Charlie Hales, Steve Novick and Leah Treat at Business street fee town hall

Mayor Charlie Hales, Commissioner Steve Novick and PBOT director Leah Treat listen to public testimony earlier this year during a public meeting.

(Andrew Theen/The Oregonian)

Portland residents and business owners will have their first opportunity Thursday afternoon to comment publicly on the revamped proposal to collect millions of dollars for street maintenance and safety projects.

Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick's newly christened Portland Street Fund was released last week. The plan calls for $46 million a year to pay for street maintenance and safety projects, with half of the money coming from a proposed progressive income tax and the other half from a fee on business owners (charged based on square footage and number of employees, among other factors).

Does this ring a bell?

Thursday's public hearing is the first since a May meeting drew five hours of testimony from residents and business owners, the vast majority in opposition to Hales and Novick's idea.

Here's a quick list of links from last week, in case you missed The Oregonian's coverage of the $46 million plan:

Hales and Novick call the

Plan split means twice the

Spending plan would include

How

Would the city dedicate

All you need to

Do you have more questions about Thursday's meeting? Here are some bare-bones details:

I want to go. Where is it?

The public hearing is at the City Council Chambers on the second floor of Portland City Hall, 1221 S.W. Fourth Ave #110, Portland.

How can I watch online?

Have a few minutes to duck away from work? You can watch all Portland City Council meetings (and work sessions, if you want to geek out) by bookmarking this page.

What exactly will happen?

Hales and Novick will debut details of their proposal (read more about it by clicking on the City Council documents, Items 1212-1214) then welcome public comments.

Who will/can speak?

Novick and Hales are likely to speak briefly, but they plan to keep testimony from Transportation Bureau officials to a minimum, before opening up the microphone to public comments. Public comments are typically three minutes long, but occasionally the City Council limits testimony to two minutes.

I want to speak in favor/against the street fund. How do I sign up?

The city clerk will open the signup sheet, outside City Council Chambers, at 1 p.m.

-- Andrew Theen