What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is ensuring community safety. This means making sure people can expect the right responder, at the right time, for the right reasons. I’ll also prioritize expanding Portland Street Response, a highly successful program that assists people in crisis without the intervention of an armed police officer. In addition, we need to prevent crime, not just respond to it. Community-based violence intervention programs work in communities susceptible to crime to defuse situations and connect people with resources. We also know that mental health and addiction treatment services make our communities safer, and holding law enforcement accountable is critical in building trust with residents.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

We need to do that by investing in the full spectrum of housing opportunities, from shelter options that are proven to work in Portland, to permanent supportive housing, affordable housing, a variety of homes to meet different people’s needs, and homeownership. We also need to preserve the affordable homes we already have, so people can stay in their homes. Our region’s leaders and voters have agreed we need resources to work together. The State has more money for affordable housing than it ever has before, and we have an opportunity to extend and strengthen Metro’s supportive services measure. The City has a key role to play in working with other jurisdictions.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

First, we need to address homelessness by preventing it in the first place. I would direct the City to fully fund rental assistance, which is key to keeping people in their homes. We also need real and effective ways to support people experiencing homelessness, from mental health and addiction resources, to job training and placement, to housing vouchers, to living wages for social service workers. In the meantime, we must treat every neighbor in our community with dignity and respect. We cannot continue the inhumane and costly sweeps that only push vulnerable people out of sight. I would direct investments in basic sanitation, water, and trash services to ensure our community is healthy and safe for every member.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Downtown is Portland’s economic driver and deserves special consideration. We also need to remember that Portland’s housing and homelessness crisis downtown impacts the rest of the city. My district, East Portland, is where most people go when they are priced out or swept out of other parts of the city. This is why I served on the Governor’s Central City Task Force. Addressing our housing crisis with more affordable housing, rental assistance, and the supportive services people need will serve downtown and the rest of the city. In addition, our small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and we have a great opportunity to match these entrepreneurs with empty retail and office spaces downtown.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

My seven years on the Citizen Review Committee have shown me the importance of fostering trust between law enforcement and residents — and the responsibility the city has to foster this trust. This includes helping the community create alternatives for safety that meet the needs of the residents to address issues like gun violence. Community violence intervention programs work with communities most susceptible to be victims and perpetrators of violent crimes to defuse situations and connect people with resources. In addition, safe neighborhoods have parks, good schools, safe streets, shops, and services. I will lead the charge to finally make sure the needs of our communities are addressed by our city government.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My main priority is to make East Portland a safe haven for our families. Our kids are the heart of our community, but they’re also the most vulnerable. It all starts with cleaning up our streets and removing those unsafe and unsanitary homeless encampments. Kids should be able to walk to school on the sidewalks we pay for without having to dodge needles or human waste. They should feel safe riding their bikes on our roads and playing in our parks without the fear of violence. Families deserve to feel at ease in their own neighborhoods. As we work on increasing police presence, I’ll make sure our city starts tackling the crimes that impact the daily lives of East Portland residents.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I’ll keep in contact with these policymakers as often as necessary to figure out how to handle these resources. This is a big issue, and we really need to start holding the agencies accountable for making the most of what they’ve got.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Let’s start by examining what we’re currently up to. Our city has poured a ton of money into this problem, but honestly, things just keep getting worse. Clearly, this cash is going somewhere, so it’s high time we redirect it to groups that can actually drive real change. This is the top priority for Portland, and we need to allocate funds properly. Not one person in Portland should feel unsafe. It’s not what our city is about.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My goal is pretty straightforward: I want to restore downtown Portland to its former glory. This is the ‘Rose City,’ arguably the most stunning city in the U.S., and I genuinely believe that. Do you remember how it used to be? It’s disheartening to see how much we’ve fallen. The NY Times article really hit hard, shining a light on what Portland has turned into, while our elected officials have just stood by and watched it happen. Now, many of these same leaders are running for office again, hoping to keep their jobs. We need to start by addressing the issues downtown, like the open drug use and the homeless situation. If we can make downtown a safe place again, people will return, and that will help revive local businesses.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

The Portland Police Bureau has recently brought on more officers, with even more expected soon. I’m all for boosting the numbers in the Focused Intervention Team. Folks in east Portland just want to feel safe. It’s crazy that someone can’t wait for a MAX train without worrying about getting shot. And kids shouldn’t have to avoid playing in parks because of the risk of gunfire. We’ve been pretty lucky so far, but it’s only a matter of time before a stray bullet hits a child, and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves. Being an elected official means taking on real responsibilities. The choices we make can literally mean the difference between life and death for the Portlanders we serve. Too many politicians seem to forget that.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Basic Livability, including housing, homelessness, addiction: Portland faces intertwined crises of homelessness, mental health, and fentanyl addiction, creating inhumane conditions and unsafe public spaces. We need comprehensive solutions, including providing essential services to the unhoused, addressing mental health needs, and tackling the fentanyl crisis to ensure safety and support for all residents. We also need to recognize that people do not feel safe sending their kids to the park for fear they’ll step on a needle. We need to clean up public parks and plazas and business districts and activate those spaces with music and art and opportunities for community to build, and to discourage bad behavior.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I believe that the core issue of affordable housing is that we simply don’t have enough homes available for those who want them. We need to build more housing of all types. We need to continute the work on permitting reform to ensure our projects are permitted in the same timeline as neighboring cities, and to look at our zoning code and affordable housing programs to ensure we are incentivizing development of the right scale and right location. We need to hold corporate landlords accountable for holding properties vacant by instituting a vacancy tax. And I would urge the Housing Bureau and Prosper Portland to aggressively bid on foreclosed downtown office towers for intensive housing conversion.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

My old boss Nick Fish used to say that if the President called and said that 4,000 Haitian refugees were coming to Portland, we’d find them a safe place to stay. Yet we don’t have that same urgency toward our own neighbors. The fragmented, expensive, and unaccountable system has failed to deliver results. We need a unified definition of success across the government types, coupled with urgent leadership. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: keeping people from falling into homelessness in the first place will actually stop this crisis from continuing. I will bring the urgency and demand tangible results to getting people off the streets and into safe, stable housing.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Downtown has received lots of attention. East Portland has been ignored for decades. Downtown will be fine, and they will have three of their own amazing new City Councilors to fight for them. My fight will always be for East Portland. However, the opportunity for artists live/work space, activation of vacant storefronts with arts and music and culture and community, is unparalleled. We need something positive and proactive to invite people back downtown in a positive and community-focused way. We should look for opportunities for active reuse, converting existing office space into different kinds of housing wherever possible.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun violence is an issue that is always on my mind. I worked in the David Douglas School District doing gang prevention in a middle school. I made meaningful impacts on the lives of at-risk youth and helped them make decisions to turn away from violence. But three of my students died, six of my students were shot and lived, and one of my students is serving a long sentence because she was involved in the violent beating death of her classmate. There are real and scary situations that exist in our community, and we need adequate police resources to respond. We also need to invest in resources and opportunities for young people, including teens programs, apprenticeships, and ways our young people can envision a future for themselves.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is getting our public safety system modernized. My overall vision is to ensure the right response at the right time in the right place.

Priorities:
-Hiring more 911 dispatchers to ensure calls are answered promptly and routed appropriately.

-Increasing capacity of Fire Bureau’s CHAT which works to address root causes of high utilizers of the 911 system.

-Public safety through environmental design: street lighting, tree canopy, crosswalks

-Increase public safety support specialists and broaden call types they can be dispatched to.

-Portland Street Response: ensure citywide 24/7 operation; independent; co-equal branch of public safety system.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

We need to work strategically to address our affordable housing goals. First, every dollar put in prevention is many more dollars saved trying to re-house someone later. Currently, we have hundreds of families losing housing every month because wages are not keeping up with the cost of living. We must ensure that someone working full time is able to afford living in our community and has the ability to meet their overall needs because they aren’t spending more than 30% of their income on housing. Until we get this balance right where wages are adequately covering housing costs, we will continue to see more families fall into housing insecurity and we will continue chasing the effects of this imbalance. I’m committed addressing root cause.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I am committed to reducing unsheltered homelessness through policies that materially address this issue. First, dollars invested in prevention are some of the best uses of taxpayer funds as it costs significantly more to move people back into housing once they are out on the street. Second, we must ensure shelters and housing are available, are trauma informed, paired with supportive services, and have reasonable accommodations for pets, belongings, and companions.

Not every person will feel welcome in every type of shelter which is why we need a diversity of options to meet the needs of our populations.

Moreover, we must address the root cause by ensuring adequate housing for every age, wage, and stage.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown Portland includes more housing, more events, and a strong sense of place. We need to give people a reason to visit, live, and stay in downtown Portland.

I see waterfront park as the anchor of downtown Portland’s event and tourism scene. In 2015, I was proud to be part of a group that launched Better Naito to increase safety and access for festivals in this area. I would advocate for multi-year funding so festivals have the ability to plan and execute events. Waterfront park also needs some basic infrastructure such as wi-fi, water fountains, and bathrooms so that people are able to access, stay, and enjoy this park for longer.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

-Strengthen “place-based” interventions to gun violence such as improved street lighting and increased access to green spaces (public safety through environmental design).

-violence interrupters to help prevent retaliatory shootings.

-Supporting the Ceasefire program which provides intense wraparound case management to a small number of individuals who are most at risk of committing gun violence.

-Invest in community based organizations who are doing work on the ground to prevent gun violence.

-Support programs that build cohesion and foster social interaction between neighbors such as neighborhood emergency teams, movies in the park, Sunday Parkways.

-Support a voluntary gun buyback program, which other cities have seen success with.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for the City Council is public safety, and in particular, gang and gun violence reduction in the black community. The current budget quietly cut several million dollars from the Office of Violence Prevention and we have seen an increase in gun violence over the last few years. We can reduce those numbers by fully investing in the Office of Violence prevention and therefor the community-based organizations on the ground doing this important work.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I plan to work with developers to fix City Code and find ways we can pressure the County and Metro to do better once I have a better understanding of their roles in this work. We need to spur development of housing at all levels, not just low-income, because everyone needs their cost of living to decrease, renters and homeowners. I would also like to pressure the state step in and place some parameters on our neighboring counties, as Multnomah County seems to be bearing the brunt of the burden with regards to building low-income housing. We cannot be the Emergency Room of the state with regards to low income housing availability – other counties need to step up their building production, too.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I am in favor of the City setting up more temporary shelter in every new City district, but beyond that, it is not the City’s job to provide services, that is the County’s, as are rent vouchers to help stop evictions into homelessness. I would like to see better accountability of the dollars we as a city are putting into the Joint Office of Homeless Services so we can ensure as a City Council that we are getting a fair deal with regards to said vouchers and services. Setting up more shelters to put an end to unsanctioned street camping will vastly improve the health and safety of our unhoused neighbors.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I would like to see more offices converted to housing, I think certain types of communal housing options should be explored for youth aging out of foster care and people in recovery who would benefit from a more community-centered living environment, which would seemingly be easier to convert buildings into. I would like to see more downtown activation like the ‘Curious Cat Trail’ that just occurred, as well as bringing more sporting events to the city that would draw more tourists to us. It is easy for the City Council to get event permits for this type of activation, and we should encourage all types of activities that would increase tourism.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I already answered this with my response to the first question, but this is the work I do on a daily basis. We need people with lived experience like myself to lead the work to encourage youth to invest in themselves and their education or trade careers, so they can afford to live in this city without having to resort to a criminal lifestyle. We also need to provide more third spaces and recognize that our youth are struggling, many because they are lacking two parents in their household who are providing them with love and attention, a real reason why young people turn to gangs. We need more sponsored activities that encourage our youth to commune together in a positive way.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Safety, Community involvement. Because its time for the people to be represented by someone who will actually listen to what the want and need and not just make decision based upon personal agendas.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Get agency’s to work together to establish local, county and state policies to reduce the cost of home ownership, improve interest rates on mortgages, coordinate with state and local housing finance agencies; down payment assistance for low income families, establish programs to fund the construction of homes that sell for a reduced cost. promote home ownership in under served communities.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Communication, Community involvement. We have amazing programs available, but people don’t know whats out there. Eliminate the programs with high administration costs, divert funding to programs that are actually servicing the needs of our communities.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Clean up Downtown. Bring business, people, and culture back to the area. Innovative solutions to make downtown desireable again, from Tax incentives to temporary rent subsidy.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Increased Police presence. Bring back violent crime task force. Work with Street response instead or working as completely separate entities. Enforce judgements.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Shelter and Housing: We didn’t get to our current housing crisis overnight. A lot of factors brought us to where we currently are, and it is going to take dedicated collaboration and work to get us to where we need to be as a city, and a region. As City Councilor, I will work with my colleagues to use all the tools in our toolkit to build shelters with wraparound services that meet our unhoused neighbors’ needs, and collaborate with partners—community, county, region, state, federal, and industry—to achieve our permanent housing goals.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

One unique skill that I bring to this moment in our city’s history is that of coalition building. I have great relationships with many of my colleague candidates for City Council, including those whose policy ideas don’t exactly match mine. I’ve put my ability to guide collaboration to the test as executive director of Oregon Walks and as former chair of Portland’s Planning & Sustainability Commission, among other leadership positions. It’s that strength I bring to the role that will be crucial to coordination across governmental resources–as we take action together, look upstream to the source of the issues together, and, yes, as necessary, relentlessly knock on our partners’ doors until we all get in the same room.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Our homeless population, and those experiencing housing instability, is also our most diverse, in every demographic except class. Success around services includes action around shelter and affordable housing–the number one support folks need when receiving services is a safe place to sleep and store their belongings.

As a City Councilor, I will work with my colleagues to implement safe places to rest using the diversity of shelter options we expanded via the Shelter to Housing Continuum Project a few years ago and to coordinate with all our community partners and government agencies to ensure people are supported on their path to housing stability and a thriving life.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I first want to emphasize that I’ll be representing the people of East Portland, an historically underrepresented area that has suffered from the lack of resources and attention over decades.

