PortlandTribune.com | Nonprofits get in twist over transit mall: "Nonprofits get in twist over transit mall
Some vow lawsuit to avoid assessment; others support redo
By JIM REDDEN Issue date: Fri, Nov 26, 2004
The Tribune
Managers of downtown nonprofit organizations are split about helping to pay for the $160 million Transit Mall Revitalization Project approved by the City Council. Although some are willing to make the payments, others are talking about suing the city to avoid them.
The council did not exempt nonprofit organizations from participation in the local improvement district it created to help fund the project on Nov. 17. Property owners within the district will be assessed $19 million toward the cost of remodeling the existing mall and running a new light-rail line between Union Station and Portland State University. Landlords are expected to pass the charge onto their tenants.
Andella Macdonald, executive director of the downtown YWCA, says nonprofits should have been exempted from the district. Macdonald says her agency will have to cut services to pay its portion of the assessment.
�We�re a struggling nonprofit organization. We don�t have a separate source of money we can use to pay for such things,� she says."
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