How to give public land away to condo weasels, quietly (Jack Bog's Blog)

The other day, Portland school board watchers warned us that the board was planning to change the rules for giving notice to the public before selling off "surplus" school district property, particularly real estate. The school board denied it was considering a change, but yesterday morning an alert reader left a comment noting that the public notice requirements had indeed been watered down:

The notification requirements were moved from board policy to administrative policy, which can be changed at the whim of the superintendent.
So a superintendent may change this policy at his or her whim, without board approval or public notice.

Wicked stuff. Super Carole, you're on notice: That's strike 1 for you.

Coincidentally, yesterday the city sent around an e-mail alerting us to a proposed new policy for the same sort of transaction, if entered into by the city's parks bureau. The draft of that policy is here. And hoo boy, does it ever leave lots of wiggle room for the city bureaucrats. They'll be able to get sales of parkland to private developers well on their way to fruition before the public ever finds out about them.

Check out the various "steps" that would be involved in the policy. All sorts of backroom dealings, studies, assessments, blah blah blah, would take place with nary a peep to the public. In step 5, the "stakeholders" get consulted -- I don't know who that is, but I'm sure the developers who are after the parkland will be in on the action way before that. It isn't until step 6 that we poor saps who supposedly own the city's parks finally catch wind of what's up. And at that point, it's not clear what level of public involvement will be allowed. It's all up to the parks czarina, in her discretion.

Remember, folks, these are the same parks people who had a good chunk of Mount Tabor Park sold off to Jim Francesconi's client, Warner Pacific College, before the public discovered what was going on. It was almost a done deal -- the mayor had been given the tour by the college brass and everything.

I don't know which city commissioner is going to get Parks when Big Pipe Saltzman heads over to the police circus in January, but whichever one it is, I hope that he or she promptly puts the brakes to this nonsense. This is Portland. These are our parks. If we're going to sell them off, the public has a right to know what's going on right from step 1.

Comments (9)

This is a increasing problem in Eugene also. Unfortunately these scams are so complicated reporters decide to cover simpler subjects.

Posted by conspiracyzach | November 20, 2008 1:33 PM

The "stakeholders" are the ones willing to drive a stake through the heart of the particular neighborhood.

Posted by conspiracyzach | November 20, 2008 1:36 PM

Let's review...
"The Don" is back at PFF.
Sam the Tram will be mayor andso the new head of the PDC will be his boy.
Fireman Randy, Nick the Sardine,and the rest of them are all packed nice and tight in the tin.
What a can of stinky WORMS!

Posted by portland native | November 20, 2008 1:37 PM

I guess I am surprised that Sam the mayor elect seldom sees fit to come here to comment on posts related to concerns about city government. I know there are several acts in town when it comes to blog sites, but a lot of Ptld folks in the know come to this one to comment on what's what in city government.

We already know those in CoP government follow this site to some extent, even if they won't always admit it. So why would Sam avoid coming out (no pun intended) to set the record straight when his integrity and motives are so often called into question?

Maybe he thinks a response is beneath him. Perhaps he thinks he doesn't have to answer to any public concerns, at least until he actually assumes office. I just review the exchanges sometimes and wonder if he even cares to comment.

Posted by Gibby | November 20, 2008 4:56 PM

Ramen, brother!

I hope King of the Biggest Shiphole in this region doesn't get to keep Parks.

Whoever gets Parks...well, there's been a sewage leak into the Parks Bureau and much of it has floated to the top. It's time to clean that office out and start anew. With people who care about Portlanders and their recreational space and recreational opportunities, instead of catering to the developers to build unworkable white elephants in their legacy.

It's like the Auguan

Posted by godfry | November 20, 2008 10:36 PM

Concerning the Parks bureau- Nothing will change until Director Zari Santer is fired. She is a horrible department head who lets devolpers manipulate her big time.

Posted by Westside Guy | November 20, 2008 11:45 PM

Well, we're a lot better off than Seattle, because we haven't been raped to fund billionaire's sports teams as much. Course, there's Hank Jr. trying to milk Portland for $100M, so there's always a grift I guess.

What I can't understand is why anyone would think sports has anything to do with a city's "identity" ...

http://is.gd/8oYT

Posted by George Seldes | November 21, 2008 1:18 AM

This is one (more) reason I wish Portland elected city council people to represent specific areas of the city. It would be harder to ram stuff like this through if elected representatives knew that they'd be accountable to the people in their district once they helped sell off park/school space. As it is now, they just have to balance alienating people in the affected area vs. their enhanced ability to get campaign contributions from developers.

Posted by Dave J. | November 21, 2008 9:04 AM

Public participation is no barrier to these deals. The slew of public and stakeholder committees have no power, because they issue only advisory opinions, which are routinely disregarded.

Posted by Jim | November 21, 2008 9:07 AM

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

How to give public land away to condo weasels, quietly

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