Testimony Opposing Port of Portland DEI Policy Revocation
On April 21, 2025, the Port of Portland Board of Commissioners held a special meeting to revoke their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies. A recording of the 21 minute session is available here.
According to Commission Chair Coba, the Port received comments from about 70 people; the vast majority opposed revocation.
The following testimony, also in opposition to the Port's decision, was submitted by Blaine Ackley at the May 14, 2025 commission meeting.
May 14, 2025
Chair Coba and Commissioners:
I come before you today with two main issues on my mind and the juxtaposition of those issues with recent actions of the Port and the Commission. And the answer to those two issues brings a third issue that is even more distressing in my mind.
First, we have the Port abandoning all of its DEI language in policy and programs at a special meeting. Without checking with other Port Authorities and without any legal challenge whatsoever, the Commission gives up their Constitutional Rights and the rights of the public and workers who use and serve the Port. I would remind you that if you don't stand up for your rights you will lose them and you chose to lose them because of the money that you might lose from the FAA if the government's position was held up in court.
Second, prior to this (in my view) catastrophic DEI action from the Port Commission, and after years and months of delay, deflection, and obfuscation, I received an email message from the Port that sometime in the summer or next fall, the Port will have a Draft Plan about ending the sale of leaded avgas at the Hillsboro and Troutdale Airports.
In the first instance, we have the possibility that the Port could lose money from federal grants unless DEI language was eliminated. In the second instance where the health and well-being of the citizens in the vicinity of these airports is concerned, the Port is dragging its feet in doing anything meaningful. THIS IS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS, and the tactic is to delay and deflect.
As a wise person once said, follow the money and that is exactly what you have done.
You already know that this is a morally reprehensible and you will have to live with that on your conscience for the rest of your lives. I suspect that many of you are not happy to be in this position. If that is true, then DO SOMETHING!
How will you explain this vote to your children and grandchildren?
In closing, I would like to ask you to stop the Port from allowing the Hillsboro Air Show to continue. With the airshow, you are slapping the residents in the face. Oh, you don't like the lead in the air, well let's give you an overload of lead emissions over three days. I will tell you that we must leave town because we are directly in the flight path and the noise is so loud that it physically shakes our house and of course allows the fine lead particles into our playgrounds, yards, vegetable gardens, and ecology. We don't need or want the airshow.
Blaine Ackley, Hillsboro
Blaine Ackley is a University of Portland Associate Professor Emeritus, specializing in organizational change and teacher education. Formerly, he was an elementary, middle school, high school teacher and administrator in Idaho, Chile, Oregon, and Alaska. His education includes a BA in History, Political Science, and Sociology from the University of Montana (1961-65), M.Ed. (1973) and an Ed.D. from the University of Oregon (1991). For more than two decades, he has advocated for the elimination of lead from aviation fuel as well as the reduction of aviation noise and pollution generated by the Hillsboro Airport.
Testimony submitted by Miki Barnes in opposition to the Port's decision to revoke DEI policies is available at this link.
| © Oregon Aviation Watch | Contact Us |  Jump to Top |