But, yes, I’ll also be proudly representing Portland as a whole, including our downtown. Here are some initial steps I would like to consider:
– Partner with community organizations to bring marquis events downtown, finding ways to activate the central city through the arts and cultural activities
– Work with groups like Ground Score, fully fund Portland Street Response, and connect people to services during responses to low acuity calls
– Promote efforts that regularly support local businesses, such as Better Portland’s Friday business spotlights

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Public safety means different things to different communities at different times of the day. It means supporting police and the programs that support them: from increased recruitment and retention efforts for the Portland Police Bureau, with a focus on hiring Portlanders, to fully funding Portland Street Response and CHAT and working with community organizations. The opportunities for stopping harm before it happens begin with focusing on our resources: better economic and educational opportunities; more affordable housing, utilities, transportation, and other basic needs; and support for community-led development. The development of Arleta Triangle Square, for example, has itself reduced both traffic and gun violence.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Public Safety

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Building a better Relationship with Multnomah County to strengthen evening shelters in East Portland.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

We should land bank multi-plexes to by down inflation costs.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

We should purchase empty buildings and repurpose them for affordable housing.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Create more jobs, fully resource apprenticeship programs and expand affordable housing and homeownership opportunities.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is returning city elections to a majority winner system like we always had before this year. In 2022 the members of the Charter Revision Commission rigged the 2022 election so that those city voters who wanted to reform city government had no choice but to choose a system that allows a candidate to win a seat on the city council with only 25% of the vote. Thus a candidate opposed by 75% of the voters can still win a position that pays over a half million dollars. My priority is to place on the ballot a measure requiring all city officials to receive a majority vote before taking office.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

One person does not coordinate anything; it takes all parties working together. When I served on the Sacramento City Council I was elected by my fellow council members to serve as Vice Mayor for four consecutive years because of my ability to work with everyone. I will bring this same ability to the newly elected Portland City Council.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

If there was an easy answer to the homeless problem it would have been adopted by now. Finding a solution will take cooperation between the city, county and Metro.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

The first thing to do is to make people feel secure when they come downtown. This means providing adequate police presence and not allowing demonstrators to vandalize and loot downtown stores in the name of protests.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I worked very hard to fill many petitions to put a gun safety provision on the ballot, only to watch a cowtown judge run a kangaroo court in declaring the measure to be unconstitutional. I assume the Court of Appeal will rectify this travesty of justice, so that we can begin to enforce these necessary measures.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Homelessness and unaffordable housing are a common issue across Portland. We need to invest more in the Portland Housing Bureau and community-based organizations that provide housing and employment services so we can protect families that are at risk from losing their homes. I believe that families need a stable home before they can focus on anything else.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

We need to ensure that Portland has its permitting systems streamlined to take advantage of the support from Metro and County. We need the county to continue to invest in low income housing so one city is not taking on the burden of creating low income housing for everyone. We need the state to help alleviate some of the barriers created by legislation to building affordable homes. These are just a few examples of why we need to be aligned. We need to do a better job working together. We need to give authority where it is most impactful and relinquish authority where it doesn’t make sense. We need to build a relationship based on trust and understanding so l we focus on the issue and not personal preferences.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Unlike many other candidates, I have experience working with Oregon’s most vulnerable with the Oregon Department of Human Services. I also had the privilege to work with the Vancouver Council for the Homeless. I have worked directly with the community and I understand the issues that our houseless is facing. I understand the challenges of looking and maintaining employment when you do not have a home, I understand the risk of eviction they put on families that try to help, I understand how hard life is when you’re homeless, and contrary to what people say, they are some of the hardest working folks I met. Whether it is job training and development, Mental Health Counseling, Transitional Housing programs, we need to keep people housed.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I think Downtown Portland should be a place where people come for shopping and entertainment. I believe that we first invest in Downtown by investing in the other Districts. The accessibility of homeless services across the district is causing people that are homeless to receive services Downtown. We need to invest in solutions so people can access services in the district that they are from or would like to live in. We need to invest in housing solutions and homeless services so people do not have to go downtown. As much as I hate to say it, the presence of people that are homeless is making people feel unsafe and the lack of patrons is making it harder for local businesses downtown to remain in operation.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

On the Reynolds School Board, I successfully proposed adoption of SB 554 that restricts guns in our schools and increases gun violence awareness. The first thing we have to do is make sure that the laws we have in place are enforced. For gun violence, I would like to see more investments in the Office of Violence Prevention. We need to make sure that we have the people, the training, and the resources are in place to do that work of educating people and enforcing the rules that we have in place. We also need to ensure that school districts adopt and implement SB 554 that restricts guns in public places and increases gun violence awareness.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is to audit our city budget and try to determine opportunities for investment in our most pressing issues. In my career as a forensic accountant, I have investigated fraud and the mismanagement of funds at the highest levels. I am interested in conducting an audit of our budget to identify sustainable revenue sources and potential areas of wasteful spending.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I believe that my general nature as a pragmatist will be an asset on city council, and I will work to promote common sense policies that will increase the housing supply with coordination across all of our layers of government. Montgomery County, Maryland, offers a model to consider: a revolving low-interest loan program for building mixed-income apartments. This approach is on track to create thousands of homes, many affordable, with minimal long-term public subsidy. If Portland shifts some of our affordable housing efforts to this model, we can build more homes, increase economic integration, and reduce costs to the city.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I have already worked to develop a direct relationship with the provider of Arbor Lodge Shelter, and have worked as a bridge between the city and the residents of Arbor Lodge as a concerned resident of North Portland. We clearly are not doing enough to address this crisis. Projects like the Arbor Lodge shelter are a crucial part of the equation to get people off the streets and into permanent housing. The solution in the long term must involve cooperation with private investment and developers, as well as public funding of housing projects that help people take that crucial first step to establish an address and get a roof over their heads.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Any policy that seeks to promote the long-term revitalization of Portland’s downtown must be rooted in public safety at its core. As a small business owner, I can speak from experience that we will not see increased investment until we are able to decrease the livability concerns that are keeping people from visiting the Central City. One specific initiative that I was disappointed to see left out of the Central City Revitalization plan was the reinstatement of “fareless square.” We need to increase foot traffic downtown, and encouraging use of our local light rail network would have been an easy lever to pull towards that goal.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

We’ve seen a disturbing recent increase in retaliatory gun violence occurring between individuals under the age of 18. Talking with school councilors and teachers, we are not doing enough to coordinate our local public safety and crime prevention efforts with the Portland Public School system. Ending the cycle of violence will take a wide range of initiatives, and leaders that are willing to invest in proactive solutions.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for the City Council is to support and grow the local economy, creating opportunities for residents and laying the foundation for long-term prosperity. By fostering local economic growth, we can create jobs, increase tax revenues, and reduce our reliance on taxes.

Drawing from my finance experience, I propose establishing local endowments, inspired by Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund. This will provide a perpetual source of income for essential social programs, easing the tax burden on citizens. Investing in our local economy will build a prosperous and sustainable future for Portland, benefiting both current and future generations.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

To address Portland’s affordable housing shortage, I will coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to repurpose vacant commercial properties into housing solutions. In addition, modular construction offers a cost-effective and efficient way to build. By focusing on local initiatives and bypassing the often ineffective county system, we can expedite the delivery of affordable housing options. My commitment is to prioritize the needs of our community and ensure that those participating in our society can have a place to call home.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

To effectively address homelessness in Portland, a multifaceted approach encompassing prevention, intervention, and support is necessary. I will optimize our budget by ensuring service providers are accountable for their outcomes. The ongoing “10-year plan to end homelessness” has been ineffective for 25 years. Instead, I will allocate funds to prevent homelessness among existing residents and establish a 24/7 Portland Street Response for immediate, specialized care. Additionally, I will invest in comprehensive wrap-around services for shelters and housing to provide individuals with the necessary support to stabilize their lives. This approach will enable us to create a more effective and compassionate response to homelessness in Portland.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Portland should revitalize underutilized commercial spaces into vibrant business incubation centers and affordable housing units. The City Council can achieve this by acquiring vacant properties at current undervaluation, allocating funds to renovate them into entrepreneurship hubs and community housing, and decentralizing social services to ensure equitable access in every neighborhood. This approach will foster innovation, inclusivity, and balanced urban development.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I’m committed to reducing gun violence in Portland. To achieve this, I propose a comprehensive approach that includes implementing a character-based endorsement system for gun ownership. This would require two fellow citizens to vouch for the character of an individual seeking to possess a firearm, making them partially accountable for the owner’s actions. Additionally, I advocate for the destruction of any weapon that cannot be safely returned to its rightful owner, eliminating the risk of it falling into the wrong hands.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

It’s not news that the new Council will set the tone and tenor for how it will operate moving forward, and that’s a privilege I take seriously. On day one, I will prioritize establishing relationships with council colleagues, and setting a cultural tone of collaboration, transparency and accountability. I want to work with others to set a vision and a work plan so we can get to work on the toughest issues we face in Portland.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

The city should prioritize working with the County and Metro to create more shelters and transitional housing with wrap around services that are accessible to those in need. Our job as councilors will not be to distribute resources, but rather to set the policy. As policy makers we will establish the policies, and the city manager’s job will be to manage the workforce that operationalizes the policy.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I have publicly stated that preventing homelessness is one of my top priorities. This means additional rental assistance dollars to prevent those from falling into homelessness, and stabilizing families. I would also advocate to increase the housing supply for middle-wage workers in order to bring down the cost of housing. I also want to develop partnerships with private industry to provide down payment dollars; an expansion of the city’s down payment assistance program, for workers to afford to buy their first homes.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Downtown Portland is the heart of our city, and needs to be healthy in order to thrive. Healthy cities include a mix of activities day and night to be considered thriving. We have failed Portlanders by not building more housing downtown. It is a ghost town after 6, except on show nights. We need more housing, more things to do at night, and more support our small arts community by making certain Portlanders of all ages and backgrounds are able to afford to participate in the arts economy. We should as a city place a moratorium on business taxes, actively recruit business, create an economic opportunity zone, offer affordable commercial tenanting, and stop increasing rents so that business owners will be able to afford come back.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I am not an expert by any sense in gun control, so I would rely on the advice of the experts. I would support any common sense gun reforms and legislation that would protect our children from gun violence such as universal background checks, red flag laws (which allow temporary removal of firearms from individuals deemed a threat), and limiting access to high-capacity magazines. We know where the high gun crimes happen in downtown and Portland should enforce a no guns policy in these areas.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is keeping our communities safe. Neighborhoods that feel safe and welcoming are the first step to our comeback as a city. To achieve this, we need to get people out of tents and into treatment or housing while enforcing laws to restore trust and order. Safety is not just about enforcement but about providing real solutions that protect everyone. I’ve worked with communities to open shelters, improve transportation, and fight for affordable housing. I will bring that same leadership to the City Council. A clean, safe city is essential to making Portland a place where people want to live, work, and raise their families.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

As a leader at OHSU during the pandemic, I coordinated efforts across city, county, and state agencies to vaccinate over 150,000 Portlanders. This showed me how effective collaboration can solve complex challenges quickly.

At the city level, I’ll complete the ongoing permitting streamlining efforts and ensure transparency and accountability to build more affordable housing with private partners. I’ve also helped pass key legislation supporting vulnerable populations. I’ll use that experience to align city, county, Metro, and state resources to cut red tape, reduce barriers, and get more affordable housing built efficiently.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

It’s time to turn our compassion into action by fixing the broken shelter entry system and improving services for those at risk of homelessness. First, I’ll streamline the shelter intake process, ensuring quicker access to available beds. We need real-time data, better coordination, and clear pathways to mental health and addiction services.

Second, I’ll push for more transitional housing and treatment programs by partnering with the county and state. Expanding these options will help get people off the streets and into stable housing with the support they need. These steps will enhance safety while addressing homelessness with urgency and compassion.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown Portland is a safe, clean, and vibrant hub where people want to live, work, and visit. We need more affordable housing downtown and a strong focus on recruiting businesses to create jobs and boost the economy.

The City Council’s first steps should be ensuring public safety and cleanliness by addressing lawlessness, removing graffiti, and maintaining public spaces. We must also streamline the permitting process to build more housing quickly and attract private partners. By actively recruiting employers and creating a supportive business environment, we can bring more jobs downtown and revitalize the area. These actions will help create a welcoming and prosperous downtown that benefits everyone.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

To reduce gun violence, we need both prevention and intervention, focusing on supporting communities, particularly those of color. I’ll prioritize expanding job programs and activities for young people, like SEI, providing safe spaces and positive opportunities. When youth have access to meaningful work and mentorship, they’re less likely to be drawn into violence.

