Meet Rex Burkholder, candidate for Portland City Council District 3

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: Rex Burkholder

Neighborhood: Sunnyside on the border of Buckman

Renter/homeowner: Homeowner

Education: B.S. Portland State in Biology and Education; M.A. Tufts University in Urban and Environmental Policy with a certificate in Nonprofit Management

Occupation: Consultant on strategy and messaging for nonprofit organizations and campaigns

How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland: 46 years

Age: 60

Pronouns: He/his

Portland is facing a 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:

Related: What you need to know about voting in Oregon and Southwest Washington

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.

#1 goal of mine is to create the working agreements and structures to make the new council an effective and productive body. The city is an $8 billion a year operation that needs effective oversight and direction. I believe that the new council will be eager to work together and will adopt a practical, collaborative approach.

#2 issue would be supporting efforts to provide safe shelter for homeless people with access to services. This is a major issue to Portlanders who want compassionate action. Almost everyone running sees this as a major issue and should be supportive.

Related: Issues important to Oregon voters

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

40 years of effective community activism that required inspiring, leading, and empowering people to make changes in our community. Examples include: cofounding and leading the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and the Coalition for a Livable Future; 12 years at Metro Council, leading regional transportation planning and funding processes, bringing climate change and equity into all Metro operations and policies; leading restoration of funding for Outdoor School for all kids in Oregon (and Washington); a deep connection to the community through volunteering (Mt Tabor, Food Front, NE community School, Sunnyside Environmental middle school, and much more), and being a good neighbor to many.

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?

There are many steps the city can take to increase housing availability but few are quick or easy: some are regulatory — reform permitting system (new city organization should help streamline); review codes to rationalize; permit approved designs by right; others are policy; support Homesharing through revision of tax code, promotion, and licensing; donating publicly owned, underutilized land to affordable housing providers (⅓ cost of housing is typically land costs); work with other government agencies, such as school districts, TriMet (build housing on parking lots at Gateway, Parkrose, other transit centers) to do the same. Visionary? Create a city/Metro/state bank that can use earnings from parked tax revenues to finance housing construction.

Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'

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?

Many people forget that the city is a major service provider, responsible for operating and maintaining streets, streetlights, sewer, water supply, parks, public safety, and more. The new city structure, including council, will enable us to take a holistic approach to understanding these needs as well as the full pool of resources available (versus current siloed approach). This will help us identify synergies, redundancies and opportunities for providing better services with existing resources.

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 not to renew? Are there specific taxes or levies you would support creating? Why?

First we need to understand the revenue streams and fiscal needs for the city as a whole. In addition, we must look at streamlining and rationalizing the confusing ways taxes are collected so that Portlanders can understand where their money is going. We should also do a tax impact assessment to show who pays and who benefits from the whole range of revenue sources the city depends upon.

I do want to point out that the preschool for all levy is a Multnonah County tax and the affordable housing levies are Metro charges, not city taxes. They were also community-led ballot measures, as well.

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

Effective implementation of these changes is a major reason that I am running. We need a city that is well-led, managed effectively, and is responsive and accountable to city residents. Portland also needs to be a good partner with other jurisdictions and be willing to work with and to lead the broader region and the state on key issues facing our communities.

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?

First, if they refuse shelter and assistance, ask them to move on. If they are cited repeatedly, then mandatory treatment or jail are our only options.

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?

In my research on this issue, there is no clear evidence that more police officers result in less crime or better public safety. I would have to see this evidence in order to support such a measure.

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

No. The one change I would see helpful is to have the selection process brought directly under the council’s purview.

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

I think this is a false choice. We can and must do both. I would add that the city should also maintain sidewalks as everyone uses these critical transportation facilities yet we deliberately ignore them.

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

We’ve seen a dramatic change in the nature of work. Downtown must change to meet that new world. We need more attention and it should be on creating a downtown neighborhood through allowing and building much more housing downtown.