of last
year, we served roughly 250 meals a
[13:15] Sunday. Last month, we did not have a
single week below 400. Recently, we
[13:22] broke our postco record, serving just
shy of 600 meals in one afternoon.
[13:29] Roughly 60 to 70% of the people we serve
return to the same exact few hundred
[13:35] square feet on the north pl park park
blocks at the same time every Sunday
[13:42] from an operations perspective. That is
remarkable.
[13:46] The city has a population with
significant needs voluntarily assembling
[13:50] in a predictable predictable location
every [clears throat] single week.
[13:55] Many struggle with addiction, mental
health challenges, or both.
[14:00] First responder dispatches during
service are not uncommon. Sometimes with
[14:04] for violence and sometimes for
overdoses.
[14:08] Yet, in 18 months on the pavement, I
personally have not seen a single city
[14:13] outreach presence taking advantage of
that window.
[14:17] I know Portland has the resources, but
as you all know, the problem is that
[14:22] having a resource and successfully
connecting it are two very different
[14:26] things.
The problem is the connection gap.
[14:31] Someone trapped in addiction may not
know to call 311. [clears throat] They
[14:35] might not have a phone, internet access,
or the mental stability to navigate the
[14:40] system.
But every Sunday, they know where we
[14:44] are.
potluck has already solved one of
[14:47] outreach's hardest problems.
Where and when to find people and how to
[14:53] establish trust.
I'm not asking you to create yet another
[14:57] program. I'm asking the city to
strategically deploy existing outreach,
[15:01] behavioral health, and benefits
navigation resources directly into this
[15:06] existing Sunday touchpoint.
Meet the people where they already are.
[15:12] Measure those results.
Determine whether earlier intervention
[15:18] can turn someone's next interaction into
a path toward recovery rather than an
[15:23] ambulance or a police car.
That's compassionate policy. It's also
[15:29] smarter government.
My professional background is in public
[15:33] sector strategy and implementation. I
would gladly help your teams think
[15:37] through how an integration like this
could work.
[15:41] Our first responders deserve it. But I
think most importantly, the Portlanders
[15:47] trapped in these cycles deserve it.
>> We'll show them there's a way out of the
[15:51] valley.
>> I'll leave my information with the
[15:54] clerk. And
>> if I could also encourage you to make
[15:57] this testimony at Mult County as well.
>> Oh, I'm sorry, Councelor. I'm so
[16:03] » I I agree with Council Zimmerman. That's
why my hand was up. And thank you for
[16:06] your service. Thank you so much.
Everything you said was really easy to
[16:10] follow, but I think a lot of people
don't realize that the county has the
[16:13] majority of the staff that do that type
of work as they have the office of
[16:18] homelessness at the county. Their
meetings are Tuesday, Thursday,
[16:22] » Thursday mornings.
>> Yeah, they have the when it comes to
[16:27] outreach workers, mental health workers,
that that really falls within their
[16:31] wheelhouse to Council Ryan's points and
your testimony was great and I would
[16:35] encourage you to share it with them as
well. Um, and if you're in district 4,
[16:39] you're represented by Commissioner Moyer
like I am. And uh, I'll definitely share
[16:43] your testimony with them as well. And
for the I think three that we have at
[16:48] the city because we hired them because
the county wasn't making it out to
[16:51] spots, we'll certainly share that.
>> We do have those workers at the city, we
[16:55] can make sure to pass that on. And I
think the advice to make sure that the
[17:00] city and the county are both hearing
from you on this is important. Thank you
[17:03] so much for being here. And really your
point about meeting people where they
[17:07] are is so important. I always make this
comment to the county about the the max
[17:11] trains and along um along the trime
service lines as well and I never see
[17:17] one outreach worker there. So thank you.
>> Thank you.
[17:21] » Thank you.
[17:25] » Mr. Al, go right ahead.
>> Oh, I'm sorry.
[17:31] Wow. I'm sorry. That was that was
inspiring what he just said and did
[17:36] here. Um, greetings beloved committee
members. Um, I am Khaled Binel. My
[17:41] doicile is in district 4. And let me get
right to it. In the book a ran's Atlas
[17:48] shrugged. Um, one character, I believe
it was either Francisco Diano or John G
[17:53] said that wealth is the product of man's
capacity to think.
[17:59] If I think therefore I am then according
to that logic I overthink therefore I am
[18:07] [clears throat] wealthy.
Not sure if you suffer the same
[18:10] affliction but I find myself thinking at
times even when I don't want to. I'm
[18:15] always thinking about something. I
actually signed up for testimony just to
[18:19] say hello and spread my love
unconditionally and freely to you guys.
[18:24] Then I got to thinking
darn affliction. thought about a thought
[18:29] that I had the other day when I was
thinking about a wonderful world.
[18:33] So, in thinking about what to talk about
here, I thought might as well check the
[18:39] agenda to see if I had any thoughts on
an agenda item. [clears throat] Imagine
[18:43] my surprise when I saw a presentation
for Target Zero.
[18:48] A presentation for a wonderful world.
An ambitious well- imagined plan being
[18:56] implemented to be realized by 2050 with
[clears throat] a 50% goal to be
[18:59] achieved by 2030. Some ambitions deserve
support.
[19:05] That's what target zero is. There should
be no expense spared in achieving that
[19:10] target.
It saves lives, ecosystems, and most
[19:15] importantly, it puts us back in a
harmonious dance with nature. A dance
[19:19] that's more necessary for us than it is
nature.
[19:23] As a civilian born of the land upon
which my ancestors achieved a harmonious
[19:27] balance, I understand the benefit of
tying our infrastructure and economic
[19:33] footprint to our carbon footprint. The
benefit,
[19:38] abundance.
Think a power grid free to the city,
[19:44] cheap to the resident with the surplus
being sold to other municipalities.
[19:50] I have submitted a document to the
council for the clerk's committee's re I
[19:53] mean [clears throat]
I have submitted a document to the
[19:57] council clerk for the committee's
review.
[20:00] This I would like to see in front of the
council in whole or in parts if
[20:04] possible. However, as long as it's
progressive
[20:09] something towards this target, be
whatever comes. Just know this much.
[20:15] » I truly do love you all unconditionally.
Thank you.
[20:21] » Thank you. Thank you for being here and
we'll take a look at what you submitted.
[20:24] » Thank you.
>> Lynn Felton is joining us online. Lynn,
[20:29] go ahead and unmute and begin your
comments.
[20:36] Committee Chair Counselors Lynf Felton
D1 constituent
[20:41] as you are thinking of equitable
distributions of climate burdens and
[20:46] benefits I would like you to think of
East Portland specifically I would like
[20:52] you to be curious about the interstate
bridge remodel project with tolling and
[20:57] its impact on East Portland
according to Oregon walks a third party
[21:03] study showed that presently 130,000
trips daily go across Interstate Bridge.
[21:08] With tolling, that'll go down to 80,000.
Some of those will disappear, but tens
[21:14] of thousands of those will become
diversion traffic into East Portland.
[21:19] We already know that East Portland has
multiple public health issues with the
[21:23] highest number of high crash corridors
in the city and the highest temperatures
[21:28] during a heat dome with minimal climate
resiliency built into the area.
[21:35] Into that mix will be dumped tens of
thousands of new daily commuter trips.
[21:42] You may say this is a state issue, a
regional issue, which is true, but you
[21:48] have ways to influence that discussion
and to protect East Portland. As you
[21:53] know, Portland's Office of Government
Relations can advocate for funded
[21:56] diversion traffic mitigation plans for
IBR in the upcoming session. as you you
[22:02] can persuade the mayor at JPAC
that there needs to be more robust
[22:08] measures than a study and to advocate
for funded diversion traffic mitigation.
[22:16] I5 is closing for repairs. Is there any
study traffic counts on the impacts to
[22:21] East Portland?
Where is the curiosity and care?
[22:27] We are part of a whole. You know, here's
the perspective from East Portland.
[22:33] Portland's big initiatives. Moda Center
surrounding development waterfront
[22:37] reimagined grants received for an
emissionfree delivery zone in downtown.
[22:42] East Portland gateway boarded up the
Columbia River at our doorstep but
[22:47] barely accessible.
Natural green infrastructure like the
[22:51] Columbia Slooh inaccessible. a tsunami
of traffic heading our way and nearing a
[22:59] plan, a study
out there, let alone funded.
[23:06] Now is the time for all counselors to be
curious about what you can do to prevent
[23:12] that tsunami of traffic from creating
once again climate burdens that once
[23:19] again fall disproportionately to East
Portland. Thank you.
[23:26] » Thank you very much for being here with
us today.
[23:30] » Shares is joining us online. Sharice, go
ahead and unmute.
[23:35] Good afternoon, counselors. This I'm
Shereice Bach. She her and the climate
[23:40] policy director at 350 PDX, an
organization working toward climate
[23:46] justice in Portland. And wanted to also
speak to the climate action plan today.
[23:52] cosign on that last comment of paying
attention to the I5 bridge replacement
[23:57] and also district one in all of this and
wanted to particularly draw your
[24:03] attention to remembering the climate
justice audit that was done by the city
[24:07] auditor earlier this year and also just
to note that in the news just this last
[24:12] week the United Nations environment
program came out with a new report
[24:17] showing that globally we're going to
overshoot the 1.5° Celsius of warming
[24:23] that scientists say we need to stay
below in order to
[24:28] uh not feel the worst effects of climate
change. And so they're saying we need to
[24:33] as quickly as possible move away from
fossil fuels in stay below two degrees
[24:38] and then get back down to below 1.5
degrees as soon as possible. So although
[24:44] the United States is struggling to take
climate action right now, cities are
[24:48] where much of the pollution is. So we
can still do our part and make a
[24:52] significant positive impact and the rest
of the world is really moving towards
[24:56] zero emissions energy and
transportation.
[25:00] And so the more Portland can participate
in that, the less we're left behind in
[25:04] the global economy.
So I appreciate and endorse the work
[25:09] that the office of sustainability is
doing to develop a new climate action
[25:13] plan with the sustainability and climate
commission. And as I said, wanting to
[25:18] draw your attention to the climate
justice audit that the auditor auditor
[25:21] did in February of this year. That audit
identified that in addition to
[25:26] continuing to work on climate change
mitigation, we also need to work on our
[25:31] adaptation strategies to ensure the
safety of those who are feeling climate
[25:35] change first and worst.
Additionally, it identified the problem
[25:40] of not enough authority for the
sustainability office. Though the office
[25:44] is right under the mayor and city
administrator, the chief sustainability
[25:48] officer has no direct link to oversight
of bureaus and service areas tasked with
[25:52] working on climate and sustainability
related projects. And a third finding of
[25:57] that audit was that the sustainability
office lacks funding. So although it's
[26:01] great to develop another climate action
plan, it just sits on a shelf unless the
[26:05] city council directs funds for
implementation.
[26:09] Next year, the city will also begin
working on a new PAF climate investment
[26:13] plan. And so I encourage everyone to
consider how to strategically use the
[26:18] PAF funds that are allocated to projects
within the city budget to help move the
[26:21] climate action plan forward if they're
focused on equity and affordability. But
[26:26] PEF can't be the answer for everything.
So integrating climate and
[26:30] sustainability awareness into every
project the city does and into the whole
[26:34] budgeting process needs to occur in
order to make it useful to do another
[26:39] climate action plan. Thank you very
much.
[26:42] » Thank you very much for joining us
today.
[26:45] » That concludes public input.
Okay, colleagues, we are going to move
[26:49] to our next agenda item, which is a
little bit of a shift away from the uh
[26:54] last two pieces of testimony on climate
before we head back there. Uh Wendy,
[27:00] could you please call agenda item two?
>> Yes. Item number two, document number
[27:04] 2026-318,
Portland Geek Week and Sneaky Sasquatch.
[27:10] » Thank you, Colle.
>> Sneaky Squatch.
[27:12] » Sneaky Squatch. Uh we are going to hear
from a couple of uh leaders in our
[27:20] community who are bringing us geek week
as well as our own council president.
[27:27] Geek Week is the latest. It starts this
coming week I believe opportunity to
[27:34] bring Portlanders together and get us
out into the community and really lean
[27:39] into some of the things that make this a
fantastic space. And if you did not get
[27:44] an opportunity to notice our new
Sasquatch friend in the atrium on your
[27:49] way in, I encourage everybody to head
downstairs after this meeting to uh to
[27:55] see that addition to city hall. But with
that, I am going to turn it over to our
[28:00] guests. Thank you so much for being here
today.
[28:03] » Hello. Thank you for uh uh allowing me
to speak with you. Um, councilors,
[28:10] council president, thank you for being
here. Um, I'm David Ray Croft, uh,
[28:17] constituent of District 3, um, and, uh,
advocate for, uh, our streets and
[28:24] neighborhoods and the quirky life that
is, uh, Portland. Um, so what is Geek
[28:31] Week PDX? It is a citywide festival
celebrating the quirky, the nerdy, and
[28:38] the creative in Portland.
Um, it's the only event of its kind in
[28:44] the world. So there are lots of comic
conventions, there are lots of
[28:52] um festivals, there are lots of
uh events that gather people together.
[29:01] But nowhere else in the world is there a
city that so uniquely demonstrates on a
[29:10] daily basis
um the creative vitality that is geek
[29:15] culture. Uh I think a great example of
that is when we decided as a city to
[29:23] protest ice. We did not throw rocks, we
inflated frogs.
[29:28] That is the nerdy heart of our uh of our
community.
[29:35] Um so Geek Week PDX is only about three
years old. It's not about three years
[29:41] old. It is in fact this is our third
year of putting it on um in a row. Uh
[29:47] we've gone from an idea that a couple of
nerds had running around the city um to
[29:53] 101 nights of programming in a 10-day
period of time that involves over 200
[30:00] small businesses, community groups, and
organizations.
[30:04] Um
why does that matter? Because it takes
[30:10] place in every district. There are
events happening in district one,
[30:15] district two, downtown,
central east side, and everywhere in
[30:22] between. A great example of that is the
Sneaky Sasquatch art hunt. It's sort of
[30:28] like the the uh Leica Crows and that it
is a citywide art hunt, but it's
[30:35] completely grassroots.
It is an idea that was put out into the
[30:41] ether and over 25 artists have created
unique works of art. We c you can start
[30:46] downstairs with the 8-foot statue made
from recycled
[30:52] garbage bags. Um and has been turned
into a wonderful work of art. There are
[30:58] nine pieces within walking distance of
the front door. Um, I encourage
[31:02] everybody to to take a look and see what
you can find. Um, it's a way to inspire
[31:09] not only the artistic community to get
involved, but to inspire people uh to
[31:14] explore maybe beyond their front door
and go somewhere they haven't been yet.
[31:21] Um, last but not least, I want to touch
touch on the impact of nerd culture. Um
[31:27] because there is no such thing as geek
culture or nerd culture. It is just
[31:33] culture. It is food nerds. It is sneaker
nerds. It is
[31:41] craft nerds. Um it is geeks of all walks
of life. As a matter of fact, in the
[31:47] city of Portland, there are more than
300,000 of us. Um, if you take us all
[31:54] together, we're probably the uh the
largest constituency.
[31:59] Um, last year during Geek Week, if you
take all of the events, we had 20,000
[32:05] people participating.
That's a stadium full of people, but
[32:10] instead of in one place at one time,
they are in they are 40 groups of 40
[32:16] people in 200 small businesses 10 nights
in a row. Um that is economic impact.
[32:26] That is a way to drive ongoing and
sustainable uh business. Um, so,
[32:34] uh, to to finish out, um, it's really I
really wanted to highlight not only the
[32:43] events of Geek Week, which you can find
at geekweek pdx.com.
[32:46] Um, not only to inspire you to go out
and explore the the amazing artwork that
[32:53] people have volunteered and donated and
created. Um but really to understand
[33:01] that there are a lot of us um there are
more
[33:06] trivia nights in one week played in bars
in in the city of Portland than there
[33:14] are sports bar broadcasts in an entire
year. So tells you a little bit about
[33:20] what inspires the people of Portland.
Um, and I wanted to share a little bit
[33:27] about what uh the the hidden mass masses
that you may not be aware of. Thank you.
[33:35] » Thank you so much, Council President.
>> Thank you. Thank you, colleagues. Um,
[33:39] for the record, my name is Jamie Duny. I
serve as the president of the Portland
[33:42] City Council and a District 1 city
councelor. Um, I have done no scientific
[33:46] research to back this claim up, but
Portland is the nerdiest city in
[33:49] America. Um, and you know, I uh believe
I hold the title of the nerdiest city
[33:56] counselor in Portland history. From the
Batman poster in my office to the Darth
[34:00] Vader belt buckle I'm wearing every day
or the Ninja Turtle tattoo that you
[34:03] cannot see. Um, I also, uh, you know, I
love living in Portland because it is a
[34:10] place that allows you to have your geek
flag fly. Um, I am a prop maker in my
[34:16] private time. Um, I make a lot of uh
recreations of Star Wars masks and
[34:20] things from Marvel movies. Um, and I I
also get to be one of the nerds who
[34:26] walks around the convention center at a
Comic Con every year. So, um, you won't
[34:29] see me this year because I'll have a
mask on, but um, and lastly, my team
[34:34] hoped that I would come to this uh,
meeting dressed as Sasquatch in order to
[34:38] advertise this uh, Sasquatch hunt, but
unfortunately, I don't have a Sasquatch
[34:43] costume quite yet. I'm really thankful
to be part of this year's uh kickoff and
[34:47] thank you councelor Purdleghini for
bringing this to the city life committee
[34:50] and for continuing to champion this. I
think it's really important. Anything
[34:54] that gets people out of their houses and
out into the community and around each
[34:57] other and building the sense of
community that Portland is known for is
[35:01] really important. So whether it's the uh
the crow scavenger hunt that's
[35:05] associated with the Leica's celebration
of the new movie Wildwood or now the
[35:09] squatch Sasquatch hunt for Geek Week,
there's going to be a lot of really good
[35:12] reasons for people to get out and go
explore the city. Try and find these
[35:16] statues and find something new that
you've never seen in the city that you
[35:19] have. I will spend the next month out
there looking around and I hope that
[35:23] everybody at home will come and join us.
I really want to thank PDX Monsters for
[35:26] creating the Sasquatch Hunt and I really
want to thank David right here for uh
[35:31] the third week or third year of Geek
Week PDX for all the hard coordination
[35:36] that is to wrangle all these nerds. So,
thank you for all your work and I hope
[35:39] everybody will get out their house and
enjoy them themselves.
[35:43] » Thank you.
>> Thank you. And David, do we have any of
[35:45] the artists with us up here? I'm not
sure if anybody made it upstairs.
[35:49] » They they did not. they uh they had to
scurry to their day jobs. [laughter]
[35:54] » Pass along our gratitude for all of the
amazing creations that they have given
[35:59] to our city uh to enjoy over the next
week and a half. Colleagues, are there
[36:03] any questions for David before we move
on?
[36:07] » Councelor Ryan.
>> David, [clears throat] I just want to
[36:09] acknowledge your steadfast persistence
on this. I remember you coming to my
[36:13] office in late 2023 and uh here you are
and it it's working and I'm not going to
[36:20] dispute the findings. That's for sure.
