Post #1595420

#PDX Thread from Portland District 4 City Councilor Mitch Green (@councilorgreen.bsky.social) on Bluesky about secret negotiations between the City and Trail Blazers new owner, billionaire Tom Dundon, on terms of the Moda Center lease: 🧵 Update on the Moda Center process: I was recently asked to join a small group of councilors to stay close to the talks as the admin enters negotiation. It was conveyed to me that a condition of being in this group would be a commitment to honor an NDA between the city and the team. I refused. It is my position that elected officials should not enter into NDAs either through direct signature or by honoring the non-disclosure commitments of a master NDA. The point of an NDA is to keep details secret, which is the opposite of what we should be doing with this project. My position is pretty simple: if you want the public to support using public money to remodel a stadium, then you need to make the case to them in public about why using those funds is better than some alternative. The tradeoffs associated with use those funds should be honest, clear and thorough. Instead of this model of a small group of councilors committing to an NDA, we should have early and frequent work sessions on the stakes of the Moda deal. Let's hear from the public, from objective third parties, and engage in open debate about our conditions and red lines on what is acceptable. What's more: I have suggested that I think we should refer the funding question to the voters. If we hold hearings to discuss the merits, the tradeoffs, and engage in a transparent visioning process, then we put the onus on the team to convince the public and not just seven members of council I join my colleague [Tiffany Koyama Lane] in rejecting the NDA approach to this negotiation with elected officials at the table, as she rightfully points out that they are in conflict with our commitment to transparency as a core City Value. URL of Councilor Green's thread: bsky.app/profile/councilorgreen.bsky.social/post/3mk26vo3pbc2z URL of Tiffany Koyama Lane's statement on Instagram: www.instagram.com/p/DXZ1YtZDQvH/?igsh=cWhxYzNkbWQ2OHdz