PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland’s mayor says, just like his constituents, he hates the overwhelming presence of trash and graffiti in the city, and he plans to call on his fellow commissioners to help him tackle it. In an interview Tuesday, he refused to say when he’ll make that push or give details on what he’ll ask them to do.
“I don't want to overpromise and under-deliver,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said. “I want to make sure that we have a thoughtful program and we will be completely transparent with the public about both the plans and the resources as they're developed, but I'm not going to sit here and guess.”
When pressed on whether Portlanders can look forward to a ramped up cleanup program “sometime this spring," Wheeler responded, “We're going to do immediately what we can do immediately.“
The promise of a plan came a week after Clean & Safe issued its annual downtown Portland business survey, showing the vast majority of business owners downtown agree trash, graffiti and instances of vandalism have become a big issue.
Specific to graffiti and vandalism, 73% said it's "very much" having an impact on business. Regarding overall cleanliness, 86% say downtown “needs improvement.”
In April, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) reported the mayor met with business owners downtown and, after hearing their concerns, vowed to do more to clean up graffiti and trash.
On Tuesday, the mayor said the current fiscal budget boosted funding for those programs.
“But let's admit it,” Wheeler said. “That was a down payment on the work that we have yet to do in our neighborhood business districts or in our industrial areas, in our parks, our public right-of-ways, and I want to bring back downtown. And part of bringing back downtown is about addressing these issues as well.”
The mayor said pivotal portions of his plan will come from his newest staff member: former mayor Sam Adams.
“[Adams] shares my conviction that we can do much better than this in terms of making all of our neighborhoods, all of our city, livable again," Wheeler said. 'And he's going to help us chart that unified strategy across all of our bureaus, working with our private sector partners, working with great nonprofit institutions in the community like SOLVE and others."
After Tuesday’s interview with the mayor, KGW reached out to every sitting city commissioner to ask what they’ll do to tackle Portland’s trash problem and when. As of Tuesday evening, one had responded.
“Addressing the trash issue is absolutely an immediate priority,” wrote newly elected Commissioner Mingus Mapps. “The city has an incredible partnership with Central City Concern’s Clean Start PDX to remove trash related to urban camping … Right now, the city is running 8 trucks and if there is an opportunity to double or triple this number, I would support that.
Commissioner Mapps added he’d like to see the city pursue formal partnerships with volunteer groups who clean up litter, like SOLVE.
“Once upon a time, the City partnered with community volunteers in neighborhoods and community groups to clean trash and remove graffiti,” he said. “In my mind this has been an ignored resource and I urge my colleagues and bureaus to remember that there are thousands of Portlanders willing to help clean up.”