July 07, 2003
(Updated) Francesconi Assumes Blumenauer Is Running As The Congressman Talks With Portlanders
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
It seems The Oregonian managed to do what I was unable to do -- attend more than one installment of Congressman Earl Blumenauer's series of "Vision for Portland" discussions:
It's a message of Portland living off decades-old initiatives, of residents frustrated by bureaucracy and inattention from City Hall. His themes include a city adrift on questions of education, economic development and community policing, and suffering from a rift with the rest of Oregon.
"We've had a tremendous run the last 25 years," Blumenauer told about 75 young leaders and progressives over the clink of beer glasses on the back patio of a Northwest Portland bar. "There's a feeling I get from a lot of people that we're running on the fumes."
Blumenauer professes amazement at the outpouring, intensity and similarity of concerns he's heard in the past several months about the city's direction.
There are a couple tidbits from the various discussions fo far, including an interesting exchange from a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce discussion -- which is difficult to judge without a greater sense of the context, but it's certainly, well, interesting.
And the paper asked Commissioner Jim Francesconi about the prospect of a Blumenauer mayoral run:
When asked, Francesconi said that he assumes Blumenauer is running and that the city would benefit from a vigorous debate.
He wouldn't cede any turf to Blumenauer on visibility or local knowledge, citing the neighborhood forums he's attended and business districts he's walked during his seven years on the council.
"I think I know what the issues are," Francesconi said. "We have to have a new kind of leadership that focuses on the issues of jobs, education and keeping essential neighborhood services of all kinds in our city."
As for Blumenauer himself, according to The Oregonian, he asserts he isn't being "coy" and that a decision on a mayoral bid is due in the Fall. I continue to believe that decision has more to do with whether or not Mayor Katz runs for re-election that with Blumenauer's interest in the office.
Actually, I should say one other thing. One thing that was intriguing about the one "Vision for Portland" discussion I attended was how clear it was that these events may very well be functioning as an educational process for Blumenauer himself.
At that event, one participant expressed a frustration familiar to readers here: The sense that City Hall is no longer adequately responding to neighborhood and resident concerns. Blumenauer's resposne was to suggest that this sense of disenfranchisement is common around the country, and tied it to a sense of being overwhelmed by current events and not knowing how to have an impact.
Clearly missing in that analysis was the understanding that what's unique about the Portland brand of disenfranchisement -- especially when it comes to neighborhoods -- is that unlike many other cities, Portland has been conducting an ongoing experiment in institutionalizing neighborhood involvement. And that, above and beyond any general sense of national powerlessness, residents here feel that those structures for institutionalized involvement have bee betrayed by the City's leaders.
The further disclaimer here is that I pointed this out to Blumenauer at the end of the discussion. Or, more to the point, I warned him to expect to hear much more of that neighborhood frustration as he continues these events.
It will be interesting to see, in later "Vision for Portland" events, if he's come to any greater understanding of the specifics of Portland's civic frustrations.
Update
And can I just say that I find it amusing that the AP version of this Oregonian story is headlined, "Blumenauer considers bid for mayor of Portland" -- as if that were somehow a new piece of information.