NEWS BUZZ

murmurs

City Hall Slowdown
Further proof that Portland's economy is slowing may come in the form of pink slips for city employees.

That's because on Jan. 12, city commissioners, who will begin budget discussions next month, learned that revenue for the $354 million general fund will fall short of current service levels by $3 million for 2001-2002. Mark Murray, director of the city's financial planning bureau, chalks most of the shortfall up to worsening economic conditions--which means fewer tax receipts--and mergers such as Fred Meyer's acquisition by Kroger that have shifted money away from Portland.

"The economy is in flux," says Sam Adams, Mayor Vera Katz's chief of staff.

Flux couldn't have come at a worse time. The city is about to enter contract negotiations with the District Council of Trade Unions, which represents roughly 80 percent of the city's 5,500 employees and is awaiting results of arbitration over a three-year contract with firefighters. Neither group plans to settle for inflation-only pay increases.

"We're going to have to shake the tree harder," says City Commissioner Charlie Hales. He warns that most of the cutting will come directly out of bureau budgets and that those most at risk are the general-fund bureaus: police, fire and parks. Erik Sten says the city can make up for the lost funds through "efficiencies," a nice way of saying positions might be chopped.

So far, no one is shouting crisis. That would be an overreaction, says City Auditor Gary Blackmer. He notes that Multnomah County learned Jan. 4 that it would have to cut its 2001-2002 general fund budget by $20 million, or 7 percent. By comparison, he says, the city can cope with a 1 percent cut; it's just not going to be any fun.

--Philip Dawdy

Overtime bomb
In the 22 months since the Police Bureau's "Centralgate" scandal first became public, Mayor Vera Katz, Assistant Chief Lynnae Berg and other officials have repeatedly cited a purported $165,000 in fraudulent overtime claims made by at least 30 Central Precinct drug officers.

This month, the finger-pointers may have to eat crow.

Insiders tell WW the actual amount of improper overtime has proven to be on the order of one-fifth and perhaps as little as one-twentieth of the publicly quoted figure.

Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk, whose office is investigating Centralgate, confirms that the lower numbers are accurate. "That's not out of the ballpark," he says.

Schrunk hopes to release his final report by Jan. 31. He will announce then whether indictments are in the offing.

The issue in Centralgate was "cuff time," the practice of letting cops go home early after a job well done (such as a notable bust) and still be paid for a full shift.

Many cops say the initial reports were correct in saying that the use of cuff time crossed the line in Operation Northstar, the federally funded program to wipe out drug dealing downtown between June 1997 and March 1999.

Still, it may be difficult for Schrunk to seek indictments. Lost in the headlines was the appearance that giving cops paid time off--which didn't show up on time cards--was accepted at the highest levels of the bureau. In 1997, Nancy Dunford, then the bureau's fiscal manager, criticized then-Chief Charles Moose's use of undocumented time off to reward his office staff. For her efforts, Dunford was reportedly ostracized and targeted with an internal-affairs probe before resigning.

Also, in 1994 and 1998, the Police Internal Investigations Auditing Committee issued reports admonishing Moose to clean up the bureau's handling of timecards and overtime, but he did nothing.

--Nick Budnick

Heintzman Strikes Back
Ron Heintzman, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, lashed out at last week's cover story--before it even appeared--in a letter sent to union members.

The Jan. 10 article, "Crony Express," examined the continuing strife between Heintzman and his recent electoral opponent Wally Feist.

Specifically, the article looked at the cases of Frank Hamel and Stephen Orr, two ATU board members who, Feist contends, got preferential treatment from Tri-Met thanks to Heintzman's clout. The article also disclosed that last year Tri-Met general manager Fred Hansen overruled his legal department and paid the legal bills of another ATU board member, Al Thomas, who has denied allegations of sexual harassment in federal court.

Late last year, Heintzman told WW that Orr and Hamel are friends, but denied giving them preferential treatment. His Jan. 8 letter said only one of the two is a personal friend.

Heintzman's letter also attacked a Nov. 8 WW cover story, "The Nasty Battle Inside Local 757," as "vicious and dishonest."

That article questioned whether Heintzman had improperly failed to pay taxes on a 1997 legal settlement after telling the IRS he was setting up a "Tri-Met" shelter--one that Tri-Met officials told WW did not exist.

Informed of Heintzman's criticisms, Tri-Met General Counsel Brian Playfair told WW, "The article was accurate."