But um
[36:22] » I can actually validate that city.
[laughter]
[36:26] » So thank you for um loving the city and
getting people activated and having joy
[36:30] again. I really appreciate it. I'm
really proud of you. It's great work.
[36:35] For folks who are interested in learning
about the 101 programs that are
[36:39] happening over 10 days, what is the best
place to find a comprehensive list of
[36:43] all of the Geek Week activities?
>> Yeah, so uh the best place is geekweek
[36:48] pdx.com.
Um and we have them categorized by um
[36:55] day. So every day you can see what's
going on that night. uh or well night
[37:00] and day and uh also by
interest. So cosplay, Dungeons and
[37:07] Dragons, food and wine, whatever you're
into.
[37:11] » Fantastic. Thank you so much. And thank
you for bringing together all of the
[37:15] various nerdoms that uh we know exist in
our city into one place so that folks
[37:21] can can realize what a broad range of
interests there are and how much the
[37:26] folks who pursue those interests really
have in common when it comes to caring
[37:30] about the culture of our city.
>> Thank you.
[37:33] » Thank you both.
>> Thank you.
[37:38] We are going to move on to our third
agenda item. And Wendy, can you please
[37:43] call that agenda item for us?
>> Thank you. Yes. Item number three,
[37:48] document number 2026-319,
council action on climate in
[37:53] anticipation of 2030.
>> Thank you. And colleagues, we have four
[37:58] presentations before us. I am going to
give us a little bit of an overview
[38:01] because this is something that I
actually think is quite important. Then
[38:05] we will hear from our vice chair and
from councelor Murio who chaired the
[38:10] committee that previously or co-chared
the committee that previously took on
[38:14] this work. Today is a really important
conversation and one that we haven't
[38:20] gotten to dive into yet in this
committee. Among the many important
[38:25] topic areas that we cover here, perhaps
none is more pressing in terms of its
[38:32] broader impact than the topic of topic
of climate. Anthropogenic climate change
[38:38] remains the greatest threat to people,
to a healthy habitable planet, to the
[38:45] future of humanity. And despite this,
governments across the globe, including
[38:50] our own, the United States nationally,
have rolled back their climate progress,
[38:57] have rolled back their implementing
policies, and have begun to put us
[39:01] further out of reach from our climate
goals.
[39:05] We'll hear more about the city's climate
goals from our first presenter, but as a
[39:09] reminder, the city of Portland's stated
goal is to achieve a 50% reduction from
[39:16] our 1990 emission levels by 2030 and get
to net zero by 2050.
[39:22] 2030 is 4 years from now.
Let's be clear, though this sounds big,
[39:29] these are not actually bold goals. They
are the bare minimum that international
[39:35] experts have said we need to accomplish
in order to achieve our obligations to
[39:41] our planet and to our neighbors.
And yet we know it will take bold
[39:46] actions to get there. We are merely one
city and our impact alone won't turn the
[39:51] tide. But we should not fool ourselves
into thinking that means that our
[39:56] contributions are unimportant because we
can reduce emissions and the power of
[40:02] our example is significant.
This I hope is all the more clear as we
[40:08] see the dangerous impact of climate
inaction on the news every day.
[40:13] It is worth noting that just this
weekend, the most recent incident of
[40:20] devastating flash floods in Nepal
intensified by climate change claimed
[40:26] the lives of more than 1,000 people.
The impacts are real.
[40:34] Colleagues, today is not the start of
this conversation.
[40:37] This council undertook important work on
climate and sustainability last year
[40:42] through a committee led by councilors
Mario Murio and Novik
[40:46] and we were a leader on this topic years
before that. But it is, I hope, a moment
[40:52] for our city to renew our focus as we
hear just how far we are from our goals.
[40:59] We have some big decisions ahead of us.
We will adopt a new climate action plan
[41:04] in 2028.
And that same year, we will adopt a new
[41:09] 5-year climate investment plan to direct
PF dollars towards critical achieve
[41:16] critical undertakings.
Our first presentation today will be
[41:20] from our chief sustainability officer,
Vivian Satderfield, who will overview
[41:25] Portland's climate goals, our progress
or lack of progress, and outline some of
[41:31] the key decision points ahead. We also
have a significant amount of work to do
[41:36] though in the private sector. Work we
cannot legislate quite as uh directly
[41:43] but which we can incentivize especially
in our transportation and industry
[41:47] sectors.
Industry today will be a focus as well
[41:51] because we already have important
critically important work underway in
[41:56] this sector. done right, done the
Portland way, industry can provide
[42:01] highquality, high wage union jobs to
people in our community, bettering
[42:07] enabling those who choose to live in
Portland to actually be able to afford
[42:11] to do so.
industry provides vital goods and
[42:15] services to Portlanders, contributes to
the ta tax base that funds our essential
[42:20] public services and programs, and at the
same time, it can
[42:25] minimize their burden on our
environmental challenges, the chief of
[42:29] which is the unprecedented and colossal
threat of global climate change, but
[42:34] only if we are intentional about
ensuring industry here does so.
[42:40] inaction
is not acceptable. And therefore, our
[42:44] second presentation today will be from
the many stakeholders who are a part of
[42:49] the clean industry partnership
facilitated by their executive director,
[42:53] Jules Bailey, who will share more with
us about the work that is underway there
[42:57] and the opportunity for more. Third,
we'll turn to a presentation by a
[43:02] fantastic group, the climate optimists.
This is a group that was working with
[43:07] our former uh committee last year and
which uh we have been waiting for a long
[43:14] time to hear from on city council.
There's a tendency in climate
[43:18] discussions to frame choices as
trade-offs between jobs and emission
[43:21] reductions, between growth and
sustainability. And that framing we know
[43:26] is outdated and short-sighted. What we
will hear today from the climate
[43:29] optimists points toward a different
path. One where climate action drives
[43:34] economic opportunity, where innovation
lowers costs, where doing things in an
[43:40] environmental way is also doing things
in a smart economic way. I've asked the
[43:46] climate optimists represented by their
executive director, Jason Lewis, to
[43:50] share some of their win-win climate
ideas with us. The ideas could save the
[43:55] city money, improve livability, or
achieve city goals alongside major
[44:01] climate action. And then finally, we'll
turn to a presentation by the Multma
[44:05] County Youth Commission, Climate and
Sustainability Committee. I'll take a
[44:10] moment here to uh brag on my own offic's
Youth Commission liaison, Hazel Chan,
[44:16] who brought this issue forward to me.
She will join her colleague Enzo Karpio
[44:22] to share with us some of the work that
they are hoping to take on. We know that
[44:28] too many young Portlanders feel like we
are not moving fast enough on climate. I
[44:34] have heard directly from young
Portlanders who tell me that they think
[44:38] that with all of the immediate crisis
facing our city, we've lost sight of the
[44:42] biggest before us, our work on climate.
that frustration is warranted and our
[44:48] responsibility is not just to
acknowledge your concerns but to meet
[44:51] them with action. Credible, measurable
progress that demonstrates we are not
[44:56] stepping back but stepping in. And to
that end, I've asked Hazel and Enzo to
[45:01] present what their committee is working
on and what they hope to see as a way
[45:06] for us to better have a finger on the
pulse of what we need to be doing to
[45:11] meet the calls of young people in our
community to take bold action.
[45:16] I want to note that while some of the
things we hear about may involve PAF
[45:20] dollars or be solvable with PAF dollars,
today is not a conversation about PAF
[45:24] broadly. It is a conversation about how
we address our own climate goals and the
[45:30] needs of our community. Pace is but one
tool to get there, one that we will
[45:34] certainly talk more about over the
coming year as we lead toward building
[45:38] our next climate action plan. But I hope
we don't get high centered on PA in our
[45:43] conversations today.
So colleagues, let's make today about
[45:47] focus, about not losing sight of the
progress that we must make on climate,
[45:53] about finding the path forward that does
not pit climate against good jobs,
[45:57] economic growth, or social justice
because they are all critical.
[46:02] Portland desperately needs that hard to
defi, hard to find, hard to grasp Green
[46:09] New Deal. But we have to ca craft it
carefully, deliberately and together. I
[46:15] hope that by the end of the day today,
we will have some new ideas for how we
[46:18] can do that that we may be able to move
forward on jointly as a committee as we
[46:24] complete our work over the next few
months. With that, I am going to turn it
[46:28] over to my vice chair, councelor
Zimmerman. Councelor,
[46:32] » uh, thank you, chair, and thanks for
just framing it up that way. I think
[46:34] those are great opening remarks. Um I I
know that you know Multma County just
[46:39] took their uh up their climate just
justice update and I and I was thinking
[46:44] about that and I think there's some room
for us to be aligned um from a city of
[46:48] Portland perspective and I think that's
probably the right approach. Way too
[46:52] many times in this community we see the
two largest governments um not and this
[46:56] is one where I think we can get it
right. Um I kind of think of it in terms
[47:00] of what's the win-wins climate solution
and the future of Portland. And for me,
[47:05] I just want to frame that up in terms
of, you know, we have an opportunity for
[47:10] creating family wage jobs as we think
through the funds that we use, how we
[47:16] use them uh on climate related projects.
I think that that is the the first step
[47:22] of getting serious to this was getting
ideas out there and some of those have
[47:26] been going great and the next phase is
to make sure that they're growing great
[47:30] for everybody who's involved with them.
And so, um, I think that this can be
[47:34] achieved through ensuring that the city
projects that are,
[47:39] you know, utilizing compliance and
standards similar to what we did with
[47:43] the electrical vehicle. Um, that gives
us an opportunity to kind of take the
[47:48] high road, be a responsible contracting
organization,
[47:53] uh, make sure that we're legally
defensible and enforceable because I
[47:56] think when we do that, and we're just
coming off of Labor Day, right? When we
[48:00] do that, it means that Portland dollars
stay with Portland workers, stay with
[48:03] families who are in Portland, who can
see a future here, who are contributing
[48:06] to the greater good and uh climate
impacts. And I just think that that's an
[48:11] important thing to keep centered here.
At least that's where my eyes will be
[48:14] while I'm while I'm centering this
conversation. So, thanks for framing it
[48:17] up. Thanks for um putting this all
together. Thank you.
[48:21] » Thank you, Vice Chair. And before we
jump into our first presentation,
[48:23] Councelor Mario, you helped to lead a
lot of this work last year. if you can
[48:28] just share a little bit with us about
what we're picking up from, that would
[48:31] be fantastic.
>> Yeah, thanks so much. Um, and sorry I
[48:36] can't be there today. I have uh I blame
Novik for whatever cold he spread around
[48:39] the District 3 office. Um, but thanks
everyone for being there. I was the
[48:44] co-chair of the climate committee along
with councelor Novik uh before that
[48:47] committee was dissolved and sort of
reconvened into this and we covered a
[48:52] lot of different uh topics that were
very important. Um, we talked about the
[48:57] CI hub. We talked about sort of the myth
of renewable fuels as an option that's
[49:02] going to save us in this new economy um,
and in this new world. And we talked
[49:07] about the electrification of city
buildings. Those were just a few of the
[49:10] items that we covered. But I think that
a central focus of what we discussed
[49:14] really was um, I think what councelor
Purlein said is correct, right? We are
[49:21] in an urgent moment. We are seeing
thousands of people die at a time and
[49:25] those are predominantly happening in the
global south and other areas that are
[49:29] going to be impacted first due to the
United States exporting a lot of the
[49:33] harm uh that we do to the environment to
other countries and benefiting from
[49:37] that. So we have a responsibility to
take action no matter how small or big
[49:41] at the local level in order to address
that. And in large part, my focus as a
[49:47] committee chair was not just to talk
about the good fuel things that we could
[49:51] do at the climate committee or at the
local level, but to also address the
[49:55] greenwashing that happens. Um there are
a lot of fuel companies in Portland that
[50:00] are going to tell us that we have um
magical options for renewable fuels that
[50:04] are just as combustible and flammable as
other fuel storage types. Um and that
[50:09] still exists along the Wamtt River. We
have discussions here at council right
[50:13] now about the Zenith oil train, the
franchise transfer of uh Zenith to a new
[50:19] company and we have to do our due
diligence when it's politically
[50:22] inconvenient. Um because as was stated
before, it's my generation and younger
[50:28] that is going to bear the brunt of these
climate impacts. Um I just turned 30
[50:32] this year. The vast majority of my
friends are not having kids and are not
[50:36] starting families because they don't
know what type of world we're going to
[50:39] leave them with. And so I would urge my
colleagues to say that we're actually
[50:44] not going to be moving at a moderate,
slow, deliberate pace on these things
[50:48] because we don't have time to move at a
moderate, slow, deliberate pace. We have
[50:52] to take aggressive action where and when
we can and that was the goal of the
[50:56] climate committee before. Um, this
committee is in a strange spot because
[50:59] we have to balance the needs of industry
and climate. um it doesn't have a focus
[51:03] specifically on climate anymore, but I
hope that we will take that very
[51:08] seriously and weigh it differently
because there are no jobs uh if Oregon
[51:13] burns down. So, I will leave it at that.
>> Thank you, councelor.
[51:20] Colleagues, I am going to turn it over
to Vivian Satderfield, our city's chief
[51:24] sustainability officer, to lead off our
work here today talking about Portland's
[51:29] climate action plan. Thank you, Vivian.
>> Great. Thank you, Chair Ple, Guinea,
[51:33] Vice Chair Zimmerman, members of the
committee. For the record, I'm Vivian
[51:36] Satderfield. I'm your chief
sustainability officer and a very proud
[51:40] climate and sustainability nerd. Um, I
appreciate the invitation to join you
[51:44] today and for the opportunity to begin
today's discussion on climate policy. My
[51:48] presentation is going to pull on a few
of the threads that um, Chair Pleg
[51:51] Guinea helped um, offer today and give a
little bit more detail um, in that and I
[51:56] think it'll go nicely also with the
subsequent panels that we have uh, here
[52:00] today.
[52:03] One moment, please.
[52:09] As Vice Chair Zimmerman observed, um,
Portland and Multmo County have been
[52:12] tracking local carbon emissions for more
than 30 years using an annual
[52:16] sector-based emissions inventory. It's
helpful to remember that city council
[52:20] declared a climate emergency in 2020 and
directed city bureaus to restore a safe
[52:25] climate for all Portlanders, which
requires that we meet two carbon
[52:28] reduction targets. By 2030, we must
slash Portland's climate warming carbon
[52:34] emissions 50% or more compared to 1990
levels. That's an ambitious but
[52:38] necessary goalpost for us to achieve net
zero by 2050 as called for in the Paris
[52:43] agreement and our own policy documents.
By 2050, we must reduce carbon emissions
[52:48] to net zero. These goals are grounded in
climate science and shared by the United
[52:53] Nations and the numerous networks and
agreements that the city of Portland is
[52:56] signatory to, which informs our approach
to addressing one of the most pressing
[53:00] but solvable challenges of current
generations.
[53:04] Over the years, council has adopted a
range of ongoing programs and policy
[53:09] initiatives grouped by the sectors by
which carbon comes from. That's
[53:13] electricity, buildings, transportation,
and industry. And you'll hear more from
[53:18] the second panel about our strategy for
the industrial sector to reduce
[53:21] emissions, pollution, and waste, and
follow inclusive practices that benefit
[53:25] workers and fence line communities.
So, just to ground us in the data here,
[53:32] as previously mentioned, Portland and
Multim County have been tracking local
[53:35] local carbon emissions since 1990. We
have a long history of climate action
[53:40] collaboration with Multma County, but
there are also specific data sets used
[53:44] for the emissions inventory that are
only available at the county level. The
[53:49] numbers I'm sharing today are from 2023,
and that's because our emissions
[53:54] inventories run about two years behind
because of how long it takes fuel sales
[53:58] data to move through federal reporting.
We are just ahead of this fall's release
[54:02] of the 2024 data, which we'll be
reporting and sharing out this fall.
[54:08] We hit peak peak emissions in 2000. As
of 2023, Portland's emissions are 26%
[54:15] below 1990 levels. And that's a real
departure from the United States as a
[54:19] country, which is still only about 2%
below 1990.
[54:24] That 26% below 1990 figure is only 1%
above our lowest point ever during the
[54:32] 2020 first year of the pandemic. So,
we've essentially erased the
[54:36] post-pandemic rebound.
Notably, in the period when emissions
[54:40] have declined to 26%, the population has
increased 38% and job growth is at 35%.
[54:48] But 26% is not where we need to be to
hit 2030. We need roughly a 5.5
[54:54] reduction every year from here. about
320,000 metric tonses of CO2 annually.
[55:02] From 2030 to 2050, that pace eases
slightly to about 230,000 tons a year.
[55:09] So, the next four years are the steepest
climb we will face in this entire
[55:12] effort. What we decide now in this
budget cycle and the next determines
[55:17] whether we make that climb or fall
further behind it.
[55:22] Unsurprisingly, the top sources of our
emissions come from electricity.
[55:26] Gasoline was referred to as natural gas
and diesel. Gasoline emissions are down,
[55:32] but diesel is up an alarming 69% since
1990. And that's driven most entirely by
[55:38] freight and delivery demand.
Natural gas emissions are up as well,
[55:43] 18% overall. The residential sector
alone is up 62% since 1990. It's the one
[55:50] major fuel source moving in the wrong
direction because there's no market
[55:54] pressure shifting consumers away from it
the way there is with gas prices
[56:00] on electricity. The emissions inventory
runs on the regional grid mix and it's
[56:05] still 67% generated by fossil fuels. A
few notes here. State law requires
[56:11] utilities to hit 80% by 2030 and to
eliminate 100% of greenhouse gas
[56:16] emissions by 2040. And it's worth
stating here, the city's own goal via
[56:21] the 100% renewable resolution has
committed us to achieving 100% renewable
[56:26] electricity by 2035.
Since electricity is our currently our
[56:31] number one emissions source, we can't
reach our adopted goals without the
[56:35] utilities also hitting their mandated
80% reduction in emissions by 2030.
[56:41] Due to the cost of procuring or
developing new renewable resources, we
[56:46] don't really expect the utilities to
significantly increase that 33%
[56:50] renewable rate until the state deadline.
[clears throat]
[56:54] Achieving the 2050 net zero target
requires extensive action across all
[56:58] sectors.
By sector, transportation and commercial
[57:03] buildings are our two biggest sources,
40% and 24% of emissions, respectively,
[57:09] followed by residential buildings at 18%
and industrial emissions at 12%. So,
[57:14] something to sit with is that nearly 2/3
of what we need to cut comes from how
[57:18] people get around and how buildings use
energy.
[57:22] There are also the sectors where we've
seen some real progress. For example,
[57:26] since 1990, industrial emissions are
down 58%, residential is down 27%.
[57:32] Transportation is down only 13% and is
an area where our ongoing efforts to
[57:38] work with regional, state, and federal
partners is needed to massively
[57:41] decarbonize and transform how we get the
places we need to go. You'll hear in one
[57:47] of the subsequent panels today about how
important mass transit is to that goal.
[57:51] And so I want to give some appreciation
and acknowledgement um and thank the
[57:55] council for expanding that access to
city employees just this week.