I’ll also collaborate with community organizations, schools, and law enforcement to create community-driven, culturally responsive violence prevention programs. Building trust and engaging residents as safety partners is key. By investing in youth, expanding job opportunities, and addressing root causes, we can make neighborhoods safer for everyone in Portland.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is housing. We are never going to solve the homeless crisis without more housing. We have not built enough housing for decades – we need to build more low and middle-income housing. The shortfall has contributed to housing costs going up faster than incomes and creating a housing affordability gap. We need to reduce permitting times and building code conflicts – this will reduce costs. I support increased density, which will offer affordable housing types and also benefit alternative modes of transportation, such as transit, biking and walking. The other side of the housing affordability gap is incomes. We need a thriving local economy so small businesses can flourish and family-wage jobs are available to all Portlanders.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Our housing market is a regional markets so coordination is essential to plan effectively. There are federal sources of funding that we have not taken advantage of. The city should embrace the state housing production goals. In addition, the city should be advocating at the state legislature for more funding and programs available for preserving and maintaining existing naturally occurring low-income housing. These efforts can achieve housing stability at a fraction of the cost of new housing and reduces the need for additional new housing. We should continue to collaborate with Metro on our comprehensive planning and in developing regional housing funds.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I support prevention programs such as rental assistance and eviction prevention assistance. It is far more humane to prevent homelessness in the first place. We need to provide a diversity of temporary shelter options for those who are experiencing homelessness as well as wrap-around services so that people can move into long-term stable housing successfully. For those dealing with substance abuse and addiction, we need to provide sobering and detox centers as well as access to treatment and recovery programs. Mental health services, workforce development opportunities and family stabilization services are all part of a comprehensive approach that helps people develop long-term self-sustainability with dignity and respect.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Studies show that people who regularly go downtown have a more positive perception of downtown. We have had a summer with more activation downtown than any summer since the pandemic. Arts, sporting events, concerts, cultural events and festivals all contribute to activation. The city needs to be a better partner to facilitate large events in the city that bring both tourists and residents into downtown. Event producers report extremely high costs and difficulty working with city bureaus to plan major events. We can amplify the impacts of a new WNBA team, possible MLB arena, new music and performing arts venues. The opportunities may be limited but we should do what is feasible for converting office space to other uses such as residential.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun violence prevention programs are an important part of a public safety system. We need to have continued financial support for these programs as they have been shown to be very effective. They need to be led by people with lived experience in the communities they are addressing. Partnerships between the City, experts in the field and the communities impacted are necessary to be effective and have an impact to reduce gun violence.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Addiction and tax reform are my top priorities. We can’t solve our homeless and public safety problems if we don’t address the absence of a system of care for people suffering from addiction. And we can’t fund solutions to our problems if we continue to see an exodus of high wage earners who are fed up with paying high local taxes and not receiving the level of services the city needs.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

The best way to coordinate and braid resources is to first develop a plan for building a set number of housing units and a timeline for doing so. We know we need to build 5200 new housing units a year for the next 20 years (we will only build 500 in 2024). Currently, the primary obstacle to constructing working families housing is the drawn out, uncertain time it takes to secure building permits. If the city continues to reform the process, and guarantees a set time frame, developers will be able to budget more effectively and attract more investment capital.

Additionally, unless we address Portlands public safety problems we will not be able to attract the investment capital we need to build the housing we need.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

First, we need to increase revenue for rent assistance in order to prevent folks from becoming homeless. Second, we need to build an additional 2000 trauma-informed shelter beds with robust wrap around services. Simultaneously, we need to build out our addiction recovery system by building 4 sobering centers, tripling our detox capacity (200 beds) and adding 1000 sober living beds in group homes.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

In the long-term, we need more housing and cultural/academic institutions centered downtown. The city should identify the limited number of commercial buildings that can be converted to housing affordably (it’s a small number) and work with the owners of those building to prioritize that conversion. Additionally, the city should identify an existing academic institution and entice it to expand or relocate to downtown.

In the short term, the city should incentivize building owners to convert empty retail space into artist/maker/music practice space, jump starting a resurgence of Portland’s artist scene.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

The city lacks any real ability to directly regulate guns. It does have the power and ability to impact the issues that contribute to gun violence. 12% of District 2 residents live below the poverty level, 20% experience food insecurity and 40% experience housing insecurity. The combination of these adverse factors breeds violence, substance use disorder, homelessness and gun violence. The city has a vested interest in reducing the child poverty level in the city. I’m the only candidate calling for piloting a minimum basic income program for Portland families to ensure we lift children out of poverty. I’m proud to have been awarded the 2024 Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate distinction.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

I want to see all Portlanders have lives abundant with peace and fulfillment. The most important issue at hand preventing us from reaching these goals remains addressing the homelessness and addiction crisis on our streets. Almost every major issue Portland faces is due to this issue and we we do not solve unsheltered homelessness first we will not be able to meaningfully accomplish any of the short or long term goals of the city.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Developers often state that Portland tends to get in the way of funding for affordable housing projects with additional barriers and sluggish approval of projects and permits. We need to align our local housing programs more clearly with the regulations and restrictions that the other local government entities utilize to create efficiency for development and to remove unneeded obstacles. The governor has clear housing goals and the city has a 15k deficit and we needed to act prudently to get back on track swiftly. We need to capture as many non-Portland dollars as possible to create actually affordable housing and I will make sure our policy and housing bureau are aligned to make that happen.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

First, I will make sure that council, the mayor, the county, and the public understand that we are dealing with an emergency. An immediate policy I want to implement is a Portland Residential Eviction Program (PREP). This program will provide 1 time rental assistance ensuring we close the backdoor to homelessness for vulnerable populations. We will coordinate directly with landlords to avoid eviction filings with the court. We will then activate in partnership with the county as many resources as we can to surge treatment and shelter beds for people on the streets. We will budget city dollars and find any state and federal grants available to us to fund staff, services, and shelter as part of a citywide triage of the homeless population.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Downtown Portland can and deserves to be a vibrant, eclectic, and immensely fun place for Portland residents and visitors to enjoy. People should visit and remember how exciting and memorable our city is. I love downtown even in its often grungy, dirty, and often low-key state. I love the old buildings, the interesting people, the amazing shops, unique restaurants, and the beautiful parks. Business owners deserve to have clean and safe streets so more people can enjoy the same things. To make this a reality we have to end unsheltered homelessness and open drug use, allow more housing development through faster permitting, and attract more employers by proving we care about businesses and their ability to provide wealth to the city.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

First, we need to increase our Police force to match previous levels around 1000 officers actually hired and on duty. We need to allow for a task force focused on gang and gun violence and hire enough investigators to catch offenders more effectively. We also need to help educate youth and encourage mentorship in youth. Thankfully gun violence has been trending downward in 2024, but we need to stay the course and embrace the county and city programs that work.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for the City Council is addressing Portland’s housing and homelessness crisis. Housing is a fundamental human right, and the city is in urgent need of affordable housing solutions to support both our unhoused neighbors and working families struggling with rising costs. By investing in deeply affordable housing, expanding tenant protections through my Renters’ Bill of Rights, and increasing access to supportive services, we can take meaningful steps to ensure everyone in Portland has a safe, stable place to live. This is the foundation for tackling other critical issues like public safety, economic inequality, and community health.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

To effectively coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources for affordable housing, I will focus on building strong collaboration across all levels of government. This starts with creating a Regional Housing Task Force to bring together key leaders, align priorities, and streamline funding while setting clear targets for affordable housing production.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

To improve services and safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, I will expand access to supportive housing, fully fund the Portland Street Response, and push to quickly open more addiction treatment centers. Working with the county and state, we can ensure a coordinated response to these critical needs. We must stop the sweeps that do nothing but keep people unhoused. I will use those resources to prioritize opening emergency low-barrier shelters that provide not just safe shelter but also connections to long-term housing and services.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown Portland is a vibrant, inclusive, and safe urban center where people want to live, work, and visit. To achieve this, we must focus on revitalizing small businesses, addressing homelessness with compassion, and improving public safety without over-policing. The City Council should prioritize cleaning up downtown, expanding addiction treatment and mental health services, and supporting affordable housing development. We must also invest in public spaces, promote local arts and culture, and ensure reliable public transportation. By creating a safer, more dynamic downtown, we can restore confidence and foster long-term vitality.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

To reduce gun violence in Portland, I will advocate for stronger community-based violence prevention programs that address the root causes of crime, such as poverty, lack of opportunity, and trauma. I will work to expand initiatives like Portland Street Response and increase funding for mental health and addiction services. Collaborating with community organizations and schools, I will promote youth outreach programs to interrupt cycles of violence and provide alternatives. We need a holistic, community-centered approach to make our neighborhoods safer.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

A Safe and Livable City – Anyone in Portland can see that we are not taking care of our community. It’s time we get to work cleaning up our public spaces and making our neighborhoods safe places where we can live, work and play. I will get us back to delivering basic services (cleaning and clearing rights of way, removing trash, garbage, and graffiti, and keeping neighborhoods safe), allocating resources to make our 911 system work better, and addressing gun violence by funding programs that have been proven to reduce it.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Our government jurisdictions can better coordinate their resources by doing the following:
• Set a regular meeting cadence to have collaborative and transparent communication. This is a requirement among government agencies to serve people and communities.
• Create expectations and policy that requires the Joint Office of Homelessness to be creative and nimble and ensures leadership is laser focused on collaborating with all partners.
• Consider creating a Homelessness/Housing Lead who is required to identify best practices that are working in other cities and throughout the country and create an infrastructure that builds strategic collaboration with other jurisdictions to make sure there isn’t wasteful overlap in spending.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I would convene a meeting with State, County, Metro, and City leaders to improve communication around the roles and responsibilities of each government, identify allocated funding sources and examine their housing plans. We would use this information to create a comprehensive plan to include how all organizations will work together. We would review housing policies and practices to make sure we are not reinventing the wheel on something that has a proven track record of working. Then, if necessary, we will develop new policies to ensure that we find the most efficient and timely way to create shelter, temporary housing, and affordable housing for all community members in need.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I see downtown once again being vibrant with offices, retail, restaurants and entertainment by doing the following:
• Increase foot and bike patrols to address drug use and public camping.
• Work with an advisory group of developers to identify incentives that would get them to convert unused offices to housing.
• Contribute to demolition costs of buildings that are too costly to convert or to be attractive to office tenants.
• Consolidate government in downtown office buildings, creating opportunities for properties in other areas to be available to housing developers.

We must also focus on our art and cultural institutions as they attract visitors and enhance the customer base for other businesses.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

We must address gun violence. It is preventable, and we must do more. As your next City Councilor, I will fund the programs that have been proven to reduce gun violence. I will ensure the City is actively at the table with other local, State, and Federal elected officials to fund and pass gun violence prevention legislation. I am proud that my campaign has been awarded the 2024 Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate distinction.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Building this new government into a responsive, effective, Council that meets Portlanders’ needs.

We face many interconnected challenges right now. But if we don’t have a Council that can successfully get input from Portlanders, create budgets that reflect our priorities, hold bureaus accountable, and deliver results, we won’t solve any of them.

The new Council has to make decisions as fundamental as “what are the powers of the President?” and “are Committees advisory bodies, do they vote, can their proposals be amended by the full Council?” The decisions we make will have a significant impact on how we do business.

I want to take the time to get this right so we can do our job well as we dig into our biggest challenges.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

We have to get on the same page about our goals. Using State and Metro data for housing needs, County data for how many units need to be supported housing, and data from the City and State about income, we can create a picture of how many housing units, what types, and at what income levels, we need.

The reality is there isn’t enough money – the underinvestment in housing with services and the total needed units is too great. But we can leverage the different levels of resources to fund as many homes as possible. The City must be an advocate for funding across the continuum of affordable housing – everything from subsidized rental apartments with services and sober housing to workforce housing and other affordable homeownership options.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

The County leads on direct services, but there are City roles and places we can be a good partner, including:

1. Expand vouchers, subsidies, and services before someone enters the eviction process to prevent more people from becoming homeless.

2. Create a public safety system that keeps everyone safe, including supports for folks in crisis. We need the staffing and appropriate policies so that crisis response teams (including Portland Street Response, Project Respond, and others) can be successful.

3. Outreach workers need access to information, and folks who are homeless shouldn’t have to retell their story every time. We must partner to create a unified system to record conversations and make our outreach work more effective.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Downtown needs an active mix of daytime, evening and weekend users who can support retail, restaurants, and entertainment. All Portlanders should see themselves in the opportunities downtown, but downtown should not replace neighborhood centers where people spend most of their time. We need a theater district with surrounding bars and restaurants open for evening and matinee shows, and festivals and cultural events outside year round.

We need a combination of investments including more housing options downtown, supporting local businesses who are outgrowing their neighborhood storefronts and are interested in moving downtown, and using the power of our positions to partner with community groups to sponsor events and bring people together.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

The reality is we know sustained investments in gun violence prevention work – City programs like Project Ceasefire and partnerships with community groups led by people with lived experience. But we aren’t investing as if the number of people – disproportionately young Black and brown men – dying on our streets is unacceptable.

I’ll lead by saying: it is unacceptable.

We must:
– take these investments off the chopping block and commit to fully funding them for the next five years,

– determine what needs to happen to stabilize leadership within the Office of Violence Prevention, which can’t hold on to a Director, and

– support mediation and conflict resolution trainings for community members at risk of gun violence, and for all youth.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

We must address homelessness with urgency and compassion. Portland’s crisis impacts every aspect of our city, from public safety to economic recovery. I’ve led the effort to create Safe Rest Villages, providing temporary shelter with essential services, and I’m committed to expanding these proven solutions. We need to move people from the streets to stable housing, while addressing root causes like mental health and addiction. It’s about restoring dignity and improving livability for all. I also push for reliable data—gathering, analyzing, and using it to ensure policies are working and taxpayer dollars are well spent. For many years, the City and the County have been meandering without a north star.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

During my time on City Council, I’ve built bridges and advocated for efficient use of funds while aligning priorities across agencies. I’ll continue pushing for streamlined processes—like the permit reforms I led—to accelerate housing production. To address affordable housing, we need alignment between Federal, State, Metro, County, and City levels for maximum efficiency. It’s about acknowledging our problems without judgment. I’ll keep fighting to ensure County services, like mental health and addiction support, are integrated into housing solutions. I’ve consistently spoken up about our city’s challenges with honesty and courage, and I will continue to lead with a straightforward, hopeful, and results-focused approach.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

My priority is to expand effective solutions like Safe Rest Villages, which I led, to provide safe, temporary shelter with access to essential services. We need to scale up these models while offering comprehensive mental health and addiction treatment to address the root causes of homelessness. I’ll continue pushing for stronger collaboration between the City, County, and State to deliver wraparound services that move people from homelessness to stability. Balancing compassionate care with firm action is key to improving public safety. By focusing on data and accountability, we can ensure more effective, streamlined services for those who need them most.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

