Portland is abuzz today with the news that our fearless new city manager, Raymond Lee, is going to buck local environmentalists, and probably most of the City Council, to join Portland General Electric in pushing for new transmission lines through Forest Park, at the expense of hundreds of trees.
Lee signed an agreement last week with the head of PGE, Maria Pope, pretty much guaranteeing that the city’s staff people will reverse course and recommend that the project be approved. The NW Examiner has the story here, and the contract here.
Of course, that green-light recommendation will be challenged and appealed, and it could wind up, years down the road, before the state Supreme Court. But in the meantime, it will be quite amusing to see Lee and his minions try to sell the new deal to the City Council, half of whom are up for re-election in November – including all three council members from Northwest. The last City Council vote on this was 12 to 0 against PGE.
People ask me why the mayor hired Lee. I don’t know, but one possibility is to be the fall guy for unpopular decisions. If that was the motivation, we’ll likely see how it plays out pretty soon.
It’s pretty funny seeing Lee refer to himself as “City administrative leadership.” The verbal equivalent of the pocket squares. Let’s just hope there’s no arithmetic involved in the deal.