Meet Andra Vltavín, candidate for Portland City Council District 4

Editor’s note: Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Stay informed with OPB on the presidential race, key congressional battles and other local contests and ballot measures in Oregon and Southwest Washington at opb.org/elections.

Name: Andra Vltavín

Neighborhood: South Burlingame

Renter/homeowner: Renter

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Occupation: Director of Ethical Yarn Community co-op and climate activist

How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland: 10 years

Age: 30

Pronouns: They/them

Portland is facing an historic election involving a new voting system and an unusually high number of candidates. Journalists at The Oregonian/OregonLive and Oregon Public Broadcasting share a goal of ensuring that Portland voters have the information they need to make informed choices, and we also know candidates’ time is valuable and limited.

That’s why the two news organizations teamed up this cycle to solicit Portland City Council candidates’ perspectives on the big issues in this election. Here’s what they had to say.

For each of the following questions, we asked candidates to limit their answers to 150 words.

Name two existing city policies or budget items you’d make it a priority to change. Why did you select those and how do you plan to line up at least 7 votes on the council to make them happen? Please avoid broad, sweeping statements and instead provide details.

I want to see Portland Street Response expanded to respond to more calls and at all times of day. This takes pressure off other first responders and gives people in crisis empathetic, trauma-informed care. I have been building relationships with many of the other candidates knowing that these could very well be my colleagues in the future. I know that PSR has a lot of citizen support.

Additionally, I would like to see sweeping zoning reforms that allow for apartment complexes in more areas of the city. Portland has shifted away from single-family home zones, but many residential zones still only allow up to a quadplex. If we are serious about solving the housing crisis, we need to create denser living accommodations in more areas of the city, which will also help Portland become more environmentally friendly. Zoning reform has had bipartisan support in many other cities.

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What previous accomplishments show that you are the best pick in your district? Please be specific.

I co-founded a local nonprofit, First Matter Press, which publishes books by first-time LGBTQ+ and BIPOC authors. Later, I also co-founded Ethical Yarn Community, which is a co-op focused on sustainable yarn production. Before that, I worked as a creative reuse specialist creating strategies for businesses and individuals to reduce waste. And, prior to that, I specialized in class action lawsuit documentation.

Furthermore, I have been a very active volunteer. For six months, I volunteered at the Columbia River Correctional Facility helping inmates learn gardening and landscaping skills to reduce recidivism rates. I’ve been a climate activist with 350PDX and Extinction Rebellion PDX for several years now, giving me a thorough understanding of local climate issues. This year, I have begun doing direct mutual aid to the unhoused population to learn what they need to thrive. I am also a member of my Neighborhood Emergency Team.

Portland is on track to permit the fewest number of multifamily units in 15 years and remains thousands of units below what’s needed to meet demand. What steps would you take to dramatically and quickly increase the availability of housing?

The state has recently supplied Portland with money to start doing commercial building conversions to residential living centers. Given that Portland has the highest rate of office building vacancy in the nation, these conversions present the perfect opportunity to house people and create space for social services. Repurposing these structures will cut down on the environmental costs of new construction and make better use of our downtown space. They also have the potential to create communal environments where people can work where they live.

By prioritizing work on these conversions, we can offer more housing opportunities and create a new model for living that helps us connect with our neighbors.

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The next City Council is going to have to make some very difficult decisions regarding what to fund and how. What essential services must the city provide and how should the city sustainably fund them?

This year, the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management’s budget was cut such that they now only have two staff members. This is irresponsible in a rapidly changing climate. In recent years, Portland has experienced deadly heat waves, ice storms, fires, and floods. These disasters will only become more common, and we need a robust emergency bureau to prepare us for that, especially situated as close as we are to the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

This money can come from a variety of sources. It is my understanding that there is money set aside for new district offices for the new city councilors. In District 4, given that City Hall is in the district, it is unlikely that we will need our own office. Some of that money could be apportioned to PBEM. I would also like to decrease the Police Bureau’s budget for surveillance and munitions.

Portlanders have approved many tax measures in the past decade – supporting affordable housing, free preschool programs and green energy initiatives. Are there specific taxes or levies you want eliminated or would choose to not renew? Are there specific taxes or levies you would support creating? Why?

Portland has one of the highest tax rates of any large city, and yet there is little to show for it. That indicates that there are more efficient ways to spend the money. While I support the taxes and levies currently in place, it is the role of the new City Council to take a thorough look at the current budget and build in efficacy metrics (qualitatively as well as quantitatively) to ensure that the money is being spent wisely.

That said, adapting to climate change and updating our infrastructure, especially our stormwater management systems, is going to be difficult and expensive. I would like to see known polluters in the city heavily taxed to create a pool of funds to support more resilient infrastructure systems for the city, which would improve our ability to weather impending climate disasters.

Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'

Do you have any concerns with the changes coming to city elections and city governance? If so, what would you like to see change?

While I understand that ranked-choice voting is an improvement on our previous voting system, the style of ranked-choice voting that the City selected is not the most mathematically sound and does not prevent all the pitfalls of our previous voting system. STAR voting would be more effective and would allow citizens to rank each candidate on a scale from one to five.

In an election where there are more than two dozen candidates running in some districts, STAR voting would give each individual more of a say in who ultimately gets elected. With our current style of ranked-choice voting, citizens only rank six candidates, which creates many situations in which all the candidates an individual voted for are ultimately eliminated. In future years, I would like to see Portland switch to STAR voting.

For the five remaining questions, we asked candidates to answer in 50 words or fewer:

Do you favor arresting and jailing people who camp on public property in Portland who refuse repeated offers of shelter, such as the option to sleep in a city-designated tiny home cluster?

No. There are many reasons someone would refuse shelter, and we need to listen to what each individual needs. Arresting an unhoused person is not going to help them. It would ultimately cost the city less to assign that person a case worker rather than put them in jail.

Would you vote yes on a proposal to fund hundreds more police officers than the City Council has already authorized? Why or why not? How would the city pay for it?

No. I would much rather see funding for alternatives to police. The very uniform triggers many unhoused, queer, and BIPOC individuals, and the city needs to think seriously about how to provide services and care rather than create more opportunities for dehumanization and criminalization.

Do you support putting the Clean Energy Fund measure back on the ballot? What, if any changes, would you support?

No. It would be a waste of time, effort, and money to put PCEF back on the ballot. The citizens have already approved it. The fund allows underserved zones of the city to make livability and sustainability improvements that positively affect many people.

Which would you prioritize: Creation of more protected bike lanes and priority bus lanes or improved surfacing of existing degraded driving lanes?

I will prioritize more protected bike lanes and priority bus lines. We need to shift away from being a car-dependent culture, especially as Portland grows. The safer and more enjoyable we make biking and public transit, the more people will use those methods of transportation.

Have the problems impacting downtown Portland received too much or too little attention from current city leaders? Why?

I do think there are a lot of problems facing downtown that deserve attention, but I also want to call attention to the fact that East Portland has been underserved for all of Portland’s official history, so we must holistically examine and balance the needs of all citizens.