Portland Courant

Last month, the Independent District Commission presented Portlanders with three map options for the new geographic districts. Now, it’s time for Portlanders to share their thoughts as the IDC prepares to vote on a map this August.  

The IDC is responsible for establishing four geographic districts for city council elections, which is part of a major transition for Portland's election system and form of government coming on Jan. 1, 2025. It is comprised of 13 community members, and they are expected to complete their work by Sept. 2023.  

Since July 5, dozens of Portlanders joined the commission to discuss these geographic districts, what they mean for their neighborhoods, and provided feedback on the map boundaries.  

Maps are labeled Alder, Cedar, and Maple for discussion purposes 

Reactions to the maps have ranged as each map has a unique focus and a different way of tackling an important question: which neighborhood(s) will be added on the west side district to ensure it meets the population criteria.  

For example, the Alder map was proposed to preserve established neighborhood boundaries. Neighborhoods in lower southeast, such as Reed, Eastmoreland and Sellwood, share a district with demographically and socioeconomically similar communities on the west side of the river and are connected by the Sellwood and Ross Island bridges. However, residents of those neighborhoods testified that many of them do not feel connected to the culture of the west side as Southeast Portland is where they live, shop, and spend most of their time.  

Community members spoke similarly of the Maple map, which considers the high percentages of renters in the Central Eastside, Buckman, and Kerns neighborhoods and groups them in the westside district, which also has renter-heavy neighborhoods. Susan Lindsay, a co-chair of the Buckman neighborhood association, provided public comment on behalf of the association at the July 5 hearing in support of the Alder map over the Maple map. “You don’t want to consolidate renters in one district,” She explained, citing historic and geographic connections. “You want renters to be able to be elected and represented in every district.”  

Another map option – the Cedar map – was built around prioritizing transit corridors. This was highlighted by a community member who submitted written public comment and provided recommendations for those who rely on public transit. “Aligning the maps to have boundaries that run along Stark to the north and 82nd better supports the transit focus on the Cedar map […] Stark includes line 20, and 82nd includes line 72 which are both frequent service and heavily used commuter bus lines.” 

Still, other Portlanders provided public comment to share that they did not feel represented by the map options and provided their own maps for consideration. Jorge Sanchez-Bautista, a community member and leader from the Cully neighborhood, presented a map at the July 5 hearing that incorporated the commission’s criteria and divided populations more equally. “Having one district represent more people, even if it’s a couple hundred or thousand people, or just five people, matters a lot.”  

Commissioners listened attentively to these comments and reminded community members of the importance of their feedback. “The Commission will choose a map based on the feedback heard. It can be one of these three options or a completely different map, but it will be based on what we’ve heard,” said Commissioner Co-Chair Josh Laurente.  

Despite the difficult decisions that await them, IDC Commissioner Arlene Kimura was thrilled to see so many Portlanders eager to be part of the process. At the end of the public hearing, she turned to the community members gathered in the East Portland community center. “They say that East Portland doesn’t engage, but you showed up!”

Upcoming public hearings 

There’s still time to be part of the process. The IDC will host seven more public hearings. Most will be in-person and across the city, but there is a virtual opportunity over Zoom from noon to 2 p.m. on Friday, July 14. View the details for each individual event on the IDC’s event page.

• Wed., July 12 from 6-8 p.m. at Portland Building: 1120 SW 5th Ave., Portland, OR 97204, Room 108 (In-person only) 
• Thurs., July 13 from 6-8 p.m. at Self Enhancement Inc. 3920 N Kerby Ave., Portland, OR 97227 (In-person only) 
• Fri., July 14 from 12-2 p.m. hosted virtually via Zoom  
• Sat., July 15 from 12-2 p.m. at Charles Jordan Community Center: 9009 N Foss Avenue Portland, OR 97217 (In-person only) 
• Sun. July 16 from 1-3 p.m. at Youth PDX: 16126 SE Stark St., Portland, Oregon 97233 (In-person only) 

After these public hearings, district commissioners will take the rest of July to deliberate on the comments received before voting in August. They encourage Portlanders to join them at the remaining IDC meetings and to share information on the hearings and district plan in their community.  

Multilingual fact sheets, flyers, and copies of the report are also available on the commission’s documents page to ensure multilingual and multicultural community members can also access this information.

Original source can be found here