halesnovick.JPG

Portland Commissioner Steve Novick (left) and Mayor Charlie Hales are still searching for a path forward on finding money to fix Portland's crumbling streets. Thursday, Hales shifted gears again, shelving plans for an advisory vote.

(Brad Schmidt/The Oregonian)

Mayor Charlie Hales put the controversial Portland street fund proposal "on pause" Thursday, saying the city will let Salem lawmakers craft a statewide transportation bill during the legislative session first.

Read our updated story on Hales' decision.

Hales announced that he and Commissioner Steve Novick "temporarily halted" their push to secure millions of dollars in new revenue for street maintenance and safety projects. Hales' spokesman said the mayor spoke with Gov. John Kitzhaber and House Speaker Tina Kotek this week and decided to defer to state lawmakers.

"They have each assured me that a statewide transportation package is a top priority for them this legislative session," Hales said in a statement.

The Legislature convenes next month.

Thursday's announcement comes eight days after Hales turned the street funding controversy on its head with a new proposal: to come up with several potential funding sources and send them to voters in May for an advisory vote. That plan drew little enthusiasm from other members of the City Council.

It's the latest delay and wholesale change in a City Hall saga that dates back more than a year.

This week, City Hall officials speculated that lawmakers were concerned that an advisory vote -- say if Portlanders made clear they do not support increasing the gasoline tax -- could hurt their ability to raise taxes.

In an interview on Thursday evening, Hales took credit for bringing transportation to the attention of Salem leaders. "The fact that we've had this big loud debate in Portland has helped elevate the debate statewide, it's also helped show how hard it is to get this done."

City officials were expected to hold a public hearing Tuesday to discuss the ballot options. That meeting has since been cancelled, according to Hales' staffers.

Hales and Novick were pushing up against some impending deadlines to get their advisory vote on the May ballot. According to a press release, the deadline to submit ballot language was at 5 p.m. Thursday. Last week, elections officer Deborah Scroggin said the deadline for City Coucil was Jan. 22.

The advisory vote could've cost as much as $300,000 to administer.

Dana Haynes, Hales' spokesman, said the mayor is looking forward to talking about transportation funding options with other Oregon mayors.

"Together, we can represent the needs of cities, all of which will benefit from new options to fund infrastructure at a time when the existing options don't satisfy our communities," Hales said in a statement.

Hales also responded to a question of how to describe the constantly changing fee proposals:

"We're going to keep relentlessly looking for a way to actually solve the problem. That means we'll have lots of debates, we'll have lots of proposals, we'll do it in public if people want to watch the sausage being made. They will perhaps be amused, perhaps be appalled, perhaps be engaged, but one way or another we've got to actually make the sausage and solve the problem. And I want to do that in public. I want to do that now by supporting action at the state level first. But if people don't like watching the sausage then they can wait and see if they like how it tastes."

-- Andrew Theen

503-294-4026

@cityhallwatch