[58:02] The climate emergency work plan was our
prior climate action plan with 47
[58:06] actions across decarbonization and
resilience, many of which we're still
[58:11] executing today. In 2020, the Bureau of
Planning and Sustainability hired a
[58:16] consultant to build a decarbonization
pathways model to help understand what
[58:20] it would take to achieve the targets
adopted through the climate emergency
[58:23] declaration.
The purpose of the tool is to help
[58:27] policymakers and the public visualize
the scale and combinations of specific
[58:32] climate strategies needed to meet net
zero called pathways. This tool can
[58:37] model different reduction scenarios and
was recently aligned and updated with
[58:41] updated inventories and newly adopted
state policies. You can click on this
[58:46] link and play around with a lot of those
assumptions. It's a very powerful and
[58:49] really cool tool um that you can uh
offer various inputs into and see some
[58:55] of the challenges of what it's taking
all of us to try to reach net zero. The
[58:59] top line however is that net zero is
still possible by 2050.
[59:04] The change in the baseline trajectory
alone since the previous version of this
[59:07] pathway tool shows what can be achieved
with focused action, improved building
[59:12] energy codes and state level grid
decarbonization policy which have
[59:16] shifted the baseline dramatically
towards net zero. It'll take continual
[59:20] effort to ensure those goals are met,
but the near-term impacts are
[59:24] significant.
[59:27] Okay, I'm going to widen the lens here
for a moment. Everything so far has
[59:32] counted emissions produced inside Multma
Countyy's boundary. Consumption-based
[59:38] emissions count something entirely
different. The full life cycle impact of
[59:42] what Multimma County residents and
governments buy and use. That's
[59:46] materials, food, goods, services,
wherever in the world that production
[59:51] happens. That's increasingly important
in our globalized economy. Here you can
[59:56] see Multim County consumption-based
emissions compared to our local
[1:00:00] emissions.
In 2015, Portland was the first city in
[1:00:05] the world to publish a cityscale
consumption-based emissions inventory.
[1:00:10] This ven diagram is useful because it
shows the comparison in scale between
[1:00:15] Portland's two types of emissions
inventories while simultaneously telling
[1:00:21] the story of the impact of our
consumption globally.
[1:00:24] Total emissions are 20 million, but
sector-based emissions are only 7.1
[1:00:28] million compared to consumption-based
emissions at 18.8 million. This shows
[1:00:33] that 65% of our emissions resulting from
our consumption are not produced within
[1:00:39] our boundaries.
When looking at these emissions through
[1:00:42] a life cycle lens, it's clear that our
traditional methods of climate planning
[1:00:46] that focus solely on use and disposal
phase emissions are just far too
[1:00:51] limited. However, it's difficult to
reduce production phase emissions when
[1:00:55] most production occurs outside our city
boundaries. This challenge is heightened
[1:01:00] by continued outsourcing of
manufacturing and supply chains to other
[1:01:03] countries. And this requires us to use
both supply and demand side
[1:01:08] interventions, influencing production
supply chains where we can and
[1:01:12] addressing the demand for those products
when we can't. However, the city of
[1:01:16] Portland can use its own purchasing
power to shift demand. A great example
[1:01:20] of this is Portland's own lowcarbon
concrete procurement policy, which
[1:01:24] requires suppliers of concrete of for
city infrastructure projects to disclose
[1:01:29] carbon emissions and supply lower carbon
concrete, changing the local demand for
[1:01:34] lowcarbon concrete with our own
purchasing power.
[1:01:39] So, let's look at our consumption and
sector trends together.
[1:01:44] Consumption-based emissions are
increasing year-over-year as local
[1:01:48] emissions have declined. We are solving
one problem while a second larger one
[1:01:53] grows underneath it.
[1:01:58] Our net zero pathway is a modeled
scenario. It includes building
[1:02:02] electrification accelerating starting
now. Electric vehicle adoption climbing
[1:02:06] with all new passenger vehicles sold in
the state of Oregon being mandated to be
[1:02:11] electric by 2035.
heavyduty vehicle electrification
[1:02:15] beginning in 2027.
Renewable fuels replacing all fossil
[1:02:20] fuels that's left. Pardon
[clears throat] me. This all requires
[1:02:23] sustained state and local policy
starting now.
[1:02:28] Rapid action starting now is essential
to longerterm success and minimizing
[1:02:31] cumulative emissions.
Delaying action now means steeper cuts
[1:02:36] are required later to achieve Portland's
necessary climate goals, which on the
[1:02:40] one hand will potentially increase the
cost and disruptiveness of necessary
[1:02:43] climate actions, and on the other hand,
will lower the chances of meeting the
[1:02:47] 2050 goal.
The difference in cumulative emissions
[1:02:50] if the city takes action now versus
waiting until 2030 could result in more
[1:02:54] than 15 million tons of additional GHG
emissions more than 25% higher than
[1:02:59] cumulative emissions under the rapid
action net zero scenario.
[1:03:06] And so that brings me to the work
required of us to meet that challenge. I
[1:03:10] want to highlight findings from the city
auditor's recent climate justice audit.
[1:03:13] The audit found that while in Portland
has committed to climate justice,
[1:03:17] significant gaps remain in implementing
effective strategies to follow through
[1:03:20] on our climate commitments. The audit
had five recommendations in response.
[1:03:26] One, the city needs clear central
authority to guide and coordinate
[1:03:29] climate policy across bureaus for
consistent climate action and
[1:03:32] prioritization. My role was elevated in
our new form of government to help
[1:03:36] address this. Two, we need to consider
climate cost considerations. City
[1:03:42] Administrator Lee responded that we need
to coordinate climate budgeting in our
[1:03:45] next climate action plan which also
required required by C40, one of the
[1:03:50] global networks that we're associated
with
[1:03:53] alongside the Portland Clean Energy
Fund's next climate investment plan and
[1:03:57] the city budget office. Our next climate
action plan does plan to address this.
[1:04:02] Three, we need to integrate climate
adaptation and mitigation. And I want to
[1:04:07] spend a moment here because this is
where I think we've actually been
[1:04:09] incomplete. Everything I've shown you so
far is just mitigation, reducing the
[1:04:14] emissions that we produce. But even if
Portland hit net zero tomorrow, we would
[1:04:18] still face the heat, fire, and flooding
risk already locked in by a um by a
[1:04:22] century of global emissions. Our next
climate plan must reduce emissions and
[1:04:26] prepare Portlanders for the impacts
already coming. Resilience is not a nice
[1:04:31] to have alongside mitigation. It's the
other half of the same obligation, and
[1:04:36] our next plan treats it that way.
Four, we need to develop a
[1:04:41] prioritization framework for the next
climate action plan. As part of the
[1:04:45] development for the next climate action
plan, we are working with staff, subject
[1:04:48] matter experts, and the city's
performance lab to accomplish this.
[1:04:52] And five, community is a critical
partner, especially our frontline
[1:04:57] communities in all aspects of climate
work. We're currently working on a
[1:05:01] citywide climate engagement strategy
which will include engagement for the
[1:05:04] next climate action plan and PAF's next
CIP to ensure we're meeting community
[1:05:10] priorities.
[1:05:15] The Sustainability and Climate
Commission has already taken up the
[1:05:17] charge to identify near-term climate
actions that the city can take while
[1:05:20] we're developing the next climate action
plan. You'll hear from the co-chairs of
[1:05:25] the policy and implementation committee
in describing the touch points council
[1:05:28] can anticipate in the CAP development.
And you can expect to hear from the
[1:05:33] policy implementation committee when
their first recommendation is ready.
[1:05:38] I want to address three areas where we
can take near-term action on resilience.
[1:05:43] The climate change risk assessment
identifies heat as one of our most
[1:05:47] urgent threats. We expect roughly 6060
days each year with a heat index above
[1:05:54] 80° F. That's 3 weeks more than in the
past. We're also looking at increases of
[1:06:01] 9 to 11 days of extreme fire danger.
Earlier this year, as part of another
[1:06:06] panel in front of this committee, I
emphasized the opportunity to align our
[1:06:11] energy and resilience strategies. That
could look like adopting carbon
[1:06:15] performance and cooling standards for
buildings to become more resilient to
[1:06:19] hotter days.
Advancing resilient hubs citywide,
[1:06:24] adopting a smart surfaces approach,
which means investing in trees, solar,
[1:06:29] reflective, and permeable surfaces, cool
roofs that can reduce urban heat, save
[1:06:34] energy, and lower long-term costs.
[1:06:39] Another idea is the municipal energy
strategy because Oregon is at a critical
[1:06:43] juncture in the energy transition
because of landmark statewide
[1:06:45] legislation over the last several years.
These developments require a fresh look
[1:06:50] and a reframing of energy policy and
practices at the local level. At the
[1:06:54] same time, PAF is helping to reshape the
local landscape for clean energy
[1:06:58] investments.
The city of Portland has several key
[1:07:02] roles in this transition. As a leader in
lowering carbon emissions from our own
[1:07:06] operations,
as an energy consumer and rateayer, as
[1:07:11] an advocate at statewide legislative and
regulatory tables, and as an investor in
[1:07:16] clean energy projects and energy justice
communities. A first step in this
[1:07:20] strategy is to invest in a centralized
energy management information system for
[1:07:25] city facilities to track energy usage,
identify energy saving opportunities,
[1:07:31] and lay the foundation for a connected
network of city facilities.
[1:07:35] Long-term, integrate sophisticated
energy management controls to operate
[1:07:40] city facilities as resilience hubs and
as a connected micro grid and virtual
[1:07:45] power plant.
[1:07:48] And as I mentioned earlier, climate
budgeting. [clears throat and snorts]
[1:07:51] Climate budgeting is an iterative
process which which embeds climate
[1:07:55] targets and considerations into
decision-making on policies, actions,
[1:07:59] and budgets. Findings from cities that
have already successfully implemented
[1:08:03] climate budgeting, such as Oslo and New
York City, show that climate budgeting
[1:08:08] is most effective when treated not as an
environmental add-on, but as a reform of
[1:08:13] public financial management, translating
climate goals into actionable fiscal
[1:08:18] strategies.
Staff are working on a proposal on
[1:08:22] climate budgeting pilot for the next
fiscal year.
[1:08:28] So, while the Sustainability and Climate
Commission is working on near-term
[1:08:32] actions, they're also developing the
next climate action plan with an immense
[1:08:35] amount of support from staff. I'm
leading executive leadership input, and
[1:08:39] this includes the mayor, city
administrator, all DCAs, bureau
[1:08:43] directors, and ultimately I'll be
bringing the climate action plan to the
[1:08:46] council for adoption.
The project lead, Ela Visa Livingstone,
[1:08:50] is working with staff teams and the
sustainability and climate commission
[1:08:53] under my direction. I want to say a word
about PA here because while I do know
[1:08:58] that council understands that program
separately, but it's worth connecting
[1:09:01] the dots here. PEF's climate investments
are directly capacitating and
[1:09:06] accelerating this work. The next climate
action plan and PAF's next climate
[1:09:11] investment plan must be coordinated to
deliver on our climate and community
[1:09:14] commitments. And this includes
coordination across priorities,
[1:09:18] implementation, and climate budgeting.
The sustainability and climate
[1:09:23] commission beginning in October will
host eight workg groupoup sessions each
[1:09:27] month for a year to develop the next
climate action plan. The commission is
[1:09:31] public facing and they'll be offering
the um the role of vetting and is
[1:09:36] ultimately the steering committee for
the cap process. They will also lead
[1:09:40] community engagement.
[1:09:44] These are the eight focus areas which
are tied to our sources of emissions and
[1:09:47] community needs. I'm not going to spend
more time on this slide. is a lot of
[1:09:51] words. Um, but it's just to serve as a
resource for you. I would now like to
[1:09:56] invite the co-chairs of the
sustainability and climate commission to
[1:10:00] discuss city council touch points.
>> Thank you.
[1:10:05] » Welcome. Thank you both for being here.
And if you want to go ahead and
[1:10:08] introduce yourselves and jump right in,
we'd appreciate hearing from you.
[1:10:12] » Sure. Thank you, CSO Vivian. Uh, for the
record, my name is Vivc Shandis. I
[1:10:17] co-chair the uh, policy and
implementation committee. I use hehim
[1:10:21] pronouns and um I'm here I'm here to
talk a little bit about the CAP. Uh the
[1:10:26] commission spent its summer working on
the CAP work plan and deliberating
[1:10:32] district specific recommendations and
considerations. We're already reached
[1:10:37] out we've already reached out to council
uh to offer our time and discuss work
[1:10:41] plan the district considerations and
we're trying to understand the
[1:10:45] priorities for the next cap. Um, I
really we all really appreciate your
[1:10:51] generous generosity with the time and
and um meeting with us uh for these
[1:10:56] discussions. Later this month, the
commission will hear from staff about
[1:10:59] climate change risk assessment so we can
provide our input. This report will be
[1:11:03] finalized this fall and we highly
recommend that committee invite CSO
[1:11:08] Viviian to brief you on this. Uh I'll
pass it over to co-chair charity um to
[1:11:13] close us out.
>> Thank you co-chair VC. For the record,
[1:11:16] my name is co-chair Charity Feain. I use
she her pronouns and I am also the
[1:11:21] co-chair of the policy and
implementation committee of the
[1:11:24] sustainability and climate commission.
In the spring, the commission will begin
[1:11:30] community engagement on the next climate
action plan. You will hear from us and
[1:11:35] we hope we can activate your pathways to
engage your constituents and we will
[1:11:40] invite you to key engagement events
later in 2027. The commission will host
[1:11:46] a a CAP discussion draft for public
comment. This is outside of the council
[1:11:51] public comment period. We hope to again
capture your input at this point so that
[1:11:57] it can be integrated into the draft that
we will submit to you for adoption.
[1:12:03] At any time, we welcome
sessions with you to co-create this
[1:12:08] plan. and 2028 council will hopefully
adopt the plan along with the climate
[1:12:14] budgeting. We hope all engagement
leading up to that time will incorporate
[1:12:19] your and your constituents constituents
concepts and desires in a plan that will
[1:12:25] be implementable.
The commission and CSO Viven will hand
[1:12:29] you a prioritized plan. We'll do the
work and we need you to fund it. By
[1:12:36] virtue of the decisions you make, you
will make this plan real.
[1:12:43] And that concludes our presentation.
Thank you. Colleagues, we're running a
[1:12:48] little bit behind, but I want to make
sure we have a few minutes for
[1:12:50] questions. Does anybody have questions
for Vivian or for our uh for our
[1:12:57] co-chairs?
[clears throat]
[1:13:02] » Okay. Um I will just ask a quick
question which is it sounds like we'll
[1:13:10] be hearing more on the the process for
council engagement and the timeline
[1:13:16] there. Uh but are there
specific things we should be preparing
[1:13:21] for now as counselors to make sure that
we are ready to engage with you all and
[1:13:26] to have conversations about the plan as
you uh sit down with our offices.
[1:13:32] Appreciate the question, Chair Pearl
Guinea. Um, we believe that through your
[1:13:37] this unique form of government in which
you have the connections with and
[1:13:40] representation by district, um, that the
touch points will really be any sort of
[1:13:44] engagement that you already are having
in district. Um, and we encourage open
[1:13:49] lines of communication to let us know
how we can be invited uh to to help
[1:13:53] table or to help um be in attendance in
order to hear those uh climate
[1:13:58] discussions if they do come up um in
those district specific engagements and
[1:14:02] also the direct outreach that the
sustainability and climate commissioners
[1:14:05] have already been doing to district
offices um to meet one-on-one to help uh
[1:14:10] create those um feedback loops.
>> Great. So it sounds like as well as the
[1:14:13] work with us, there's an opportunity to
partner on some of the outreach in our
[1:14:16] districts, which absolutely is probably
important for us to take you up on
[1:14:20] pretty quickly here before you get too
much further down the work that you're
[1:14:24] doing.
>> Correct. It's also the benefit of having
[1:14:25] a 20 person commission is that um these
are all incredible ambassadors for this
[1:14:30] work of developing the climate action
plan.
[1:14:32] » Great. Thank you so much. Um and I'll
just note because I look like I'm alone
[1:14:36] up here. Councilors Mario and Avalos are
online and watching and listening and
[1:14:42] with us in this meeting as well. So, we
do still have a committee quorum. Uh,
[1:14:47] thank you all for the presentation. I
know we're all looking forward to
[1:14:50] learning more about how we can take
specific actions to get us back on track
[1:14:54] at the city.
Our
[1:14:59] next presentation is on industrial
decarbonization and I'd like to call up
[1:15:03] Jules Bailey who is leading the clean
industry partnership. Senresa Cooper
[1:15:08] with the Bureau of Planning and
Sustainability. Kate Merrill with
[1:15:12] Prosper Portland. Mary Pavetto with
Neighbors for Clean Air. Corky Collier
[1:15:18] with the Columbia Corridor Association.
Randall Fzen with the Columbia Pacific
[1:15:22] Building Trades. and Beth Gilden from
Portland State University. And Jules,
[1:15:27] I'm not sure if we can fit everybody up
at once, but we can squeeze chairs or if
[1:15:30] you want to do it in two panels, that is
fine as well.
[1:15:33] » I think we'll hit you in waves, Madam
Chair. I think we'll start with this
[1:15:36] four and then bring up the closers.
>> Sounds good.
[1:15:39] » All right. Well, thank you for the
opportunity, Madam Chair. For the
[1:15:42] record, I'm Jules Bailey. And I guess
after the initial presentation here, I'm
[1:15:47] struck with the question, how do you
know when it's Geek Week in Portland? I
[1:15:51] grew up in Southeast Portland. It seems
like it's every day, but
[1:15:53] » every week is geek week and fore just
that for one week we bring all of the
[1:15:57] events into one space so it's easier to
find new things to go to.
[1:16:00] » I love it. I think the throughine here
actually with this presentation and I'm
[1:16:06] making my colleagues nervous here by
going off script, but uh is uh I'm
[1:16:11] reminded of the quote from Anthony
Bourdain uh when he said that Portland
[1:16:14] is a city of obsession and it's a place
where you can find what you're
[1:16:19] passionate about and dig in. And it's
something that I've been passionate
[1:16:23] about for a long time is the
intersection of how we solve our climate
[1:16:26] crisis and grow jobs. And I know that
that speaks for a lot of people here and
[1:16:30] how we make it good for the community as
well. And if we think back to just as
[1:16:34] recently as 2021, the business community
and community groups and climate
[1:16:40] activists and the city were at odds
about how we move forward as
[1:16:44] specifically on the issue of industrial
decarbonization. As you heard um from
[1:16:49] Vivian Satderfield's presentation,
indust industry in Portland is one of
[1:16:53] the tricky areas to decarbonize. You
have a lot of heavy industry. You have a
[1:16:58] lot of uh industries that are very
important to job creation to uh to our
[1:17:03] economic future and that also have as
part of their their work uh carbon
[1:17:08] emissions. And so how do you get in and
do that? And we took a page from an
[1:17:13] international model in Denmark that has
led the way in doing a public private
[1:17:20] partnership around industrial
decarbonization
[1:17:23] and taking that here and making it our
own and making it uniquely Portland is
[1:17:29] something that we've been able to do
because of the collaboration that's
[1:17:32] happened across a number of different
sectors. The Portland Metro Chamber has
[1:17:37] been a partner in this and has asked me
as well as the partners to be the
[1:17:41] initial executive director to help uh
get this effort off the ground and we're
[1:17:44] calling this effort uh the Portland
Partnership for Clean Industry. There's
[1:17:49] a lot of moving piece p pieces to this
and we're only at the beginning of the
[1:17:52] collaboration but it is remarkable and
it's the kind of collaboration that PF
[1:17:56] and I know we're not here to talk only
about PF but PF has has catalyzed uh
[1:18:01] this collaboration and that's because it
takes everyone together to grow industry
[1:18:06] while reducing carbon and other
pollution. The public sector, the
[1:18:10] private sector, community groups,
business groups, researchers, and labor.
