191381

The City of Portland ordains: 

Section 1.  The Council finds: 

1. During the nationwide social justice uprisings of 2020, Portland rose to the nation’s consciousness as a flashpoint for vehement and repeated protests against colonization, systemic racism, and injustices toward Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

2. Though these protests took many forms, monuments were a focal point of the protests—of the 170 outdoor sculptures around Portland and Multnomah County, four statues (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt: Rough Rider, and Harvey Scott) were toppled, and one (Promised Land) was damaged and removed.  

3. The City placed these monuments in storage to protect them from further damage and has begun thinking about how best to engage the public around their future. 

4. In September of 2021, the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) public art committee and board of directors published a recommendation that the City should not return these five sculptures to their original locations. In October of 2021, RACC modified their recommendation to the City, stating that the five statues should “not be automatically restored to their previous location” and calling for a “community engagement process to determine next steps for these statues.”  RACC also provided new Monument Review Guidelines for the City of Portland’s consideration, outlining the criteria and process for determining next steps for the toppled monuments and other monuments that may be called into question in the future. The City did not act on these recommendations or approve RACC’s proposed new Monument Review Guidelines, citing the need for more community engagement. 

5. As the City grappled with how best to engage the public on the topics of monuments, it began a search for collaborative partnerships that would help the City design and support the implementation of a thorough and inclusive community engagement process specific to monuments - one that would situate these monuments within the City’s history, and that would help deliver a roadmap for ensuring that public art is truly representative of Portland’s population.  

6. The future of these five monuments remains an open question in Portland, with many residents clamoring for their return while others support their removal.  

7. A thorough and inclusive community engagement process is essential before the City can identify next steps to address two distinct areas of work: 

   • Determine the future of the 5 toppled monuments placed in storage by the City.

   • Determine how best engage the public around the future of monuments in general. 

8. And, as part of a broader cultural planning process launched in 2022 to assess the state of arts and culture in the region, the City contracted with Lewis and Clark College to convene a committee to research and provide recommendations on how to best engage the public around these monument-specific efforts.  

9. Though the City Council is the traditional venue for settling such questions, the City Arts Program believes that traditional processes are inadequate for resolving questions about the future of the five toppled statues, or for airing a thorough discussion concerning other monuments across the City. 

10. Because this issue raised such passionate and vehement opinions, the City is determined to create a thorough and inclusive process to ensure underrepresented communities are engaged in the discussions. 

11. Coming to a resolution on the fate of the 5 toppled monuments presents a significant challenge and a unique opportunity. After the community engagement is complete, the public will expect action. Public opinions will undoubtedly differ. How the City reconciles (or not) these differences and comes to a decision is just as important as the outcome. 

12. The City Arts Program, in collaboration with the City’s Commissioner of Culture and Livability, is responsible to fulfill its commitment to launching a thorough, inclusive, and racial equity-driven community engagement process that addresses two areas:  

    • The immediate question related to the future of each of the five monuments; and 

    • Any longer-term questions about needed changes in the City’s public art decisions. 

13. The City Arts Program applied for and has been awarded a $350,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support such a community engagement process. -- see Exhibit A. 

14. This funding will allow the project to continue at a critical time even as the country is headed into a likely recession and city budgets are constrained. The community engagement activities conducted throughout this process, and the resulting recommendations, will inform public art, monuments, and memorial policies for years to come. 

15. The City envisions this process will reveal the following opportunities:

    • Strengthening Public Trust – Through the cultural planning process, the City has heard from communities that there are many forums for public testimony and feedback. Even with these forums, the public has not seen their feedback and concerns reflected in policy. This has eroded trust over time. The Portland Monuments Project serves as an opportunity to strengthen public trust by exploring new and innovative engagement models and getting the feedback the City is seeking from communities that have been historically marginalized and whose stories have been made invisible by the current monuments. 

    • New Mechanisms for Engagement – The City’s underserved and underrepresented communities have become fatigued with the traditional forms of community engagement. The City believes a shift from a traditional community engagement model to a one of on-going dialogue between the City and the public is long overdue. The City believes a transformative approach like this will lead the outcomes the City seeks and will result in the creation of a new mechanism for the City and the public to engage with complex community issues by committing to a long-term conversation and process of on-going engagement. 

    • Community Healing – The City envisions this process will deepen the City’s understanding of the needs and priorities of marginalized communities. Ideally, this work will contribute to the healing and resiliency of underserved and underrepresented communities in Portland. 

NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs: 

1. The Commissioner-in-Charge is authorized to accept a grant in the amount of $350,000 from the Mellon Foundation (Grantor) on behalf of the City and to execute a grant agreement with the Grantor. 

2. FY 2023-24 budget is hereby amended as follows:  
   Grants Fund: 217  
   Business Area: MF00 
   Bureau Program Expense: $350,000 

3. The Office of Management & Finance Grants Management Division is authorized to perform all administrative matters in relation to the grant agreement or amendments, request reimbursement from the Grantor, and submit required online grant documents on behalf of the City of Portland. 

4. The Chief Administrative Officer is authorized to execute on behalf of the City of Portland any subsequent modifications to the grant agreement authorized in Paragraph 3 above, provided such modifications do not increase the City of Portland’s financial obligation or risk.  Any modifications that increase the City of Portland’s financial obligation or risk must be authorized by the Portland City Council. 

Section 2. The Council declares that an emergency exists so that no further time is lapsed in the execution of the contract necessary to engage partners and secure essential materials to design and launch the community engagement phase of this project; therefore, this Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage by the Council.