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The Metropolitan Service District, usually known as Metro, is a directly-elected regional government for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, and the only regional government in the United States. It performs the following functions:
- It provides land use planning and is responsible for the creation of the Portland-area urban growth boundary, a legal boundary which separates urban from rural land, and is designed to reduce urban sprawl.
- It is responsible for the region's transportation planning (though TriMet operates the region's buses and MAX light rail).
- It manages several park facilities, including Blue Lake and Oxbow Regional Parks, Howell Territorial Park, Glendoveer golf course, the Sauvie Island and Gleason Memorial Boat Ramps, Chinook Landing Marine Park, the Smith and Bybee Lakes Wildlife Area, Beggars-tick Wildlife Refuge, and fourteen pioneer cemeteries in Multnomah County.
- It is responsible for maintaining landfills and recycling transfer stations.
- It owns and operates the Oregon Convention Center, Oregon Zoo, Portland Center for Performing Arts, and Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center.
- It is responsible for regional fish and wildlife habitat protection and cartography.
Metro was created by voters to join the Columbia Region Association of Governments (CRAG) and the Metropolitan Planning Commission in a May 1970 election. Metro in its current form went into operation on January 1, 1979.
Metro is governed by a council president elected region-wide and six commissioners who are elected by district. Metro also has an auditor who is elected region-wide. Each serves a four-year term. The council appoints a chief operating officer and an attorney.
Cities served by Metro
Metro serves 25 cities in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties, as well as unincorporated parts of those counties:
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