PORTLAND, Ore. — Each year, the city of Portland is tasked with the tough goal of proposing a budget that meets the community's needs, and for this fiscal year, Mayor Ted Wheeler warned that money is tight.
"The city's fiscal environment is certainly more constrained than we've experienced in recent years, with the financial forecast indicating no new ongoing or additional one-time funding available for the fiscal year 2024-2025," said Wheeler on Saturday.
To gather input on the budget, the city is hosting three public listening sessions this month.
The first concern brought up at Saturday's session was the $11-million-dollar deficit facing the Portland Fire Bureau. The city is considering cutting 8 to 10 frontline workers, closing a neighborhood fire station and maintaining current staffing levels without new equipment.
Portland Fire Fighters' Association said all of this will lead to slower response times and a less safe city.
"The fact that our population goes up, the need for services is going up, but firefighters in the city of Portland are staying the same," said Isaac McLennan, president of the Portland Fire Fighters' Association IAFF 48. "We are not asking for more; we are only asking to maintain our ability to protect lives and property."
Another issue plaguing the city is gun violence. Advocate Lucy Mashia lost her son in 2011 after he was shot in the back four times. Now, she runs "You Are Not Alone," a healing support group for the survivors of tragic loss.
"It's like a part of me is gone. I don't want anyone to have to feel that," Mashia said.
Mashia, alongside other gun violence advocates, asked the city to allocate more funds for grassroots organizations focusing on the Black and brown community, including Asianique Savage, who grew up in North Portland. She lost her mother at 5 years old to gun violence, and her younger brother was shot and killed at a Southeast Portland bar.
Savage now works as a prevention manager at the Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety, pleading with the city to see the importance of reaching youth before they find firearms.
"The mayor declared gun violence as a crisis in 2019, and it's still a crisis currently," said Savage. "No matter how much the rates drop, we are still losing people that we know in real time."
The next listening session will be April 15, starting at 6:30 p.m. More information about the listening sessions and how to submit testimony is available online.