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Officials from Detroit will arrive in town next month to learn about Portland Street Response, the city initiative that sends mental health clinicians rather than police officers to soothe people in distress. Visitors will include staff from the Detroit mayor’s office, one city council member’s office, and the fire and police departments.
But records obtained by WW show that just two weeks ahead of the visit, tensions at Portland City Hall over the purpose and future of the program are bleeding into the itinerary for the Detroiters’ visit.
That’s apparent from an email thread between Detroit officials and city of Portland staff.
The thread involves a onetime policy staffer for former City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, the official who championed PSR but was then unseated by Rene Gonzalez in November. That staffer, Andre Miller, advised Detroit officials that the climate in Portland City Hall “has definitely changed politically,” and advised that the visiting officials speak about the program with Hardesty—who’s no longer in office.
It appears the Detroit officials changed their itinerary to take Miller’s advice.
But then the email exchange made its way to officials at Portland Fire & Rescue, who were unhappy with the pivot in the visitors’ itinerary, which appeared not to include Gonzalez and his staff.
Gonzalez has been a fierce advocate for the firefighters’ union, which backed his campaign against Hardesty. The fire bureau, under which Portland Street Response operates, harbors uneasy feelings about the progressive program—and, as WW first reported last month, PSR is now competing for funding with a similar program run by firefighters (“Flame War,” May 31).
Below is the email exchange, which took place over two weeks in June and exposes the simmering tensions over the future of a city program that’s received wide support from citizens and legislators alike.
A representative of Detroit City Council member Gaby Santiago-Romero wrote June 7 to Andre Miller, former policy staffer for Hardesty and now a policy adviser in another city bureau: “[Officials] are looking to create their own program in Detroit and wanted to inquire about going back out to Portland so they and the police chief could get a better understanding of the mechanics,” the staffer wrote. “Would you be able to connect them to the right folks to move that forward?”
Miller wrote back on June 8: “The climate has definitely changed politically in Portland as well as what current electeds think Portland Street Response should do. I think the best people to get you in contact with is Jo Ann who is the Commissioner I previously worked with that championed Portland Street Response and then the new Commissioner who oversees Portland Street Response so you can get the different perspectives.”
Miller appears to have spoken on the phone with Santiago-Romero’s chief of staff, Kristin Dayag, who emailed Miller on June 13: “It was great speaking with you over the phone. I’m really sorry to hear how much the political climate has changed since we last visited,” Dayag wrote. “Hopefully we can work our way around that to ensure we focus on the overall benefits of the program!”
Dayag shared a tentative list of people and divisions the Detroit officials wanted to speak with during the July visit. The list included Hardesty, Deputy Police Chief Mike Frome, the deputy fire chief, the nonprofit Street Roots, and the director of the city’s Bureau of Emergency Communications, Bob Cozzie. Neither Gonzalez nor his staff made the list.
The email chain made its way to the chief of the fire bureau’s Community Health Division, Ryan Gillespie, who emailed other city officials to express his displeasure: “I am concerned with the expectations of the folks visiting based on their reply to Andre,” Gillespie said, quoting part of Dayag’s email commenting on the political climate. “If Detroit folks wish to hear about the PSR program, they should expect to hear different perspectives from the stakeholders. There are several challenges within PSR that will also be communicated along with the benefits.”
Detroit officials are now scheduled to meet with Gonzalez’s office during their trip.