Meet Luke Zak, 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: Luke Zak

Neighborhood: Buckman

Renter/homeowner: Renter

Education: MBA, University of Oregon

Occupation: Full-time candidate; previously destination management, environmental regulatory compliance

How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland: 3 years

Age: 32

Pronouns: he/him/his

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:

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.

Portland Street Response and the Affordable Housing Development Fund. These are both programs with broad support and which can be improved to provide significant impact for our communities.

I would increase PSR’s funding to ensure increased staffing, around the clock operations, and service extension to the whole city.

For the AHDF, I would rework how we are using funds, as new construction is costing around $500,000 per unit. Options to explore include commercial conversion, purchasing existing apartments and attracting out-of-state developers back into the city.

To get the needed votes, I would communicate the value proposition to the other councilors. Both items propose solutions that are popular with the general public and show that the new council is prepared for immediate outcome-oriented action: One item sets the city up for immediate improvement of community safety and support service accessibility, the other is a long-range tactic for tackling the ever-growing affordable housing shortage.

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

I have a track-record of collaboration and results driven by strategy, consensus building and relationships. One highlight is from my work at the International Quadball Association. Being responsible for our return to live-events, I led the coordination between US Quadball, Major League Quadball, and Richmond Region Tourism to bring back our World Cup in 2023. Through tremendous effort and intentional coordination across a half dozen time zones, we put on a 15-nation tournament featuring three new national teams that was the most financially successful IQA World Cup in the sport’s history.

Another success is from my work with Travel Salem and our coordination with the Willamette Valley Visitors Association, Sport Oregon, and IRONMAN. As our initial agreement with IRONMAN was ending, I helped lock in a new 5-year contract for the IRONMAN 70.3 Oregon that is set to generate an estimated $30 million in economic impact annually for the region.

Related: Issues important to Oregon voters

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?

As we are currently trending toward 500 total multi-family permits issued for the entire year, which is drastically below demand, we must increase that volume to meet our needs by removing barriers to housing production across all levels of affordability. While many inhibiting factors are beyond our control, like increasing material costs, the city can decrease obstacles to production by streamlining permitting and inspection processes to reduce redundancies, regulatory burden and processing time.

We must also ensure areas are zoned appropriately, with more opportunity for medium density mixed-use buildings. These changes, along with tax-relief for developing the types of housing we need most, will encourage out-of-state investors to return to Portland. It is also important to note that as the final project from the housing bond is realized, we will need to secure additional revenue streams, possibly from state and federal funding sources, for housing production needs.

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?

The city must provide essential services that create a safe and healthy community. That includes the nuts and bolts of society like clean water, sanitation, utilities, an emergency response network, affordable housing supply and transit. I believe it also includes services like access to public spaces, investing in schools and libraries, creating opportunities for connection and community, supporting small businesses and ensuring livable wages. By stimulating housing production to the levels needed to meet demand, the city will also sustainably drive up its revenue generated from property taxes. As the city continues to rebound from the pandemic, it has also seen its transient lodging tax bounce back. The city can leverage and grow that returning tourism and hospitality-based revenue through supporting initiatives such as more large-scale concerts at Providence Park and the potential for a WNBA expansion team, which will inject outside money into our local economy.

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?

I support the current moratorium on creating additional taxes, although I don’t think we should be quick to strip away any tax-funded programs that are already in place. I know there has been conversation about what to do with the influx of Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund revenue, and the discussion about sending it back to the ballot. I reject that idea as PCEF does not directly burden Portlanders and our continued investment in climate resilience is necessary for the future equity and livability of the city.

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?

From the election perspective, multi-member districts and ranked-choice voting provides an incredible opportunity for representation and responsiveness. It has also fostered an unpredicted culture of collaboration on the campaign trail and early coalition building. However, having every position up for election simultaneously with one true incumbent has made for an unwieldy number of candidates that has proven confusing and difficult to handle for government offices, community groups, media and, most importantly, constituents.

Considering the governance structure, I am hopeful about the separation of authority and responsibility. There are still some question marks around how having a professional city administrator and an elected executive mayor will function in the new system. That said, I am in favor of the new legislative council system that will enable councilors to focus on policy and constituent services as well as the shared district staff that can provide continuity and stability between changing administrations.

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?

Research I have seen shows that a carceral approach is the most expensive and least effective way to address homelessness. There is a place for law enforcement when public rights of way are blocked or trespassing is involved, but that shouldn’t be armed officers outside of dangerous or violent circumstances.

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?

Before hiring hundreds of additional police officers, we must first round out the rest of our emergency response team. That includes filling dispatcher vacancies, staffing up and expanding Portland Street Response, and having around the clock mobile response teams for non-violent emergencies.

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

I do not believe that the Clean Energy Fund should go back on the ballot. There are plenty of strategic ways to allocate the money that align with the purpose of the program and will continue to improve equity and climate resilience in the city.

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

We can prioritize expanding multi modal transit while continuing necessary routine maintenance by incorporating infrastructural improvements like traffic separated lanes while existing driving lanes are being resurfaced. It doesn’t need to be a zero-sum game.

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

As an economic and cultural hub in the city, the problems impacting downtown have a ripple effect across the whole city. Bearing that in mind, it is important to give greater attention to other communities throughout the city that share some of the same challenges and have their distinct concerns.