City Club of Portland
Encyclopedia
The City Club of Portland is a nonprofit
, nonpartisan
civic organization based in Portland
in the U.S. state
of Oregon
. It was organized in 1916 by a small group of men who began meeting in a downtown Portland
restaurant to discuss the city's public institutions and government
. Their goals included assembling a wide variety of participants, discussing civic problems, and improving the city's economic and social conditions. In 1973, the club, all male for roughly six decades, began admitting women to membership.
City Club functions include Friday Forums built around speeches by experts in government, the arts, sciences, and education. The forums, which are open to the public, take place between 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Fridays at Governor Hotel
in downtown Portland. Audio recordings of the forums, updated weekly, are available online as MP3
digital audio
files that can be downloaded from the City Club web site. Local radio and television stations broadcast live or taped forums at various times during the week.
Speakers at City Club meetings over the years have included Lewis Mumford
, an expert on urban planning
, who in 1938 urged Oregonians to do a better job of protecting their natural resource
s and "issued a stern challenge to the leaders of Portland who had frustrated attempts at rational city planning since the Olmstead Report in 1904... ". The Olmsted Report, received by the city in December 1903, had emphasized creation of the 40 Mile Loop
, a system of parks and linking parkways in Portland that would take advantage of natural scenery.
A few of the other speakers and forum topics have been Gov.
Tom McCall
(1974), "Tom McCall Farewell"; Karl Menninger
(1981), "Our Criminal Injustice System"; Sen. Mark Hatfield
(1982), "The Nuclear Arms Freeze"; David Broder (1983), "Setting the Stage for the '84 Election"; Eleanor Smeal
(1984), "Why and How Women Will Elect the Next President"; Rev. Jesse Jackson
(1987), "Peace, Justice, and Putting America Back to Work; Sen. Elizabeth Dole
(1990), "Leadership for the Year 2000"; Kimbark McColl (1993), "Twenty Years of Planning in Oregon"; Mayor Vera Katz
(2000), "The State of the City: Connecting the Dots"; Molly Raphael (2004), "Why Libraries Matter in the 21st Century", and Gov. John Kitzhaber
(2005), "On the Road to Revolution: Fear and Loathing in the U.S. Health Care System".
The City Club was closed to women until pressure by lawyer and future City Commissioner Mildred Schwab
was successful in opening it around 1971.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, nonpartisan
Nonpartisan (American organizations)
A nonpartisan organization, in American politics, is a non-profit organization organized under United States Internal Revenue Code that qualifies for tax-exempt status because it refrains from engaging in certain prohibited political activities...
civic organization based in Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. It was organized in 1916 by a small group of men who began meeting in a downtown Portland
Downtown Portland
Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States, is located on the west bank of the Willamette River. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and is where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found....
restaurant to discuss the city's public institutions and government
Government of Portland, Oregon
The Government of Portland, Oregon, a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, is based on a city commission government system. Elected officials include a Mayor, a City Council, and a City Auditor. The mayor and commissioners are responsible legislative policy and oversee the various bureaus that...
. Their goals included assembling a wide variety of participants, discussing civic problems, and improving the city's economic and social conditions. In 1973, the club, all male for roughly six decades, began admitting women to membership.
City Club functions include Friday Forums built around speeches by experts in government, the arts, sciences, and education. The forums, which are open to the public, take place between 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Fridays at Governor Hotel
Governor Hotel (Portland, Oregon)
The Governor Hotel, formerly the Seward Hotel, is a historic hotel building in downtown, Portland, Oregon, United States. The present name dates from 1932....
in downtown Portland. Audio recordings of the forums, updated weekly, are available online as MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
digital audio
Digital audio
Digital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
files that can be downloaded from the City Club web site. Local radio and television stations broadcast live or taped forums at various times during the week.
Speakers at City Club meetings over the years have included Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...
, an expert on urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
, who in 1938 urged Oregonians to do a better job of protecting their natural resource
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
s and "issued a stern challenge to the leaders of Portland who had frustrated attempts at rational city planning since the Olmstead Report in 1904... ". The Olmsted Report, received by the city in December 1903, had emphasized creation of the 40 Mile Loop
40 Mile Loop
The 40-Mile Loop is a partially completed greenway trail around and through Portland in the U.S. State of Oregon. It was proposed in 1903 by the Olmsted Brothers architecture firm as part of the development of Forest Park....
, a system of parks and linking parkways in Portland that would take advantage of natural scenery.
A few of the other speakers and forum topics have been Gov.
Governor of Oregon
The Governor of Oregon is the top executive of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. territorial governments....
Tom McCall
Tom McCall
Thomas Lawson McCall was an American politician and journalist in the state of Oregon. A Republican, he was the 30th Governor of Oregon from 1967 to 1975. A native of Massachusetts, he grew up there and in Central Oregon before attending the University of Oregon...
(1974), "Tom McCall Farewell"; Karl Menninger
Karl Menninger
Karl Augustus Menninger , was an American psychiatrist and a member of the famous Menninger family of psychiatrists who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas.- Biography :...
(1981), "Our Criminal Injustice System"; Sen. Mark Hatfield
Mark Hatfield
Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee...
(1982), "The Nuclear Arms Freeze"; David Broder (1983), "Setting the Stage for the '84 Election"; Eleanor Smeal
Eleanor Smeal
Eleanor Smeal is a feminist activist, political analyst, lobbyist, and grassroots organizer...
(1984), "Why and How Women Will Elect the Next President"; Rev. Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
(1987), "Peace, Justice, and Putting America Back to Work; Sen. Elizabeth Dole
Elizabeth Dole
Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford "Liddy" Dole is an American politician who served in both the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush presidential administrations, as well as a United States Senator....
(1990), "Leadership for the Year 2000"; Kimbark McColl (1993), "Twenty Years of Planning in Oregon"; Mayor Vera Katz
Vera Katz
Vera Katz is a Democratic politician in the state of Oregon. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and was the 45th mayor of Portland, Oregon's most populous city. Growing up in New York City, she moved to Portland in 1962 and was elected to the Oregon...
(2000), "The State of the City: Connecting the Dots"; Molly Raphael (2004), "Why Libraries Matter in the 21st Century", and Gov. John Kitzhaber
John Kitzhaber
John Albert Kitzhaber is the 37th Governor of Oregon. He served as the 35th Governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003 and became the first person to be elected to the office three times when he was re-elected to a non-consecutive third term in 2010...
(2005), "On the Road to Revolution: Fear and Loathing in the U.S. Health Care System".
The City Club was closed to women until pressure by lawyer and future City Commissioner Mildred Schwab
Mildred Schwab
Mildred Schwab was an attorney and politician from Portland, Oregon in the United States. She served as City Commissioner from 1973 to 1986; she was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Neil Goldschmidt was elected mayor, and was reelected three times. Her brother, Herbert M...
was successful in opening it around 1971.
Works cited
- DeMarco, Gordon (1990). A Short History of Portland. San Francisco: Lexicos. ISBN 0-938530-46-1.