QUESTION 1: How will you engage with voters in SW Portland if elected? Please provide specifics on how your constituents will be able to communicate with you and how you will communicate with us.

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CANDIDATE RESPONSE:​

To avoid confusion amongst constituents, councilors must determine their respective responsibilities. We must establish guidelines about appropriate response times and assign responsibility for addressing specific issues. Councilors should meet regularly to ensure they are aligned and to find common ground on issues. 

 

Constituents often don’t hear back from their elected leaders. This is unacceptable – it must be a basic responsibility for councilors and staff to respond within a reasonable time (for me its 24-48 hours) - not a canned auto response. As Pearl District Neighborhood Association President for many years and in other roles, I was diligent about always responding promptly. Also, we should have local storefront offices with established hours for constituents to stop in and engage with their leaders. I also want to hold periodic town halls in different areas of the district and create a monthly newsletter to keep constituents informed. My door will always be open. This is democracy in action.

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QUESTION 2: The transition to a purely legislative city council with geographical representation is a major shift from the current structure in which councilors oversee city bureaus. Under the old government structure, concerns about transportation or traffic circulation issues would be addressed to the commissioner in charge of PBOT; concerns about parks would go to the commissioner overseeing the Parks bureau; etc. Given the shift away from administrative powers on the council, how will you make sure constituent concerns are addressed? 

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CANDIDATE RESPONSE:

Since councilors will no longer have purview over bureaus, it is critically important to establish relationships with the mayor, the city administrator and the six deputy administrators. Constituents will need to be educated about a different communications structure for issues or concerns they have. If a constituent comes to a councilor about an operations issue, they will have to be directed to the appropriate administrator; however, if they do not get a satisfactory response or no response, they should come back to their councilor(s) who would then have to address the issue with the appropriate administrator. Building collaborative relationships across all levels of our new government will be critical to our city’s success.

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QUESTION 3: What role should neighborhood associations play in fostering residents’ engagement with city government and elected officials?

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CANDIDATE RESPONSE:

As President of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association for the past seven years and having served as Vice President of the Neighbors West Northwest Coalition, I am acutely aware of the importance of neighborhood association engagement with our government. I have been a  champion of engagement and led efforts to work with the city and elected officials on many initiatives, including a program to bring 150 trash cans and a cleanup program to the Pearl, co-chairing a yearlong homeless task force regarding the placement of the River District Navigation Center, organizing and hosting a Community/Government Livability Summit with 500 neighbors in attendance, and many other activities from land use to transportation issues. 

 

Neighborhood associations build community and provide programs and services the city does not. In recent years, city support for neighborhood associations has eroded. I will work to strengthen that support and welcome neighborhood engagement.

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QUESTION 4: District 4 is large and covers many neighborhoods. What issues do you think are particularly important for SW Portland neighborhoods (not downtown)? What proposals would you make to address these issues?

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CANDIDATE RESPONSE:

A significant issue is the lack of sidewalks and roads that are difficult to navigate. It’s challenging to walk safely when only 25% of the roadways have sidewalks. Barbur Boulevard also serves as a barrier to connecting by foot or bicycle from west of that roadway to the river and downtown. That's why it’s important to build out the Red Electric Trail to give people an opportunity to connect neighborhoods which I will advocate for with PBOT and ODOT.

 

Storm water drainage is another issue due to roadways that lack curbs and piping for water discharge This too is an issue that I will look to address. In both cases, funding will be a major challenge for which we will have to look for solutions.

 

The proposed Alpenrose project is a major development with potential, harmful impacts to the area. This project must be carefully reviewed with the city taking into account all neighborhood concerns.

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QUESTION 5: How do you plan to work with your District 4 colleagues to ensure productive outcomes on district issues? 

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CANDIDATE RESPONSE:

Councilors will need to determine their respective responsibilities. We must establish guidelines about response times and assign responsibility for addressing specific issues. Councilors should meet regularly to ensure they are aligned and to find common ground. 

 

Since it will take seven votes to pass legislation, we must establish a collaborative relationship with the other districts through a committee structure. While focusing on district issues, we must also assure that each district doesn’t become insular by only addressing its concerns; rather, we should think holistically about the entire city to ensure we don’t return to silos. We must also establish a protocol for coordination with the mayor and administrators.

 

It’s incumbent to demonstrate that councilors can collaborate to solve problems, be efficient, spend our money wisely and show results. We need to build back trust and confidence that our government can function well and be the city that works for everyone. 

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QUESTION 6: Why should voters in SW Portland give you a vote? 

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CANDIDATE RESPONSE:

I’m a proven problem solver with the experience, skills, common sense and track record of collaborating to find common ground and getting things done. 

 

•    As President of Pearl District Neighborhood Association I led programs to clean up trash, graffiti and cigarette butts and improved livability and community engagement. 

•    As Co-founder of Northwest Community Conservancy we helped 1500 unsheltered people into services and shelter and improved public safety.

•    As Founding Co-chair of Home Share Oregon we connect people to affordable housing, preventing homelessness before it starts.

•    As President of Oregon Children’s Theater we provided free access to shows for underprivileged kids and taught fostered kids creativity through educational programming.

•    As Co-founder of QuietClean PDX I led an effort where after seven years we attained an ordinance to transition toxic gas leaf blowers to electric.  

•    As President of the Public Safety Action Coalition we educated the public and advocated for public safety.

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