End ESDs
Clean & Safe
Downtown Clean & Safe one of three Enhanced Service Districts (ESD) in Portland. Broadly known as Business Improvement Districts, ESDs are privately funded by local property managers to provide “enhanced services” within the district. ESDs use this private money to pay for services like crow abatement, holiday lighting programs, janitorial programs, and, most notably, their public safety program.
Through this framework, private interests can operate in public space with little to no oversight or accountability. Clean & Safe is managed by the Portland Business Alliance (PBA) and has no community oversight.
In 2020, the City Auditor released its report: Enhanced Services Districts: City provides little oversight of privately funded public services. Following the report, the Office of Management and Finance hired an oversight coordinator to conduct the audit response process. In less than a year, and only half way through the proposed process, Shawn Campbell left his role. It is still unclear whether that was voluntary or not. The management office, under the control of Mayor Ted Wheeler, has made no effort to recruit and hire a new district coordinator which has been vacant since August 2022.
In early February 2023, the City Auditor sent an update email stating that no effective oversight has yet been implemented.
At its core, the ESD program is driven by the concerns of property and business owners. Need proof? The Portland Business Alliance uses revenue collected through the Clean & Safe ESD to compensate its executives. According to the 2022 Downtown Clean & Safe Annual Report, over 65% of Public Safety Program calls consisted of business outreach. By comparison, only 11% of calls assisted community members.
ESDs govern through the corporatization of public space with no accountability or oversight, and actively harm our unhoused neighbors.
Sisters is part of a coalition of groups working to end Clean & Safe and oppose ESDs in Portland.
