Who Ya Gonna Call?

The Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) is one of several resources in Portland that can handle certain neighborhood issues. also offers mediation services if a compromise cannot be met.
At the ONI site you can:
  • File a nuisance complaint about weeds, hazards, ...
  • File a noise complaint
  • Contact a crime prevention specialist
  • Get a block party permit
  • Report graffiti
  • Report abandoned vehicles
  • Street light outage
  • And more....

Know of a house that is unsafe, deteriorating, or un-kept? Again, ONI can help. An inspector With the Neighborhood Inspections Program can come by and see if a residence is keeping up with the minimum standards for property maintenance in the city.

Resources at ONI

Office of Neighborhood Involvement 503-823-4519
City Zoning Compliance Staff 503-823-7305
Noise Control Hotline 503.823.7350
Housing Inspections 503-823-7306
Liquor Licensing Program 503-823-3092
Mediation Services 503-823-3152
Abandoned Vehicle 503-823-7309
Gang Activity 503-823-GANG

Other Resources

Michael Boyer
Crime Prevention Program Coordinator 		The Crime Prevention Program Focuses on educating neighbors to prevent crime, co-ordinates Neighborhood Watch Programs and serves as a resource and information center for resolving problems with run-down houses and party houses. He can be reached at 503-823-3131.
Leonard Gard
SWNI 		Deals primarily with Land use issues, but his office is also a great place to start if you are not sure which agency to call to address your specific problem. 503-823-4592.
Joe Chamberlain
Noise Inspector 		Enforces the city's noise regulations, which for better or worse, do not apply to the unamplified human voice. But if a stereo or band is involved, the regulations are 55 decibels at the property line from 7am-10pm and 50 decibels from 10pm-7am. According to Joe, 55 decibels is roughly the noise that is put out by a small air conditioner. Construction permits include exemptions for louder noise. If you have a noise problem, you can reach Joe at 503-823-3039.
Mitch McKee
Housing Inspector 		Enforces the city's property maintenance code. Problems that fall to Mitch include: property maintenance, nuisance (trash/debris/weeds), and disabled vehicles on private property. Even if you are not sure if a property is in violation, Mitch is happy to come check it out and always keeps complainant information confidential. If a property has only one or two minor violations, he is unlikely to get involved. Larger violations trigger a progressive enforcement process that will eventually end with the problem being fixed, either by the property owner or by the city. To report a problem to Mitch call 503-823-7347.

Title 29 is available at http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=28193

Brian Hughes
SW Neighborhood Response Team officer 		Brian deals with issues such as loud parties, chronic nuisance houses, and drug houses. He has lots of good advice. Anonymous complaints to the police get very little response. If you want to call a problem in to the police it is best to make a complaint, but if you don't want them the police to come to your door, you can ask that they contact you by phone. The non-emergency police number is 503-823-3333.

Also, if you ever see police activity in the neighborhood and wonder what's going on you can call or email Brian and he'll be happy to find out. bhughes@police.ci.portland.or.us or 503-823-0235.

Discussion of this page

Need to add: streetlight outage, vector control (dead possum), barking dog, other items. Neighborhood Watch is described on the safety page, or will have its own page.

This page should be combined with the Services page to make one unified Directory of "Who Ya Gonna Call?" for problems facing homeowners and renters. Really, the page ought to be hosted by SWNI or perhaps ONI. The Who's Your Hauler page on Metro's site could be used at that level for any address in the Metro area.

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