What’s the Deal With East Portland’s Infrastructure Woes?

As Portland City Hall gets an overhaul next year, East Portland will finally get equal representation on the City Council. The area has fewer sidewalks, and still has a hard time getting City Hall’s attention, according to former City Commissioner Randy Leonard.

He chatted with the City Cast Portland podcast about why East Portland was built different — and what an overhaul of city government could mean for the neighborhood.

Here are four key facts to know about East Portland:

1. The area’s always lacked political representation at City Hall. Only two Portland City Commissioners, including Leonard, have lived east of 82nd Avenue since the area was annexed in the 1980s.

2. It’s a lower-income area than the other three districts in the city. “The median income in District 1 [East Portland] is $61,000, compared with $90,000 in District 2 (North-Northeast), $84,000 in District 3 (Southeast), and $94,000 in District 4 (Westside),” Willamette Week reports.

3. There was once a proposal for a city of East Portland. With 125,000 structures, it would have been the largest city in the United States without a municipal sewer system, part of the reason it never came to be.

4. As part of annexation, homeowners had to pay to be connected to the sewer system. Portland has continued to try to pass the cost of infrastructure upgrades onto homeowners. Stay tuned for how that may change under Portland’s new form of government.

• Related: Check out this story from 2022 when the city wanted to do sidewalk and street upgrades at owner expense.