May 12, 2005
Is There Appeal In An Appeal?
We Find Ourselves Stuck In The Middle
The strange thing, after all of these months of community support for Beam Development leading into the Portland Development Commission selecting Opus Northwest to be the preferred developer for the Burnside Bridgehead project, is that we have mixed feelings about the appeal of that decision.
Certainly, we don't dispute Brad Malsin's right to file such an appeal. And, obviously, we felt as disjointed as anyone else when the decision was handed down.
Days before that appeal was filed, the only statement in the press regarding a potential appeal was this: "The Beam team has seven days to appeal the decision. But Malsin said Thursday he was not exploring that option."
That statement was close to mind when we appeared on the local Thom Hartmann show early one Tuesday morning to discuss PDC's decision to give the project to Opus.
What we said at that time was that it seemed to us that perhaps everyone was simply exhausted after all of the time and energy that went into those many months leading up to the decision, and that perhaps any additional time and energy was best put into keeping the toes feet of Opus and developer Bruce Wood to the fire in terms of ensuring that they produced a project in line with the desires of the Central Eastside.
Of course, we all know what happened next. Less than a week after Malsin was quoted by The Oregonian as saying he wasn't exploring an appeal, Willamette Week published a Web article reporting that such an appeal, in fact, had just been filed.
Now, the City finds itself in the precarious situation in which PDC says they will consider the appeal, while Commissioner Sten wants City Council to hear the appeal, Mayor Tom Potter reportedly studying various options, and a Central Eastside advisory committee conducting something of a post-mortem on the process.
(And, not so incidentally, none of them agreeing on the legalities of whether or not anyone other than PDC even is permitted to hear the appeal.)
As we said, and as everyone already knows, there's no question that we supproted the Beam Development proposal, and we continue to believe that PDC's semi-stated reasons for awarding the project to Opus don't actually stand up under scrutiny.
And, as we also said, there's nothing wrong with Malsin engaging in an appeals process, and such a thing was envisioned by the original RFP to begin with, in the event one of the parties felt it was needed.
So, the point of all this is just this: Normally, by now we would have had something clear to say about the appeal. But we're mired in conflicting opinions, and torn between two competing forces: On the one hand, there's our certain opinion that PDC's decision was wrong based on the very criteria which were to be used to make that decision On the other hand, we can't help but wonder if all this time and energy wouldn't be better spent preparing to keep Opus on track.
In the end, as it continues to stand today, two weeks after the decision and one week after the appeal, we simply don't know what to think.
Comments (4)
MarkDaMan on 12 May 2005
B!x a delay in a project that will take many months to finance, a few years to complete, and will stand as a gateway to downtown for many more years that that, can be delayed by another month, or possibly two, while everyone gets to say what they think will be the best for the developers, PDC and city as a whole. Sometimes a public process doesn't end when a group of five (or however many are on the PDC board) make a decision that so many hundred where involved in. As long as the process is still working itself through the issues, I think it is prudent to let it play out and all should be supportive as long as the project continues to move forward. Everyone will have "their day in court" and we should get a better development because of it.
The One True b!X on 12 May 2005
As I said, Brad has the right to appeal, and doing so has always been covered by the RFP.
But that doesn't mean it's impossible to see a downside.
MarkDaMan on 12 May 2005
There could be drawbacks to the appeal, and with everyone clamoring to play a role in this appeal there could be too many hands in the cookie jar. However until that becomes apparent I think we are in for a helluva great project with the amount of passion at the table for this development and the creative ideas that have been offered up so far to resolve this appeal. I personally don't currently see a downside to more dialogue and more involvement and certainly don't see this as wasted time and energy or losing track and creating disinterest in what people expect to see. Mayor Potter's latest suggestion shows that the people in the right positions care about what the final project will be and because of this appeal methinks it will be much better, more collaborative, and closer to what the neighborhood wants, if not even enhancing what was originally offered by the three.
porkchop on 16 May 2005
The only danger I see with this appeal is the precedent it sets. What will happen the next time a disgruntled developer loses a PDC project? They’ll appeal. Obviously the entire PDC appeal process needs work and maybe this is just the thing we needed to get the whole system fixed!
No one has yet to clear up the legality of the Mayor and City Council stepping into this process. If the Mayor and City Council members award the project to Beam, doesn’t that give Opus the right to head to the courts? Will it ever end??????