When contacted during the reporting of "Crony Express," Heintzman declined to comment. But his pre-publication letter castigated Willamette Week for "continuing its efforts to affect internal Union politics and to hold the Union up to public ridicule."

--Nick Budnick

Center of the Storm
After a year of wrangling, peace broke out at the Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center on Jan. 15. Although there were no group hugs, Judy Kafoury, the theater's managing director; Roger Vrilakas, president of the center's board; and the Northwest neighborhood coalition president, Frank Bird, did find common ground. The trio jointly proposed a slate of new board members to the center's fractious membership.

The yearlong battle concerned who had the right to sit on the center's board; the neighborhood associations maintained that the theater's presence was against the nonprofit organization's bylaws. The theater held that the same bylaws enshrined their right to participate.

The names put forth Monday night included a national account manager for Blue Cross, a chemist, a preservationist, a U.S. Magistrate judge, a planning consultant and various community activists. Both sides endorsed all the candidates and stressed the importance of achieving some form of concord. "These have been very contentious times," Vrilakas told a packed audience, "and I hope we can put them behind us."

But some members of the audience were skeptical of the warring factions' sudden cooperation. "You're handing us a board," said one disgruntled member, "rather than letting the membership choose one." Mediator Doug Capps acknowledged that the evening wouldn't be smooth. "The wounds have not all healed," he admitted. "But we must try and restore the community."

Following the nomination of the board, various members squabbled over two other items on the evening's agenda: The question of staggered term limits for the board and determining how many board members there should be. After a number of ill-managed debates facilitated by retired judge George Eltman, the vote for staggered terms carried, as did maintaining the board at nine members.

--Steffen Silvis

Liquor vendors to OLCC: "STING THIS!"
If a couple of irate liquor-store owners get their way, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission stings may be a thing of the past--at least in state-owned stores.

Oregon authorities have long deployed underage operatives in so-called "minor decoy operations," where underage volunteers working for the OLCC or local authorities attempt to score hooch, presenting their own IDs if asked. According to OLCC spokesman Ken Palke, a state program checked up on 104 state liquor stores in the first half of 2000, nabbing 27 that failed to stop underage buyers.

Now, though, the OLCC has suspended its own "secret shopper" in the face of legal challenges. While stings by local cops continue, hearings before state Department of Justice arbiters, scheduled for March, will test the legality of minor decoy operations.

Peter Grapel and Darryl Morgan, store owners from Eugene and Albany, respectively, have challenged OLCC citations they received for refusing to return IDs they confiscated from minors working in sting operations. The two men contend that stings constitute entrapment and trespassing on the part of minors involved. If state administrative judges don't buy their arguments, the two vow to sue in state court.

"How am I supposed to know that a particular minor is with the OLCC?" asks Morgan. "How do I know, when someone comes in and does that little Gestapo flip with the badge, that this is a legitimate OLCC ID?"

For his part, Palke argues that OLCC decoy operations are perfectly legal. "It's our contention that the volunteers are using their own ID to help law enforcement," he says. "They shouldn't lose their ID for that."

--Zach Dundas

Murmurs

NO CONFIRMATION VOTE REQUIRED

* If you're wondering how to celebrate the Jan. 20 inauguration, Viv Lyons has one idea: protest the installation of George W. Bush. Activists have been posting "Hail to the Thief" posters around town to announce the protest gearing up for a gathering 2 pm Saturday in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

* When Portland Center Stage's next project, Patrick Marber's powerful, contemporary play Closer, opens this weekend, some will be splitting their focus between stage and audience. The father of actor Daniel Freedom Stewart, Star Trek's Patrick Stewart, is due to show up sometime in the run to watch his son in action.

* Portland artists worry that The Oregonian is failing in its commitment to the arts community. The paper hasn't replaced Barry Johnson, who left his role as theater critic to edit the Sunday Arts and Books page, and reportedly has no plans to replace visual arts critic D.K. Row when he leaves in February. Instead, work will be farmed out to stringers and freelancers. A petition of protest is now circulating among local artistic directors.

* Sometimes it's better not to ask. During last Thursday's City Council meeting, when told that a civilian review board would cost the city "in the seven figures," Commissioner Dan Saltzman (an engineer) said, "I'm curious where you got that seven figures. That's tens of millions, right?"

* Mark Wigginton, who left his job as features editor at the O to run Portland International Raceway, has signed on to write a weekly TV column for the Portland Tribune. The part-time gig won't interfere with his day job, but it's a slap in the face to his former employer, to which he had continued contributing regularly.