[1:18:14] And really that's the Portland Clean
Energy Fund at its best. Uh the Portland
[1:18:18] Metro Chamber's Charitable Institute has
taken the baton to provide fiscal
[1:18:23] stability to the partnership at this
initial startup phase and with a stated
[1:18:27] commitment from the chamber to the goal
of meeting the carbon reduction targets
[1:18:30] in the city of Portland climate action
plan. So we could present to the
[1:18:35] committee for hours on this topic. Uh
we're all a bit obsessed with it, but
[1:18:39] we'll only get a chance to scratch the
surface today. and we're really glad you
[1:18:43] could take up this topic of clean
industry and we'd love to come back to
[1:18:47] talk to you many times to update you on
our progress and let you know uh what's
[1:18:51] going on. But for this particular
session, you're going to hear from each
[1:18:54] of the partners that's working together
to get dollars deployed quickly to bring
[1:18:58] down emissions and to spur innovation.
So, I'd like to turn it over to Senresa
[1:19:04] Cooper with the Bureau of Planning
Sustainability. She's going to talk
[1:19:07] about the industrial sector and how BPS
and PAF have seated this partnership.
[1:19:12] And then you'll hear from a number of
the other partners, both public and
[1:19:16] private, who are collaborating together
to make sure that we're getting dollars
[1:19:19] and resources where they need to be for
a good carbon and economic future.
[1:19:23] Senesa,
>> thank you. Uh good afternoon, chair and
[1:19:27] members of the committee. Thanks for
having us. Uh for the record, my name is
[1:19:30] Sona Cooper. I use she her pronouns and
I'm a member of the climate policy team
[1:19:35] at the Bureau of Planning and
Sustainability. And today I'm going to
[1:19:38] give a brief overview of the Clean
Industry Initiative and the Pacefind
[1:19:42] Industrial Modernization Grant.
[1:19:47] The Clean Industry Initiative is a
collaborative effort to reduce
[1:19:51] industrial carbon emissions, air
pollution, and waste while supporting
[1:19:55] equitable economic development and a
just transition for communities and
[1:20:00] industrial workers. This work started as
a pretty small partnership led by BPS,
[1:20:06] Prosper Portland, and Portland State
University. But over time, it's grown to
[1:20:10] encompass a much larger tent of people
and organizations that are all committed
[1:20:16] to a future vision of our industrial
sector.
[1:20:22] As you saw in Vivian's presentation,
industry comprises about 12% of our
[1:20:27] sector-based local sector-based
greenhouse gas emissions. And as Jules
[1:20:32] said, this these types of emissions are
hard to abate. Um, industrial carbon
[1:20:37] emissions require very expensive
solutions that may be new to the market
[1:20:42] or they're very complex uh customized
systems that are can be difficult for uh
[1:20:48] companies to secure.
Uh the city began working in earnest on
[1:20:53] industrial missions in 2020. We have
gotten a lot done in the last six years.
[1:20:59] In 2022, we conducted a landscape
analysis of our industrial sector. And
[1:21:04] that study told us what types of
manufacturing we have here in Portland,
[1:21:09] how much uh carbon those those types of
manufacturing produce, and priority
[1:21:14] areas that we should be focused on. That
study also looked at international best
[1:21:19] practices for clean industry. And what
we found is that around the world, the
[1:21:24] most successful projects took a
collaborative governance approach with
[1:21:28] partners from multiple sectors all
working towards a shared goal.
[1:21:33] In 2023, we received $300,000 from the
US Department of Energy to strengthen
[1:21:39] our relationships with industrial
businesses to identify potential
[1:21:43] projects and prepare them for coming
investment. And that led us to 2024 when
[1:21:49] the BPS climate team submitted a
competitive proposal to the PF
[1:21:54] collaborating for climate action funding
solicitation.
[1:21:57] That funding was intended for government
entities partnered with community
[1:22:01] coalitions to enact transformative
climate projects. We received $20
[1:22:06] million from that funding solicitation
to launch a firstofits-kind program that
[1:22:12] invests in industrial decarbonization
and community and economic benefits over
[1:22:17] a 5-year period.
And we're very excited to announce that
[1:22:22] next month we will be officially
launching that grant. It's called the
[1:22:26] Industrial Modernization Grant.
[1:22:31] Now I know that industry means a lot of
different things to Portlanders as we've
[1:22:37] heard as we've heard from you on the dis
as well as lots of the speakers here.
[1:22:41] The industrial sector is really
important here. It is a major employer.
[1:22:46] It's a driver of our local economy and
it has been that way for over a century.
[1:22:50] Portland is a manufacturing town. At the
same time, heavy industry has also been
[1:22:56] a source of harm and environmental
injustice to many communities living in
[1:23:00] Portland. So, any investments that we
make into this sector must contribute to
[1:23:05] the well-being of both our economy and
and our community.
[1:23:10] Every partner that you see on this slide
brings a different perspective,
[1:23:15] relationship, and expertise when it
comes to industry. What we all share
[1:23:19] though is a vision of a resilient
industrial economy that serves all
[1:23:23] Portlanders.
BPS climate team is the official grantee
[1:23:28] from PAF, but this program is jointly
led by a coalition of local government,
[1:23:34] economic development, environmental
justice, higher education, workforce
[1:23:39] development, and technical experts who
all bring a nuanced understanding of
[1:23:44] industry in Portland.
[1:23:49] And every every organization on that
last slide is connected to numerous
[1:23:53] other collaborators that are also
aligned with this work. The support from
[1:23:57] community- based organizations and
business stakeholders has been
[1:24:01] especially valuable in shaping the
program. What you see on this slide here
[1:24:05] is a very non-exhaustive list of some
other groups that have that are not
[1:24:10] directly funded by the program but who
have been involved in its development.
[1:24:14] We are constantly engaging with new
partners as the program comes to life
[1:24:18] and you will see this list change as the
work continues to grow. This is PA's
[1:24:24] first ever investment into industry and
we do not take that lightly whatsoever.
[1:24:29] As stewards of the funding, we
understand that we have a responsibility
[1:24:33] to uphold the principles of PUF through
these dollars and we can do that while
[1:24:37] also supporting economic development and
transformative climate action. Now I'll
[1:24:42] turn it over to Kate Merrill of Prosper
Portland.
[1:24:46] » Good afternoon chair and council
members. My name is Kate Merrill and I
[1:24:50] am the metals and machinery industry
liaison for Prosper Portland's business
[1:24:54] advancement team. [sighs and gasps] Our
team is part of the economic development
[1:24:58] department under the direction of Andrew
Fitzpatrick. We work alongside the
[1:25:03] office of small business and the
inclusive business resource network to
[1:25:07] ensure that Portland Portlanders have
access to quality jobs. Prosper
[1:25:13] Portland's business advancement team
focuses on supporting growing businesses
[1:25:17] that sell goods and services outside of
the region. Our assistance enables
[1:25:22] businesses to expand and invest in
Portland, creating more living wage
[1:25:27] jobs, growing an inclusive economy, and
maintaining and increasing the city's
[1:25:33] tax base. The manufacturers we support
include some of Portland's renowned food
[1:25:39] brands, knife producers, and ship makers
that are growing their businesses in
[1:25:43] Portland. Manufacturing creates access
to quality jobs and career pathways
[1:25:49] for uh Portlanders, including job
seekers seekers without a traditional
[1:25:55] four-year college degree.
This $20 million grant from PAF supports
[1:26:00] these manufacturers and industrial
facilities in modernizing their
[1:26:05] facilities and processes while
benefiting the community directly,
[1:26:09] reducing pollutants and reducing the
carbon emissions that are leading to
[1:26:14] climate change. The grant will also
leverage over $3.5 million in private
[1:26:19] private investment.
The industrial modernization grant which
[1:26:24] will be administered by Prosper Portland
will be granted in several rounds. This
[1:26:29] grant comes on the heels of the building
energy efficiency grant which is
[1:26:33] primarily targeted to small commercial
businesses and this has been
[1:26:38] administered successfully by prosper
Portland for PF over the last year. This
[1:26:44] first grant will round will launch in
October. Uh and it will be for energy
[1:26:50] saving and process improvement projects
up to 300,000 per grant. Um there will
[1:26:56] be additional rounds of larger grants
available beginning in early 2027.
[1:27:01] Uh there is a 25% match requirement on
all funding for businesses. And we will
[1:27:07] also have workforce and green building
policies in place that Prosper Portland
[1:27:12] implements for all construction over
$300,000
[1:27:15] to ensure fair and equal workforce
engagement and sustainable building
[1:27:20] standards.
The program design has been informed by
[1:27:24] the partners at this table and a cohort
of nonprofit environmental and community
[1:27:29] groups convened by neighbors for clean
air uh which Mary Pivido will um be pre
[1:27:35] presenting on in just a bit. [sighs]
Uh we have also solicited feedback from
[1:27:41] industry and community and we look
forward to working with all those
[1:27:45] partners as we develop guidelines for
the second round of funding next year.
[1:27:49] Uh the industrial modernization grant
reflects the values and goals of city's
[1:27:55] economic development plan advance
Portland and PF's objectives of
[1:28:00] decarbonization decarbonization
inclusive growth and innovation
[1:28:05] equitable wealth creation and
highquality green jobs. We look forward
[1:28:10] to sharing our progress with you and
I'll get back to Jules.
[1:28:14] » All right.
Go one more slide.
[1:28:20] it. This is actually really cool. And
just to editorialize for a second,
[1:28:23] Portland's a maker town. And
[clears throat] just through this
[1:28:25] effort, we've gotten to see a lot of
really amazing businesses that are doing
[1:28:30] very cool things that are putting
Portland on the map in a lot of targeted
[1:28:33] industries. The trick now is how do we
map dollars into those businesses to
[1:28:37] make sure that they're able to be
competitive by having efficient
[1:28:40] processes and lowering carbon emissions
at the same time. You can see this slide
[1:28:45] that's up there now and it talks a
little bit about the constellation
[1:28:47] that's around this Portland partnership
for clean industry. And just to make it
[1:28:51] clear, we have a large amount of the PAF
dollars that are going through Prosper
[1:28:56] for the decarbonization grants. We have
a little bit of dollars that are
[1:28:59] catalyzing this standup effort through
the Portland Partnership for Clean
[1:29:03] Industry. And the goal here is to take
those dollars and turn them into more
[1:29:08] through philanthropic partnerships,
through leveraged business investments,
[1:29:11] through other things so that we can take
seed money, stand up an organization
[1:29:16] that's independent, and be able to
deliver those dollars directly into
[1:29:19] projects in collaboration with
businesses to make them more
[1:29:22] competitive, to help them grow, and to
provide a model to the world that we can
[1:29:26] be proud of. You can go to the next
slide.
[1:29:29] So what we do is we have last mile
capital projects that are investable.
[1:29:35] What does last mile capital mean? The
good news is there's a lot of different
[1:29:39] layers of financing that are available
for some of these businesses. They might
[1:29:42] have private loans that might make it
work. They might have Energy Trust of
[1:29:46] Oregon incentives. There are other
grants and programs that Kaden Senesa
[1:29:50] talked about. where the PPCI can come in
is with a flexible uh final dollar that
[1:29:57] says, "Hey, we're going to take this
project to a place that it works for
[1:30:01] your business right now." And I can give
you a a specific example. Uh we're
[1:30:06] talking to one particular business right
now. I won't name it, but it's an
[1:30:09] industrial business um that's looking at
doing some fuel conversions from propane
[1:30:14] to electrical uh for some of its its
equipment and forklifts and using solar
[1:30:20] to power that uh electrical. That's a
great thing for that business. Uh it's
[1:30:25] going to make that business more
efficient and more competitive. It's
[1:30:27] also great for climate. It's expensive.
And so layering on all of those
[1:30:31] different incentives and then coming in
with those last mile dollars can take
[1:30:35] that kind of project from something that
hypothetically might be say a 15 or
[1:30:39] 16year payback down to something that
has a much more immediate return for
[1:30:43] those businesses and makes it viable to
be able to move forward. That's the kind
[1:30:47] of thing that we can document that we
can verify that we can show the
[1:30:50] emissions reduction and then we can take
that to philanthropy. We can take it to
[1:30:54] investors. We can take it to private
groups and say, "Hey, if you want to put
[1:30:57] your dollars here, we can deploy those
in a way that are going to make
[1:31:01] meaningful differences on the margins
for bringing down carbon for businesses
[1:31:05] in this sector that's hard to
decarbonize. So, the end goal here is an
[1:31:10] independent partnership where the public
and the private sectors channel this
[1:31:14] sort of highly leveraged capital from
philanthropy, business, and government
[1:31:18] into industrial projects that
traditional financing might not
[1:31:21] otherwise be able to make complete. And
it's that last mile dollar that makes
[1:31:25] good projects pencil that's that's
really special and attractive to
[1:31:28] missiondriven funders. So with the
initial PF investment, we'll have a few
[1:31:33] small pilots over the course of the next
uh couple of years. We'll be partnering
[1:31:38] really closely with Prosper Portland and
their $20 million and promoting that
[1:31:42] finding helping find businesses that can
take advantage of that. But we have a
[1:31:46] discreet discreet set of dollars. and
then we'll send projects to Prosper
[1:31:51] Portland while retaining the ability to
pursue nimble discrete opportunities of
[1:31:55] our own. So these roles are
complimentary and they're not
[1:31:58] duplicative. We're doing two different
things. So
[1:32:04] the the other opportunity here is to
make sure that we are uh having a high
[1:32:10] quality labor investment in these
projects and that we are uh operating
[1:32:14] them transparently. uh that we can do
marketverified success, we can attract
[1:32:19] more private and philanthropic capital
and we can work with our research
[1:32:22] partners to ensure that we're getting
the best and most robust and stickiest
[1:32:27] uh to use a phrase uh results over time.
You can go to the next slide.
[1:32:34] So essentially we have three years on
this grant and to prove the model and
[1:32:38] track new investments. So we're starting
with the build, the implement and then
[1:32:42] the grow. So the first year is about
building the infrastructure,
[1:32:45] establishing the board, the stakeholder
advisory group. We have a lot of
[1:32:49] different actors. You saw some of them
on the slide there, but there's a lot of
[1:32:52] people with a lot of deep expertise in
this in Portland. We have a great group
[1:32:57] of 30 plus individuals representing uh
public, private, nonprofit, and others
[1:33:02] that are informing this work and making
sure that we have both technical
[1:33:05] capacity and are connected to the
community.
[1:33:08] uh we're going to partner tightly with
Prosper Portland, bring in technical
[1:33:11] assistance and identify the investments.
Then year two is implementation. So we
[1:33:17] identify the projects in year one. Year
two we start to then say okay we can
[1:33:20] move these projects into funding and
implementation. And then year three is
[1:33:24] really about measurement, reporting,
telling the story and growing the pool
[1:33:28] with new investment and then starting
the cycle all over again. So the city
[1:33:33] can help us in in three practical ways.
Um, first, you've heard it on many
[1:33:39] things before, but I'll say it again.
Uh, coordinating permitting,
[1:33:43] infrastructure, utility, uh, just making
sure that all the bureaus are aligned on
[1:33:47] problem solving. We've seen the ability
of the city, uh, to move very quickly on
[1:33:51] some of these things. And so, getting
some of these things done and being in
[1:33:53] partnership with these businesses just
makes everything a lot easier and gets
[1:33:57] gets folks to Yes, a lot faster. Uh, we
just don't want them to stall between
[1:34:02] institutions. Uh second uh aligning city
funding and project pathways so that
[1:34:07] businesses can reach the correct pro
program without navigating the system
[1:34:11] alone and BPS and Prosper are doing
remarkable work uh on that and making
[1:34:16] sure that they're working directly
handinand glove with a lot of these
[1:34:19] businesses. It's very hightouch and it's
very effective. And then third, insist
[1:34:24] on transparent outcomes and independent
evaluation. Not only conventional
[1:34:29] economic development measures, but
carbon, pollution, public benefit,
[1:34:32] equity, community impact, and cost. And
that's one of the ways that we're
[1:34:36] partnering very directly with our
research partners who you'll hear from.
[1:34:40] So, we want to reinforce the operating
commitments here that as we're growing
[1:34:45] this sector of the economy that we're
also using the highest quality labor
[1:34:48] that's available. And the reality is we
want the job run the job done right the
[1:34:53] first time every time. Uh it doesn't
help anybody if these investments don't
[1:34:57] produce the kinds of savings that
they're supposed to uh produce. And so
[1:35:01] that's why we have a commitment to
working with really high quality labor
[1:35:05] to measure and report and then to use
these credible results to really market
[1:35:08] Portland as a place where industrial
businesses can grow while reducing
[1:35:12] pollution and emissions. So I want to
transition to some of those partners
[1:35:16] that I talked about. Now, we're gonna
first hear from Mary Peivo and then
[1:35:19] we'll bring up the next panel and you'll
hear from those as well. Mary,
[1:35:24] » thank you. Good afternoon. My name is
Mary Pivato, co-director of Neighbors
[1:35:29] for Clean Air. Thank you, Chair Purlei.
Thank you, Commorers
[1:35:35] here in the room and those who are with
us virtually. Um, I really am honored
[1:35:40] and appreciate the opportunity to speak
today about the community work that's um
[1:35:45] involved with the industrial
modernization grants. I want to say that
[1:35:49] it was a great honor um to be selected
as a partner in this and it was a
[1:35:56] terrifying responsibility to represent
community um in this work. Um BF adds
[1:36:03] another layer of scrutiny um and
accountability to community
[1:36:08] uh um and it's a huge opportunity. So I
I just want to speak a little bit to how
[1:36:14] community has been involved and engaged
and I will say that because of um the uh
[1:36:20] experience that I've had doing advocacy
work for over 15 years um in this area,
[1:36:26] I knew that you know you don't represent
community as one person. And we started
[1:36:31] our work almost from the get-go to do
over 25 individual conversations um with
[1:36:38] community organizations and other
leaders many of whom have been very
[1:36:42] involved with establishing peacef
helping you know um create uh that as
[1:36:47] well as doing ongoing very important
work. From that we narrowed it down to
[1:36:52] folks who were very interested um in
this uh work. There have been many
[1:36:56] community members who have been involved
over the years with the clean industry
[1:37:01] convening that have been happening
through the uh over the last five or six
[1:37:06] years. And we narrowed it down to a
collection of um individual
[1:37:12] organizations that we uh designate as
our co-design team, meaning very much
[1:37:16] that this is not a committee of folks
showing up reviewing information. This
[1:37:21] was very much intended to be a
collaborative working group that were
[1:37:25] going to come up with the community
benefits that we would um a list and and
[1:37:30] criteria that we would be passing on to
the other partners in the organization.
