Portland’s government could be described as mayor, City Council and city manager. Some want to change this to a new system, perhaps called mayor, mayor and mayor. This is on the ballot on Nov. 8.
How this would give citizens a better seat at the table, increase debate, avoid corruption and promote consensus is hard to see.
Municipal governments provide basic services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year: ambulance service, streets plowed during a blizzard, trash collected responsibly, safe neighborhoods even while we are sleeping.
Voters will see an item on the November ballot, under the bland heading of “Question 2 – Governance,” attempting to put a mayor in charge of all city operations. This is a fork in the road for Portland: One branch leads to good government, the other to politics. Thoughtful voters will check the box marked “no.”
Tom Valleau
Westbrook
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.