KOIN 6 · on homelessness, camping and the deflection center at the county chair debate
Julia Brim-Edwards, Sharon Meieran and Shannon Singleton debated Monday night at Portland State University in a KOIN 6 and City Club of Portland forum, with homelessness, addiction and the county's deflection center as the main subjects. All three said they do not support camping on the streets; Singleton and Brim-Edwards said drug testing or treatment should not be required to receive services such as shelter, and Singleton and Meieran said the deflection center is not working while Brim-Edwards said it had improved. Asked about the county's Moda Center commitment of over $100 million, Meieran and Brim-Edwards said they supported the investment, Singleton said any deal should benefit the communities displaced from Lower Albina, and Brim-Edwards and Singleton named a motor vehicle rental tax as a plausible funding source.
The three are running to replace Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, who opted not to run for a second four-year term.
Sunrise PDX organized a rally and bike relay at the Moda Center on September 26, with Portland DSA also helping organize; about 30 people rode laps around the arena, and Councilors Morillo, Green and Koyama Lane, who all voted against the August term sheet, addressed the crowd. Morillo said the city was "making a multi-million deal with your taxpayer dollars for a billionaire who can very easily afford to do this on his own," and Portland Association of Teachers president Alisha Chavez said Portland Public Schools faces 20 school closures. The Oregonian reported the state has committed $365 million in bonds, Multnomah County up to $101.6 million, and the council approved a nonbinding $120 million term sheet plus $275 million in maintenance over 20 years on an 8–4 vote.
The state's $365 million commitment carries a December deadline and is contingent on the sides reaching a new lease agreement.
Multnomah County commissioners reviewed four options for covering the county's $101.6 million commitment to the Moda Center renovation, ranging from using $35 million in one-time county resources with $53 million financed to raising the motor vehicle rental tax by 1% or 1.25% or the transient lodging tax by 1%. The county estimated the options would cost between $138.6 million and $163.6 million over an assumed 20-year period, including as much as $62 million in interest. Several commissioners pushed to take a lodging tax increase off the table, with Commissioners Brim-Edwards and Singleton favoring a rental-car tax increase.
The Oregon Legislature approved $365 million in state bonding for the renovation earlier this year, and Portland city councilors approved a term sheet in August outlining the city's proposed investment.
Portland City Administrator Raymond Lee met with Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon in Texas to discuss the future of the Moda Center. The Oregonian reported it was the first known in-person meeting between the Blazers owner and a city official in months; Dundon had been largely absent from the arena negotiations to that point.
Portland City Council voted September 3 to open development talks with Albina Vision Trust for city-owned property next to the Moda Center.
Street Roots · on proposals to divert Portland Clean Energy Fund money, including $75 million toward the Moda Center
Street Roots reported on proposals to redirect Portland Clean Energy Fund revenue: a Safer Portland initiative to divert 25% of PCEF's annual revenue to hire 400 more police officers failed to gather enough signatures for the November ballot, and Mayor Keith Wilson has advocated reallocating $75 million from PCEF toward Moda Center renovations after the City Council approved a term sheet August 13 committing the city to $120 million up front. Community groups including Kijani Collective and EnerCity Collaborative objected that diversions contradict the fund's stated purpose of investing in frontline communities.
PCEF is funded by a 1% surcharge on large retailers with $1 billion in national revenue and $500,000 in local revenue, approved by Portland voters in 2018.
The Portland City Council voted 12–0 Thursday to approve beginning negotiations with Albina Vision Trust, a Black-led redevelopment nonprofit, over city-owned property next to the Moda Center that currently consists of two parking lots. The trust's master plan calls for housing, commercial storefronts, public plazas and riverfront access across a 94-acre section of Lower Albina; executive director Winta Yohannes and Black business owners and developers testified in support before the vote.
The vote comes as Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon seeks nearly $600 million in public funding for a Moda Center renovation, with a binding council vote on the arena deal expected in December 2026.