[1:37:35] So you'll see in this um group
collection of indivi individual
[1:37:40] organizations that's represented a lot
of different expertise and um uh I want
[1:37:47] to say we were not afraid to bring in
the skeptics and critics. In fact I feel
[1:37:52] very strongly that those voices should
be at the table and should really be
[1:37:55] helping inform us. Better to inform us
as we're creating than to just complain
[1:38:00] or crit um criticize later. So we have
really important voices and people that
[1:38:05] are involved in this that have very
strong um reputations uh in climate work
[1:38:12] um also in community work, workforce
development work uh particularly uh in
[1:38:17] BIPO populations and and communities. So
that was the intentionality around the
[1:38:22] the uh final decision around who the
codeesign team was was the different
[1:38:27] expertise that would all be at the table
informing and and sharing their thoughts
[1:38:31] with us. Um next slide. So I want to say
though that we also asked for one thing
[1:38:39] of people um other than general
interest. We asked and I really
[1:38:43] appreciated your talk about the um
optimism uh uh group um uh we asked for
[1:38:50] the same thing. And so we started out as
we um embarked on our meetings, we
[1:38:55] started out with actually getting
everybody to agree to one statement of
[1:39:00] purpose um in terms of what the group uh
was committed to doing. and that was
[1:39:05] that fundamentally they were optimistic
and confident that we could be
[1:39:08] successful that we can reduce carbon
emissions, we can support our local
[1:39:14] industry and economy and we can all do
that with meaningful community benefits
[1:39:19] and I thought that that optimism and
sense of purpose was critical to our
[1:39:25] success. Um and and so it was a very
important beginning point for us. So
[1:39:30] then we went through the process of
everybody bringing their interest and
[1:39:34] expertise. We learned a lot from
Prosper, from other partners to
[1:39:39] understand really the granting process,
what that takes. Um and so but we also
[1:39:44] wanted to figure out where can we
distinguish this from other grants that
[1:39:48] are already out there that are trying to
do sustainability work because we do
[1:39:52] believe that PF brings some additional
criterion and um requirements. So that
[1:39:58] was also we would work from what we
already understand about energy trust
[1:40:02] grants or B trust sustainability grants
and start to see where we could be
[1:40:07] additive to other granting to ensure
that PAF is really delivering another
[1:40:13] layer of value um to the community. So,
I will say after we've been through this
[1:40:18] and Prosper and the city and our
partners took on our benefit criteria to
[1:40:24] feed into this first trunch of money
that's coming out later this year. Um,
[1:40:29] we then actually revisited uh with
individual conversations what we called
[1:40:35] temperature checks of all the individual
participants, the community members that
[1:40:39] I showed you before. And out of that I
just want to give you you know with with
[1:40:43] you can um so out of that I just want to
give you an idea of where people are
[1:40:48] standing today of feeling they've
participated now in this collaborative
[1:40:52] for about 18 months and they haven't
seen any money go out the door yet in
[1:40:57] investments to industry but we wanted to
find out how they're feeling about it
[1:41:01] and I will say people are continue to
remain optimistic they continue to feel
[1:41:06] that they've been heard and that their
the community benefits can be embedded
[1:41:11] in this grant. And they're excited.
They're actually excited that if this is
[1:41:15] a real indication of what local um
industry leadership and business
[1:41:19] leadership is offering, they're excited
about this direction and they're eager
[1:41:24] to continue to work on it. That was the
other thing we asked because we've got
[1:41:27] as Jules laid out
three plus years ahead of us and they
[1:41:31] are continued to excited to be part of
this which I thought was really good.
[1:41:35] And I just want to share one quote from
one of the members because I thought
[1:41:39] this was a really great indication of
what they feel like the process has been
[1:41:42] to um uh to date and they were very
happy to be part of this process. They
[1:41:48] saw the uniqueness of it that it was
cross- sector. We did bring in all the
[1:41:53] partners, businesses and we really
shared information and people felt that
[1:41:58] that was very unusual to truly bring a
collaborative process forward that's
[1:42:03] values community input at the equal
level of the other inputs. And so I just
[1:42:09] thought that it was really important to
share that because again we are in the
[1:42:13] middle of process that is very hard for
community to sustain and I feel really
[1:42:17] really confident and great about um the
ongoing work here. So, thank you very
[1:42:21] much,
>> chair. With your leave, we'll bring up
[1:42:25] our other panel members, but we'll be
here if you have questions.
[1:42:28] » That's great. Thank you. And thank you
to the three of you for sharing
[1:42:33] information with us.
[1:42:39] » I know I'm up next because I like
following Mary. She's great to work
[1:42:42] with.
So is Beth. And
[1:42:46] I'm digging a hole here. I'm going to
stop. My name is Corky Collier,
[1:42:49] executive director of the Columbia
Corridor Association. A few months ago,
[1:42:53] I was introducing this program to a big
aluminum company in in the Columbia
[1:42:57] Corridor, and I talked about how carbon
reduction is good for business, and the
[1:43:01] plant manager interrupted me and said,
"I've got five big ovens venting heat
[1:43:05] into the air. Can we do something with
that?" I said, "Yeah, I think we can do
[1:43:10] something with that." And then there's
the food manufacturer in North Portland
[1:43:14] that's considering extracting starch
from their wash water for washing
[1:43:18] vegetables so they can reuse the water
more a little bit more before sending it
[1:43:22] to the sewage treatment plant. And then
a few months after that I'm having
[1:43:25] coffee with a landscape company and I
asked them if they could use water with
[1:43:30] starch and little bits of vegetable in
it to water plants. That would save the
[1:43:35] food manufacturer from sending waste
sending off waste water and the
[1:43:38] landscaper from buying fresh water. And
all of this saves carbon emissions.
[1:43:44] There's a thirst out there for
industrial decarbonization. We saw this
[1:43:48] with our with our Department of Energy
grant that Sunresa mentioned. She I
[1:43:52] don't think she mentioned that that
second place in the nation.
[1:43:56] People want to do this but they lack the
resources and the knowledge. There are
[1:44:01] some simple projects like electrical
connections for uh idling food delivery
[1:44:06] vehicles. And then there's the more
interesting projects like one I
[1:44:10] discussed with the silicon chip plant
about upgrading their heating and
[1:44:13] cooling systems with new equipment which
is tied into a district heating and
[1:44:18] cooling system for a nearby housing
project. These projects are based on
[1:44:23] partnerships which are based on trust.
This program is a tremendous step toward
[1:44:28] building those partnerships and making
those more complicated projects pencil
[1:44:32] out. And here's why this is important.
When we create projects with multiple
[1:44:37] partners, we get multiple carbon
reductions. Kind of a two for one sale.
[1:44:43] This program helps us create complex
projects that create jobs, reduce
[1:44:47] carbon, grow the economy, and improve
resilience. and maybe, just maybe, it'll
[1:44:54] make Portland the US leader in
industrial decarbonization.
[1:44:58] Thanks.
>> Awesome. Good afternoon, uh, Chair Purle
[1:45:02] Guinea. I'm Randall Fzen and also the
rest of the committee members, too.
[1:45:05] Thank you. Um, I'm Randall Freezen with
the Columbia Pacific Building Trades
[1:45:08] Council. Uh, we represent over 20,000
workers in the Portland Metropolitan and
[1:45:13] Southwest Washington region. Uh labor is
committed to the intersection of equity,
[1:45:19] economic growth, and sustainable
environment. PAF plays a critical role
[1:45:23] in catalyzing transformational projects,
and the funding is doing something
[1:45:27] remarkable here. A large portion of
dollars are going through Prosper
[1:45:30] Portland, which will help get big
projects going quickly. But there are
[1:45:35] also catalytic dollars going through the
new business Portland Partnership for
[1:45:38] Clean Industry. This innovative and this
is innovative and will put Portland on
[1:45:43] the map.
The PPCI is still identifying projects
[1:45:47] and organizing outside capital to match
and exceed PAP dollars, but it has
[1:45:52] already made commitments to use the best
quality labor possible. When investments
[1:45:56] in business reduce carbon, create
community benefits, and support good
[1:46:00] jobs, that's where Portland wins.
Quality labor means projects done right
[1:46:05] the first time, and more trust from
businesses that the investment will hold
[1:46:09] over time.
We look forward to partnering with the
[1:46:12] partnership as it rolls out as an
adviser, as part of the project
[1:46:15] pipeline, and as a resource for the
workforce that can make these projects
[1:46:19] the best they can be. Thank you for the
opportunity to voice our support for
[1:46:22] this important work today. Appreciate
it.
[1:46:26] » Hello. Thank you for having us. I'm
excited to speak with you. My name is
[1:46:30] Beth Gilden. I am the sustainability and
resilience partnership manager at the
[1:46:34] Center for Public Service at Portland
State and the lead for the clean
[1:46:37] industry initiative.
I've had the opportunity to work with
[1:46:41] the partners here through the PAF funded
industrial modernization grant program,
[1:46:46] but also the larger vision that
everybody's shared with you today. I
[1:46:50] believe that our vision bridging
alignment and bridging sectors and
[1:46:55] creating alignment across different
interests, a strategy driven by both
[1:46:59] values and expertise, a focus on genuine
collaboration and trust building, and
[1:47:05] critically following through to
implementation, we can pull off
[1:47:08] something truly transformational for
Portland.
[1:47:11] Portland State is contributing to this
larger vision by supporting effective
[1:47:15] collaboration, partnership alignment,
and identifying funding pathways to
[1:47:19] implement projects that support our
shared goals. We're also asking what the
[1:47:23] Clean Industry Initiative is producing
for the community. Successful
[1:47:27] implementation means dedicating real
resources here, prioritizing this work
[1:47:32] over other choices, and being strategic
about where we invest. That's something
[1:47:37] we would not want to do without
measurement and evaluation.
[1:47:40] The typical ways we measure success in
economic development or carbon
[1:47:44] accounting might not fit here. Those
measures are useful, but they don't
[1:47:48] necessarily tell us whether we're
reaching our complex goals or producing
[1:47:52] a real public value.
So, as part of our work, we're asking
[1:47:57] what are the actual public benefits, who
benefits, what are the equity and
[1:48:01] environmental implications, what are the
costs, and how do we know what
[1:48:05] adjustments to make along the way? My
colleagues in PSU's economics and public
[1:48:10] administration departments are
developing a program to help answer
[1:48:13] those questions.
From the university perspective, their
[1:48:16] role is to provide an independent look
at programs costs, benefits, and
[1:48:20] outcomes. And they provide feedback to
us about where we are achieving and
[1:48:24] where we might need to improve our work.
Their work draws on academic expertise,
[1:48:29] but it's grounded in data from the
industrial modernization grant and other
[1:48:33] work they were doing and uses a
transparent methodology to describe the
[1:48:37] impacts. As this initiative expands, the
Portland State role can grow to support
[1:48:43] related regional scale research
questions, invest in talent development,
[1:48:46] and be a resource for technical
challenges presented by decarbonization
[1:48:50] and energy transition. If we get this
right, we will demonstrate how to build
[1:48:54] a distinctly Portland model of economic
development that aligns the city,
[1:48:59] businesses, community based
organizations, and academia around
[1:49:02] shared goals. We will deliver on our
environmental values and provide an
[1:49:07] example that other cities can learn
learn from and we can be proud of in
[1:49:11] Portland.
[1:49:15] » Madam Chair, I know we are o over time
and I said at the beginning that we
[1:49:19] could talk for hours about this. We
could. There's so much to talk about
[1:49:21] here and we look forward to coming back
and talking with this committee as much
[1:49:24] as possible and keeping you updated. And
with that, we'll conclude the
[1:49:27] presentation. Thank you so much for
allowing us to present.
[1:49:31] » Thank you all for being a part of the
conversation today. I do want to move us
[1:49:35] toward a quick break, but committee
members, are there any uh quick
[1:49:40] questions that we need to ask now before
we move on and then uh come back to it
[1:49:45] in committee discussion later?
>> Will the panel members be here after the
[1:49:49] break? Do you have at least a few people
who are able to stay to the end?
[1:49:53] » Yes.
>> Okay.
[1:49:54] » Thanks.
>> Perfect. Thank you. And I just want to
[1:49:57] highlight before we take a break the
emphasis that I heard through many
[1:50:01] speakers on equity and making sure that
this is not only the alignment of
[1:50:06] environmental and economic, but that we
get that third E of equity and our
[1:50:10] impact as well. I think having all three
of those values coming together in this
[1:50:15] work is is part of the critical sweet
sauce. I want to thank you Vivian for
[1:50:20] our one meeting about the big picture. I
feel listened to that I wanted to really
[1:50:24] see cross collaboration. Um usually this
doesn't happen and that's why we're not
[1:50:29] getting the results that we need. So
it's hard but it's necessary. Thank you.
[1:50:35] » Okay. Thank you all. We are going to
take a 10 minute break. We will be back
[1:50:41] here at 3:55 to hear from our final two
panels and then have time for a quick
[1:50:48] council discussion about what some next
steps might be for us to take. With
[1:50:52] that, we will take a quick break. Thank
you.
[1:50:56] [music]
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[1:52:19] » Hat.
[music] Boom.
[1:52:30] » [music]
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[1:52:43] » Okay.
[1:52:46] [music]
[1:52:50] Hey,
[music]
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[1:53:03] » Hello.
[1:53:10] [music]
[1:53:14] Heat.
[1:53:19] » [music]
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>> Next time
[1:53:55] » [music]
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[1:54:30] » Heat. Heat.
[1:54:57] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey.
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[1:56:53] » All
[1:57:12] right.
[1:57:40] Heat. Heat.
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[1:58:52] » Heat. Heat. N.
[1:59:13] Heat. Heat.
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[2:01:20] » Thank you all for giving us that quick
break. We are going to get started again
[2:01:24] as soon as we have a quorum back of
committee. To that end, councilors Murio
[2:01:28] and Avalos, do I have either or both of
you back yet?
[2:01:34] » Yes, I'm here.
>> Fantastic. And counselor Avalos. So, we
[2:01:38] have a quorum back. We are going to go
ahead and jump right into our third
[2:01:44] presentation today with Jason Lewis,
executive director for the climate
[2:01:48] optimists. And I know councelor Ryan
will be back momentarily. Uh thank you
[2:01:52] all for bearing with us for a quick
break and Jason go right ahead. Thank
[2:01:57] you.
>> We tried to make it happen during the
[2:02:02] climate committee and so then the change
of committees. So appreciate this is
[2:02:06] coming to fruition.
So briefly [clears throat] uh as
[2:02:10] mentioned I'm the executive director of
climate optimists. Uh we're a Portland
[2:02:14] based organization focused on educating
people on climate solutions and ways to
[2:02:19] advance those solutions.
uh through a number of mediums uh
[2:02:23] podcast, newsletter, uh events, etc. Um
you know, I this topic in terms of
[2:02:29] climate change in Portland is is special
to me. I'm a native Oregonian. Uh grew
[2:02:34] up on a farm in the northeast corner of
the state and have spent uh 20 years of
[2:02:38] my career working in the energy sector
in various capacities uh including
[2:02:43] building wind farms in in the US and
Canada.
[2:02:48] So, I know we've talked about this a
little bit already, but I think it's
[2:02:52] worth uh just stepping back and talking
about, you know, a case for a bolder
[2:02:56] climate response. Um, I think first and
foremost, this is something that matters
[2:03:01] to Portlanders. Uh, the data I have here
are from uh Multma County. Um, but as
[2:03:09] you can see, you've got roughly 80% of
Portlanders that are worried and want to
[2:03:15] see us hit that net zero mark by 2050.
Um, in addition, while [clears throat]
[2:03:20] most people feel like, you know,
addressing climate change falls to state
[2:03:25] and national, um, still twothirds of
people feeling like local officials
[2:03:30] should be doing more. And I would argue
that's all the more important given the
[2:03:34] current administration and the the roll
backs that we're seeing.
[2:03:40] As we all know, impacts are worsening.
Um I think it's worth just calling out
[2:03:44] some of the events that we've seen so
far just this year. Uh know someone
[2:03:48] mentioned the tragic events in Nepal
earlier. Um there was heavy flooding in
[2:03:54] India that resulted in 50 deaths and
700,000 folks displaced. uh in Europe uh
[2:04:01] the extreme heat there has led to 35,000
heat related deaths and and if we look
[2:04:07] more locally uh even in Oregon we had a
record low snowpack this year which not
[2:04:13] surprisingly led to a record wildfire
season uh that is still continuing
[2:04:20] but you know I think the most important
point to be made here is that is that
[2:04:24] transformation is possible and you know
as somebody who is kind of engrossed in
[2:04:28] this a climate geek, if you will. Um,
it's fun to see all the progress being
[2:04:33] made in other places in the world. Um,
the EU, for instance, just this year hit
[2:04:38] a milestone where they produced uh 50%
of their electricity from renewables,
[2:04:43] which is pretty outstanding.
The city of Paris has been diligently
[2:04:48] working on getting more folks on bikes
and was able to double their numbers to
[2:04:52] 11% of trips by bike uh in just the last
couple years.
[2:04:58] And China we all think of as a leader in
EVs and no doubt uh 50% of new car sales
[2:05:04] there are now electric. Uh for context
the US it sits at about 7%. So we've got
[2:05:10] ways to go.
And then finally uh the city of Boston
[2:05:14] last year uh became the first city in
the US um to require that all new
[2:05:19] buildings are net zero carbon upon
opening which is which is pretty
[2:05:23] dramatic.
So, what's a win-win climate
[2:05:28] opportunity? First and foremost, uh it
provides multiple benefits. I think the
[2:05:34] focus with climate solutions tends to
get caught up in just reducing
[2:05:37] emissions. But the reality is that in
many cases, climate solutions also
[2:05:42] provide health benefits. They help with,
you know, road safety. They uh help with
[2:05:47] affordability. And I think it's
important not to lose sight of those
[2:05:50] things.
I think it's also important to have
[2:05:55] climate actions that provide a a high
return on investment. Um the reality is
[2:05:59] that money is always finite and we want
to ensure that gets stretched uh to its
[2:06:03] maximum.
[2:06:06] In addition, win-win opportunities
should build momentum. Uh we need to
[2:06:11] close a gap and so having things that
help get the ball rolling is is really
[2:06:16] essential. And then finally, um, in our
context here, we're talking about things
[2:06:22] that that address policy gaps. Uh,
there's obviously a lot of great work,
[2:06:26] um, underway in city bureaus and with
PAF. Um, some of these concepts we're
[2:06:31] floating are just things where we see
additional opportunity.
[2:06:37] So, the first one we wanted to talk
about uh is reducing bike town rates.
[2:06:42] Um, I don't know how many folks have
been on a bike town bike in the last
[2:06:46] year. Um, but I can tell you that it's
not cheap. Um, Lyft, the operator has
[2:06:51] raised rates a couple times and we are
now at the upper end of the range. Uh,
[2:06:55] looking at some of the cities we
examined, um, we think reducing those
[2:07:00] rates could not only bring about some
modest emission [clears throat]
[2:07:03] reductions, but more importantly really
help encourage more people to get on
[2:07:07] bikes. Um, you know, you have one good
ride on a bike that, you know, leads to
[2:07:12] the next and then hopefully, you know,
those sort of things becoming habits.