When I took on overseeing Portland Parks & Recreation in January 2023, I immediately increased Park Ranger patrols in downtown parks and plazas, knowing that activating these spaces is key to downtown’s success. We must make downtown vibrant again, where everyone feels safe, inspired, and ready to invest. Creative ideas like displaying art in empty office spaces, bringing the Rose Festival Parade back, and activating pop-up storefronts can help. A Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District is unlocking funds for this effort, and with collaboration, we can restore downtown as Portland’s front yard and economic engine.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I’ve supported expanding the Portland Police Bureau’s Focused Intervention Team and have invested in community organizations tackling gun violence at its root. We need to strengthen partnerships between law enforcement, community leaders, and social services to address the underlying causes—such as poverty and lack of opportunity. I also advocate for increased funding for mental health services and youth intervention programs. By combining prevention, policing, and community support, we can create safer neighborhoods and effectively reduce gun violence in our city.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for City Council is creating Better Communities with safer, cleaner, drug-free streets and improved infrastructure. I’ll expand housing resources for youth aging out of foster care until age 23 and address addiction by increasing healthcare, mental health, and addiction specialists through competitive salaries and national recruitment. I support fully funded police and fire departments, expanding Portland Street Response, and repurposing PCEF funds to create cooling areas and provide clean air filters to underserved communities. I’ll also focus on fiscal accountability by optimizing resources without raising taxes.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

To coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources, I will create a regional task force to align housing targets and streamline funding. By leveraging Metro’s urban planning expertise and State funding, such as through Oregon Housing and Community Services, we can maximize resources. I’ll push for streamlining development processes, repurposing vacant public land, and supporting public-private partnerships to build mixed-income housing. Aligning affordable housing with transit planning will ensure sustainability. Additionally, I’ll explore reallocating Portland Clean Energy Fund resources to support affordable housing, using a balanced approach to create long-term solutions.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

To improve services and safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, I will advocate for a comprehensive approach that includes expanding mental health services and addiction recovery programs by integrating Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs) with existing city resources. I will push for more supportive housing, coupled with wraparound services like job training, counseling, and healthcare. Expanding Portland Street Response 2.0 will ensure non-police responders can address crises effectively. Additionally, I’ll prioritize partnerships with nonprofits and leverage state and federal funding to create safe, transitional shelters with a focus on long-term housing stability.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown Portland is a safe, vibrant, and inclusive area that supports residents, businesses, and visitors. To achieve this, the City Council must prioritize public safety by expanding Portland Street Response and increasing community policing to foster trust. I also envision revitalizing vacant storefronts through incentives for small businesses and repurposing commercial spaces for affordable housing or mixed-use developments. Additionally, investing in public transportation and green spaces will enhance accessibility and appeal. Working with state and county officials to provide behavioral health services will further help restore downtown’s vitality.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

To reduce gun violence in Portland, I will advocate for a comprehensive strategy. First, I will push for stronger enforcement of existing gun laws and collaborate with state lawmakers to introduce stricter regulations on illegal firearm sales. Expanding community-based violence prevention programs, such as mentorship and outreach for at-risk youth, will help address the root causes. I also support increasing mental health services and addiction recovery programs to prevent violent behavior. Additionally, I will invest in gun buyback programs and partner with community leaders to promote conflict resolution training to create a safer city.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for our city beyond investing in our creative economy is having our new council create a VISION for where we want Portland to be headed. We do have a lot of concurrent challenges, but if we don’t know where we are headed we won’t be able to enact meaningful change. The new council will need to outline our VISION and GOALS for the new direction of the city. Once we have that we can build out the framework for our housing, mental health, environmental, and economic plans for Portland. I see the arts and music sector as part of our natural resources that need to be woven throughout our rejuvenation.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Collaborative relationships and consistent communication are key. The most recent JOHS IGA was signed this summer and has been effective. It is ridiculous that current commissioners want to break that agreement with zero plans in place for what to do instead. We need to be working WITH our County, Metro, and State partners – not trying to go it alone. The Governor has a laser focus on housing production, as do our other partners. Something the city can do is work to streamline our permitting system to get projects online. We need to be building 5000 units of housing a year, not 500. We also need check-ins to make sure we are on the same page regarding the status of our current and proposed housing projects.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Communication with our housing insecure neighbors will be key to keeping people housed. Having a 411 info hub to provide rent and utility assistance to those who are on the brink will be a good first step to stop homelessness from growing.We have experts in the nonprofit, city, and county spheres who have told us for 20 years how to work on these issues. We need to listen to them and actually follow through on implementing those plans. For safety, PSR needs to be funded and staffed with qualified mental health providers to meet the needs of neighbors and deescalate stressful situations. We also need to bring back our detox and sobering facilities to allow people to sober up in a safe space and help provide a path to treatment options.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Reimagine our downtown – it’s never going to be primarily offices ever again. We need to get creative about our space use & partner with artists, services organizations, businesses, and work to retrofit spaces for 24 hour space activation. Safe spaces are activated spaces so when we activate restaurants, retail, and lodging it will keep energy and momentum going. We can even look at Slabtown in NW. What was once the empty Conway gravel city blocks are now a thriving area of town. The multi-functional use of Slabtown can be a model for the downtown corridor. We need to get our community, business, nonprofits, and developers all on the same page to work together to activate spaces we want to see thriving again.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I will focus on a multi-pronged approach of prevention and education:
Community Engagement: This helps build trust when there has been historic levels of distrust between police and the community.
Youth Programs: Invest in after-school and summer programs to provide safe spaces for youth. Activities including arts, sports, and vocational training to foster skills and confidence in our youngest Portlanders.
Mental Health Resources: Expand access to mental health services, PSR and adding Climate Specialists back into our highschools to support students.
Supportive Housing and Economic Development: stable housing and economic opportunities address some of the root causes of violence related to poverty and insecurity.

We are currently awaiting Liz’s responses to our survey.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Quickly create highly collaborative government processes, from scratch, with the other Councilors, Mayor, City Administrator and DCAs. I’m already in conversation with other candidates about this work. I’ll ensure that each district has representation in committees and that Councilors with expertise in a topic can work in the right committee. I’m excited to form deeper relationships between Council and Bureaus, that won’t require starting from scratch whenever the Commissioner in Charge changes.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I emphasizes the need for a housing-first approach and streamlining System Development Charges (SDCs) to ensure housing becomes more affordable. I will promote better coordination across government levels to identify areas for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) to reduce car dependence and increase density. I will work to streamline permitting processes and increasing zoning flexibility will create an environment conducive to affordable housing construction. I have the endorsement of Portland Neighbors Welcome and HOME PAC.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I support a shelter-first strategy with a mix of shelter types (pod villages, camping sites, temporary shelters). I emphasize avoiding criminalization if for no other reason than that it is the least cost effective way to solve the problem and represents a failure to wisely spend taxpayer dollars. I will promotes services like mental health care alongside stable housing solutions. I will advocate for converted motels and self-governed villages (like Dignity Village and Hazelnut Grove) to serve diverse needs and push for stronger funding through 110/4002, focusing on addiction services and wraparound care. I have the endorsement of Friends of Portland Street Response.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision is a vibrant downtown integrated with efforts to ensure livability city-wide. It is the most important commercial neighborhood but not the only one. I believe in improving public safety, tackling deferred maintenance, and supporting both market-rate and affordable housing downtown. I will prioritize transportation enhancements and pedestrian-friendly spaces, making public transit and bike commuting easier. I will encourage new business investments and arts promotion, which are key to revitalizing downtown. I will form a new restaurant industry council to foster collaboration. I have the endorsement of United for Portland.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Alternative safety models will play a key role, with investments in Portland Street Response (PSR), Public Safety Support Specialists (PS3), and peer-led violence intervention programs like Love is Stronger and Project Ceasefire. We should spend out limited tax dollars as early as possible where it is always cheaper to prevent gun violence than support those affected by it. I support community oversight of police, with specific focus on quick responses to violent crime but discouraging militarization. I am a certified Gun Sense Candidate by Moms Demand Action.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for the City Council is to facilitate an atmosphere where we work to resolve Portland’s problems rather than to promote our own individual agendas. The city deserves practical solutions and the nation is looking at this political experiment.

My top issue for the City is addressing the dysfunction arising from houselessness, mental health and substance abuse.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

1: we should evaluate every city bureau & dollar to ensure they directly impact housing. 2: collaboration with county, Metro, state, and federal governments is essential for public housing funding, as our current spending is minimal. 3: we must engage private individuals and companies for their expertise and financial support, the real estate industry is also in crisis and can play a role in the solution. I believe we can acquire or build ten projects with at least 100 units each. 4: purchasing existing, often distressed units would be more cost-effective than new construction.

The challenge lies in convincing government entities to allocate more funds, & I will advocate strongly for this.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

There are many housed people who are at risk of homelessness because their businesses are severely and negatively impacted by the behavior of some of our ill or addicted residents. Consequently, we must take steps to clean up and provide safety for these small business owners. My surveys show this means not only a larger police presence but one that is engaged with the community. Naturally, we also want oversight in our law-enforcement.

We must begin the process of rehousing all on our streets. This means shelter – – as close to permanent as possible – – with a variety of services. This usually means caseworkers helping and tracking people to a stable condition including providing the services they need.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Portland has made its mark on American urban planning in many ways & an exceptional one has been a vibrant downtown. We need to reestablish Downtown as a place where people are happy to live, be entertained, & shop.

Portland is not the only city in crisis, but it appears to be one of the slowest in recovering. Permitting needs to be fluid, fast & inexpensive. Conversions from business or commercial to residential need to be encouraged, even if with tax credits or subsidies. Safety needs to be addressed with a larger police presence. The physical appearance of the city needs to be maintained by removal & enforcement of graffiti.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun violence correlates primarily to substance abuse and secondarily to economic prosperity. Substance abuse includes alcohol as well as illegal substances.

The incidents of gun violence are concentrated in certain parts of the city, we need to expand law enforcement and focus on these high crime areas.

Addressing economic prosperity is a tougher problem. When Portland developed its progressive image and innovative urban planning, prosperity followed. We need to aim in that direction again by addressing all of the problems discussed. A difference, however, is that the prosperity needs to be distributed evenly among all of our residents and all of our neighborhoods. This new city council should make that more probable.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Increase public safety and reduce homelessness because of the debilitating affect on all aspects of Portland life.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Ensure City of Portland is the lead agency in streamlining efforts and reducing regulation wherever possible.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Support the elimination of unsanctioned housing and thoroughly audit all homelessness programs for effectiveness.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I’d like to convert vacant space to residential housing and support the elimination of bureaucratic obstacles to quickly increase housing availability. Ease small business licensing and support businesses with City programs that reduce the costs of lawlessness on small business owners.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I’d support all efforts to reduce violence and work with the Police Bureau to prioritize this effort.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My number one goal is to create a functioning body that can collaborate, strategize, and deliver the services and leadership our City deserves. Lofty goals and elaborate plans are useless without a shared commitment to thoughtful oversight and strict accountability. My experience and skills gained from 40 years of leadership in the nonprofit, governing, and business world are what the Council needs to create a working environment that is productive, respectful, and grounded.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

The Council and the Mayor will need to work together to set expectations for the City and its partners to reduce barriers and increase opportunities for housing production. My long relationships with leaders throughout the region and at the state will be helpful in moving forward necessary changes and to hold each entity accountable to the other.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

We have significant resources from state, regional, and county sources that need to be solutions that address the causes of homelessness, predominantly the high cost of housing. Other significant funding streams (from M110 for example) need to targeted to most effective interventions for those suffering addiction or mental illness.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

The downtown business model has radically changed, accelerated by the pandemic. Downtown Portland needs to add significant new housing so that it is a mixed use center. There is much underutilized land (surface parking lots, older low rise buildings) that can immediately be developed for housing as well as some older office buildings with footprints compatible with housing re-use.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun violence is on the decline here and nationally. What works are community based gun violence reduction programs which we need to continue funding. We also need to strongly advocate for implementation of M114 provisions which will reduce access to guns.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for City Council is addressing the homelessness crisis. This issue is not only highly visible but deeply personal for me, given my own experiences with housing instability. Portland’s homelessness crisis has reached a point where it is affecting every aspect of life in the city, from public safety to the local economy. I believe we can tackle this by expanding affordable housing, streamlining the permitting process, and providing comprehensive wraparound services to help people transition from homelessness into permanent housing. This work is essential for making Portland a more livable, equitable city.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

As a City Councilor, I would focus on fostering strong partnerships and open communication between the City, County, Metro, and State to create affordable housing, aligning with supportive services and regional housing initiatives. I would advocate for additional state investment in housing construction and rental assistance programs and explore innovative funding models. Streamlining permitting and reducing bureaucratic delays would enable developers to access resources more efficiently and get housing projects off the ground faster. Integrating supportive services such as mental health care and addiction recovery into housing initiatives, we can ensure that the people moving into affordable housing have the support they need to thrive.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Providing services and improving safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, I will prioritize expanding affordable housing and wraparound services that address the root causes of homelessness, such as mental health challenges, addiction, and lack of economic opportunity. By strengthening partnerships between the City, County, and service organizations, I will focus on supporting and expanding projects like the Safe Rest Villages and TASS Sites, transitioning individuals from temporary shelters into stable housing with the appropriate support in place. I will advocate for increased investment in security, both through community policing efforts and non-law enforcement services like Portland Street Response.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown Portland is to create a vibrant, inclusive, and economically diverse hub that reflects our city’s creativity and culture, and businesses can thrive. A key part of this vision is converting underused office spaces into housing to address both the housing shortage and high office vacancy rates, which will boost foot traffic. We must streamline the permitting process for mixed-use developments, foster public-private partnerships, and invest in the arts, music, and public spaces. Additionally, we need to enhance community policing and expand services like Portland Street Response to address mental health and addiction. With these steps, we can restore downtown as a lively and welcoming heart of our city.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I take a multi-faceted approach that addresses both immediate safety concerns and the root causes of violence. This starts with investing in community-based violence prevention programs providing mentorship, job training, and mental health support to intervene before conflicts escalate. I will also advocate for treating gun violence as a public health issue by fostering collaboration between law enforcement, community organizations, and public health professionals. Expanding programs like Portland Street Response and promoting community policing that emphasizes trust-building and de-escalation to reduce tensions and prevent violence will create a safer Portland for all.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Unsheltered homelessness. Thousands suffer and die on our streets. The trust and goodwill of Portlanders has been abused for far too long. The Joint Office wouldn’t even commit to reducing the number of unsheltered people by a single person by 2026. Enough is enough.

