Welcome to Commissioner Amanda Fritz's site!  

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Dear Neighbor,

You are warmly invited to attend the Spirit of Portland Awards,

Thursday, November 12, 2009

at 7 p.m

at the Newmark Theatre,

1111 SW Broadway at Main Street 

This is the first time the Spirit of Portland Awards will be given out at an evening event outside of City Hall.  Please come and show your support for the winners!  Refreshments will be served.

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The Council is gearing up to start working on the City budget for July 2010 - June 2011.  We want your input and advice on how to spend taxpayers' money wisely to provide services for Portlanders.  If you want to get things done in Portland next year, follow the money.

See here for an easy-to-understand overview by the Office of Neighborhood Involvement.

Each bureau is required to invite all interested Portlanders to participate in their Budget Advisory Committee process.  All bureaus' meetings will be posted here - some are listed now, others will be added soon.  In the meantime, you are warmly invited to participate in the process for my bureaus.  Information for three of them is below; the other two will be announcing the schedule for budget advisory meetings soon.  Check back here for details. 

Office of Cable Communications and Franchise Management

Budget Advisory Committee meetings:

December 9, 2009, 12-1pm 

The Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th, 13th floor, Springwater Conference Rm  

January 14, 2010, 12-1pm                 

The Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th, 13th floor, Forest Park Conference Rm

May 27, 2010, 11:30am-12:30pm

The Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th, 13th floor, Springwater Conference Rm

For more information or to participate, please contact Mary Beth Henry,  503-823-5414 

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The Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) has an annual community process to review our programs and develop our budget for Fiscal Year 2010-11 and the ONI Bureau/Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) is at the core of the process. The ONI BAC meets monthly to advise ONI on a variety of issues throughout the year, but during budget season expands to even broader participation to include as many diverse stakeholders as possible to develop the ONI budget. The ONI BAC will meet at least once a month, and additional meetings will be scheduled as needed. Everybody is welcome to attend, and all that attend have the opportunity to participate fully in decision making. Please see the following announcement for the full background and invitation to participate:

November 9, 5:30-8:30pm, Portland Building 2nd Floor, Room B, 1120 SW 5th Ave

November 16, 5:30-8:30pm, Portland Building 2nd Floor Room C, 1120 SW 5th Ave

November 30, 5:30-8:30pm, Portland Building 2nd Floor Room C, 1120 SW 5th Ave

December 14, 5:30-8:30pm, Portland Building 2nd Floor Room C, 1120 SW 5th Ave

January 11, 5:30-8:30pm, Portland Building 2nd Floor Room C, 1120 SW 5th Ave

February 8, 5:30-8:30pm, Location to be determined

Additional meetings to be scheduled as needed.

http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=48994&a=265793. Additional information including agendas, background information, meeting notes and key budget development documents are available online at http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=51167.

If you have any questions, plan to attend and/or want to be added to the list for future announcements please contact Amy Archer at Amy.archer@ci.portland.or.us or 503-823-2294.

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The Office of Human Relations is convening a volunteer Budget Advisory Committee to assist with the development of our 2010-11 budget. Budget Advisory Committee members are expected to attend a minimum of 3 committee meetings (1.5 hrs each), and participate in 1-2 community forums to gather input on community priorities for our budget.  If you are not able to commit to the full set of meetings, you are still welcome to attend any part of any one, and give your input.  We will also ask committee members to advocate with City Council for community priorities related to our Bureau.

The first meeting is set to take place on November 12, 2009 from 5:00 – 6:30 pm at the Office of Human Relations, 5315 N Vancouver Ave, Portland, OR 97217.

If you are interested in participating in this volunteer opportunity, please contact Koffi Dessou at

koffi.dessou@ci.portland.or.us or call us at 5023-823-5510

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I hope you will follow the budget process with me this cycle.  I learned a lot in January to June of this year, and I know that good things either happen or don't happen in the following fiscal year depending on the funding approved.  Please participate in making the difficult choices for 2010-11.

                                       Sincerely, 

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Sign up now for health care coverage for kids! 

See here on my blog.

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 Helpful phone numbers:

City/County Information - 503-823-4000

Call this number to find the answer on any local issue

Statewide Information - 1-800-SAFENET (723-3638)

Call this number for State of Oregon services

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Photo by Robert Wilson

The 2009 Pride Parade was especially fun for me, as my three children

Luke, Ali, and Maxwell

carried the banner for our group.

Many thanks to everyone who cheered and clapped for us.

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Where's Amanda? 

See here for summaries of last week/next week's calendars

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 Former Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury introduces Amanda

at her Swearing-in Ceremony

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

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My team's goal for this web site is that it will become one of your favorite places for finding out information quickly, and for giving feedback on projects and issues you care about.  For instance, check Next Up at City Council for a preview of the issues the Council will consider this week.

I believe the people of Portland, when given accurate, inclusive information that isn't full of acronyms and insider-speak, make good choices about what's worth spending time and money on, and what isn't. As a community organizer, I've experienced problems with finding that accurate, clear data. It shouldn't be so hard for citizens to find out what is going on in City government. I promised during my campaign for City Commissioner to work to make it easier, and this site begins the process of honoring that commitment.

Click here

for tips on how to use my site to stay connected with what's happening at City Hall, in my bureaus, and in Portland's neighborhoods.