[2:07:16] Um, with high gasoline prices, I think
having a good way to get around by bike
[2:07:20] also helps with transportation
affordability.
[2:07:23] Um, in addition to helping with local
air quality, health outcomes, and
[2:07:28] reducing traffic congestion.
In each of these, we were sort of asked
[2:07:33] to come up with a kind of hypothetical
scenario. Um, with reducing bike town
[2:07:38] rates, we said, well, what if we were to
uh cut the rates by 75% and that led to
[2:07:45] a 50% increase. What would that mean?
Uh, in the context of emissions, uh,
[2:07:51] we'd be talking about roughly 400,000
more miles traveled by bike per year in
[2:07:56] the city than by car. um and you'd have
a revenue shortfall you'd have to fill
[2:08:01] uh roughly 60%.
[2:08:07] Uh second opportunity uh we wanted to
highlight is kind of an expansion of
[2:08:12] car-free zones. Um there are some small
blocks, you know, each folks probably
[2:08:18] has some in their neighborhood where,
you know, been closed off to cars. Some
[2:08:21] of that, you know, because of COVID. Um
we also have a green loop project that
[2:08:26] many of you are probably aware about. Um
but we want to see you know basically
[2:08:31] car-free zones uh at scale and the
reason for that um admittedly carfree
[2:08:37] zones are not going to yield direct
emission reductions at least not very
[2:08:42] measurable. Um but I think critically
they demonstrate the value of having
[2:08:47] areas without vehicles. And when you
talk about having to build the cycling
[2:08:52] and pedestrian infrastructure we need to
move folks around, um it's important to
[2:08:57] have the community at large be
supportive of those sort of
[2:09:00] improvements.
In our case, uh you know, having
[2:09:03] car-free zones downtown offers the
potential to revitalize things, right?
[2:09:08] Uh becomes, you know, and attract
attract locals down, attract tourists.
[2:09:13] Um in addition to providing you know
other again health and air quality
[2:09:17] benefits
[2:09:20] in in terms of scenarios here uh the
most obvious one for us uh is to
[2:09:25] accelerate the green loop buildout. Um
it's my understanding it's been in
[2:09:30] planning since at least 2018
uh now going on roughly a decade. Um,
[2:09:36] and so, you know, looking to some of
these other car-free zone projects,
[2:09:40] while it's hard to compare apples to
apples, uh, the the photo here of a
[2:09:45] street in Vienna, um, their major
shopping district, uh, basically started
[2:09:51] in 2011 as a concept and in 2015 was
implemented. And so, we think being able
[2:09:57] to accelerate that Green Loop project
could bring big benefits.
[2:10:04] Uh the third opportunity we wanted to
touch upon uh is focused on expanding EV
[2:10:08] charging at rental properties. Um we
recognize that, you know, one of the
[2:10:13] biggest impediments to owning an EV is
having access to charging. As a EV owner
[2:10:18] myself, uh I can't say I, you know, want
to be having to travel around and to try
[2:10:22] to charge at high-speed charging. It's
far more expensive. Um, as far as the
[2:10:27] current state is concerned, we do have
good EV ready requirements for new
[2:10:31] construction. Um, but access to charging
at rental properties is very limited.
[2:10:37] Um, and while PF does accept grants for
charging, um, there have been limited
[2:10:43] sort of dollars out there so far.
[2:10:48] Of course, benefits. Everybody who
purchases an electric vehicle, uh, that
[2:10:52] results in direct emission benefits for
the city. Um, it also having charging
[2:10:56] removes a key ownership barrier for
people who might not [clears throat]
[2:11:00] otherwise consider buying an EV. And you
know, while we tend to focus on or hear
[2:11:05] the media focus on the price of EVs,
luxury EVs, uh, the reality is
[2:11:10] purchasing a used EV, the cost of
ownership is is at the is at the end of
[2:11:15] the spectrum, right? It's some of the
cheapest driving you can do is in a is
[2:11:19] in a used EV, especially with $5 gallon
of gasoline.
[2:11:26] As far as a potential scenario is
concerned, um you know, we envision
[2:11:30] something like an incentive program that
leads to say, you know, a thousand
[2:11:34] additional charging ports spread
throughout the city and in turn, you
[2:11:39] know, seeing two EVs for every charging
port that's put in. Uh in that scenario,
[2:11:45] we'd be looking at, you know, the
equivalent of taking roughly 1500 cars
[2:11:49] off the road. um and a financial impact
if looking at incentives that we looked
[2:11:54] at in New York um probably around $3
million price tag.
[2:12:02] And not to leave out buildings, uh our
final opportunity uh is really about
[2:12:07] focusing on incentivizing greener new
housing. Um the city is obviously in the
[2:12:12] midst of trying to increase housing
supply. Um, we feel like it'd be a huge
[2:12:17] missed opportunity if those new housing
units aren't fully electric and high
[2:12:22] efficiency.
[clears throat] Excuse me.
[2:12:26] Um, PAF does have dollars.
[clears throat] PA does have dollars uh
[2:12:30] that they're, you know, have available
for um affordable housing, you know,
[2:12:35] complexes 20 units and above. Um, but
when you start talking about incentives
[2:12:39] beyond that, they're they're pretty
nominal.
[2:12:44] Uh obviously the benefits of having a
you know a greener new housing stock is
[2:12:49] direct emission reductions. Uh I think
maybe equally important it improves
[2:12:54] housing affordability. When we talk
about utility rates going up that
[2:12:58] trajectory is not set to change and so
you know having a home that consumes
[2:13:03] less energy means less out-of- pocket
money for future tenants and and
[2:13:07] homeowners.
And then you know additionally you know
[2:13:12] having a home that operates on electric
you improve air quality internally and
[2:13:17] you know the benefit of doing this with
new housing is as you can imagine it's
[2:13:21] far more expensive to come back later
and and try to do this um to existing
[2:13:25] buildings.
[2:13:29] As far as the scenario is concerned, um
given that our existing, you know, kind
[2:13:33] of housing supply, uh new units coming
out about 5,000 a year, we said, well,
[2:13:39] you know, in an ideal world, 90, you
know, 90% of those would be fully
[2:13:43] electric and high efficiency.
Um admittedly, [clears throat] when we
[2:13:47] started to go down the path of trying to
estimate emissions and costs for those,
[2:13:51] um you really need more data in order to
do that. Um, and partially it's about
[2:13:56] deciding what kinds of incentives need
to be put forth. You know, is it
[2:14:00] streamlining permitting? Is it, you
know, property tax abatement? Is it cash
[2:14:05] incentives, etc. But do feel like
there's a a big opportunity there.
[2:14:13] So, uh, in summary, win-win climate
actions improve affordability and
[2:14:18] livability in the city. I think it's
really important as we're looking at
[2:14:21] climate actions to to remember that this
isn't just about reducing emissions.
[2:14:25] These things come with other benefits.
Um, and it's about building momentum.
[2:14:30] You know, we have an emissions gap to
close and having things that we can do
[2:14:34] that give us some of that incremental
progress while we're getting to the more
[2:14:38] transformative actions uh I think is
really essential. Um and so sort of
[2:14:44] leaving you with a kind of high level
recommendations uh from us, I think, you
[2:14:48] know, and we heard some of this here
today, but recommitting to the 2030
[2:14:52] targets, you know, if we're going to
achieve them, I think everybody needs to
[2:14:54] be on board with the the work that
that's going to take. Um establishing
[2:15:00] climate metrics, uh not just metrics for
tracking the progress of an action, but
[2:15:04] also metrics for helping us select our
climate actions. again like there's a
[2:15:10] lot of potential solutions out there. Um
they're not all, you know, apples to
[2:15:15] apples. Some of them are far more
expensive for the amount of mission
[2:15:18] reduction that they generate.
And then, you know, our, you know, I
[2:15:23] guess challenge to you would be to pick
some actions in the next year and find
[2:15:27] some you can refine and and implement
while the the broader climate action
[2:15:31] plan is is being formed. And you know,
at the end of the day, we we need a high
[2:15:37] level strategy. The beauty is with uh
with climate action um we know what the
[2:15:42] solutions are. It's just a matter of
figuring out about how best to to
[2:15:45] implement those solutions. So
>> thank you so much and thank you for in
[2:15:51] bringing these forward having that that
section there about what this could
[2:15:57] actually look like and what the impact
would be and what the cost would be.
[2:16:00] Being able to really see those tradeoffs
spelled out as we think about some of
[2:16:04] these proposals is helpful. Of course.
>> Colleagues, any other quick questions?
[2:16:10] » Councelor Ryan.
>> Well, [clears throat] you use the word
[2:16:13] quick. Can you tell me why?
>> Uh, we have about five minutes left for
[2:16:18] this presentation before we move to our
youth commission representatives.
[2:16:22] » Okay, great.
>> And so, I just don't want a a meandering
[2:16:25] 10-minute uh response to any of the
proposals.
[2:16:30] Well, it's too bad we don't have more
time right now because I was listening
[2:16:35] to the whole thing and it was really
fascinating. So, I'll just get rid of my
[2:16:39] notes and look at Vivian. I think if you
came up that'd be helpful.
[2:16:42] » We'll have time for discussion on all
the presentations at the end. We still
[2:16:46] have one more presentation.
>> Sorry.
[2:16:48] » This is for quick questions specific.
>> You commission is connected. Of course,
[2:16:50] it's not a separate presentation. Yes.
>> All right.
[2:16:53] » I um I stand corrected. So, thank you
and I can't wait to hear the on my youth
[2:16:58] commission.
>> And happy I talked to Deon already.
[2:17:01] Happy to provide additional context on
this stuff.
[2:17:04] » You'll be around when we do our debrief.
>> What's that?
[2:17:06] » You'll be here after the youth
commission to do the big picture.
[2:17:09] Thanks.
>> Yep.
[2:17:10] » Thank you so much.
>> Sorry about that. I wasn't falling.
[2:17:12] » That's okay. One more presentation in
this.
[2:17:16] [gasps]
>> There are even more groups we could have
[2:17:18] invited. [laughter]
Uh, I would like to move us to our final
[2:17:26] panel, which is our representatives from
the Multma Youth Commission. And Hazel,
[2:17:32] if you want to bring, is it you and Enzo
or do you have other folks coming up as
[2:17:36] well?
>> Just us.
[2:17:38] » Okay, perfect. Why don't you guys come
on up and if you can introduce
[2:17:42] yourselves and then we'll have your
names on the record and you can get
[2:17:46] right into the materials that you
brought to share. Uh thank you. Um good
[2:17:50] afternoon committee members. Uh it's a
pleasure to be here and I want to thank
[2:17:54] uh city life chair Ple Guiny for
inviting the Multi Youth Commission to
[2:17:58] this meeting. Uh my name is Hazel. I
live in district 2 and I am a junior at
[2:18:03] Jefferson High School. I am also a
member of the transit equity and
[2:18:07] environmental advocacy subcommittee of
the Multma Youth Commission.
[2:18:12] » Good afternoon counselors. My name is
Enzo. I also live in district 2 [snorts]
[2:18:17] and I am a junior at Reynolds High
School. I am on the Month Youth
[2:18:21] Commission where I serve as the co-chair
for the education youth for
[2:18:25] subcommittee.
Uh next slide please.
[2:18:30] Housed under the office of community and
civic life. The Monomoth youth
[2:18:34] commission or NYC is the official youth
policy body of the city of Portland and
[2:18:40] Monomoth County.
The goals of the Monomuth Youth
[2:18:44] Commission are to uplift youth voices in
city and county decision making as well
[2:18:50] as advocate for issues outlined in our
um city and county's own youth bullet
[2:18:56] rights.
Currently, the youth bullet rights is
[2:19:00] undergoing this process of being updated
as it was created by the NYC two decades
[2:19:06] ago. it is lacking in certain issues
that are more prevalent now than in the
[2:19:11] past. We will be reaching out to all of
you in the upcoming year as we continue
[2:19:16] through that process. However,
additionally, the Monom Youth Commission
[2:19:21] divides its work into three
subcommittees. One of which is the
[2:19:26] Transit Equity and Environmental
Advocacy Committee, which aims to
[2:19:30] protect youth in our community from the
impacts of climate change and reduce
[2:19:36] barriers to accessing public transit for
youth. Uh, next slide, please.
[2:19:43] Um, let's get into our transit
subcommittee's three current
[2:19:46] initiatives. Youth pass, a tryate youth
survey, and climate mini grants.
[2:19:52] Uh, are we on the next slide? Slide
three. Thank you. Uh, youth pass is the
[2:19:57] free try pass available to all PPS
students and a small number of youth
[2:20:01] from two neighboring school districts.
NYC's ultimate vision is youth pass for
[2:20:06] all youth in trimet service area. The
MultiA Youth Commission started
[2:20:10] advocating for Youth Pass in 2005, but
the cost of public transit for youth was
[2:20:16] already a recognized concern. A few
years before, Sisters in Action for
[2:20:20] Power, an organization made up of Girls
and Women of Color, successfully
[2:20:25] campaigned for free transit passes for
low-income youth in the PPS district.
[2:20:29] The Multma Youth Commission's efforts
along with other partner youth
[2:20:33] organizations have since expanded the
program to include all high schoolers in
[2:20:38] PPS as well as eligible students in the
David Douglas and Park Road districts.
[2:20:43] The NYC sees multiple benefits to youth
pass. Aside from reducing Oregon's
[2:20:48] chronic absenteeism rate, free public
transportation opens up more job
[2:20:53] opportunities for youth, promotes
extracurricular participation, and most
[2:20:58] appropriate for the topic at hand, it
builds lifelong transit users who would
[2:21:01] make a measurable difference in the
city's carbon emissions. Increased
[2:21:05] writership has immediate as well as
long-term climate impacts. Our idea for
[2:21:11] a tryate survey for youth emerged when
we learned that Trimet is prohibited
[2:21:15] from gathering demographic data on
people under 18 years of age. Meaning
[2:21:19] that youth perspectives are not
currently represented in their attitude
[2:21:23] and awareness survey. In response, we
have created a youth spec a youth
[2:21:28] specific survey which will be
distributed to schools in the next few
[2:21:32] months. We are hoping to identify why
youth writership remains low and what
[2:21:37] steps we can take to make try more safe,
reliable, and affordable for youth.
[2:21:43] Finally, we have the community 101 grant
which is made possible thanks to pass
[2:21:48] through funds of the Oregon Community
Foundation. Every year, our committee
[2:21:52] gives out $7,500 in grants to youthled
youth serving organizations within the
[2:21:58] tri county area. Previous grant
recipients include Trash for Peace and
[2:22:03] the Oregon Rohhinga Myanmar Muslim
Society. Trash for Peace is using their
[2:22:08] grant to hire a student coordinator for
a bicycle repair shop in Fairview. And
[2:22:12] the Oregon Rohhinga Myanmar Muslim
Society is conducting a report on heat
[2:22:17] islands around tryate stops in East
Portland and Gresham. Next slide,
[2:22:21] please.
[2:22:26] Now we will get into the Monom Youth
Commission's climate priorities. Our
[2:22:31] first priority is equitable access to
the benefits of the city's climate
[2:22:36] efforts.
Going back to our youth transmit survey,
[2:22:41] we know cost is a barrier to writing
public transit.
[2:22:46] Additionally, other environmentally
friendly initiatives also come at high
[2:22:51] price for everyday people.
Solar panels are too expensive for many
[2:22:56] property owners and proper recycling
requires people to navigate a changing
[2:23:02] and somewhat complicated system.
Therefore, one of our climate priorities
[2:23:08] is to make sustainable choices
accessible for everyone. When thinking
[2:23:13] about climate projects that involve
public participation,
[2:23:17] it is important to consider who can
participate and if it's not everyone,
[2:23:21] then what we can do to minimize the
barriers.
[2:23:26] Our second priority is to include youth
in the climate conversation, especially
[2:23:31] when speaking about the long-term
visions for the city. As a youth
[2:23:36] commission, we see youth as one of the
most important demographics when talking
[2:23:41] about the environment.
Climate action plans are proposals for a
[2:23:47] future that our generation will inherit.
And if governments and corporations fail
[2:23:55] to adequately address climate change,
the youth of today will have to live and
[2:23:59] see those results.
Therefore, youth have a very big reason
[2:24:06] to be deeply concerned about
environmental issues as well as bringing
[2:24:11] their essential perspectives to the
table.
[2:24:14] Thirdly, the Monom Youth Commission has
worked with Portland Parks urban
[2:24:19] forestry team in the past and recognizes
the need to increase tree coverage in
[2:24:24] significantly
um in low canopy in low canopy areas.
[2:24:30] In Portland, low-income and minority
neighborhoods have significantly lower
[2:24:35] coverage with a tree canopy that's over
two and a half times denser in the area
[2:24:42] west of the Wamtt than it is in the east
of the Wamid. The number comes from the
[2:24:48] July report from the urban forestry
division of Portland parks and wreck.
[2:24:54] Planting and caring for trees will help
mitigate extreme heat, poor air quality,
[2:25:00] and storm water runoff in historically
marginalized neighborhoods.
[2:25:05] It is an economic project that offers
substantial and long-lasting benefits
[2:25:10] for the city's environment.
>> In conclusion, and above all is a work
[2:25:15] to center and prioritize youth pass
expansion. We know that research shows
[2:25:20] youth access to transit builds the next
generation of transit riders and a fully
[2:25:25] inclusive and expansive youth pass
program would reduce congestion and
[2:25:29] carbon pollution. This is why we will
continue our advocacy efforts and ask
[2:25:34] that you include this in our next
climate plan. Uh so that covers all that
[2:25:39] we have for council today. Thank you for
your time. We are happy to answer any
[2:25:43] questions and our contact page is on the
last slide.
[2:25:46] Thank you so much for being here today.
And I'll word this a little bit
[2:25:50] differently this time. Any questions
specific to this panel before we move to
[2:25:55] the broader discussion and questions
that cross the different panels?
[2:26:02] » I just want to thank Hazel, you're
Hazel, right? Enzel, um, for being here.
[2:26:06] Thanks for the presentation. I thought
it had been a while since you've been
[2:26:10] advocating for that youth pass. Yeah.
2005. Mayor Potter was really big on
[2:26:14] that. So I like [clears throat] that
every um group that comes on continues
[2:26:19] to carry that uh message forward. So
good work that you have a streamline of
[2:26:24] um productivity and I have to say I miss
being the liazison to the youth
[2:26:29] commission which I was for a few years
in the old form of government. So it's
[2:26:32] good to see both of you.
>> She goes to Jefferson High School,
[2:26:35] right?
>> All right. In our district. Yeah.
[2:26:38] » In our district. And if you would like
to work with a youth commissioner, you
[2:26:41] can still do that even though you're not
the city liaison anymore.
[2:26:45] » Really?
>> Yes.
[2:26:46] » Who knew? Okay. [snorts]
>> Um I'll just note as we're talking about
[2:26:51] youth pass that there's a
>> I just wanted I thought you were
[2:26:54] » No, I just want to ask Vivian. Are you
um making certain that all of these uh
[2:26:59] committees that I see in the the slides
earlier that they have seats at the
[2:27:04] table for youth?
