Charter filed to hold Multnomah County Accountable for Property Crime
Multnomah Counties negligence appears to be catching up with them.
We hear this question often at PDX Real in comments and in conversations throughout the city.
Why can’t we, as citizens, sue the city and county and make them accountable for their negligence and harmful policies?
I think we’ve all seen the statistics. In a poll conducted last year, nearly 4 out of five (79%) businesses in Portland were victims of either vandalism or break-ins during 2022, and of those, over 3 out of 5 (62%) were victims on multiple occasions.
One doesn’t have to look much beyond the boarded-up windows or the graffiti haphazardly sprayed over businesses to understand that Portland and Multnomah County elected and public officials are failing in keeping its citizens safe from property crime. The primary function of government is to protect its citizens. Multnomah County gets a F.
Most have a reasonable expectation that their governing bodies will devote sufficient resources to preserve and protect their property. To fail to protect creates chaos, harm and crisis. One doesn’t have to look much beyond the boarded up windows or the graffiti haphazardly sprayed over businesses to understand that Portland and Multnomah County is failing in keeping its citizens safe from property crime.
Well, for those who have considered the possibly of such a scenario, you might be in luck. John DiLorenzo, Oregon’s biggest thorn in its legal side, filed a charter amendment to Multnomah County Monday morning that would require the county to serve as an insurer for loses to businesses and individuals who are victims of property crime. All victims will be allowed to submit to the county claims for up to $2500 for each incidence of loss. A copy of the draft filed is here:
DiLorenzo explains, since the county has “effectively abdicated its responsibility to provide its residents with a baseline level of safety and crime prevention. Policies emphasizing harm reduction, enablement, and absence of consequences have contributed to the increase in public safety issues such as theft, vandalism, robberies, assaults, car-jackings, graffiti, and other behaviors, which diminish quality of life for the county’s residents.”
Yesterday the county charter amendment was met with warm reception and enthusiasm on our Instagram page.
DiLorenzo is well known for recently suing the city of Portland for not upholding ADA laws in regards to tents on the city’s sidewalks. The city settled the lawsuit, and those stipulations forced the city to invest and perform at a more rapid pace removing tents from right of ways.
This newest strategy hopes to bring accountability to the county without filing an actual lawsuit; rather, it is an amendment charter that will be used to force the county to address it’s out-of-control property crime and vandalism. The charter will require 30,000 signatures in order for it to be placed on the ballot in May of 2025 so citizens of Multnomah County can vote on it.
The charter would have an end date of December 31, 2026. If at that time, the county’s crime levels have not reached the level they were in 2014, the charter will continue until the 2014 levels are reached.
Obviously, people living in Multnomah County are tired of the excuses of the county and its slow movement on dealing affectively with the its crime and homelessness problem. This seems to be a good way to force them into finally making the difficult decisions that will affect change.
Below is John DiLorenzo’s full press release advisory about the county charter amendment:
Dear Members of the Press,
I wanted to apprise you of an initiative I am proposing to amend the Multnomah County Charter in my capacity as a private citizen, not in my traditional role as a lawyer.
Portland area leaders have struggled to address the explosion of property crime that has plagued our residents since well before the pandemic. Ideology based decisions (like defunding police department positions and refusing to fund public safety programs) made during the pandemic only exacerbated the problems which now prevent our City from experiencing the type of recovery enjoyed by other comparable cities. Many have fled the core city for the suburbs where these issues are addressed pragmatically, not ideologically.
City leadership is finally on the right track addressing homelessness and crime that impacts downtown and nearby neighborhoods. But the County, at every turn, makes the City’s job harder. For instance, for every two tents the city clears from our sidewalks – the County makes one more available in our neighborhoods.
Most pronounced, however, is the County’s failure to adequately address the increase we have experienced in property crime. The same County that has reduced its jail capacity by half over the last 20 years. The same County that provides half of the funding to a DA’s office that currently brings forward fewer charging instruments per capita than any other district attorney in the state (that will hopefully change in January when our newly elected DA assumes office). And the same County could hire and place more Sheriff’s Deputies out in the community to augment the work of City Police.
I acknowledge that it is not the proper role of the voters to micromanage their elected leaders. But it is our right to expect outcomes and to hold leaders accountable for failing to attain those outcomes. That is why I have filed a Multnomah County Charter Initiative to Hold Government Accountable for Property Crime. A copy of the petition which was filed yesterday with the Elections Office is attached.
All segments of our population are impacted by property crime. When a person who makes minimum wage gets his car stolen or broken into or loses her bicycle, the impact can be devastating. Likewise, the shopkeeper who has to constantly address broken windows won’t be in business for long in downtown Portland.
Here is what the proposal would do:
It would be a county charter amendment so it would take precedence over all other county ordinances and could not be changed without a vote of the people.
It would require the County to be the insurer for those who are victims of property crime in Multnomah County and require payment of claims within 60 days up to a total of $2500.00 per occurrence until FBI crime statistics return to per capita levels that existed when Portland was thriving.
It would give Crime Victims the same rights, as those who file claims with commercial insurance companies as long as they report the crime and assist in its investigation.
It would incentivize the County to pursue criminals to recover the payouts made to victims.
And it would prohibit the County from raising taxes to finance the program and would require the reduction of other county budgets, to make up shortfalls.
I have decided to promote this plan to require the County to help the everyday citizen who is willing to live, work and do business in Multnomah County. I hope the voters will, in turn, let those who have not given up on Portland’s recovery know that their government has their back.
The County initiative rules will require approximately 30,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot. I think that is attainable – especially for an issue like this. Insuring its citizens against crime is no more novel a concept than providing the myriad of other insurance programs that government employs (like social security, Medicare, student loan guarantees, or FHA mortgage insurance).
It is finally time for the voters to let their government know what outcomes they expect, and to hold it accountable for failing to meet those outcomes.
Let's be honest: in terms of rattling Vega Pederson's cage, this won't be much more than an annoyance, since the $2500 per will be OPM, which she's never cared about before--so why start now? She will certainly get 20-thousand-foot cover from Ms. Bottomly at the O, and WillyWeek--growing more establishment by the day--will pooh-pooh it and turn to the more important business of trying to get their slate elected.
It might also be worth remembering the people who habitually vote to put these creatures into office. Joke's on them. (And, please, let's write into the measure the requirement that payouts can only be made to people who never uttered the words, "Reimagine the police.")
How is DiLorenzos sidewalk lawsuit going? It doesn’t seem to have done much. I report blocked sidewalks and the city still takes weeks to respond.
I’m glad DiLorenzo is doing something but the real solution is to vote in different leaders. If we had not voted in people like Lynne Peterson of Metro, Jessica, Vega Peterson of Multnomah county and incompetent City Council members (Carmen Rubio, Chloe Eudaly, Joanne Hardesty, etc) these lawsuits wouldn’t be necessary.
That being said I’ll sign this in a heartbeat!