Eric Zimmerman

“Thank you, Mr. President. I, um, I'm glad we're getting toward the end here in terms of this, the long deliberation. I do want to just start with, uh, respect that there are different positions on this. I know that some folks won't be able to vote no today, and I think that that's okay. I do want to talk about why I'm going to vote yes and why I think this is the right thing for the community, not just for Portland, but actually statewide. I think that we all benefit to a future with an NBA team here in Portland. You know, when I think about the $670 million every single year in returned economic activity, that's one of my reasons. When I think about the thousands of jobs that are directly connected to the Moda Center, that's one of my reasons. When I think about the fact that the Blazers occupy the building for 41 days a year and there are another 320 who are up for grabs, and the fa…”

“Council President, I would invite people to the National Night Out at Hillsdale tonight. Have a great time. National Night Out is a great event. I've been to a couple this year. Looking forward to it. If you're able to come out or go to one in your neighborhood, they're on different nights sometimes. You should look it up because they can be a great connection to people you haven't seen in a while. Post-COVID, pro-social activity outside, away from your screens and off your couch is a good thing.”

“Um, no, I appreciate that. I think that, um, one of the questions I came in originally with was, since I'm experiencing no right turns all over the district, I don't know what the point of this was. And so it sounds like this is an emphasis for, particularly for some outer East Portland areas. But I think the fact that you've moved it to a pilot and just a select 30 is helpful because I've seen a city that's put in 200 no-rights already and not for high-crash reasons. So this seemed— I wasn't exactly sure what we were doing here originally, but I think your amendment is good.”

“I mean, this has been going on a while. I'm starting to lose the thread a little bit. Like what was the— you made some arguments about why the advisory board and the advisory body— I thought that maybe you were going to say what they would advise on would change, like harm reduction. I agree, it's really not a city role, but maybe they would advise on enforcement practices. So can you rearticulate why you want to get rid of this body?”

“Grants Office. So I'm using this as an example, but Mr. Administrator, this document is not a helpful document because I think I would want that, right? But I would want that in this. And this ain't my first government, but this is my first one where this continues to happen and no one will submit a document for budget impacts that actually discusses and so I've said this now more times to the budget office than I can count, and yet this is the standard that they continue to put forward. And the reason I'm upset about that is that it allows us to spend 30 or 40 minutes on $103,000 because we don't actually know what we're talking about. And your central budget office is now putting, I think, other bureaus in a position where they're having to our grants folks, others who are kind of in the, in the sights of council because we don't have the information we need. But that's— this is bec…”

“That's very helpful. I mean, it's challenging because you're asking Multnomah County, asking Portland to go along with you on this idea that, you know, maybe in your words, I think the less impact like you violated drug use, et cetera, et cetera. And yet since 2020, right, my district, it's certainly representing downtown, Old Town. We are constantly facing the person who has more charges than we know what to do with, and a whole lot of people who get told there's nothing that can be done. But then you find out that they're on probation, they're on parole, they violate a thing, and no one has ever No. No one's ever put that backstop to them because we've applied a different standard or a different perspective. And while I think I used to probably fall in this category too of thinking like drug use is a personal, you know, it's a personal assault to your own body, but it's— we've learn…”

“Thank you. I don't have any questions, but Chair, I think it was smart to add this to the front of it. Um, you know, it's present, and, uh, we often think about the towns and what they're going through, right? And I appreciate you sharing the, the experience of the people where these fires are occurring. Um, as a member of the National Guard, I've been a part of a task force. I was a task force commander for about 150 Firefighters, forest firefighters at one point. I thought I would share a little bit about what it means though in terms of the experience when, when our chief talks about Portlanders, people from our workforce who have picked up and gone to help. Um, it really exemplifies the, the idea of a go bag, right? You basically get the call and within hours you're expected to be on the road. And so that means that there are families here who's having to figure out how to do the …”

“Thanks. So I've given you, Mayor and City Administrator, some of the specifics. I'm going to keep it there. I don't know that I really want to do specifics in an open forum like that, and I think you have a tough job ahead of you. What I've heard today and what I'm observing is a majority of council wants a deal. And so I say this kind of tongue-in-cheek, but don't come back until you got one. So I think we're ready for you to put this thing together. I think we're ready for you to bring us back a deal that we can vote on. I think that 12 votes may not be a thing that exists here, but I see a majority, and I think you should take that, run, and get in the room. So I'm looking forward to you bringing a deal forward that we can vote on. Thank you. Um, because I want another 20, 30, and more years of the Blazers here. And I think today was a good reset. I think it was important to get fo…”

“We know him. We got him. Gotcha. We had a lot of dialogue and I wasn't quite sure with names. So I appreciate y'all being here. Thank you so much. You know, it's a bit of a scripted day and that's okay. So my question, if the City Council passes a term sheet, we will have officially demonstrated our seriousness in getting to a deal. Are you committed to moving quickly into a development of a binding lease and development agreement I think, again, we—.”

“Yeah, if you ever get fired We know you can sell Micro Machines from the '80s. That was great. Hey, so colleagues, this is really about safety and workforce. That's really what this comes down to. As we expand into a larger network of vehicle charging, which is something I think is how we get electrical vehicles to the rest of the population as we make that change, the City of Portland is going to be putting money behind those projects, those community projects. The state of Oregon took action to say if you're going to use state money to do those types of things, we are going to require that you be certified in doing it. It's a basics. I have with us Chris from IBEW. He presented to us during committee. What you'd hear from him if he was presenting, and he can ask questions, answer questions if you need them, is that already for an electrician going through the training program, the a…”

“Thank you, Councilor Dunphy. I guess when you say things like they're just unable to sell I guess I'm wondering, why are you asking me, us, to insert in this case into the market? Because if I'm unable to rent a unit, I lower the rent. That's why I yelled at HomeForward last week. If I'm unable to sell my house, I lower the price. I think that some people build bad ideas. I think some people open bad idea restaurants. I think that some people are bad at business. That doesn't make them bad people, I guess. But there is a point in which I go, where is our role in government to interfere? And so what you're asking is allow this person to, uh, reduce the thing that they had agreed to be a part of. Like, they made a business choice to do it. I think, you know, I'm going to stop that analogy. Um, but I think that— I, I guess that's where I, I'm wrestling a little bit with it, of like, I fe…”

“What he said. We got this. Thank you very much. Um, I mean, it's a hill, for God's sake, you guys. Like, let's not overdo this. Like, there comes a point where— I mean, I think we spent an hour and a half on an appointment earlier today. My God. Um, like, this is, this is straightforward. I, I was trying to be funny with the R-5 to open space to R-5 and the switcheroo that we're doing in a 7, 8-year period, right? But we got this.”