The Oregonian · on the pace of Moda Center lease negotiations since the Dundon sale
The Oregonian reported that the pace of Moda Center renovation and lease negotiations has slowed since Tom Dundon's purchase of the team closed in late March, with a December deadline to reach an agreement. Carl Hirsh, a consultant retained by the city for the project, said "The Trail Blazers have not acted like a team focused on a long-term lease"; the team did not directly answer the paper's questions, including how much the proposed terms would cost the franchise over 20 years.
Portland City Council approved a term sheet for Moda Center renovations on August 12; the Blazers' lease at the arena runs through 2030.
WW reported that around 1 in 6 members of IBEW Local 48 is out of work and that Portland-area union electricians are moving by the hundreds to Boise, where the Micron fabrication campus expansion pays $65 an hour plus a $200 daily stipend. The article reported that Local 48 gave $400,000 to Gov. Kotek's reelection campaign in June and, with Ironworkers Local 29, rescinded its endorsement of Councilor Mitch Green in early July over his opposition to the $2.5 billion Bull Run filtration project and the proposed $600 million Moda Center remodel. Green retains endorsements from AFSCME and the Portland Association of Teachers.
IBEW Local 48 has around 6,000 members; Local 48 business manager Garth Bachman called Green's opposition a "betrayal of the working class" when the endorsement was rescinded.
Trail Blazers representatives agreed to meet city negotiators on Monday, Aug. 17, to discuss terms of a 20-year lease, with the city agreeing to spend nearly $400 million to renovate the Moda Center. The term sheet setting the negotiation framework passed the council 8-4, with Mitch Green, Candace Avalos, Angelita Morillo, and Tiffany Koyama Lane voting no. Councilors asked negotiators to press for additional private investment from the team, a request the Blazers previously called a "nonstarter."
A deciding council vote on the lease terms is expected Dec. 17; the state's $365 million commitment lapses if no lease is signed by year-end.
Portland City Council voted 8-4 on August 12 to approve a nonbinding term sheet committing $120 million in city funds toward an estimated $600 million Moda Center renovation, in exchange for seeking a 20-year lease with the Trail Blazers. Councilors Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, and Candace Avalos voted no; progressive-caucus colleague Sameer Kanal and Council President Jamie Dunphy voted yes, with Kanal saying "I believe that if council doesn't pass a term sheet today, negotiations are done." Green told the council the city was entering into the "worst deal in the country," per the Portland Mercury.
On August 6 the council advanced the unamended term sheet on a 7-5 vote after rejecting every proposed amendment.
Portland Mercury · on the amendment roll calls on the Moda Center term sheet
The council passed three amendments to the Moda Center term sheet on August 12; the Mercury reported that, except for Councilor Steve Novick's rent amendment, all were revamped versions of proposals progressive councilors introduced the prior week. Novick's amendment raising the Blazers' proposed annual rent from $2 million to $3.17 million passed 7-5. An amendment from Angelita Morillo and Sameer Kanal requiring the administration to report opportunity costs to the council 15 days before any financial vote failed on a 6-6 tie.
The prior week the council voted against all 11 proposed amendments to the term sheet.
Councilors Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, and Angelita Morillo, all up for reelection in November, campaigned together over the weekend with 200 volunteers knocking doors in Districts 3 and 4, and issued a joint statement alongside the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party. Willamette Week reported that the progressive bloc, which calls itself Peacock, is seeking one more seat on the 12-member council for a seven-vote majority. Morillo said the Portland Metro Chamber "is going to do everything in their power to prevent us from having seven votes on this City Council."
Portland DSA's 2026 endorsement slate also includes council candidates Tammy Carpenter, Farrah Chaichi, and Nathan Ong Norris.
The council's five-member City Life Committee voted unanimously on August 11 to advance a proposal giving Albina Vision Trust the first chance to redevelop city-owned parcels adjacent to the Moda Center; District 2 councilors Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Sameer Kanal, and Dan Ryan jointly introduced it. Angelita Morillo voted to advance the plan but said it gave sole preference to one nonprofit: "We can just have a harder discussion at full council, because this committee is unwilling to do some of the hard work here."
The proposal goes to a full council vote later this summer.