The Portland City Council on Thursday evening voted unanimously to approve a $8.5 million settlement of a federal lawsuit filed in 2022 by Black families displaced from the Albina neighborhood by the city’s urban renewal practices.

The City Attorney’s Office and the attorneys representing 26 plaintiffs from the Oregon Law Center reached a tentative settlement last week for the city to pay $1 million and Prosper Portland, the economic development agency, to pay another $1 million.

But the City Council on Thursday shot that amount down, increasing it to $8.5 million. Councilor Loretta Smith championed the four-fold increase, offering poignant remarks about how the city systemically drove Black residents out of North and Northeast residents for decades.

The hearing before the vote had been

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