Academic papers

• Matt Witt's Dissertation

  • Matt Witt--Appendix B: Bureau Advisory Committee Program [1974-1994]

    Describes the evolution of the City of Portland's Budget/Bureau Advisory Committee (BAC) Program for individual city agencies and citywide Budget Advisory Coordinating Committee (BACC).

  • Matt Witt--Chapter VI: Recapturing, Recasting [1993-98]

    Includes detailed story of East Portland's shift to a city-run neighborhood office.

  • Matt Witt--Chapter V: Retrenchment [1989-93]

    Includes detailed story of North Portland's shift to a city-run neighborhood office.

  • Matt Witt--Chapter IV: Institution Building [1984-89]

  • Matt Witt--Chapter III: Origins & Development: ONA's first decade [1974-84]

• Constructing public dialogue...

  Constructing public dialogue: A critical discourse analysis of the discourse practices. By Julie Odell, Portland State University, Dec. 2004.

• From Neighborhood Association System to Participatory Democracy: Broadening and Deepening Public Involvement in Portland, Oregon

  This article provides background on Portland's community engagement system, describes the 2005-06 system review--known as Community Connect--and resulting new programs, and shares important lessons learned. (Published in Nat'l Civic Review, Sum. 2009)

• Hopes and Challenges of Democratic Governance: Lessons from Portland, Oregon

  Paul Leistner, fellow, Center for Public Participation, PSU. Prepared for National League of Cities conference session —“Democratic Governance at the Neighborhood Level: What Have We Learned?”—November 11, 2008.

• League of Women Voters of Portland -- "Portland's Neighborhood Associations -- Part I -- History," October 2005

• Origins of Portland's Neighborhood System

  A chapter from Carl Abbott's 1983 book: Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth-Century

• The Effects of a Formal Citizen Participation Program on Involvement in the Planning Process: A Case Study of Portland, Oregon

  1990 article by Sy Adler and Gerald F. Blake: explores citizen participation in planning in Portland and the extent to which participation is equally distributed across the city and whether shifts in the level of mayoral support affect participation.

• The Myth and Reality of Portland's Engaged Citizenry and Process-Oriented Governance

  By Steve Johnson, Portland State University disertation. Published in "The Portland Edge" Island Press, 2004.