The funds we send to the Joint Office every year could instead be used to build enough shelter for 25-50% of our unsheltered. I’m focused on building 3,000 to 4,000 new beds in two years so we can end unsanctioned camping by ending unsheltered homelessness.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

We can’t keep blocking new homes in favor of only “affordable” housing. To keep housing prices stable, we need to build at least 5,000 homes each year, but we’re only set to build 500 this year. Metro and Portland have spent years trying to build a few units that cost twice as much as what private developers can build.

We need to speed up building approvals and cut the fees that make housing more expensive to build. Just like we don’t send water bills to firefighters, we shouldn’t be charging homebuilders extra during a housing crisis.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Moving someone from the streets into shelter lowers their risk of dying by up to 80%. The city’s top responsibility is ensuring safety, and we must act quickly. We need to build enough shelter beds for everyone currently living on the streets.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

More residents, businesses, and lively streets will come if we address homelessness and public safety issues. Some parts of downtown have fewer residents per acre than inner neighborhoods like Belmont or Hawthorne, and that needs to change.

Downtown is shifting away from serving just office workers. More areas should resemble Ankeny Alley—car-free or limited-car zones where businesses and customers can flow into the streets.

City Council should incentivize converting offices into housing, push for development on the 10% of downtown lots still unused, and create more vibrant public spaces like Ankeny Alley.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Since 90% of interpersonal gun violence involves illegally owned guns, the best way to reduce it is by getting those guns off the streets. We need to be more proactive in finding and removing them. I’ll work closely with community organizations and law enforcement to develop the right strategy.

We are currently awaiting Chris’ responses to our survey. Chris received the invitation late and has expressed their intent to submit their answers. Once we receive their responses, they will be added to this profile.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for the City Council is addressing Portland’s housing and homelessness crisis. Housing insecurity affects every aspect of our community, from public safety to economic stability. We need to expand affordable housing, create more permanent supportive housing, and ensure access to mental health and addiction services. These solutions will not only help those currently without homes but will also prevent more people from falling into homelessness. By focusing on housing, we can create a more equitable, safe, and sustainable future for all Portlanders.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

To create affordable housing, I will prioritize collaboration across City, County, Metro, and State levels by establishing a centralized housing coordination team that integrates efforts and resources. This team will align funding from each government body, streamline permitting processes, and identify opportunities for joint housing development projects. I’ll advocate for leveraging Metro’s housing bond funds and aligning them with State and City resources to maximize impact. I’ll also push for public-private partnerships and tax incentives for developers who build affordable units, ensuring we meet our housing goals efficiently and equitably.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

To provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, I will focus on three key areas:

Expand access to mental health and addiction services: I will advocate for increased funding for mobile crisis units, safe consumption spaces, and wraparound services to address the root causes of homelessness.

Increase affordable housing and supportive shelters: We must create more low-barrier shelters and transitional housing with services to help people stabilize.

Enhance street outreach and harm reduction programs: By coordinating outreach teams, we can connect people to services, reduce harm, and ensure their safety while working toward permanent housing solutions.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown Portland is a vibrant, inclusive, and accessible urban center where residents, businesses, and visitors feel safe and connected. To achieve this, the City Council must focus on:

Revitalizing small businesses by providing grants and incentives to attract new ventures and support existing ones.

Addressing homelessness through immediate shelter expansions and long-term affordable housing investments, combined with mental health and addiction services.

Improving public safety by increasing community-based policing, expanding clean-up efforts, and activating public spaces with arts, culture, and events.

These steps will bring energy back to downtown and ensure it remains a hub of opportunity for all Portlanders.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Expand community-based intervention programs: Support and invest in proven violence interruption initiatives like Portland’s Street Response Team and partnerships with local nonprofits working directly with at-risk youth.

Increase funding for mental health and addiction services: Addressing the root causes of violence, like trauma and substance abuse, will reduce the conditions that lead to gun violence.

Strengthen gun safety regulations and enforcement: Advocate for stronger background checks, safe storage laws, and red flag laws to prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands.

Collaboration with community leaders and law enforcement will create safer neighborhoods.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

This is a tough question–normally we are asked about our top three, which gives us more room! There’s no question that a city where thousands of people do not have homes is a city that is not working. Getting people into real, permanent housing is rightly a priority of (I believe) every single candidate who is running. If I set aside this fundamental issue, I would say our traffic safety & transportation infrastructure is a priority, because it connects to so many other things–from public safety and community health, to climate resilience, to housing density and abundance. So much of a city’s energy and sense of well-being is related to how it feels (or if it is even possible) to walk or roll down a sidewalk in a given area.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I have had some interesting conversations already with sitting and aspiring County Commissioners about the possibilities for collaboration that aren’t currently being explored to the fullest due to siloing and communication issues. I think it’s clear that the current model of letting developers set the pace and specifics for housing production based on their own profit incentives is NOT working to create the amount of housing we need at the rate required. There is a lot of vacant city land that could be developed, particularly if the city can partner with County, Metro, or State around funding, and I am really eager to move in a direction of city-built, city-owned social housing.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

The most cost effective and humane approach to homelessness is prevention–people should never become homeless to begin with, and we have a vast, undercounted percentage of homeless families. Data shows that people become homeless due to the gap between wages and housing costs. Tenant protections and easy-to-access rental assistance are critical. Shelters have their place, but they are not housing. I have watched houseless neighbors navigate the process for finding housing, and it is so difficult. There are a lot of bottlenecks we can address, particularly around wait lists and better communication between homeless service and housing providers. The people working as housing navigators are burned out, overloaded, and often very underpaid.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

A study showed that people who hadn’t visited downtown recently were more likely to have a negative view of downtown. Without discounting the very real issues facing parts of downtown, there are also really cool things happening, like the Roboocto art installation near Washington Center. I went to the Midtown Beer Garden food pods on a weekend and it was bustling. The sooner we accept that not all the office workers are going to come back into an office full-time, and that it’s not our job to force them, the sooner we can get busy reimagining these spaces. We need public space where people don’t have to spend money, and we need to give opportunities to artists and small businesses who need space. Buildings are sitting vacant for years!

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Data shows that streets that undergo pedestrian improvements and traffic calming measures also see a reduction in gun violence. An environment can be altered to improve safety–from installing lighting, to introducing traffic calming, to creating and improving sidewalks. Some fixes happen upstream: we need to make sure community leaders are not priced out of our communities. I’ve been teaching for 16 years, so I see teenagers now hanging out who were my kindergarten students. It is powerful for adults who know kids by name to be embedded in our neighborhoods. We also need to think of things like park improvements and summer enrichment programs as must-haves, rather than nice-to-haves. They have a tremendous effect on community safety.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

I want to change the decision making process. I want consensus or compromise. In an 11 – 1 vote, 55K denizens of Portland are disenfranchised. I think quick decisions like emergency temporary ordinances can be a simple majority and consensus can be achieved with a “present” vote, by one or two councilors. I would like to see each councilor have the ability to add agenda items. I do not want the president of the council to be a mini mayor.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I won’t. The involved parties need to coordinate. I think communication is key and has been lacking.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

First 100 % shelter bed availability for all in need of one. 100% mental health / addiction treatment bed availability for all in need of one. We will increase Portland street response and similar services and move to a 24/7 staffing so the police can respond to calls requiring a sworn officer.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

As with all Portland be a place were Portlanders can be their authentic selves. I propose an event modeled after Chautauqua but centered on advancing climate change solutions and highlighting our movement towards a greener Portland (suggested event name . . . Portlandia)

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

A gun violence reduction task force appropriately staffed. Increased behavioral health services. Have Portland become a center of excellence for behavioral health through a private / public partnership. Increased public education.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority for the City Council will be addressing the interconnected housing and homelessness crises to ensure that all Portlanders can have a safe and affordable place to live in the city.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I am proud to have been endorsed by Portland: Neighbors Welcome and I am an ardent supporter of their Inner Eastside for All plan. Incentivizing high-density development in transit-rich neighborhoods will be key to creating more abundant, more sustainable, and more affordable housing.

Additionally, identifying ways for us to convert underutilized or vacant properties and empty office buildings into housing or shelter spaces will be critical to both solving the housing crisis and revitalizing the downtown core. On Day One, I plan to compile a list of these properties (especially along major corridors) that the city can use for rapid housing development to ensure that housing is plentiful, affordable, and available for all.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

The City needs to revitalize empty buildings, address zoning issues, and build transitional housing with wrap around services. I visit the Right2DreamToo encampment regularly, and I believe that houseless people should take a direct role in shaping our shelter spaces and telling the city what services they need. What I’ve found at that encampment is that when people have autonomy and decision making, it completely changes how they’re able to interact with their community and be reintegrated into housing.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

As the office real estate industry has suffered since COVID, the blueprint to bring people downtown and into neighborhood centers has been clear: events. They are a huge draw and bring large numbers of people into the area, incentivizing economic activity as well as appeal for development. Additionally, working to reform zoning to reform downtown from simply a center for offices into a mixed use neighborhood by building more housing and incentivizing walkable commercial development will work to reshape the area into a better reflection of Portland’s living room that it aims to be.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

In 2022, the Mt. Scott-Arleta Neighborhood Association had the issue of recurring drive-by shootings. Constituents pitched an idea to add large barrels on the street to prevent these shootings because they wouldn’t be able to escape fast enough. After the installation of the barrels, shootings dropped by two-thirds. Once the pilot program ended and was proven to be successful, cement planters were installed. The street was painted, flowers were planted, and solar fairy lights installed. This became the vibrant Mt. Scott-Arleta Triangle. By using traffic calming techniques that incentivize pedestrian transit, revitalizing public spaces, and creating spaces where neighbors can come together, Portland will reduce crime and beautify our city.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Addressing the homelessness crisis is the top substantive priority, but ensuring that city resources are being used effectively and efficiently, whether the issue is homelessness, public safety, climate change or anything else -and communicating to the public how resorces are being prioritized. Portlanders have a sense that they have voted for a lot of taxes and don’t know what’s happening to the money.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Currently the non-profits that build affordable housing seek funding from various governmental entities to build each housing project, and each jurisdiction has numerous requirements, and the requirements are not aligned. This adds time and expense to projects. Having the City work with other jurisdictions to reduce and align requirements would be valuable.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Services are generally more the county’s responsibility, although we can try to influence the county. As to safety, focusing on developing more tiny house villages, where people have a door to close, will help a lot. Also, I have talked with homeless people who say their experiences violent attacks from outsiders but police assume that all the violence is within the camp — I would like to talk with police about how we can better draw and act on those distinctions.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I am very worried about the future of downtown in a post-Covid remote work world. Cleaning up downtown – fewer homeless camps, less crime – will help. I know people say converting office buildings to residential is usually not practical, but I know some cities like Calgary, Canada are leaning into that idea and I would like to know more about their strategies.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Focus police resources and investment in community anti-violence organizations on the micro-locations where violence is concentrated, like Portland’s “most dangerous block” at 82d and Milton. Increase police training and public outreach on use of the “red flag law” to remove guns from people – Portland lags the rest of the state in using this tool. I also have a long-term plan, described on my web site, to reduce youth suicides by spurring the development of “smart guns.”

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is addressing the climate crisis, particularly in communities that have been left behind. I grew up in SE Portland, right by the highway and a dairy factory, where my family and I developed asthma from the pollution. That personal experience shaped me, and I see how environmental justice is not just about the planet—it’s about our health, safety, and future. I want to bring bold, community-driven solutions to the City Council that ensure every neighborhood can thrive in a greener, healthier Portland.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I know firsthand how difficult it can be to find affordable housing—Many of my peers are struggling to afford rent even with full-time jobs. To address this, we need to break down silos between different agencies. I’ll work to create a more collaborative approach, making sure that we’re all on the same page about zoning reforms, affordable housing investments, and prioritizing people over bureaucratic red tape. I’ll be a strong advocate for ensuring affordable housing gets to the neighborhoods where it’s most needed, especially for multigenerational and immigrant families like mine.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I think a lot of people forget that homelessness isn’t just about not having a place to sleep—it’s about the support people need to get back on their feet. I want to focus on expanding mental health and addiction services, providing transitional housing, and creating outreach programs that meet people where they’re at. Everyone deserves a chance to feel safe and be supported, and we can’t fix homelessness without addressing the root causes.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I want to see a downtown Portland that’s vibrant again—where local businesses thrive, the streets are safe, and there’s life in the city. As someone starting my own business, I know how hard it is to keep things going, especially in the current climate. I think we need to invest in small businesses, create more public spaces that feel inviting, and address homelessness and safety in a compassionate way. The first step is bringing people back downtown by making it a place they want to spend time in—whether that’s through housing, transportation, or more community events.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun violence is a huge issue, and it’s going to take more than just policing to fix it. We need to invest in things like job training, mental health support, and mentorship programs that help prevent violence before it happens. I also want to work closely with organizations that are already on the ground doing this work, making sure they have the resources they need to keep our communities safe. The goal is to create a city where people don’t just feel safe, but actually are safe.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority on City Council is advancing cooperative ownership, urban density, and preventing displacement. Housing is a critical issue, and I’m committed to creating real pathways to homeownership, especially for households earning under $75,000 a year. Without strong leadership, Portland’s plan to add 120,000 housing units by 2045 could cause widespread displacement, particularly in District 3. I will focus on cooperative ownership models—such as apartments above businesses, cooperatively owned trailer parks, and land banking—to keep housing affordable, reduce gentrification, and provide long-term housing stability.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

City governments control zoning, permitting, and regulations, giving them a crucial role in shaping housing production. For District 3, rather than focusing solely on affordable housing, we must leverage Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts to purchase land and back loans for cooperative housing. Building strong relationships with the County and Metro is key to advancing a broader strategy that incentivizes urban density in historic shopping districts. By working together to revise housing codes and regulations, we can create flexible, community-driven housing options that prevent displacement and promote long-term stability.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

