Votes postponed on Portland minimum wage hike, music hall moratorium
Photo / Renee Cordes
The Portland City Council is now scheduled to vote on a proposed concert hall development moratorium on Aug. 11.
The Portland City Council on Tuesday postponed votes on a proposed minimum wage increase and controversial moratorium on a concert hall development. The delays came after technical difficulties disrupted the evening livestream.
"I don't have a full report yet of what went wrong but the tech issues may have been from a power surge," Jessica Grondin, a spokeswoman for the city, told Mainebiz Tuesday morning.
The Finance Committee will revisit a plan to increase the city's minimum wage from $15.50 to $20 an hour at a regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday to review fiscal impact studies related to the proposed measure. The state minimum wage is $14.65.
The proposal under discussion has been to phase in the raise over three years. It does not include a wage hike for tipped workers who are currently paid an hourly wage of $7.33, but employers are required to ensure that wages and tips combined total $14.65 per hour.
The council’s four-member Housing and Economic Development Committee held a public hearing on the wage hike March 18 and heard from close to 25 residents and business owners over Zoom with more comments posted on the city’s web portal. The majority of residents who spoke supported the increase, while most employers were opposed, though not unsympathetic to the plight of low-wage earners contending with the high cost of living in Portland.
Public comment will be allowed at Thursday’s Finance Committee meeting, which will be held over Zoom only, starting at 5 p.m.
Proposed moratorium
The proposed moratorium on large concert venues would apply retroactively to Dec. 1, 2024.
If passed, the measure would impose a 180-day moratorium on theater and performance hall projects with a 2,000-plus capacity, while the Housing and Economic Development Committee reviews and recommends amendments to the City Code to address concerns related to the impact of large entertainment venues on public parking, traffic congestion, public safety and other infrastructure.
While the proposal by two City Council members does not mention any specific projects, it would pose a hurdle to the concert hall envisioned by Mile Marker Investments in partnership with Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV), to be located on Cumberland Avenue.
The City Council is now scheduled to vote on the proposal on Aug. 11, according to Grondin.
Todd Goldenfarb, managing director of Mile Marker Investments, told Mainebiz last week that if the proposal passes, "We are fully prepared to immediately defend our rights as developers who are following the zoning the city has established."
“You just can’t change the rules on people midstream," he added. "It sets a very dangerous precedent.”
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