Willamette Week: Participatory Budgeting Measure Faces Organized Opposition, Including From the Mayor

The opposing campaign has garnered support from Mayor Keith Wilson and the Northwest Oregon Labor Council.

The only ballot measure Portlanders will decide this November is facing organized opposition, and it’s coming from the city’s top elected official and some of the region’s most powerful labor unions.

Ballot Measure 26-267 seeks to let Portlanders decide how 2% of the city’s general fund is spent every year, a practice called “participatory budgeting.” Under the program, city residents would suggest ideas for how to spend 2% of the city budget (about $16 million annually), citizen delegates would shape those ideas into project proposals, and the concepts would receive a citywide vote.

Read more at wweek.com.