[2:27:08] That was one of their ask. So, I want to
hear how we're doing on that.
[2:27:13] » Yeah, I appreciate the question. Um,
councelor Ryan, for the record, Vivian
[2:27:17] Satderfield, CSO. Um, I can speak for
the Sustainability and Climate
[2:27:20] Commission, which does have four
dedicated youth seats, and council did
[2:27:23] confirm, um, all of those members. Uh,
you'll recall that the youth seats
[2:27:27] actually expire on a year basis rather
than the rest of the adult commissioners
[2:27:32] expire on a four-year basis. But all the
new the new ones that we'll talk about
[2:27:36] in depth in a minute um do they also are
they going to be targeted to have youth
[2:27:40] at the table for some of them?
>> Um I am unsure. Uh the sustainability
[2:27:46] and climate commission is the only
commission that's attached to my office
[2:27:48] and therefore the only one that has
respon that um I can seat. Um
[2:27:54] however I do know that the uh the
>> community environment government
[2:28:00] workforce contractor I mean some of them
make sense maybe some of them don't
[2:28:04] » ah I understand
>> the current collaborate collaborators
[2:28:08] » I understand now um I can describe a
little bit more about the climate action
[2:28:11] planning process and why there are those
focus areas youth empowerment is one of
[2:28:15] the crosscutting focus areas we have in
the climate action plan and all of our
[2:28:19] youth commissioners are dedicated to
that that crosscutting focus area
[2:28:23] » that help. Thanks.
[clears throat]
[2:28:26] » Thank you. And I'll just note as we talk
about a youth pass that uh try
[2:28:31] writership is free up until age seven
and PPS students get that pass though
[2:28:36] it's not comprehensive enough yet when
they enter high school but youth between
[2:28:41] the ages of seven and uh entering high
school who are within PPS still have to
[2:28:47] pay that youth fair. So, we have a lot
of work to do, I think, broadly on this.
[2:28:52] Thank you both so much for being here. I
think we're going to move into our
[2:28:56] broader conversation and dis and
questions right now. And colleagues, I
[2:29:02] know that there's been a lot that we
have thrown at you over the last uh two
[2:29:08] hours or so. I'll note that across the
presentations there have been some
[2:29:14] themes. Themes around recommitting to
our 2030 targets. Themes around making
[2:29:19] sure our work is datadriven. We know
what will have the largest impact on
[2:29:25] carbon reduction. We know what has the
highest cost and we know what has the
[2:29:30] highest impact on people and the
day-to-day lives of individuals in our
[2:29:34] community. And starting with those
solutions that have high impact is
[2:29:38] always a good place to start. A lot of
that work has been done. We're getting
[2:29:42] down to the next level of work that has
to happen. Uh but we can continue to be
[2:29:46] data driven. We know that we need to
couple the highle strategy. What
[2:29:52] policies are we trying to move toward?
Things like getting more people into
[2:29:57] transit writership with the
evidence-based initiatives. What do we
[2:30:02] know is working in other communities
that we haven't yet taken on that we
[2:30:06] should make sure to adopt? And we know
that there is cross- sector interest.
[2:30:12] There is cross community commitment. And
when we work collaboratively, we
[2:30:17] collaboratively
uh we can have longerterm solutions that
[2:30:22] really work to sustain our community.
And we heard some of that with councelor
[2:30:26] Ryan's questions about making sure that
our
[2:30:30] youth members of our climate commission
are engaged in every piece of the
[2:30:36] climate plan. But I think there are
probably more pieces we should explore
[2:30:39] there as well. I would like to open it
up to broad discussion and questions for
[2:30:46] any of our panels and counselors Avalos
and Mario. We have representatives from
[2:30:51] all of our panels still in the room. But
I also hope that if you heard something
[2:30:58] today that you would like us to take on
as a committee that you point that out
[2:31:04] because we had concrete proposals from a
few of the panels that we heard from and
[2:31:11] if there are things we should start
working on now to make sure that we're
[2:31:15] moving as Mr. Lewis said before we get
to the next climate action plan, uh,
[2:31:20] let's air those and see if those are
things that have broad support across
[2:31:25] the across the committee that we might
be able to take on. Councelor Avalos, go
[2:31:29] right ahead.
[2:31:35] Thank you. [sighs] Um, [gasps]
I'm processing your question. Let me see
[2:31:41] if I can come up with an answer by the
end of my um, comments. But yeah, thank
[2:31:46] you again to everyone who uh has been
here today to present. I think that this
[2:31:51] conversation has been really good to not
just focus on our goals but actually
[2:31:57] what um steps we're needing to take um
to actually make meaningful progress
[2:32:02] towards them. Um and you know, climate
policy we know has to be beyond just
[2:32:07] setting these ambitious targets of which
we have many. Um, but we need these
[2:32:11] policies that are going to actually
reduce emissions. And we need to be
[2:32:15] thoughtful, too, about how those
policies affect people's housing costs
[2:32:18] and health and jobs and everyday lives.
And I think it's important we continue
[2:32:22] to connect those dots. Um because I know
uh trust me as somebody who entered the
[2:32:27] environmental justice world um I was I I
didn't make as many connections um uh to
[2:32:36] the way that environmental justice
connects to racial and economic justice
[2:32:40] for example. And so um I think it's good
that we elevate that continuously.
[2:32:46] Um that is very much also the approach
that I'm taking with my climate and
[2:32:50] health standards policy that you know
I've emailed to council you I've been
[2:32:54] keeping you uh apprised of that. We've
done some really good outreach and uh it
[2:32:59] will be coming to committee uh in a few
weeks. that um you know, the goal of
[2:33:04] that policy is really to meaningfully
reduce emissions from our buildings
[2:33:08] while also thinking intentionally about
things like tenant protections and
[2:33:12] affordability and um in indoor air
quality and public health and also how
[2:33:17] we're going to support buildings that
may need help making that transition. uh
[2:33:21] really encouraged by the sustainability
and climate commission um recently
[2:33:24] voting to make the climate and health
standards their primary policy priority
[2:33:29] and emphasized the urgency of getting
this work across the finish line and
[2:33:33] also u Multma County recently adopted
their climate justice plan which also
[2:33:37] recommends many of the same building
actions that we're pursuing through the
[2:33:40] climate and health standards. So um
[clears throat] to me that speaks to you
[2:33:45] know further confirmation that this is
an area that we all know uh is the
[2:33:48] direction that we need to go in and uh
we also need to do the hard work of
[2:33:53] implementing it well because policy to
implementation is always uh key as we
[2:33:57] know um and I don't think too that the
choice should be between ambitious
[2:34:01] climate policy and things like
affordability for example um the harder
[2:34:06] and more important work uh that we have
is to design these policies that
[2:34:10] accomplish both. Um, I also have a
personal connection to some of that
[2:34:14] industry work that we were hearing about
today. In 2022, I had the opportunity to
[2:34:18] travel to Denmark to study industrial
symbiosis and see firsthand how industry
[2:34:23] and government community can work
together differently. Obviously, Denmark
[2:34:28] is a very different place than Portland,
Oregon, and America for that matter. Um,
[2:34:32] but there are important lessons there
and I'm really uh encouraged to see
[2:34:36] that. Um, what came out of that being
the Portland Clean Industry Hub
[2:34:40] initiative, uh, I'm really glad to see
that we're continuing to move forward
[2:34:44] and evolving towards this broader
partnership. Um, and just in general
[2:34:48] that we're, you know, continuing to use
that model, um, that we learned from in
[2:34:53] Denmark. And that's, uh, there's a
larger lesson there that we also don't
[2:34:56] have to reinvent every climate solution
ourselves. Um in fact there are so many
[2:35:02] uh policies moving across the country
that I think we as a committee as far as
[2:35:06] like actions um you know should be
looking to and just seeing what are
[2:35:10] things that are emerging issues that we
can um start to adapt here in Portland.
[2:35:16] And so that's the lens that I'm bringing
to this conversation. And I have a
[2:35:19] couple of questions um you know around
uh maybe I'll start with um the youth
[2:35:26] commission since they were our last
presentation. But I've got some
[2:35:28] questions of the industry folks. Um, and
just depending on time, we'll see what
[2:35:34] other questions I have. But, um, you
know, we started to talk at the end
[2:35:38] there about what we heard from the youth
commission, which is, uh, one of their
[2:35:41] goals of equitable access, um, of youth
to these, you know, uh, ways to
[2:35:46] participate, um, and, you know, have an
ongoing, uh, meaningful role in shaping
[2:35:52] climate policy. I know that the uh
having the youth commissioners on the
[2:35:56] sustainability and climate commission is
great um because we have intentional
[2:36:00] spaces for them. But I guess just wanted
to hear from the youth, you know, maybe
[2:36:05] there are things that you are seeing
either not around, you know, near us in
[2:36:09] the region, maybe in other states where
um local governments are taking action
[2:36:13] to work with youth and would love to
hear if you have any thoughts about um
[2:36:17] any tangible things you think we should
be doing better.
[2:36:21] Yeah, I'm looking to see if Hazel's able
to come back up or anybody else from the
[2:36:25] youth commission to weigh in on where we
might as a city be able to do better
[2:36:32] about engaging
uh your peers in a way that we're not
[2:36:36] currently doing.
[2:36:43] Thank you for letting us put you on the
spot.
[2:36:47] Um, yeah, I think I might need a little
bit more time to think about that. Um,
[2:36:51] we also, um, the transit equity and
environmental advocacy committee is
[2:36:56] starting up again in a couple weeks. Um,
and we might talk about talk more about
[2:37:01] like, uh, uh, citywide um, climate
interests and stuff once that starts up
[2:37:08] again.
>> Great. Councelors, are you open to a
[2:37:12] delayed response where we might be able
to get some input on more specific and
[2:37:16] concrete things that we could be doing
better?
[2:37:19] » Yes, absolutely. And I would just add to
that um I just got an email a couple
[2:37:24] hours ago of Opal unfortunately uh
closing officially, but there in their
[2:37:29] email they mentioned that the bus riders
united is continuing on through a
[2:37:34] different fiscal sponsor. Uh I know that
has been a space where youth in
[2:37:38] particular have organized. Um and so uh
I think they would be great to see how
[2:37:42] we can just in general get all of these
groups together and and start looking
[2:37:46] towards solutions um especially as we're
looking at these trimet cuts um and uh
[2:37:51] closing that gap of access for youth to
our trimet system uh is critical. And
[2:37:56] frankly, um, if we're talking about
writership and needing to improve it, I
[2:38:00] feel like that would be such a huge, um,
way to increase wrership by giving
[2:38:05] access to all youth, um, to to the bus
so that they can get around and and, um,
[2:38:10] you know, make the most of their, uh,
time in the city. And so, yeah, would
[2:38:15] love to have a followup with you um, and
happy to continue supporting efforts for
[2:38:21] that. So, thanks for thinking about that
question and look forward to talking
[2:38:24] more.
>> Great. Thank you, counselor.
[2:38:26] » Um,
>> thank you. Um, let's see. Let me just
[2:38:30] move on quickly to one more question.
Um, I guess I just wanted to
[2:38:35] [clears throat]
hear more, uh, as far as the industry
[2:38:39] hub. Um, you know, I appreciate, um,
that we're hearing that the industry hub
[2:38:44] has been seemingly successful in really
bringing together some quite different
[2:38:50] sectors and to have this conversation.
So bringing business and labor and
[2:38:54] community and environmental orgs and
government into the same place. And so
[2:38:58] would love to just hear uh from anyone
if they're willing to share what are we
[2:39:02] learning from that collaboration um that
could inform how we approach other areas
[2:39:06] of climate policy because I think my
underlying message there is that you
[2:39:11] know we need to do more to be more
crosscutting uh about and thinking about
[2:39:15] climate policy in all our
decision-making. So yeah, I would love
[2:39:18] to hear any lessons you've learned uh
building this broad coalition that we
[2:39:22] could um take and apply.
>> Yeah,
[2:39:25] » counselor. I see folks looking to decide
who from that panel is the best person
[2:39:30] to come up. So we're going to give them
Okay, perfect.
[2:39:34] [laughter]
[2:39:36] » Do you want to go first?
>> Sure. Ask a good question and you get
[2:39:40] all of us coming up eager to talk about
it. Uh counselor, this is Jules Bailey
[2:39:44] for the record. Um I think that's a
great really really really important
[2:39:48] question and um I think coming
especially from a place historically
[2:39:54] where there was a lot of tension between
the different groups that are now part
[2:39:57] of it and now um collaborating on this I
think one of the takehomes that I have
[2:40:01] is that um a focus on results matters
that uh really being clear about what
[2:40:08] we're trying to achieve and bringing
together the expertise from different
[2:40:11] communities to be able to achieve it
together and making sure that
[2:40:14] everybody's at the table and has a
chance to inform that process about what
[2:40:18] we're trying to achieve and then have
confidence in uh the results I think has
[2:40:23] built uh a lot of trust. Um and you know
we we're not there yet. I don't want to
[2:40:30] declare victory on this. We're still
getting this this set up. And so, um,
[2:40:34] you know, continuing to make sure that
we are, uh, having those conversations,
[2:40:39] that we're meeting with stakeholder
advisory groups, that we're continuing
[2:40:42] to, uh, bring people into the process,
learn from their expertise, and stay
[2:40:46] humble about it, I think is really
really important going forward, uh, as
[2:40:50] we proceed on the next three years of of
mapping these investments into these
[2:40:55] businesses. And then we're as we said
working with um wi with our research
[2:41:00] partners to ensure that what we're
achieving is documentable and verifiable
[2:41:06] and responds back to the concerns that
we heard at the front end. So I think
[2:41:09] that transparency is really important.
>> Yeah. Um for the record, Sunresa Cooper
[2:41:15] from the Bureau of Planning and
Sustainability. Uh thank you for the
[2:41:18] question. Um, one thing that we do in
every meeting that we have is we read
[2:41:24] our vision statement aloud. Um, and that
vision statement, I don't have it in
[2:41:29] front of me, but it it talks about
basically all the shared goals that we
[2:41:33] have around a resilient economy,
industry that is thriving, communities,
[2:41:39] um, safe from harm. It's basically like
our north star that we're aiming for.
[2:41:44] And we ground our us our meetings in
that every single time we talk to each
[2:41:50] other. And I do think that that keeps us
on the right track because we we brought
[2:41:56] these kind of disperate partners
together with the recognition that
[2:41:59] everyone has their own lane, their own
constituents, their own um kind of
[2:42:05] strategies that they might use, but we
are united in a single goal. And um we
[2:42:12] we recognize that everyone might take a
slightly different path to get to the
[2:42:16] goal, but we are all working in the same
direction. And there have definitely
[2:42:21] been times when we have disagreed. But
the other thing that we do in our
[2:42:25] meetings sometimes is we hash it out.
we, you know, we're not always getting
[2:42:29] along perfectly because we do take
different approaches and have different
[2:42:33] perspectives and working really for a
long time with the commitment that we
[2:42:39] all have the same vision has kept us on
track towards that. Um, it will be kind
[2:42:44] of a test when we actually start putting
the money out there and seeing the
[2:42:48] projects that come out of it. But so far
uh personally I have seen a huge
[2:42:53] improvement in the relationships between
all of our different um group members of
[2:42:59] our group. Uh Portland State University
actually as part of their evaluation is
[2:43:05] doing a I think every six months or so
like an internal evaluation to look at
[2:43:11] the health of our partnership. So we all
take a survey to see how well we trust
[2:43:16] each other. do we understand our roles
and um have agreement in what we're
[2:43:22] working towards and that
we've only done once so far so I can't
[2:43:26] say how how that's going to change over
time but anecdotally we we do trust each
[2:43:32] other we work together really well and I
think that that grounding in the vision
[2:43:36] and returning to that regularly is
definitely something that we can pull
[2:43:41] forward into other climate policies
[2:43:48] Thank you for those answers. And um
yeah, I think that part of why I raise
[2:43:54] it too is that um Mary from Neighbors
for Clean Air said uh at some point
[2:44:00] today um that it was an enormous
responsibility to represent community
[2:44:05] and I'm really grateful that um she
understands that. I know she understands
[2:44:08] that. Hi Mary, good to see you. Um I
think that uh it is a big responsibility
[2:44:13] to represent community because one thing
that stood out to me when I went on that
[2:44:18] trip to um Denmark, I was the only
person on the trip representing an
[2:44:23] environmental justice community org. And
so I spent the trip kind of, you know,
[2:44:29] being that voice and just saying, well,
what do the neighbors think? For
[2:44:32] example, we're we're touring the the um
industry and you know, I like the smell
[2:44:37] is not great, right? And then there's
there's obviously like fumes and all
[2:44:40] these things and it's like oh sure like
they're showing us the ways that all of
[2:44:43] these industries are sharing um waste so
that they aren't wasting it. Um but also
[2:44:50] um when I would ask questions like that
I didn't always get satisfying answers.
[2:44:54] Often people would say well what do you
mean or well we haven't asked directly.
[2:44:59] And so I just say that because um we
need to pay extra attention to ensuring
[2:45:06] communities voices are part of that. I'm
glad they're at the table. I just want
[2:45:10] us to not let those be outweighed. Um
and again ensuring that um we're
[2:45:16] creating systems in our as we're
continuing to make these plans and um
[2:45:21] you know set these visions as a city
that we're involving youth, we're
[2:45:24] involving community, we're talking to
people directly impacted in a geographic
[2:45:29] area but also uh more broadly um by
these things. And I think that there's
[2:45:34] absolutely ways to make it harmonious.
Um but it does take effort and it does
[2:45:39] take um the city I believe being
responsible taking the responsibility of
[2:45:45] um ensuring that community is uh brought
along and so that's why I raised that.
[2:45:50] I'm really grateful for your answer. I
think that you all have been doing a
[2:45:53] good job of bringing together um
partners and I love what you said that
[2:45:57] yeah, you're not always going to agree
and great duke it out, right? That's how
[2:46:01] you make great policy by having everyone
at the table and so happy to support
[2:46:05] with my office. Um like I said, I've got
a big policy that's moving soon that I'm
[2:46:10] really excited to bring to council and
to talk about because it is something
[2:46:13] that the nation has seen a trend
towards. It is something that um the
[2:46:18] commissions have uh you know endorsed
and uh the recent news that we're
[2:46:22] hearing. We really need to act quickly
on lowering emissions. And so again,
[2:46:26] thank you for this panel and I look
forward to your continued partnership.
[2:46:29] That's all for now. Thanks.
>> Well said.
[2:46:31] » Thank you.
>> Thank you, counselor. Councelor Mario,
[2:46:34] go right ahead.
>> Thank you. Um thank you everyone so much
[2:46:38] for your presentations today. I think it
was really lovely to hear the different
[2:46:42] ideas that came out of community. Um,
and I think that those are uh I just
[2:46:47] took a lot of the bike towns this week
when my bike broke and they are very
[2:46:50] expensive and I think if they were more
affordable, more people would use them.
[2:46:53] So, I think there are easy uh things
like that that we can do to try to
[2:46:56] adjust how people move through the city.
