Downtown hoteliers want measure to go to vote but Metro aims to take issue to the legislature.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
The legal battle about a proposed taxpayer-subsidized hotel near the Oregon Convention Center in Portland has headed to Salem.
Metro would like to avoid a public vote on the measure and prefer taking the issue to the legislature, Willamette Week reports.
The group of downtown hoteliers, who have been fighting the 600-room Hyatt since the project was proposed, say legislative action is inapproriate. WW quoted the group’s lawyer, who said Metro knows “they can’t sell the project to voters.”
Senate Bill 64 says Metro’s charter—which declares most of its capital projects are exempt from a vote—supersedes state requirements to send such projects to the ballot. In November, a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge ruled in Metro’s favor on this jurisdictional dispute, but opponents have appealed. Andy Shaw, chief of staff for Metro Council President Tom Hughes, says the bill removes any doubt about whether the hotel requires a public vote.
“We’re going to take every step we can,” Shaw says, “to make sure we get this important project finished.”
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