In Multnomah County, many homeless individuals with severe mental illness or chronic medical conditions aren’t receiving adequate care. ACT services, which support the hardest-to-reach populations, currently serve only 300-400 people, leaving many without the help they need​. To change this, I’ll lobby the state for more funding to expand ACT services and scale up medical shelter and transitional housing programs. This includes creating 200 more medical shelter beds to provide immediate support for those with complex needs. By focusing on both housing and medical care, we can reduce street homelessness and ensure more comprehensive support.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown Portland centers on addressing homelessness and revitalizing the local economy. By expanding medical shelter beds and clinical services, we can help people transition off the streets into stable environments, reducing visible homelessness. I also propose a tiered business tax to support small businesses, lowering the rate for those with revenues under $500,000, driving growth and innovation. With zoning reforms to promote urban density and doubling investment in programs like Neighborhood Prosperity Networks, we can create a vibrant downtown where people want to spend time, live, and invest in the future.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

To reduce gun violence in Portland, I propose expanding gun buyback programs by partnering with organizations like Ceasefire Oregon to hold regular events, encouraging residents to turn in unwanted firearms. This strategy has proven successful in other cities. I also support introducing smart gun technology for law enforcement, ensuring police firearms can only be used by authorized personnel, enhancing safety and accountability. Additionally, scaling up violence prevention efforts through programs like Portland Street Response will focus on de-escalation and supporting those most at risk, addressing gun violence at its roots.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

I have 3. Taking steps to end homelessness with compassionate camping ban enforcement so Portland’s notoriety is not that of tents and trash to again make Portland attractive for financial investments and business opportunities. This must be a hands up approach towards self-sufficiency with wrap around services possibly coupled with internships of employment that can demonstrate results to prepare people for permanent housing instead of a revolving door with everlasting handouts. Making the streets safer by adding and retaining police officers, firefighters, PSR personnel and dispatchers so response times are immediate, and fixing PBOT’s broken public engagement process so motorists and neighborhoods can have their voices heard.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

The City and County need to be on the same page at Joint Office. Funds clearly have to be spent where there is the most bang for the buck. For some of that housing, the City should consider purchasing existing apartment buildings that are on the market at bargain prices, and establish a tax on rental units that are vacant for extended periods of time. Another thought is for the legislature to create a state bank where builders can receive low interest loans for the construction of new housing. I also support relaxing the requirement whereby builders must use the same high end finishing materials inside low income units as they do for market rate units in the same structure, and instead require materials that are functionally the same.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

It is the County’s job to provide deflection, detoxification and other health related services. In addition to being a partner in the Joint Office, the City is responsible for public safety within city limits. This must include adding shelter beds and make PSR a 24 hour service by adding personnel. The City also needs to fund the 100 or more empty beds at the Bybee Lakes Hope Center which provides the kinds of services needed and has a record of demonstrating results.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

We can’t just separate downtown Portland from the rest of the city. Sandy, Hawthorne and other major business corridors have empty store fronts and vandalism including graffiti. The issues must be looked at holistically. It is obvious downtown needs more foot traffic because many office workers will continue working from home. To bring more people into downtown, people need to feel safe on the streets, on transit, and when they park their cars in a garage or on the street. Parking rates need to be reduced, be free on Sunday and office space needs to be converted into residential. Conversions will require streamlining permitting and possibly zoning changes.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

To start with, our school system must stop convincing every child entering kindergarten they have anxieties or other issues thereby creating anguish, distress and behavioral problems among classmates. This kind of labeling is not appropriate for the classroom. Years ago there was something called the big brother big sister program where an adult became a big brother or sister mentor. We also need boys and girls clubs that have activates for youth to keep them out of gangs and bad behavior. Beyond that I believe in background checks and red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of people that should not have them.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top focus is implementation, implementation, and implementation. The crux of almost every major issue in Portland is simply a failure to implement plans effectively. We have plenty of great ideas, but they don’t work because we have no accountability, oversight, or focus on implementation. For instance, in June, elected officials staged a “grand opening” for a new shelter, and it is still not serving anyone because of some permit disputes between the city and county. We planted trees in East Portland to deal with heat islands, and they all died because we didn’t have a plan to water them. If you can’t grow trees in Stumptown, you have a real basic execution problem.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

The main thing the city has authority over to help increase affordable housing is our permitting, zoning, and code. These systems need to be vastly improved. We need to make it much easier and, importantly, more predictable for both market rate and affordable housing developments to get housing units approved. This includes moving the permit department from a self-funded boom and bust cycle to a consistent, predictable part of the budget.

Starting in 2025, Oregon has a 1115 Medicaid waiver that allows the state to spend Medicaid dollars on housing as a health care service. This will allow Medicaid to provide up to 6 months of temporary rent for people with certain issues.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I’m a health care policy expert, and the data is clear that allowing unsanctioned camping is terrible for both individuals experiencing homelessness and for the city as a whole. The morbidity rate is dramatically higher for people in unsanctioned camps, as is the risk of fire. In addition, the longer people are not part of a structured system, the harder it becomes to reintegrate them. We need to rapidly build shelter and housing of all types and mandate people use them. Unsanctioned camping simply can’t be allowed. The 1115 Medicaid waiver will provide up to 6 months of temporary rent for people.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

You can’t have a viable downtown that exists just for office workers, with everything only open between 7am-6pm. The future for all downtowns across the country needs to be an economic mix. We must make downtown a place people want to be, and the way to do that is with cultural institutions, festivals, restaurants, etc.

The initial steps are to clean up downtown both physically and from crime. We then need to make it easier to throw events downtown that bring in visitors — by improving permitting and building permanent structures at our parks for concerts. Finally, we need to make it easier for downtown office space to be converted for other uses, including housing.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

First, we need to find a way to fill the police officer vacancies that are already part of the budget so we can get more patrol officers to quickly respond to shootings and more detectives investigating shootings.

Second, we need to get the county to actively enforce our state’s red flag law. We have a very low rate of use of it here in Portland, but many gun deaths are domestic violence incidents we could avoid.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is to address the impacts of homelessness, because our city is getting crushed by the burden. If we successfully address the impacts, we will have a healthy and clean city that is desirable to live, work and invest in. We need to include adequate public safety responders in this equation to manage crime and promote a safe community. We also need to ensure that we have resources and services to transition those who are unhoused, those experiencing addiction and mental health crisis, to a stable and healthy path.

Most candidates running for local office are focused on homelessness but the distinction is the solutions and methods they would support and their vision of a future state for the City of Portland.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

We need tight coordination with the local, state, and federal partners to develop a housing development and funding plan for the city of Portland. Partnership between the new city leadership and our regional partners will be essential for the city to tap into resources that are managed by other entities for shared priorities, housing being one of the largest priorities. Relationship building and strengthening existing dynamics between the city and local partner governments will be a high priorities as a new city councilor, specifically looking at the County, Metro and Portland Public Schools. Because of the scarcity of resources at the local level, we need to maximize funding streams and find economies of scale where possible.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

The regional governments together need to develop housing solutions at all income levels in order to increase housing options, and will specifically housing for lower income Portlanders. Safety for those living on the streets looks like moving people off the streets and into housing. I will invest the city’s resources in temporary shelter sites with services onsite as a bridge for those experiencing homelessness to get off the streets, stabilize and move on the path toward permanent housing solutions. Safety,, structure, and accountability at these sites is essential for the individuals to be successful to move from unhoused to permanently housed.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for the downtown core is one that creatively reimagines the uses for the vacant spaces and buildings with a focus on rebuilding our economic engine, and creating opportunities for residents and businesses to invest in the downtown core. The plan needs to ensure that downtown core seamlessly connects with the surrounding areas of the city. I will advocate for our city departments including Planning and Prosper Portland to engage with regional partners and stakeholder groups to derive development master plans for the central city that will serve as a roadmap to make investments and decisions.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I will advocate that we expand the Gun Violence Reduction Team and invest in Gang Enforcement strategies for the city. The relationships built by these programs results in predictive activity monitoring and violence mitigation and avoidance. These are high touch programs that again, are successful because of human relationships, with city employees working hand in hand with community members and volunteers, thereby we will need to invest resources in skilled public safety professionals to perform this work. Concurrently, I see value in the expansion of the Police Bureau’s proactive community policing strategies to ensure there are open lines of communication and trust building between the community and the police.

We are currently awaiting Luke’s responses to our survey. Luke received the invitation late and has expressed their intent to submit their answers. Once we receive their responses, they will be added to this profile.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Public Works Projects – Lobby Pink Tower observation deck paid by U.S. Bank shareholders that have vacated the building with all their employees thereby letting the downtown core small bussiness community fall by the wayside. U.S. bank will do this as a thank you and I’m sorry to the people of Portland. Excellent public relations campaign for corporate empathy, and for the city of Portland, observation deck will give re-birth to the pedestrian-centric community of NW Burnside and 8th Avenue and area with Shibuya Crossing Infastructure upgrades, blinking lights to stop traffic for pedestrians, OLCC will also be lobbied for marijuana lounge cafes like bussiness model very successful in Vancouver Canada, Las Vegas, and historically Amsterdam.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I have an ability to communicate to all parties involved by not taking one person’s side, I listen to all sides, I treat everyone equally, I delegate responsibilities, I listen to all points of view and we all move forward together for the benefit of the city.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Before this question is answered we have to ask the question – why did the Oregon legislature pass a bill giving landlords the ability to raise the rent of any building that is over 15 years old, to raise the rent 25% without any refurbishment, renovations, amenities. This is wrong. People that cannot afford to make basic ends meet should not have to endure this classism bigotry toward the poor, the working class, the hourly wage workers, the unskilled, the immigrant, the first job, the retirement job to make ends meet employee. So before we even begin to talk about homelessness this city has to address this injustice toward the proleteriat of Portland that is always one paycheck away from being homeless too!

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Implement Frog Ferry immediately! The city was sold out by the corporate subserient previous city council members. Frog ferry is green, affordable $3.50 a ride, 7 electrified ferries, 4000 passengers a day, connects Cathedral Park to Riverplace in 25 minutes, and to Vancouver in 44 minutes, educational as there will be a narrator onboard explaining the Native American history on our waterways, brings business and revenue to Riverplace and the downtown core, promotes walking, healthy lifestyle – do I need to go on. Portland City council is subservient to corporate lobbyists that prevent our city from experiencing a re-birth of connectivity, culture, and fun. Under my administration this will change immediately!

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

When people are walking, when the lights are on, when people are out and about, when there is activity on the street, when there is art, when there are cafes, when there is music, when there is art, cafe, and music in marijuana lobby cafes in districts with all the aforementioned activity taking place then there is community, communication, camaraderie, and people just getting along and helping one another not just themselves. Pretty simple. Very simple!

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is improving public safety. We as Portlanders must feel safe as we go about our lives within the community. The lack of public safety is one of the reasons why thousands of people have left Portland in recent years. It’s also a major reason why many businesses have closed their doors and relocated elsewhere.

Criminal behavior such as theft and shoplifting are at the root of the problem and must be addressed. In addition, drug abuse, mental illness, and homelessness on our streets contribute to the perception of lack of safety, as does trash littering the streets and graffiti that defaces public property. My first priority is to tackle these problems as I work to make Portland a safer and more vibrant city for all.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Although progress has been made since Portland declared a housing emergency in 2015, a lot of work remains. I believe the best way to lift up Portlanders is to increase affordable housing across every neighborhood. We should also encourage innovative solutions that increase our housing supply so we can build housing at a pace that meets the demand.

Solving this issue requires coordination at all governmental levels. We need to understand the current and projected needs, the existing supply of affordable housing, and the projected lifespan of that housing. A key step is a collaborative evaluation of how well the current systems are working to deliver more affordable housing to identify successes and shortcomings—and identify next steps.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Many factors contribute to homelessness including economic challenges, mental illness, and drug addiction. It’s critical that we address each of these root causes as we work to provide everyone with safe and stable housing.

I believe we should take a “stair step” approach to homelessness. There should always be a basic level of care to provide an alternative to street life coupled with a path to increased independence and security. Improved access to social services is key, as is increasing the availability of affordable housing across the city. We must better align efforts between the city and county, while coordinating efforts among public health, human services, housing, law enforcement, and mental health and substance use providers.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown builds on what we all remember from 2019: an inviting mix of businesses, housing, public spaces, transportation options, employment opportunities, with an active riverfront.

Today, we are moving forward, but downtown Portland is still suffering. To address these problems, we must improve affordable housing, drug and alcohol programs, and job training, while cleaning up camps, garbage, and graffiti. We must also respond to the impact of remote/hybrid work, which leaves many offices empty and businesses with fewer customers.

The city is launching a planning process to address these issues. Community and developer engagement will be critical as we take the actions needed to bring back downtown Portland’s vitality.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun violence is really four different issues: urban gun violence, suicide, domestic violence, and mass shootings. We need to de-escalate the potential for violence, and we can start with our first responders. Without compromising officer safety, all available means of de-escalation should be employed before threats escalate.

Police need to rebuild trust with communities and involve residents in de-escalation before violence erupts. As Oakland has done through its “Ceasefire” program, police and non-law enforcement service providers can proactively deter gun violence by communicating with the small group of people at highest risk of perpetuating shootings and connect them with the support they need to prevent incidents from happening.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

First, we must deal with the humanitarian crisis on our streets. We need to build more homeless shelters so there is no reason for people to sleep outdoors. We need to streamline our permitting system to provide certainty in the development of all types of housing.

