On Monday, July 1, Portland City Commissioner Mingus Mapps will step down as head of the Department of Transportation as Mayor Ted Wheeler reassumes authority of the department ahead of a historic shakeup of city government and a transition to executive power, making Mapps the final head of the Portland Department of Transportation (PBOT).
It may have been a fitting end to Portland’s dysfunctional and antiquated commissioner system that Mapps, who is seeking to become the city’s next mayor, spent part of his final week as mayor answering questions about the bike lane controversy for which he is solely responsible. Mapps was asked about his role in the Southwest Broadway bike lane scandal in a podcast interview published yesterday by CityCast Portland.
During the interview, interviewer Claudia Mesa asked Mapps about a variety of topics, and when the conversation turned to the importance of clear communication from the city’s top politicians, Mesa told Mapps that his stances on important issues are often misunderstood, not only by Portlanders but also by his own bureaucratic leadership.
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When Mesa gave the example of the Broadway bike lane “scandal” (her words) in which Mapps told PBOT to remove bike lanes because several downtown hotel owners didn’t like them, only for swift backlash from the community to derail the plan – a story we covered in detail in September – he didn’t take responsibility.
Instead, Mapes criticized my reporting.
“It doesn’t matter what’s right or wrong, it’s confusion,” Mesa said. “People don’t have a clear understanding of where you stand and where you want things to go, including your department.”
Mapps responded:
“Well, Claudia, I think what you’re pointing out is the quality of reporting that’s happening in this area… frankly, I wasn’t aware of any reporting on this subject, it didn’t match my experience… you know, I have no influence over what blogs publish.”
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When Mapps first took the job as PBOT commissioner, he said in an interview that he was “the guy in charge of transportation.” But when things got messy on Broadway, he missed multiple opportunities to take responsibility and clarify his role. It was the PBOT director, not Mingus Mapps, who apologized for what happened, and when asked about it publicly, Mapps continued to give an inaccurate version of events.
I have given Mr. Mapps every opportunity to clarify the facts, including an interview the day after this story broke and multiple emails requesting comment, but he has not responded. We still don’t know the full story of who did what and why.
While many Portland residents are troubled by Mapps’ position, he has shown no remorse or humility for what happened. The only clarity he has is as to who is to blame. This is not the type of leader Portland needs.
