Friday Forums
City Club functions include Friday Forums built around speeches by experts in government, the arts, sciences, and education. The forums, which are open to the public, take place between 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Fridays at the Sentinel Hotel (ex-Governor Hotel) in downtown Portland. Audio recordings of the forums, updated weekly, are available online as MP3 digital audio files that can be downloaded from the City Club web site. Local radio and television stations broadcast live or taped forums at various times during the week. [7]
Speakers at City Club meetings over the years have included Lewis Mumford, an expert on urban planning, who in 1938 urged Oregonians to do a better job of protecting their natural resources and "issued a stern challenge to the leaders of Portland who had frustrated attempts at rational city planning since the Olmsted Report in 1904... ". [8] The Olmsted Report, received by the city in December 1903, had emphasized creation of the 40-Mile Loop, a system of parks and linking parkways in Portland that would take advantage of natural scenery. [9]
A few of the other speakers and forum topics have been:
- Gov. Tom McCall (1974), "Tom McCall Farewell"
- Karl Menninger (1981), "Our Criminal Injustice System"
- Sen. Mark Hatfield (1982), "The Nuclear Arms Freeze"
- David Broder (1983), "Setting the Stage for the '84 Election"
- Eleanor Smeal (1984), "Why and How Women Will Elect the Next President"
- Rev. Jesse Jackson (1987), "Peace, Justice, and Putting America Back to Work
- Sen. Elizabeth Dole (1990), "Leadership for the Year 2000"
- Kimbark McColl (1993), "Twenty Years of Planning in Oregon"
- Mayor Vera Katz (2000), "The State of the City: Connecting the Dots"
- Molly Raphael (2004), "Why Libraries Matter in the 21st Century"
- Gov. John Kitzhaber (2005), "On the Road to Revolution: Fear and Loathing in the U.S. Health Care System" [10]
The Oregonian is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850, and published daily since 1861. It is the largest newspaper in Oregon and the second largest in the Pacific Northwest by circulation. It is one of the few newspapers with a statewide focus in the United States. The Sunday edition is published under the title The Sunday Oregonian. The regular edition was published under the title The Morning Oregonian from 1861 until 1937.
Neil Edward Goldschmidt is an American businessman and Democratic politician from the state of Oregon who held local, state and federal offices over three decades. After serving as the United States Secretary of Transportation under President Jimmy Carter and governor of Oregon, Goldschmidt was at one time considered the most powerful and influential figure in Oregon's politics. His career and legacy were severely damaged by revelations that he had raped a young teenage girl in 1973, during his first term as mayor of Portland.
Willamette Week (WW) is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture.
Nigel Jaquiss is an American journalist who won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, for his work exposing former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt's sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl while he was mayor of Portland, Oregon. His story was published in Willamette Week in May 2004. He continues to write for Willamette Week.
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The Government of Portland, Oregon is based on a city commission government system. Elected officials include the mayor, commissioners, and a city auditor. The mayor and commissioners are responsible for legislative policy and oversee the various bureaus that oversee the day-to-day operation of the city. Portland began using a commission form of government in 1913 following a public vote on May 3 of that year. Each elected official serves a four-year term, without term limits. Each city council member is elected at-large.
Sho Dozono is a Japanese-American businessman and former political candidate from Portland, Oregon. He was a candidate in the 2008 Portland mayoral race. Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams was the front runner throughout the race. Dozono, who would have faced Adams again in November if neither candidate had cleared 50%, lost to him in the primary when Adams won 58% of the vote.
Jefferson Smith is a former radio personality, and former politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. He is a member of the Democratic Party of Oregon, founder of the Bus Project, and served in the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 47 in east Portland, from 2009 to 2012. He was one of two candidates for Mayor of Portland in 2012 to advance beyond the primary election, but lost to Charlie Hales in the November general election.
Mildred A. Schwab was an attorney and politician from Portland, Oregon, in the United States. She served as a City Commissioner from 1973 to 1986; she was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Neil Goldschmidt was elected mayor, and was re-elected three times. Her brother, Herbert M. Schwab, served on the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Terrence Patrick Bean is an American political fundraiser, a civil rights activist, and a pioneer of the LGBT rights movement. He is known for co-founding several national LGBT rights organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. As of 2012, he is the CEO and President of Bean Investment Real Estate and resides in Portland, Oregon. Since 2014, Bean had been the subject of sexual assault allegations; all charges were dismissed in January, 2022.
Gretchen Miller Kafoury was an American politician, who served in the Oregon House of Representatives, the Multnomah County Commission, and the Portland City Council. She served in the legislature from 1977–82, the Multnomah County Commission from 1985–91, and the Portland City Council from 1991-98.
The Centennial Mills, originally known as the Crown Mills, is a complex of twelve buildings along the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District, in the United States. The Portland Development Commission has owned Centennial Mills since 2000. The buildings are slated for demolition, except for the flour and feed mill buildings. Between Summer 2015 and Fall 2016, most of the buildings on the property was demolished.
Jo Ann A. Hardesty is an American Democratic politician in the U.S. state of Oregon who is currently a Portland City Commissioner, having taken office on the Portland City Council in January 2019. She previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1995 until 2001. Hardesty is the first African American woman to serve on Portland's city council and is an advocate of defund the police. In November 2020, a controversy over Hardesty's 911 over a Lyft driver who refused to roll a window up drew national attention.
Janelle S. Bynum is an American Democratic politician currently serving in the Oregon House of Representatives. She represents the 51st district, which covers southern Multnomah County and northern Clackamas County, including the southeasternmost part of Portland, most of Happy Valley and Damascus, and the surrounding area.
The 2020 Portland mayoral election was held on May 19th, 2020 and November 3, 2020.
Carmen Rubio is an American politician and non-profit executive in the U.S. state of Oregon who is currently a Portland City Commissioner, having taken office on the Portland City Council in late December 2020. She had previously served as the executive director of the Latino Network since 2009.
Richard Waldo Bogle Jr. was an American journalist and politician. He was the first black television news reporter in Oregon and later served two terms as a Portland city commissioner.
The Portland City Auditor is one of the six citywide elected positions in Portland, Oregon. The Auditor is the only elected official functionally independent of City Council and accountable only to the public. The Auditor exists to "to promote open and accountable government by providing independent and impartial reviews, access to public information, and services for City government and the public." The current auditor is Mary Hull Caballero.
Elbert Darrell Mondainé is a pastor and political activist in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon.
