Commissioners Fish and Eudaly have joined Commissioner Hardesty in questioning the city’s URM ordinance.
As reported in more detail by the Portland Tribune,
“A majority of the City Council has now come out against requiring owners of unreinforced masonry buildings to post placards warning they may be unsafe in major earthquakes.
On Monday, Commissioner Nick Fish told the Portland Tribune he does not support the requirement.
Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s office told the Tribune she supports Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s decision to direct Portland Fire & Rescue to not enforcement the requirement”
Commissioners Fish and Eudally both refused to vote for the ordinance last year. As Commissioner Fish explained:
” ‘I do not support placards, or any new mandate, until we have an agreement on a comprehensive solution to the problem. And that has to include incentives to help offset the costs for small property owners,’ Fish said Monday. ‘We are at risk of promoting demolition through government mandate, which I do not support,’ he continued.”
Will the council repeal the ordinance and work with small property owners and the communities who depend on these buildings – artists, musicians, renters, communities of color, small businesses – to find the comprehensive solution that Commissioner Fish described?