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Committee adopts city-run East Side grants program after debate over oversight
Summary
After extensive public comment urging city control, the neighborhood committee approved Council Member Ron Salem’s substitute to manage East Side CBA funds within city government while adding oversight safeguards, initial eligibility limits and board‑composition goals.
Council Member Ron Salem’s substitute to administer east side Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) funds inside city government won committee approval on Feb. 2, following weeks of public pressure and a daylong discussion that included the inspector general and the council auditor.
The substitute creates an East Side Grants Committee — a nine‑member body that would advise and score grant applications — and establishes a city manager role to run an internal grant program modeled on the city’s opioid and public‑service grant processes. The substitute sets four funded categories (affordable housing, workforce housing, economic development and mitigation of homelessness), limits operational grants to $250,000 and caps capital‑project awards at 60% of the annual lump‑sum appropriation.
The substitute was driven by public comment. Latavia Harris, speaking for the Together Eastside Coalition, urged the council to adopt the opioid (city‑administered) model rather than create a new nonprofit, saying, “I’m in favor of just going to the opioid model.” Other east side…
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