The Portland City Council will hold a public hearing and vote at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3 on a resolution to fund planning for a 3,000-seat Broadway-capable performing arts venue at Portland State University.
The arts and culture center would be at Southwest Third and Lincoln streets.
Meanwhile, the city would explore the feasibility of remodeling Keller Auditorium and reduce its seating capacity from 3,000 to 1,200-1,800.
Karen Whitman, executive director of the Halprin Landscape Conservancy, is urging a no vote.
“The resolution puts nearly $1 billion in motion with no money to pay for it, no market study to justify it, and no guarantee the Keller survives the process,” Whitman said.
She asked supporters of a future for Keller auditorium to sign up now before spots fill and attend the council hearing.
The city cannot afford a $400-500 million commitment in the middle of a budget deficit era, with outstanding backlogs on parks and streets. Apparently neither can PSU, which is why they are asking city taxpayers to foot the bill.
We would be better off to renovate the Keller in stages as resources allow in the future, instead of abandoning it- or converting it at great cost with money we don’t have.
The PSU Broadway theatre plan is the worst imaginable concept for Portland. PSU's ongoing financial crisis with no solution in sight means that it will in all likelihood not be able to fund its obligations for the other connected components of the proposal - and that assumes the City picks up all of the substantial operating costs the new PSU B'way theatre would require.
To be blunt, PSU is a weak financial partner for the City, given the University's inability to manage its own substantial funding shortfalls even after several decades of developing ineffective solutions. The only logical conclusion is that (despite PSU's claims) the City will end up fully funding construction and subsequent operating costs of the PSU Broadway Theatre.