Commissioners Kafoury and Shiprack to hold the first of two community meetings on the downtown courthouse

September 26, 2012

Multnomah County Commissioners Deborah Kafoury and Judy Shiprack will co-host a public meeting on Thursday, Sept. 27 to gather community input about the future of the downtown courthouse.

The public meeting will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Room 602 of the downtown courthouse, 1021 SW 4th Ave. A second community meeting will be held at the same time and location on Oct. 24.

Both community meetings will discuss options for the courthouse, which include renovation of the existing building or construction of a new building on an alternate site.

Options for the courthouse were analyzed in this report presented to the county Board of Commissioners in June. Whichever option is eventually pursued, Commissioners Shiprack and Kafoury say, the safety and structural problems at the current courthouse have reached the point that the Board of Commissioners must act.

Among the troubling problems at the century-old courthouse are serious seismic concerns. And the building’s configuration also means there are times when there are safety worries for courthouse employees and the public who at times must share elevators and tight corridors with inmates in custody.

To learn more about the serious problems at the county’s downtown courthouse and their potential solutions, please attend one of the community meetings Sept. 27 or Oct. 24. And please take this short survey that will provide helpful input to the county Board of Commissioners when it considers the courthouse issue in November.

For more information:

Multnomah County Courthouse information page