The District Five Insider is a newsletter about the big decisions making their way through the City Council, what they mean for District Five, and how you can get involved. Enter your email and click subscribe to receive this newsletter in your mailbox.
Tuesday April 15, 2025
ONE BIG THING: Portland Adopts Vision Zero
Last night, the Council took a major step toward protecting all Portlanders by unanimously passing the Vision Zero resolution, a commitment to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2045. This is a victory for anyone who walks, bikes, rides the bus, or simply crosses the street in our city.
What Happened
The Council unanimously approved a resolution endorsing the Greater Portland Council of Governments’ Vision Zero Action Plan. The plan prioritizes safety over speed; people over cars; and acknowledges that traffic deaths are preventable, not inevitable. It commits us to redesigning dangerous corridors, using crash data to target investments, and coordinating across departments to ensure every Portlander—regardless of age, income, ability, or neighborhood—can get around safely.
Why It Matters
We’ve seen a high number of recent pedestrian deaths in Portland—a tragic toll that reflects a transportation system designed for speed and convenience, not for human life. And let’s face it: the risks don’t fall on everyone equally. The less money you have, the more likely you are to walk, bike, or ride the bus. And the less protected you are in those modes, the higher your risk of injury or death. That’s not a coincidence; it’s a policy failure.
This resolution matters for the working-class people of Portland—for kids walking to school, for elders crossing Stevens Avenue, for transit riders navigating Forest Avenue before sunrise.
I’ve heard from many Portlanders who are ready for this change, including Erik in Deering Center:
“Our family gets around Portland by walking, biking, car and bus, and strongly supports Vision Zero… For me personally this means that my kids and I should be able to find a safe walking and biking route to any destination in the City.”
What Comes Next
The Sustainability and Transportation Committee will now begin work on a local implementation plan, identifying high-risk intersections, prioritizing low-speed street redesigns, and ensuring that vulnerable users are protected. Community members can and should stay involved to ensure this work keeps moving.
The Budget Crisis and the Cost of Disinvestment
Last night, the City Manager submitted her FY26 budget proposal to the Council, which includes a 6.2% citywide tax increase, driven largely by the state’s refusal to fully reimburse us for General Assistance (GA) and shelter beds. These are services that Portland provides not only for our residents, but for people from across the region. We’ve built the Homeless Services Center (HSC)—a facility unmatched anywhere else in Maine—to meet a crisis head-on, with compassion and coordination. But now the state is walking away from its share of the cost.
Meanwhile, Cumberland County has not funded jail-based addiction treatment at the level we need it to, leaving our police and our community with no clear path from crisis to recovery. Officers arrest people in crisis only to see them back on the street days later, still suffering—not because anyone failed to do their job, but because the system stops short of care. That’s not on our police. That’s a failure of county investment.
The impacts of this disinvestment ripple far beyond GA. When we’re forced to fill the state’s gap, it comes out of our core services, like public safety, youth programs, parks and street repair. Already, we are falling behind regionally on police and fire department salaries, losing workers to neighboring towns, and watching morale decline. These are the broader costs of austerity that don’t make headlines.
A budget is not just a spreadsheet. It’s a statement about what kind of city we’re being asked to become—and who’s being asked to sacrifice. There will be opportunities to organize and push back. For now, let’s name the truth: Portland has stepped up again and again to do what’s right. But we cannot keep doing it alone.
HEDC Meets Tonight on Workers’ Rights and Housing Justice
The Housing and Economic Development Committee meets tonight to discuss a series of proposals that could reshape housing and labor protections in Portland:
- Minimum Wage Referendum: A proposal to let voters decide whether to raise the minimum wage for Portland workers. With the cost of living soaring, a real living wage is a critical tool to prevent homelessness and economic displacement.
- Hotel Inclusionary Zoning: A long-overdue policy revision to ensure hotel developments deliver affordable housing for their workforce—not just more corporate profits.
- Vacancy Ordinance: A proposal to require owners of empty storefronts to register and maintain them, making it harder for speculators to sit on housing stock while people sleep outside.
PET OF THE WEEK: Meet Archie
We had a very special guest at last night’s meeting: Nine-week-old Archie, the Portland Police Department’s new comfort dog, stopped by City Hall and instantly became a crowd favorite.
Archie is part of a growing effort to bring trauma-informed practices into public safety. He’s here to support community members and first responders alike—and remind us all that a little softness can go a long way.
ksykes@portlandmaine.gov 207-558-5764
Notice: Under Maine law, documents – including e-mails and text messages – in the possession of public officials or city employees about government business may be classified as public records. There are very few exceptions. As a result, please be advised that what is written in a text message or e-mail could be released to the public and/or the media if requested.
Kate Sykes for District Five 