City Council, July 13th - To Rename Center Street

Council meets on Monday, and they have history on the mind. In addition to the Historic Preservation Plan, they will moot Councilor Hoy's suggestion to rename Center Street to honor Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Center Street is much earlier than Asylum Avenue
and was already part of the earliest grid naming
Marion & Linn County atlas, 1878

Based on the first tranche of public comment, it seems likely that this is a concept that needs more discussion. Rather than snapping into focus with a consensus, several writers propose alternatives, each heading off into a different direction.

Advocating at the Capitol, February 3rd, 1919

Some of the suggested alternatives stress a local figure rather than national one. One person on social media suggested Beatrice Cannady, for example. I do not read the alternate suggestions as any kind of delaying sentiment, especially at this early stage of a proposal, but as offered in good faith. There is also no comment from our local NCAAP chapter or Oregon Black Pioneers, and a successful renaming proposal would be sure to have their endorsement and participation.

Altogether, it is not clear the proposal is fully mature, and there may be benefit from a wider community conversation about whom to honor and how to honor.

Here, it is interesting to note, not a fatal quibble by any means, that Center Street downtown between the River and 14th was named early as part of the first full street grid and predated Asylum Avenue, the extension outside city limits, by more than a generation. Center Street as a street name is not quite the palimpsest that Asylum Avenue might suggest.

Though it is a minor street, because Governor Gaines owned slaves, it has seemed that Gaines Street might be a good candidate for renaming. As we talk about history and our own problematic characters, we may turn up other candidates both for renaming and for the new names. Some "mission creep" here into a broader conversation might actually be constructive.

Other Items

Last month it had seemed that a member of family with a cannery likely to be redeveloped might be a good addition to the Planning Commission, but in a supplemental questionnaire they write about "costly alternative modes" - and what?! To see walking and biking as more costly than car driving is a gross error and perhaps even disqualification. Council should probably appoint the other.

There is information on the proposed Police Department Performance Audit, and hopefully others will analyze it. The outline doesn't touch on racism or bias, and it doesn't really look at staffing levels. Generally it is a little, well, Fordist? It's about bureaucratic efficiency rather than about values. Is it the right approach?

There is more on the challenge to using SDC funds for the purchase of 298 Taybin Road NW on or near a future Marine Drive. Narrowly, on using SDC funds under the 5% slush allowance, it looks like the City has the stronger case. But whether it's a wise purchase is harder to say. The purchase price looks high, the property is located on a contested alignment for Marine Drive that may be contrary to other Council decisions, and there are plenty of other questions. Hinessight has a more detailed discussion, and argues that Staff are not following Council's lead adequately.

Also on SDCs there is a proposal for "partial SDC exemptions for housing projects that guarantee affordable housing for less than 30 years."

A Land Value Tax concept critiqued,
then failed at the ballot in 1908
(March 9th, 1908)

And finally, two notes on Legislative priorities for 2021, one from the City, the other a concurrence with the League of Oregon Cities. One of the LOC policies is for property tax reform, and perhaps it's time to revisit a Land Value Tax, which was debated and rejected in the early 1900s in Oregon. Here's a brief Strong Towns note on a Land Value Tax, and more on Henry George.