The headline on a recent KOIN6 news story about the survey from the Oregon Values and Belief Center is “There’s No Strategic Plan”
And it’s not that it seems like there’s no strategic plan – there literally isn’t.
In March 2025, the Government Transition Advisory Committee about the new government structure wrote that the transition could not be considered complete until Portland launched citywide strategic planning. It recommended that Council and the executive set priorities together to guide the 2026–27 budget. By September, the work was “on hold.” That budget has been adopted. Portland’s citywide strategic plan remains the Portland Plan, from 2012. Before the pandemic, remote work and this government existed.
To end the year without a strategic plan, despite their own advisory committee’s recommendation, is a failure of both vision and conviction.
I would require a citywide strategic plan before the next budget.