Second, everyone wants to be safe and feel safe. Public safety is a fundamental function at every level of government. We need to improve 9-1-1 response times, provide Portland Street Response with the authority to transport and recruit more police officers to restore our ability to respond to crises, enforce traffic violations and investigate retail theft.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Throughout my career, I have worked in intergovernmental relations, bringing different levels of government together to solve problems. In Governor Kitzhaber’s office, I laid the groundwork for what is now known as Oregon Solutions. It is essential that the City, County, Metro and the State coordinate their efforts to end homelessness and develop more affordable housing. All levels of government must sit at the same table including other players in the housing eco-system in order to all pull in the same direction. The City must also hold the Joint Office accountable and require greater coordination between the many nonprofits they fund. We need better metrics, a tracking system and real outcomes.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Multnomah County is the social service provider overseeing public health, mental health and addiction programs. They are also responsible for the deflection center and future detox centers. The city can support their efforts, work to hold them accountable to use their resources to improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The City must continue to build TASS sites and other shelters while it insures the safety of all City residents.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision is that our downtown grows as a vibrant and diverse cultural hub where people want to live and are excited to visit. New work and shopping patterns in the post-pandemic world mean that downtowns across the U.S. are changing. The City must encourage and incentivize the development of more housing in the downtown. We must support efforts to activate empty storefronts and bring more eyes on the streets of downtown. Supporting our arts and culture facilities is key along with creating a new cultural district in Old Town where much of Portland’s history resides. Downtown is our front door and it needs to be safe, welcoming and alive.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

We can bring back and enhance the gun violence reduction team with focused intervention. We can explore ways to hold gun owners accountable by requiring gun liability insurance. We need to go upstream to address the issues that lead to gun violence in our community, provide meaningful activity for young people, meaningful work and stronger drug interdiction.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Housing. Princeton property Management put a piece of plywood on my door. I am living at my office and showering at the gym.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

1. Determine what resources are available. This issue is so very complex. See above. I was not evicted for non-payment of rent. I was a victim of dom violence. My associate’s car was towed. I have moved on but mgmt did not.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Very good question. Not everyone is blessed as I am, but I am still in trauma. Most of my possessions, furniture, home office and wife’s ashes are locked up by PPM.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

A return to civility and horses. Probably not the most popular answer.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Unload my gun. There are many other suggestions that should be implemented.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is aligned with my political ideology of “Clean, Green and Serene”. Portland must get better. I would be tasked to provide safety outreach and consumer education to the citizens of Portland. I will propose tax reliefs, credit programs, improve ordinances, expedite permits, and employ carbon calculators to fast track the improvement of lives for all, especially those experiencing unsheltered houselessness, mental crisis, alcoholism and/or drug addiction. Volunteerism and civic participation in our new government charter will accelerate our success. Identifying and integrating the 95 neighborhoods in a unified network will strengthen our resiliency and increase prosperity and opportunity, while remaining eco-friendly.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Unlike Commissioners Mapps, Ryan, and Gonzalez, I would not draft a contract divorce from the Joint Office of Homeless Services. At this point, it is a spotlight of our failed elected leaders. Addressing poverty is costing taxpayers at an alarming rate. While I can see the commissioners’ concerns, the timing is misguided and as your elected public servant, I would advocate for a one-year extension contract with the Joint Office of Homeless Services. The City of Portland must lead the way for the region, as well as nationally, on how to build affordable, sustainable housing. I will propose an immediate moratorium on any new permits of “Market Rate” housing, as this is a major block to home ownership and building personal equity.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I will create opportunities for more TASS’s (Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites). We have the results, and they are good. We need at least 2000 beds created annually. It is important that there are social agreements and understanding the importance of mutual benefits. With dignity at a premium, individuals deserve dedicated case managers, assisting them on their housing, career and health journeys. Portland Street Response needs to be 24/7/365. Lastly, Portland needs stronger renter’s rights and a lowering of annual rent increases. 10% is too damn high! Thus, exasperating homelessness, mental health crisis, alcoholism and drug addiction. I will fund 4 sobering centers and 4 deflection centers in our 4 new voting districts.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I would propose a unique “Entertainment Zone” in Chinatown that would host outdoor activities, live performances, music, food and art. Special zoning would allow for temporary street enclosures, ensuring safety and “Gun Free Zones” and allowing restaurants and bars to sell alcohol “to-go”. Also, inspired by Mayoral Candidate Mike O’Connell, I would advocate the City to lease the entire U.S. Bancorp Tower and create an autonomous zone where drugs, gambling, prostitution are permitted. On site would be a pharmacy, medical and security services, as well as housing, jobs and a cultural draw that the PNW desperately needs. “The Pink Palace” would ensure adult entertainment that is safe and appealing and enrich the City’s coffers.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun Buyback programs work, but we need to up the ante. Increased cash for guns, with or without serial numbers, no questions asked, will stop the gun violence. Portland’s homicide rate is higher than San Francisco and Seattle, currently. On August 31, 2023, I was personally shot at by a drive by with a rapid fire pellet gun. I was waiting at a MAX stop one block from City Hall in broad daylight. Even with videos and pictures, the Portland Police Bureau received the information as a cold case immediately. I will elevate the Police Accountability Commission, as our police are partly to blame for the unfettered gun violence in Portland.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is addressing our housing affordability crises by increasing housing production and using social housing and renter protections as tools for the City to make permanently affordable housing available while decreasing the rent burden for people who need it most. Preventing eviction is the least costly way to house somebody who might otherwise become houseless and need assistance to regain housing. Rising housing costs is the single most important predictor of houselessness. Rent control is an equity issue: homeowners currently enjoy “rent control” in the form of the 30-year mortgage, as well receive subsidies from the Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction. Rent control fights displacement by gentrification.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I would take on a role on City Council to help facilitate discussions among my peers and other agencies to improve our affordable housing approaches. I would work with community organizations that have a high interest in making affordable housing work better for everyone and prioritize with government and community within the general fund, the creation of a revolving loan fund, and other tools to make housing truly affordable.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

We have to treat homelessness with a public health approach: prevent, treat, and use whatever legal, regulatory and fiscal tool at our disposal to stop the harm and address the root causes. I support policies that seek to cure that with shelter, not through criminalization, sweeps or hostile architecture. Sweeps are expensive and do not solve the problem.

We need to stay in the JOHS and work to build a productive relationship with the city so we can move on getting people living unsheltered into a private sheltering option that makes it possible for them to move into long term housing.

We need to fully fund Portland Street Response.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

The future of Portland includes having a downtown that’s the most livable place in the entire city, where people are thriving across all income levels and small businesses are booming. City Council needs to incentivize and protect jobs, have labor at the table, and develop social housing and tenant protections where the cost of housing is no more than 30% of someone’s income.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Fund community programs and stop taking away from parks, schools, and pillars of the community that promote healthy youth development and connectivity among neighbors.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is establishing a publicly-owned Portland Green Energy People’s Utility District (PGE/PUD). For too long, Portland General Electric has exploited ratepayers, increased energy costs, and threatened our natural environment with reckless projects like expanding transmission lines through Forest Park. Public ownership would provide accountability, reduce energy rates, and allow us to invest in a green future. This initiative represents a fundamental shift toward putting the needs of the people and the planet before corporate profit. We must fight for energy sovereignty and economic justice for all Portlanders, which necessitates decentralizing the grid and neighborhood autonomy for earthquake resilience.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

The housing crisis is not an isolated issue – it’s the result of decades of unregulated development and speculation. To reverse this, we must unite all levels of government. At the City level, we must enforce strict rent control, prevent evictions, and require the thousands of empty residential units in our city to be filled. I will push for County and Metro to prioritize tenant-owned housing cooperatives as well as rapid construction of affordable housing. The State must provide funding, while we use local zoning powers to guarantee the construction of sustainable, low-cost housing. We can no longer let corporate developers dictate who gets to live in Portland. Housing is a human right.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Homelessness in Portland is not a crisis of resources; it’s a crisis of priorities. First and foremost, we must embrace a Housing First approach and ensure that every Portlander has access to stable, permanent housing without barriers. This can be funded through higher corporate taxes and a Public Bank investing directly in housing. Sweeping camps is inhumane. We need to stop criminalizing the unhoused, as it exacerbates the crisis and deepens their plight. The City must invest in supportive services—mental health care, addiction treatment, and job training—while the County and State help us provide housing and shelter. With true commitment, we can end homelessness in Portland.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Downtown Portland should be the beating heart of a vibrant, green, people-centered city. It’s time to reimagine this area as a place where residents can live affordably, local businesses can thrive, and public spaces foster community. First, we must convert vacant office spaces into affordable housing. Next, ban fossil fuel infrastructure from the core, expand pedestrian zones, and make TriMet free while expanding hours and neighborhood reach. City Hall must prioritize small business grants and green infrastructure projects to revitalize downtown while keeping corporate interests from hollowing out its soul. I’d love to see more flowers, fruit trees, and community gardens to beautify the city and meet our climate goals.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun violence is a symptom of deeper social inequities—poverty, lack of opportunity, and inadequate mental health care. To address it, we need to tackle the root causes. That means fully funding community-based violence prevention programs, expanding mental health services, and investing in youth job training and mentorship. We must also implement stronger gun control measures, including background checks and restrictions on high-capacity firearms. The solution isn’t more policing, as police abuses are one of the great sources of gun violence. We need to build a community where everyone has the resources to thrive and feel confident in our ability to keep each other safe.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

I would respond to the shelter crisis as if it was a natural disaster – with urgent and temporary Emergency Management along the lines of a FEMA response. If a hurricane put 6,000 people on our streets, there would be an actual plan put in place to do something quickly.

Following that, we need to set an actual timeline for getting everyone off the street. A comprehensive shelter plan in less than a year is not naive, it is necessary.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Affordable Housing – it is time to treat our housing shortage as the crisis that it is. All levels of government need to do their part to address the housing shortage, and it is not as hard as we think. We have a whole industry committed to building housing. My architecture career has been part of that.

Portland must fix the current rules that inhibit housing construction. My first policy is an “Emergency Housing Production Strategy”. This is published on my website and includes actions on permitting, taxes and regulation to immediately jump start housing development. We will NOT achieve affordable housing while we continue to have a housing shortage.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

There are truly two distinct problems of homelessness. The first is what drives people into homelessness, and data shows conclusively that the cause is Housing Scarcity. Portland needs to accelerate housing production by rewriting 10-year old permitting and tax policies, reinstating the Statewide 120-day permitting timeline and lowering fees on permits.

The second problem is what to do once people are living unsheltered on the street. We need first to demand accountability from the Joint Office of Homeless Services, and second to provide adequate shelter options and end camping. Portland needs to provide a lot more options, and those options need to include mental health and addiction help.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

We need to change Portland’s image problem, which is caused by a reality problem. We need immediate action to improve our urban environment, including removing public camping, cleaning up our streets and neighborhoods. We need to bring ground floor uses back downtown to get eyes on the street and reverse the downward spiral in the core of our city.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Gun violence is an epidemic – gun violence leads to more violence and homicide rates compound. The solution is also an epidemic – the individual cases can be treated and will have a compounding effect. Boston has a very successful program that can be used as a model for Portland.

First, get the public behind the idea that gun violence and homicides are problems worth solving. Then do what it takes to move those relatively small number of people out of the epidemic loop. It is possible. Boston rates per capita are a fraction of ours in Portland.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priority is housing affordability and homelessness. Housing affordability is the unlock to solve many of our other key challenges- homelessness obviously, but also transportation, public safety, climate change, and education.

We have to throw everything we have at increasing affordability while also implementing an evidence-based approach to sheltering those who cannot wait. Safe Rest Villages and Motel Shelters are the most successful forms of shelter when it comes to moving people to permanent housing. As city councilor, I will help site and permit 20 more shelters that give people a private room with a door that locks, with services on-site, and with reasonable accommodations for pets, possessions, and companions.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

I know that Metro is considering reallocating some SHS money into building affordable housing. I support that conversation and would be willing to help take that idea to voters. I also support staying in JOHS so that we have a way to influence the SHS dollars that come into Multnomah County. I also support an exploration of social housing, land banking, or other publicly owned alternatives, in addition to private development.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

The overwhelming majority of people living in tents and automobiles would gladly transfer to shelter if it was available and reasonable. However, the city currently does not have enough beds to offer, and the beds it does offer are often less safe and less sanitary than living outside.

I will advocate for the construction of pod villages and motel shelters that are safe, sanitary, and respect the dignity of the people they serve. This means making reasonable accommodations for pets, cohabitation, belongings, and freedom of movement.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

For too long we’ve allowed downtown to become a virtual monocrop of office buildings. Like all monocrops, downtown was not resistant to the shock of COVID-19 and the shift to work-from-home. We need to diversify and make downtown into a series of complete and connected neighborhoods by adding housing (through conversions or rebuilds) and incentivizing ground-floor retail so we end up with small businesses and a built-in clientele. This will require some finesse and imagination and rezoning from the council. Arts organizations should be first in line.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

PPB has partnered with OHSU to learn from public health approaches and use data to reduce auto theft. I’d support PPB and our other agencies moving in this direction when it comes to the scourge of gun violence in our community. I’m proud to be a Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate because I believe in common sense firearm regulations and proven interventions that will help to reduce gun violence.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Boosting our local economy is essential for Portland to thrive. With the cost of living skyrocketing, our residents deserve the opportunity to meet their needs and build a stable future. To strengthen our economy, we must prioritize supporting local businesses, which not only diversifies our economic landscape but also drives job creation. I will push the city to actively partner with companies and organizations to create skills training programs that empower our workforce. A stronger workforce means a stronger economy, and we can’t afford to wait—Portlanders need action now.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

While the relationship between the City and County has been tumultuous, I believe we must prioritize open dialogue and a shared vision. In order to create more affordable housing, we need to pool resources efficiently, get rid of redundancies, and streamline our decision-making processes. I will advocate for joint task forces focused on affordable housing solutions, where we can combine funding, land use policies, and development incentives to accelerate the creation of new homes. Through combined resources, we can address the housing crisis in Portland and create more affordable housing opportunities.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

First, by expanding Portland Street Response, we can better assist individuals in crisis with trauma informed care instead of criminalization. Second, I’m committed to revising and strengthening renter’s rights to prevent more people from falling into homelessness. The cost of housing is rising, and we must protect renters from unjust evictions and ensure they can access affordable options. Lastly, we need to invest in more safe housing solutions. By creating enough spaces for people experiencing homelessness to stay—paired with wraparound services like mental health care, job training, and addiction support—we can address the root issue rather than temporary fixes.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I envision downtown to be thriving with nightlife, entertainment, and our small businesses with successful brick and mortars. Foot traffic increased because people feel safe again. Our streets are cleaned up because we’ve provided those experiencing homelessness with a safe place to go and services to help them secure permanent housing. We can achieve this by IMPLEMENTING our plans to build and site more shelters, following through with our safe rest village expansion, and providing those struggling with addiction with full continuum services. We need some hustle to boost the local economy by reducing bureaucratic hurdles our small business owners, who refuse to give up on Portland.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

We need a comprehensive approach that addresses both prevention and enforcement. Investing in community-led violence prevention programs that engage at-risk youth and teach conflict resolution and de-escalation skills is essential. I also want to expand partnerships with mental health and trauma support services, particularly for communities hit hardest by gun violence. Policy-wise, we need stronger gun control measures, including red flag laws and thorough background checks. I’d advocate for better collaboration between the Portland Police Bureau and organizations to not only crack down on illegal gun trafficking but also address the root causes driving violence. We need a safer Portland, and that means tackling this from all angles.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Working to solve the addiction crisis and expanding pathways to addiction recovery. Portland is experiencing an addiction crisis that impacts every part of daily life, from homelessness and public safety, to community livability and the reputation of our city. Widespread public drug use and the increase in overdoses prove the status quo cannot continue. By prioritizing recovery, we can build a Portland that is safe, healthy, and housed.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

We need a collaborative partnership across all layers of local government to create a shared philosophy of governance regarding this critical issue. That begins with good relationship building, and my broad-base of support shows I can do that well.

