To be honest Allan I trust City Hall more than the City Council these days. I see them (well half of them) less as protectors and more as people who are attacking and undermining our values. We need protection from them and right now I trust City Hall to do that.
Thank you for highlighting this important issue. As you noted, City Hall has been at war with neighborhood associations for years, a conflict that inexplicably continued even after Chloe Eudaly was voted out of office, in large part because of her efforts to sideline neighborhood associations and remove them from city code.
This issue gives Raymond Lee an opportunity to help begin a long-overdue shift in City Hall’s culture, a culture too often driven by the belief that bureaucrats know best, where staff work to avoid meaningful public engagement and too frequently have done what they can to thwart the policy direction of elected officials.
Neighborhood associations are not obstacles to be managed; they are an essential part of civic life and the connective tissue of our city. They give residents a voice, create accountability, and strengthen trust between communities and local government.
Thank you to Councilors Olivia Clark and Eric Zimmerman, as well as Council candidate Eli Arnold, for speaking out and making clear that they understand the vital role neighborhood associations play in keeping Portland connected, responsive, and accountable.
Mr. Bob forgets that the city administrator's position isn't supposed to be political, but simply to carry out what city council decides. If the council wants Lee3 gone...say bye-bye. The radicals don't have a firm majority...but there's an election coming up. The idea that the DSA can't continue to engineer the "nonpartisan" ranked-choice scheme to produce more 25-percent victors is about to be decided.
City Administrator Lee might have had a visceral reaction to the proposal. Engaging any citizen group, neighborhood or otherwise is essential to reclaiming Portland. Sadly, his instincts are to remain opaque or perhaps manipulate a response behind the curtain. Sad. All he needs to do to recognize the importance of neighborhood activism is to look at Couch Park where neighbors are volunteering to make the park safe for everyone.
We may all wish Lee success but frankly I’d like to see his employment contract. Given the million dollars the city is willing to pay to failed bureaucrats I would be encouraged if there is no golden parachute in his. If he is committed to Portland success, he doesn’t need one.
Yet another legacy of the radical new city charter...and why are we surprised that Lee3 isn't answering his mail? The charter removed the city's bureaucracy from any real political oversight (too "old fashioned," as any and all assured us), and buried it deep under layers of other people who don't answer their mail. Let's thank Candace Avalos and "Teacher Tiffany" and the other progressives for that.
This was the way the various shadowy influencers designed it--along with ranked-choice voting (25-percent wins) and three-member (who you gonna call?) districts. We're finally beginning to wake up to what a media malfeasance/blackout and dumb voters hath wrought.
It's like an all-night drunk: we're not sure what we did, but by golly, there's a corpse in bed with us...
To be honest Allan I trust City Hall more than the City Council these days. I see them (well half of them) less as protectors and more as people who are attacking and undermining our values. We need protection from them and right now I trust City Hall to do that.
Thank you for highlighting this important issue. As you noted, City Hall has been at war with neighborhood associations for years, a conflict that inexplicably continued even after Chloe Eudaly was voted out of office, in large part because of her efforts to sideline neighborhood associations and remove them from city code.
This issue gives Raymond Lee an opportunity to help begin a long-overdue shift in City Hall’s culture, a culture too often driven by the belief that bureaucrats know best, where staff work to avoid meaningful public engagement and too frequently have done what they can to thwart the policy direction of elected officials.
Neighborhood associations are not obstacles to be managed; they are an essential part of civic life and the connective tissue of our city. They give residents a voice, create accountability, and strengthen trust between communities and local government.
Thank you to Councilors Olivia Clark and Eric Zimmerman, as well as Council candidate Eli Arnold, for speaking out and making clear that they understand the vital role neighborhood associations play in keeping Portland connected, responsive, and accountable.
Mr. Bob forgets that the city administrator's position isn't supposed to be political, but simply to carry out what city council decides. If the council wants Lee3 gone...say bye-bye. The radicals don't have a firm majority...but there's an election coming up. The idea that the DSA can't continue to engineer the "nonpartisan" ranked-choice scheme to produce more 25-percent victors is about to be decided.
City Administrator Lee might have had a visceral reaction to the proposal. Engaging any citizen group, neighborhood or otherwise is essential to reclaiming Portland. Sadly, his instincts are to remain opaque or perhaps manipulate a response behind the curtain. Sad. All he needs to do to recognize the importance of neighborhood activism is to look at Couch Park where neighbors are volunteering to make the park safe for everyone.
We may all wish Lee success but frankly I’d like to see his employment contract. Given the million dollars the city is willing to pay to failed bureaucrats I would be encouraged if there is no golden parachute in his. If he is committed to Portland success, he doesn’t need one.
If you read the Bojack blog--you do, don't you?--you'll know that anything about Lee3's arrival in his top-dollar job verges on being a state secret.
https://www.bojack2.com/2025/12/and-another-one-gone.html
Yet another legacy of the radical new city charter...and why are we surprised that Lee3 isn't answering his mail? The charter removed the city's bureaucracy from any real political oversight (too "old fashioned," as any and all assured us), and buried it deep under layers of other people who don't answer their mail. Let's thank Candace Avalos and "Teacher Tiffany" and the other progressives for that.
This was the way the various shadowy influencers designed it--along with ranked-choice voting (25-percent wins) and three-member (who you gonna call?) districts. We're finally beginning to wake up to what a media malfeasance/blackout and dumb voters hath wrought.
It's like an all-night drunk: we're not sure what we did, but by golly, there's a corpse in bed with us...