Um, I think I'm uh it was I I don't want
[2:47:03] to turn this into a whole PF discussion,
so I won't do that, but I guess I'll
[2:47:06] just name for the city staff that and
maybe for my colleagues as well that it
[2:47:10] was really interesting to hear how much
of PF dollars goes to uh private
[2:47:16] businesses and industry in order for
them to um be become up to the green
[2:47:21] standard that they're supposed to be.
Um, and uh I'm not even saying that's a
[2:47:26] bad thing or a good thing. I'm just
noting that and it's interesting to see
[2:47:30] so much of the opposition coming out of
the business industry on PA when it
[2:47:34] seems like the way it's been rerouted to
go straight back to them for these
[2:47:39] upgrades um seems like it's very
beneficial to industry. So, I think it
[2:47:44] would be helpful to see, and I think
community has asked for this a lot, and
[2:47:47] even as a counselor, I feel like I've
asked for this and not necessarily
[2:47:50] gotten it, a full breakdown of how PF
dollars uh go to private businesses, to
[2:47:58] industry versus going to an individual
constituent's household to help them fix
[2:48:03] um their roof and get it solar upgraded,
right? I think getting to see who is
[2:48:08] benefiting from those PF dollars and how
on a onetoone scale is helpful while
[2:48:13] also noting that obviously if you help
an industry decarbonize then that's
[2:48:19] going to have a larger impact than an
individual's house. Um, but this
[2:48:23] presentation just sort of raised that
question in me because um, you would
[2:48:29] think from the way that people talk
about PAF that it's uh, actively harming
[2:48:33] businesses or something and then we hear
that so much of this money goes back to
[2:48:37] them. Um, and and I'm just very curious
about how those dollars are used. Um,
[2:48:42] and I think it goes I've heard from, you
know, it goes to nonprofits, goes to
[2:48:47] private businesses, and then people have
to apply for the PF grants to upgrade
[2:48:50] their their homes, and there's a pretty
strict cut off for individuals trying to
[2:48:55] upgrade um to get their water bill,
electricity bill down because you have
[2:49:00] to reach a certain income, and if you're
$1 above that, then then you get cut off
[2:49:03] from certain programs. So, council, I
just I want to note for you that we
[2:49:07] don't have PAF representatives in the
room right now. So, I think these are
[2:49:12] important points. I just want to make
sure that you know that folks from that
[2:49:16] program are not in the room to hear
them.
[2:49:19] » Yeah, that's okay. I think the other
industry folks that received these
[2:49:22] dollars should hear this as well. Um, I
think that's fine for them. Um, and I'm
[2:49:26] sure Vivian Satderfield can help us
later get those dollars, but I think
[2:49:29] that having that breakdown in this
committee would be really important for
[2:49:32] us to see. Um, and for the public to
have that transparency around how those
[2:49:36] dollars are used. So, um, because at the
end of the day, I think that we can pass
[2:49:42] a lot of policies, but the thing that we
struggle with at the city right now is
[2:49:44] the financials of who gets access to
what funds and when. Um, and it seems
[2:49:49] like every time there's a way to use
city dollars, especially within the
[2:49:53] clean energy movement, it goes into the
private sector for things that they're
[2:49:57] they can do for upgrades. Um, and I'm
I'm just thinking about that a lot as I
[2:50:03] think about the city's finances. So,
thanks for that.
[2:50:07] Thank [clears throat and snorts] you
councelor Councelor Ryan.
[2:50:09] » Yes, thank you chair and uh it was
really a great presentation. It's uh
[2:50:13] provided me with something that you know
I promoted for decades in my own
[2:50:17] professional career which is um building
those cross- sector tables and
[2:50:22] [clears throat] having measurable goals
and um doing continuous improvement
[2:50:26] results based facilitation so you don't
have biased facilitators which is often
[2:50:30] too the case. So, um I'm I'm scratching
at something here that that's very
[2:50:35] pleasing and it's something that's been
desperately needed in government all
[2:50:39] over the place. Um don't I know um it's
been exhausting trying to build it um in
[2:50:44] government. Uh I don't know, maybe it's
election cycles that get in the way, but
[2:50:48] it's really hard for um government um
electeds to oversee that organic
[2:50:55] objective type work. And so the only way
it's going to work is if it goes beyond
[2:50:59] election cycles that you build something
really strong. And so I think what I
[2:51:04] heard today by who's in the room, which
is unique unfortunately. So thank you
[2:51:10] for being a part of this um to hear
those stories. So Vivian, when I was
[2:51:15] earlier looking at the current
collaborators,
[2:51:18] are these four groups that was
advertised, are they frequently meeting
[2:51:23] now? And if so,
how often do they meet? How long have
[2:51:28] they been meeting? And who's staffing
them?
[2:51:30] » I'm sorry. Uh, councelor Ryan, do you
mind refreshing my memory on the the
[2:51:34] which four groups
>> your presentation provided us with the
[2:51:38] current collaborators? They were listed
under community and environment,
[2:51:42] government, business, utilities
services, that's a big kitchen sink one,
[2:51:46] and workforce and contractor
development. Is that not what I heard
[2:51:50] today?
>> Uh, it was. I'm sorry. I just didn't
[2:51:52] catch that part on the microphone. Um,
we've just started the climate action
[2:51:56] planning development process and so
we'll be having a more public facing
[2:51:59] component. That's the staff level uh
focus areas that have been gathering uh
[2:52:04] currently.
>> So are they meeting currently?
[2:52:07] » Yes, they are.
>> These groups, how long have they been
[2:52:09] meeting?
>> Uh we just launched the climate action
[2:52:11] planning process last month internally.
>> So they're really new. You guys have had
[2:52:16] your first meetings basically.
>> Correct.
[2:52:18] » Okay. So we're we're we're seeing this
at the very beginning state
[2:52:22] » getting it on the ground floor. That's
correct.
[2:52:23] » Sunres's coming up.
>> Hi.
[2:52:25] » Hi councelor. Sunresa Cooper again for
the record. Um I the slide that you're
[2:52:30] referring to is actually from my
presentation which is about the clean
[2:52:34] industry presentation. Um the current
collaborators
[2:52:39] the the categories are really just for
sort [snorts] of visual organization.
[2:52:44] They're not defined uh subgroups. um the
one that was community and environment
[2:52:50] is the only one and that is the same set
of individuals or organizations that
[2:52:55] were in the um co-design group that Mary
Pido discussed. Um the rest of the folks
[2:53:02] on that list are just uh examples of a
lot of the people that we have at the
[2:53:07] table. We have many people that do uh
kind of different configurations of
[2:53:12] convening partners. So, um, the Portland
Partnership for Clean Industry, they
[2:53:16] have a stakeholder group that meets
regularly. We have a community
[2:53:20] stakeholder group that meets regularly.
We have lots of other individuals that
[2:53:24] we have sort of one-on-one touch points
with. Um, so those aren't defined
[2:53:31] uh groups, I would say, but it's the
categories were mainly to organize the
[2:53:36] slide bit.
So there isn't a group under business
[2:53:42] utilities and services that's meeting
monthly. There's only the one that's
[2:53:47] community environment.
Is that what I just heard?
[2:53:51] I am confused officially [laughter]
because this slide
[2:53:56] » got me excited because I finally saw
what I've been asking for which is
[2:53:59] actually cross- sector engagement where
I'm hoping we have a northstar where I'm
[2:54:04] hoping we have communitywide indicators
where I'm hoping you had really really
[2:54:08] difficult meetings with a lot of tension
in the room to decide upon those. Yes, I
[2:54:12] have a background in this. I know it
takes a lot of tough meetings with
[2:54:16] tension to get there, but we're never
going to reach climate goals in
[2:54:20] Portland, Oregon, which has been failing
miserably in the state and the and the
[2:54:24] city of talking a lot about this, but
not producing results.
[2:54:29] » I think there may be three strings here
we need to pull. One is where and how
[2:54:34] are those cross- sector conversations
happening because I think they are
[2:54:38] happening in this group. The second is
are there specific
[2:54:42] » you can sell it for them but I kind of
want to hear it
[2:54:45] » yes yes but I want I want to suggest
that we hear this in three pieces
[2:54:48] because there's that question that
you're asking there's the question
[2:54:51] around are there these specific
breakouts and then there's a question
[2:54:55] around whether that translates to work
happening within the climate action plan
[2:54:59] separate from the slide that you're
looking at which I should have noticed
[2:55:03] when you first had it um had a question
about it I apologize that came from the
[2:55:08] presentation from our um
>> well I'm just kind of in real time
[2:55:12] experiencing this where I got excited
about what I thought I heard and now I'm
[2:55:15] hearing something different. So
>> counselor it's a great question to get
[2:55:18] to get to the heart of it here.
>> Um
[2:55:21] » we have a regular meeting I mean just to
get very tactical.
[2:55:25] » Thank you.
>> We have a meeting every other week in
[2:55:28] which we have the business community
represented by a couple different
[2:55:32] voices. We have in fact several
different voices. We have uh uh
[2:55:36] community environmental. We have the
public sector. We have uh we have uh uh
[2:55:42] technical providers. We have a lot of
different people. And this is literally
[2:55:46] every other week we're getting together
in a standing meeting. And it's in that
[2:55:50] meeting that we even have as uh Sesa
mentioned surveys going out and saying
[2:55:57] how comfortable are you with these
people in the meeting and what is
[2:56:00] happening and is this vision clear and
what's happen? And it is it can be hard
[2:56:05] sometimes to see the results of that and
say, "Oh, yeah, that's that's me. I
[2:56:09] haven't done a very good job of
explaining this to everybody else. I
[2:56:12] need to go and explain my side of this
back to them or there isn't a lot of
[2:56:15] trust that's been built here. We need to
dive into this area more regularly." But
[2:56:19] those groups are We have a meeting
tomorrow.
[2:56:22] » Yeah. So, we have a meeting tomorrow. Uh
and and there are a lot of tough
[2:56:26] conversations that are happening there
that are cross- sectoral. All of that is
[2:56:30] very tactical and it's focused on, okay,
how are we going to stand this up? What
[2:56:35] is this going to look like? How are we
going to actually make these
[2:56:37] investments? What's the relationship
between the Prosper grants and the
[2:56:40] Portland Partnership for Clean Industry?
How are we making sure that we're
[2:56:43] reporting back to the public
effectively? How are we integrating
[2:56:46] research and evaluation into this? All
of that is happening and those
[2:56:50] conversations are regular and ongoing.
And then all of that is then rolling up
[2:56:54] into this sort of larger work of how the
industrial sector then plugs into the
[2:56:58] overarching climate action plan. Um and
that's been I think really effective and
[2:57:03] and and frankly um uh I've never been
part of a problem of a process like that
[2:57:09] before.
>> Oh, it's great when you use the word
[2:57:11] comfortable that word I want to pause on
that word. If the answer is no, I'm not
[2:57:17] comfortable. What's the person's
response that's asking that question?
[2:57:23] » Um, that's a great question. So, so I
will say that that um I think at one
[2:57:28] point I had done a a less than stellar
job of maybe explaining some of the
[2:57:32] things that we were working on in the
Portland Partnership for Clean Industry
[2:57:35] side and it was a little bit muddled on
how that intersected with some of the
[2:57:39] work that Prosper was doing. And so it
was just helpful to understand that and
[2:57:42] to be able to explain it better to
people and and then get some feedback
[2:57:46] directly in real time. And those are the
kinds of conversations that we get to
[2:57:49] have in that that group. And it um I
think makes for a much better, much more
[2:57:54] collaborative working environment to be
able to have that level of trust. It's
[2:57:57] hard to get off the rails when you're
literally sitting across the table from
[2:58:01] each other every other week and talking
about the issues that are arising.
[2:58:06] » Yeah. I think I'm just reminiscing on um
when I did this type of work called
[2:58:10] collective impact work and my staff
would come back and say, "That was a
[2:58:13] really hard meeting. There was so much
tension." And I'd be like, great, that's
[2:58:17] good news. And so instead of doing that
Portland polite thing where there's must
[2:58:22] be good people in the meeting and bad
people in the meeting, like that's not
[2:58:25] working. So what I hope that you start
to do, and I thought I was trying to
[2:58:29] hear this, is what are the shared goals?
What are the shared metrics
[2:58:36] that we're all going to look at? And
then of course, the real work is in some
[2:58:40] of those subindicators.
Who's staffing that type of continuous
[2:58:44] improvement type thinking that is
necessary for this group to be effective
[2:58:49] and successful?
>> Before you answer the staffing part,
[2:58:52] » why is Metro not a part of by the way
when they're like basically an
[2:58:55] environmental organization? Just
curious. But yeah,
[2:58:58] » just to comment very quickly on your
first part of your question, then talk
[2:59:00] about the staffing part of it. But uh
that's why Senesa talked about reading
[2:59:05] out the vision statement at the
beginning every single time. What are we
[2:59:08] here to achieve? And let's get everybody
focused on the same thing. And that has
[2:59:11] been incredibly helpful. And then to say
we're all in the room trying to solve
[2:59:15] the exact same problem from different
perspectives. That's where a lot of that
[2:59:18] trust building happens. To your to your
point, I don't know if you want to speak
[2:59:21] about staffing, but
>> Sure. Thank you. Um to your question
[2:59:24] about the continuous improvement and
who's leading that. Um Portland State
[2:59:29] University has been a really fantastic
partner and leader in our coalition
[2:59:33] around that. Um they have, you know,
academic expertise doing the more
[2:59:40] quantitative carbon accounting um and
the uh kind of tracking of outcomes from
[2:59:47] the grants themselves, but also they are
looking internally at how our how well
[2:59:53] we work together, what we can do to
improve those relationships, improve our
[2:59:57] workflow. Um, and that really I think
speaks to what I mentioned earlier about
[3:00:04] how everyone kind of has their own
expertise, their own lane that they
[3:00:07] bring to this work. And um, that's a
major strength of Portland State
[3:00:12] University as a convenor as um, a highly
respected institution in our city. They
[3:00:19] really uh, stand out in that role in
this group.
[3:00:23] » That's helpful. Who Who's the
philanthropic partners so far?
[3:00:28] Um, I've been working with a number of
folks that I don't want to name on the
[3:00:32] record right now because they're not
officially part of it yet. Uh, but I'd
[3:00:36] be happy to have a follow-up
conversation.
[3:00:38] » Great. Love to be helpful there. Um,
[3:00:43] I think what I want to just say is um
that in district 2, we um represent the
[3:00:50] working waterfront. We are where the
Columbia and the Wamut come together and
[3:00:54] there are a lot of great jobs along the
waterfront there. We also have a high
[3:01:00] industry um footprint. Um those are jobs
that are family wage jobs. We're also
[3:01:07] losing some of those midsize companies.
A week doesn't go by where I don't hear
[3:01:11] about another one relocating usually
just to Clark County unfortunately.
[3:01:14] Well, no that's not unfortunate. It's
really expensive for a business to move.
[3:01:18] So, this is a red alert about the fact
that Portland has to figure out how to
[3:01:23] be a place where green industry really
takes off and we've lost a lot of time
[3:01:31] trying to be perfect and it's not good.
And so, how can we start to accept the
[3:01:37] messiness of this kind of work and have
the courage to take steps and to measure
[3:01:42] what that success looks like even if it
makes about half the table
[3:01:46] uncomfortable?
That's my hope for all of you.
[3:01:49] » Amen.
>> Thank you.
[3:01:53] » Thank you, counselor.
>> Oh, can I just add one more thing? Who
[3:01:57] was Jason Lewis? Is that your name?
>> Yes.
[3:02:00] » Um, I am going to call you out. Um, it's
positive. It was so refreshing to hear
[3:02:05] datadriven dialogue and that you're
actually measuring
[3:02:10] what you want success for. And I just
hope that when the measurements don't go
[3:02:18] the way that an optimist would want, we
try to figure out why and then we reload
[3:02:23] again. That's continuous improvement.
>> Indeed,
[3:02:25] » big part of continuous improvement, as
you know, is acceptance of the truth and
[3:02:29] then try to move it to a better place by
changing behaviors.
[3:02:33] » My background is in engineering, so well
versed on.
[3:02:36] » Thank you. And usually adults are the
toughest to work with in terms of
[3:02:40] behavior change. When I did work in
education, the kids were fine. But boy,
[3:02:44] it was really hard to get adults to
change behavior,
[3:02:47] » hence looping to the addiction crisis.
So, please know that this is so
[3:02:50] important. Thank you. Thanks for being
at the table. Don't give up. You won't
[3:02:54] always be popular there. [laughter]
>> Thank you, counselor. Uh, we have just a
[3:03:01] few minutes left, so I'll hold my
questions, but I do want to note a
[3:03:05] couple of things. Uh colleagues, we
heard some specific concrete actions
[3:03:09] today that we were asked to consider
taking and I hope that each of you
[3:03:13] considers those. We still have time in
some of our meetings later this year
[3:03:17] that I am uh making sure we don't fill
too rapidly. My staff is in the back of
[3:03:23] the room saying no, we don't, but I
think we have one meeting with a little
[3:03:26] time. Uh so that if we have policies we
want to take on as a committee, we can
[3:03:32] do so. And there were some standalone
asks as well as things that we'll need
[3:03:37] to roll into other work and questions
that we should just start asking as as
[3:03:42] habit about the impact of some of the
decisions that we make that I hope this
[3:03:48] committee can take on.
I want to note when I hear about the
[3:03:52] work in the industrial sector that I
think this is critical work and I hope
[3:03:57] that the next step I know there's a lot
to do still on this step but I hope that
[3:04:03] the next step is thinking about how the
solutions that you are currently working
[3:04:08] on can focus on replicable solutions on
scalable solutions on [snorts]
[3:04:15] exportable solutions
finding a solution for one company that
[3:04:19] lowers their carbon footprint and
increases their bottom line, which
[3:04:23] hopefully is then put toward paying
folks more who work there. [gasps] um is
[3:04:29] incredibly important, but with limited
public resources, we need to make sure
[3:04:34] that we are supporting work that can
move to other companies within Portland
[3:04:41] and hopefully get marketed outside of
our city and help bring dollars into our
[3:04:48] city while exporting solutions to other
cities. That allows us to lower the cost
[3:04:53] per solution. I think my colleague noted
some concern about the amount of money
[3:04:58] we're putting in. Let's make sure that
we're stretching it as far as we can.
[3:05:01] But it also allows us to ensure that our
impact in reducing carbon emissions goes
[3:05:06] beyond just our own city borders, which
we will have to do if we really want to
[3:05:11] make a change bigger than ourselves.
Um, with that, I will wrap us up though
[3:05:20] there is a lot more that we all could
say. Thank you to everybody who was a
[3:05:25] part of our panels today. This is such
critical work and there is so much more
[3:05:30] work that we can and absolutely will
take on. I appreciate everyone making
[3:05:35] the time and I just will note a thank
you to my team because I know it took a
[3:05:39] lot of work to coordinate this many
panels on a single topic and I as always
[3:05:45] appreciate the work that my staff puts
into making things happen for our
[3:05:48] committee. Colleagues, we will be back
in two weeks. With that I will adjourn
[3:05:53] our meeting.
[3:05:58] [music]
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[3:06:30] [music]