We need to build more housing to catch up with Portland’s needs. We need to remove barriers to construction, and we need to incentivize building. Our permitting system needs to be faster and easier to navigate. We must find ways to minimize touch points throughout the permitting process, and to ramp up our construction volume. We need to build more housing of all types, including market rate, middle housing, and affordable housing.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Every Portlander deserves access to housing, and no one should be forced to live on the streets. Building more housing will help us improve affordability and accessibility, and thoughtfully minimizing obstacles to residential construction will help us catch up with community housing needs. Meanwhile, people living on the streets need help now. We also have to realize that our addiction crisis is making our homelessness crisis worse.

I will work to: streamline the homebuilding permit process, expand capacity of our homeless shelters and shelter alternatives, prioritize recovery housing for people struggling with addiction and homelessness, and fight for impactful behavioral health funding.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

Downtown is the economic engine and cultural heart of our city. Downtown businesses drive economic activity, and are directly invested in Portland’s vitality. They pay taxes that fund essential services, and they provide jobs for workers who in turn shop, visit restaurants, and support arts and entertainment throughout Portland neighborhoods. Portland can’t thrive without a vibrant downtown. I will support targeted incentives designed to stimulate economic activity, including expanding the Business License Tax (BLT) downtown tax credit. We can also increase foot traffic and grow visits to local businesses by prioritizing public safety and clean streets.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Improving public safety and reducing gun violence depends on adding more police officers. The national average is 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents. Portland has 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents. A larger Portland Police Bureau will help us reduce gun violence.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

A Government that works! We will not be able to achieve anything if we can’t get seven votes. Achieving seven votes on key issues will depend on our ability to organize, communicate, and share our collective vision. As I engage with community members, I aim to bring their voices and ideas into our discussions. Forming trusting relationships will allow us to navigate challenges more effectively and build a Council that prioritizes the needs of all Portlanders. By establishing a culture of openness and respect, we can create a stronger, more unified Council that works towards the common goal of making Portland a vibrant, safe, and equitable city for everyone.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Reducing bureaucratic delays lowers carrying costs, making projects more viable. We must streamline permitting and inspection processes to expedite construction. Encouraging the development of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), duplexes, and triplexes will diversify our housing stock and increase options for residents.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

We must prioritize ending unsheltered homelessness by expanding behavioral health services, building a continuum of housing options and treating the crisis on the streets with urgency and the humanitarian crisis it is. Implementing a robust data system for tracking progress and accountability will help us measure outcomes. Effective collaboration between the city and county will be necessary to ensure these initiatives succeed.No more excuses, the money is there. We need less talk and more action.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

My vision for downtown Portland is a vibrant, safe, and welcoming space that fosters economic growth and community engagement. We need to improve public safety by ensuring clean streets, free of trash and graffiti, making downtown inviting for residents and visitors. Activating vacant storefronts through tenant improvements will create jobs and stimulate local businesses. A revitalized downtown will not only enhance Portland’s reputation but also drive economic vitality, making it a destination for people from across Oregon and beyond.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Reducing gun violence in Portland requires a collaborative, community-driven approach. I support the Portland Ceasefire initiative, which is based on national best practices for preventing gun violence. I will work to enhance efforts that support community-based programs that focus on conflict resolution and youth engagement to address the root causes of violence. The City’s investment in a street-level outreach program through the Office of Violence Prevention is a vital step. The gun violence epidemic requires all of us at the table and I am ready to listen, learn and engage in this issue.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My top priorities are 1) ending unsheltered homelessness, 2) climate action and sustainable infrastructure, and 3) making the City budget transparent because it is our most direct policy document.

With my background as an engineer with the Portland Water Bureau, I’m focused on improving our city’s infrastructure and tackling environmental challenges. From improving stormwater management to advancing climate resilience, I believe in sustainable solutions that will serve future generations.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

This is an area that we have made overly complicated by having so many different entities involved. I do not claim to be an expert on housing, but as with most issues, it helps to have one agency take the lead responsibility and then clearly delineate roles, responsibilities, timelines, funding, etc.

Since housing is a regional issue, it makes most sense to have Metro play that coordinating role. If elected, I will rely on the expertise of people already doing this work.

A role that is in the City’s jurisdiction to expedite affordable housing is to reduce permitting times for all housing by doing a comprehensive review of our codes and simplifying them so that the majority of permits do not require an “exception” to be approvable.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Approach of quickly expanding overnight and daytime shelters so no one has to sleep outside or worry about their belongings. This will require collaboration to increase shelter capacity. Increasing housing density in downtown is crucial to being able to have safe homes for everyone. A way this could be accomplished is through converting already existing space, such as warehouses or old office buildings into communal housing. We have over 5,000 houseless individuals in Portland with less than 3,000 beds. Every person living in Portland deserves to have a roof over their head regardless of their financial status.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

With the vacancies brought on by the shift away from office work, we have an incredible opportunity to re-invision what we want our downtown core to look like, taking into account the new work and transportation patterns. Personally, I would love to see dense housing and other uses brought into the downtown area so that we have places for people to live, work, shop and play – all right in the same area. Maybe we need more event spaces, artist/maker spaces, or markets. To make this happen, I propose that we do a public visioning session to get our full community engaged and on board. Truly, I think it is more important to create a shared vision that motivates people to move forward than to insist on one particular vision or another.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I will support expanding the programs that are already working to reduce gun violence, for example, directly reaching out to youth who are likely to become involved in gun violence by trusted members of their community who can help them de-escalate and ensuring they have the resources they need to receive support. I will also be advocating for changes to be made that address both the root cause and immediate solutions that can be made to decrease violence in Portland. This may look like supporting safe storage laws for firearm owners and pushing for de-escalating training for officers to lower the number of fatal interactions.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

In my first 100 days I will call on the Interim City Administrator and the Interim Director of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to issue all housing permit applications that have passed plan review, but are delayed due to red tape within 60 days or less. I will call on the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to review all zoning and building ordinances and provide the City Council with a list of the most cumbersome ordinances that frequently delay permits. Portland needs shows residents and business owners that its open for business.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

If the current Portland City Council dissolves the Joint Office of Housing Services agreement in 2024, I will propose a new agreement that includes detailed metrics, goals, timelines, and clearly articulated roles and responsibilities of the City, County and Metro. In this agreement, the County must provide a robust timeline of when and the quantity of mental health and drug treatment facilities that can realistically be up and running by June 2025 and December 2025.I will also call on the Interim City Administrator to provide the City Council with a thorough list of unused or under-utilized city owned properties that could be converted into short to long term housing by the end of 2025.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

I will propose the creation of a centralized online database managed by the Interim City Administrator that will require all non-profits, outside entities and agencies to register with the city. This will provide easier access for residents and community partners alike as well as eliminate redundancies. Our first responders must be fully funded. I agree with Chef Day, Portland needs 1100 police officers and will support PPB in the effort. I will also push for Portland Street Response and the Fire Bureau’s CHAT team to be fully funded annually without question.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I see downtown Portland as the science and manufacturing hub of the Pacific NW. From Chinatown/Old Town, with the Made In Old Town project and incoming Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for that neighborhood. I see a medical district from the South Waterfront to Homestead neighborhoods which would include OHSU and Veterans Hospital in the vein of Houston’s Texas Medical Center. Clean up the streets, house the homeless, provide economically diverse housing and cut taxes for small business.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I will fully fund the Portland Police Bureau in order to achieve Chief Day’s three year goal of 1100 full time officers. I will call on Chef Day to create clear metrics and goals for the Gun Violence Reduction Team. I will push for increased community policing and by the end of my first term, I will propose that all first responders must live in the city of Portland.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

Climate change is quickly becoming the biggest risk to our community. We must take rapid and thoughtful action to lessen the impacts, starting with reinforcing the oil tanks at the CEI Hub and working to phase out fossil fuels. If left unchecked, these tanks (located on a fault line) would cause massive fatalities and create the largest oil spill in US history. We also need to work toward improved bike/pedestrian infrastructure and shade equity toward this end. Additionally, the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management only has two full-time staff, which is asking for trouble in a city of 650,000 that is already experiencing fires, floods, and ice storms.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

Because of zoning practices aimed at controlling who can live where and preventing the housing market from fluctuating, we have made it difficult for single-room occupancy spaces and boarding houses to provide unique and low-barrier housing options for people. With modernizing our zoning code, we can bring these back and create denser housing for our communities. The State has also already provided money for commercial conversions projects to make these into residential spaces. I would like to repurpose existing structures as much as possible and work with sustainable building materials as we approach this problem. Furthermore, we need to lobby the state to remove the law that prohibits cities from enacting their own rent controls.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

The Joint Office of Homeless Services is currently sitting on unspent funds. Based on the direct mutual aid work I do weekly downtown and conversations with nonprofits serving this population, we need to approach this crisis from an empathetic and thoughtful lens. Putting people in jail is among the most costly ways to house them. Instead, we need to let each individual tell us what they need rather than force them into services and housing that doesn’t work for them. We can’t rely on one-size-fits-all solutions. I would like to see a case manager assigned to each person who can offer them wraparound services related to what they are dealing with. We can’t keep providing piecemeal services to people and expect them to fully recover.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

I look forward to an era of commercial conversions such that it is more affordable and fun to live downtown. I would also like to see more eco-friendly modes of transportation such as the Frog Ferry project to make it easier to traverse popular areas of the city. This project is almost completely funded from the federal government and just needs the go ahead from the City Council. I would also like to see more public access to the riverfront after the oil tank farms have been dealt with and the Superfund site cleaned up. These efforts are already underway. Additionally, it is important that the City continue to get input from the indigenous tribes in the area to make sure their needs are accounted for as we revitalize the riverfront.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

Presently, it is harder to start up a food cart truck in Portland than it is to start a gun shop. That’s a big problem. We have many fewer gun regulations than Washington and California, and our rate of gun violence is up dramatically from theirs as a result. We need to implement more restrictions on gun sales and require training and safety precautions such as gun safes if people want to purchase a gun. Additionally, we need to make sure that we are investing in social services, education, and housing to make sure that we address the root causes of gun violence at the same time.

What is your top priority for the City Council? Why?

My number 1 priority if elected will be focusing our city’s spending on the critical concerns that matter most to Portland residents. This means effectively and efficiently directing resources toward public safety, homelessness and affordable housing solutions, park maintenance, arts, and infrastructure improvements – issues that directly impact our daily lives and the livability of our neighborhoods. By prioritizing these essential needs, we can ensure taxpayer dollars are used efficiently to address the challenges facing our community and create a safer, more vibrant Portland for all.

How will you coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources to create affordable housing?

As a former Mayor of Ketchikan, Alaska for 12 years, I have extensive experience collaborating across governmental levels to address complex issues. I would leverage this experience to coordinate City, County, Metro, and State resources effectively.

My approach would include:

Establishing a joint committee with representatives from each level of government to streamline communication and resource allocation.

Pursuing innovative funding models that combine resources from multiple governmental entities, such as land trusts and public-private partnerships.

Working with state legislators to secure additional funding and tax incentives for affordable housing projects.

Integrating affordable housing with regional transportation planning.

What will you do to provide more services and improve safety for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness?

Addressing homelessness is a top priority. I propose a comprehensive approach:
1. Immediately review our current needs for permanent supportive housing, as well as regional success in moving people along the housing continuum.
2. Assure mental health and addiction services are available, connecting homeless individuals with services and resources.
3. Streamline permitting for affordable housing projects:
4. Improve safety by increasing police foot patrols in high-need areas.
5. Work with county and state officials to secure additional funding and align our efforts.
By combining compassion with practical solutions, we can make meaningful progress in reducing homelessness and improving safety for all Portland residents.

What is your vision for the future of downtown Portland? What initial steps should the City Council take to achieve that vision?

To address downtown Portland’s high office vacancy rate, I propose a multi-faceted approach:

Incentivize office-to-residential conversions with tax breaks.
Improve public safety by increasing police presence and addressing graffiti and trash.
Support local businesses and encourage startups.
Review zoning laws to allow mixed-use developments.

These strategies aim to revitalize the downtown core, creating a more dynamic and economically vibrant area. By converting vacant offices to housing, enhancing safety, fostering business growth, and allowing flexible development, we can transform downtown Portland into a thriving, diverse urban center that meets the evolving needs of residents and businesses alike.

What steps will you take to reduce gun violence in our city?

I’ll take a comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence:
1. Strengthen community policing to build trust and gather intelligence on potential threats.
2. Expand violence intervention programs, focusing on at-risk youth and areas with high crime rates.
3. Partner with schools to implement violence prevention education and conflict resolution programs.
4. Support economic development initiatives in underserved areas to address root causes of crime.
5. Improve data collection and analysis to target resources effectively.

I’m committed to making Portland safer through evidence-based policies and community engagement.