Portland City Council’s 12-0 vote last week reversing an earlier decision to reject Portland Children’s Levy grant recommendations may have felt mortifying to the seven councilors who swallowed their pride and changed their vote.
But their willingness to put the public good over personal pride is what should resonate. The decision means that dozens of nonprofits selected to provide food, mentoring and other critical support for underserved kids will receive Children’s Levy funds to offer those programs after all. Money from the three-year grants, which are pegged to the city’s fiscal cycle, will start flowing on July 1.
We all know how hard it is to acknowledge making the wrong call, especially on such a public stage. But as Portland City Councilor Mitch Green observed, if you make a mistake the first time, the second time around offers a great opportunity to choose differently. He, as well as Councilors Candace Avalos, Jamie Dunphy, Loretta Smith, Sameer Kanal, Angelita Morillo and Tiffany Koyama Lane, deserve credit for doing exactly that and for muting – mostly – their unmerited attacks on the integrity of the grant selection process…