May 20, 2003
Impacts and Intrigues of the Downtown Parking Garage Contract
As the new Star Park/Alliance of Minority Chambers contract for downtown garages approaches City Council approval (scroll down to Thursday), the Portland Tribune today published two related articles.
In the first, concerns are raised that an ad campaign promoting downtown Portland might be in jeopardy:
In 2001 and 2002, the city's SmartPark garage contract provided $645,000 annually toward a three-year, $3.6 million campaign promoting downtown as a place to shop, dine and enjoy cultural events while parking at one of the six city-owned facilities.
The remainder of the marketing cost came from the Portland Business Alliance, which has managed the garages under a contract with the city since 1982, when the group was the Association for Portland Progress. But the marketing program went into limbo earlier this month when the city's Bureau of General Services recommended that the contract be shifted to another manager, Star Park.
And the second article reports that an anonymous complaint has been lodged against Star Park:
An anonymous complaint that Star Park LLC is improperly allowing long-term parkers to occupy short-term spots at one of its garages was lodged with the code compliance division of the city's Bureau of Development Services last week.
The accusation was made just days before the City Council prepares to award a contract to Star Park to manage the city's six SmartPark garages -- which have been overseen by the Portland Business Alliance for 21 years.
Attorney Chris Thomas, acting on behalf of a "retailer client whose identity is confidential," accused Star Park's operators of improperly allowing guests of the nearby Westin Portland Hotel and Hotel Lucia to occupy spots for longer than four hours.
Greg Goodman ("whose family owns City Center Parking") says he doesn't know anything about it. Star Park president Barry Schlesinger alleges the involvement of Goodman or "someone aligned with him."
Who knows. But the timing is obviously quite deliberate, regardless of who is behind the complaint, and regardless of its potential validity.
The contract comes before the Portland City Council at 2:30 PM on Thursday, May 22. In the absence of any official challenge by the Portland Business Alliance to the recommended contract, I guess this sudden anonymous complaint will have to do for fireworks.