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Music Portland, an advocacy group for independent artists and music venues, has entered talks with the offices of Mayor Ted Wheeler and City Commissioner Dan Ryan (as well as Travel Portland) about Live Nation’s planned development of a 3,000-seat indoor music venue in the Central Eastside.
News of the development, to be built on land owned by Prosper Portland, sent local music venue owners into a tizzy this spring, as WW first reported (“Standing Room Only,” June 15). They see the massive California events promoter as an existential threat because of the exclusive contracts it signs with artists in other cities it has moved into.
The discussions matter because Live Nation will have to obtain a conditional land use permit from the city. (The Portland City Council would weigh in only if the permit were denied.)
Meara McLaughlin, executive director of Music Portland, tells WW she’s talking to Live Nation representatives, too: “We’re being extremely cautious about a tender music ecology and a potential decimating threat. We look forward to constructive talks, but we understand what we have to lose and we’ll stand firm to protect it.”