City commissioners in Portland, Oregon on Thursday rejected a budget amendment that would have slashed another $18 million from the Portland Police Bureau amid months of racial justice protests and shifted the money to the city’s pandemic response.
The commission voted 3-2 against the amendment, which had been proposed by Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, the first black woman on the elected body that acts like a city council.
Mayor Ted Wheeler, who is also police commissioner, was one of three commissioners who voted last week to delay a vote on the budget amendment until after Tuesday's election. Wheeler won a second term and voted “no” on the amendment Thursday, USA Today reports.
The commission voted in June to cut nearly $16 million from the police — eliminating school resource officers, transit police and a gun violence reduction unit — and the force has also suffered pandemic-related budget cuts.
Thursday night a violent mob attacked the home of one of the commissioners.
A group of around 60 people gathered at a North Portland park Thursday night and then left the area around 8:45 p.m. local time, marching toward the home of Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan.
Once there, authorities said the mob broke a window, threw burning flares and paint-filled balloons at the home and broke potted plants. Police dispersed the crowd, ABC reports.
