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.
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 mayoral 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.
About the candidate
Name: Rene Gonzalez
Neighborhood: Eastmoreland
Renter/homeowner: homeowner
Education: B.A. and J.D., Willamette University
Occupation: Portland City Commissioner
How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland: 24 years
Age: 50
Pronouns: He/him
Why are you the best candidate to serve as mayor at this time? Please point to specific accomplishments as part of your answer.
I have been a standard bearer for public safety and livability while serving as city commissioner, leading the effort to recriminalize open hard drug use and pressuring the state Legislature to reform Measure 110, with the unanimous support of my colleagues. As Commissioner of Public Safety, I’ve had the courage to confront our most difficult issues, supporting Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites when it wasn’t popular and stopping the distribution of tents, tarps and drug kits by the city.
I also worked with the City of Gresham and Multnomah County to highlight the urgency of our ambulance crisis affecting emergency response times, helping to bring the county’s mediation with AMR to a successful resolution. It is critical the next mayor is a leading voice on the challenges facing our community, including keeping our public spaces clear and accessible to all, to ensure our best years lie ahead.
What are one or two issues that you’d like to draw attention to or champion as mayor that are overlooked or receiving less attention than they deserve?
First, the simple value proposition for families (with children and seniors) to grow and age in place in the city. They are often afterthoughts in policymaking but are so central to healthy communities. This means taking a hard look at what we have promised versus what we are currently delivering. I cannot emphasize a focus on measurable outcomes enough. Refocusing local government on this balance will help us not only deliver services more effectively and efficiently, but will make Portland a more attractive place to live and thrive in.
Second, we need visionary economic development that will focus on financial and social multiplying effects for the community. We all want to do the right thing, and we must unify idealism and pragmatism when we think big and look toward the future. To do this, we need to focus on what brings us together, instead of on what drives us apart.
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What specific examples do you have that demonstrate your competence to oversee a city with an $8.2 billion budget?
I have been an effective steward as manager of our public safety bureaus at a time of crisis:
- Achieved a 33% reduction in emergency and a 60% reduction in non-emergency wait times.
- Flatlined Portland Fire overtime while increasing the number of firefighters on duty daily.
- Led OD and Buprenorphine pilot for withdrawal support at Fire Station 1.
- Supported alternative overdose response methods to help alleviate the ambulance crisis.
I also have former corporate strategy experience and became president of the state’s largest soccer club, leading with an enterprise perspective. Most recently, I led the creation of the Public Safety Service Area during the city government transition and appointed the Deputy City Administrator for Public Safety. During the transition, I have also been a clear and consistent voice for controlling costs and focusing on long-term outlooks for the city’s financial health.
What are your biggest concerns, if any, about the new form of government? What role do you think the mayor should play in it?
Any new government is going to have growing pains, and our biggest challenge may be an existing one: interdependence with a county subject to different political pressures and funding sources. The mayor must be a champion and leader for the city. It will be essential that they choose a City Administrator intelligently and delegate where appropriate while also setting a vision for city government they themselves own.
My vision includes making Portland one of the safest cities in America, with a proactive police department and city government focused on restoring health to our communities and a sense of community pride that is vibrant, inclusive and robust. It also includes centering families, seniors, and employers — as opposed to national party planks — in all decision-making. We need a local government focused on its citizens, working on transformative projects that galvanize economic growth and social effervescence in our city.
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How would you work to promote and boost Portland nationally as mayor and reinvigorate people’s sense of civic pride?
Bringing projects online that combine public and private resources will simultaneously change the national narrative about our city and restore a sense of civic pride. Cornerstone projects at OMSI, Rose Quarter, Broadway Corridor and the future home of the performing arts represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will help define our urban landscape for the next generation and restore the social fabric.
Our welcoming reputation must be refined — we should always be an inclusive city that welcomes and keeps families of all lifestyles, but we can no longer be the city where anything goes, particularly in our public spaces. Simply put, your next mayor must communicate nationally and locally that Portland is no longer the place to camp and do hard drugs outside and follow through every day by confronting the chaos on our streets and together with government partners build a functioning public safety and behavioral health system.
Mayor Ted Wheeler has already warned that next year’s budget will be a difficult one as costs rise and forecasts call for lower revenue. What would guide your decisions in developing a budget, what specific ideas would you explore to minimize service reductions and are there specific areas where you would look to make cuts?
Outside of public safety, we need to anticipate deeper cuts — in the range of 10% for all bureaus and programs, until revenue projections are clearer.
We also need to evaluate the exploding cost of the new administration and legislative functions. I have asked for a comprehensive analysis of the currently proposed city leadership organizational chart as a baseline to evaluate consolidating service areas and bureaus to achieve savings in c-suite expense.
We also need to be flexible in evaluating revenue sources. The corporate surcharge that funds PCEF should be part of the discussion for sustainable funding for core city services. We should also look to leverage state and federal funding sources at every available opportunity and invest in our grant administration capability more robustly to ensure we’re not leaving money on the table.
Rene Gonzalez, Portland mayoral candidate, in an undated provided photo.
Courtesy of the candidate
How can the city of Portland and Multnomah County improve their existing partnership to more effectively address the homelessness, addiction and behavioral health crises?
The city and your next mayor must lead on protecting Portlanders from system failures — this means sometimes direct and critical conversations with county and other governmental entities with responsibility in these areas (including Metro and the state).
We saw progress recently with ambulances when the cities of Portland and Gresham and more responsive county commissioners pushed for changes in ambulance staffing. This was achieved through a combination of applying pressure and evaluating where cities can provide further help.
Longer-term, we need to create space to evaluate whether the county form of governance and service delivery is appropriate for a 21st century city. The statutory framework for counties is a legacy of the 19th century, and we need to create space to discuss whether the City of Portland would be better served in an urban-focused county.
If elected, you will oversee the police chief. What is your opinion of police bureau priorities and operations and what changes, if any, would you make? Would you push for the city to fund hundreds more police officers than the City Council has already authorized? If yes, where would you find the money?
Initially, I will directly oversee the police chief, not delegate to the CAO or Deputy that responsibility. As a general matter, we need a more assertive and consistently present police department. That will require continued growth of sworn officer count and a police precinct in every city council district. We will find funds for those positions by streamlining the city’s management structure, which may include elimination of some of the deputy positions, consolidating bureaus and offices, as well as reducing funding for city programs not focused on core services to city residents. There is no higher budgeting priority for me than growing police staffing. I will also require deeper partnership from the community in supporting police and public safety. This will include bringing back neighborhood and business watch programs, which are essential to community engagement in public safety.
Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'
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 have refused repeated offers of shelter, such as the option to sleep in a city-designated tiny home cluster?
Yes. Portlanders have been more than patient with those who refuse services. It is not fair to residents, businesses, seniors, children and the disabled community who live by the rules but cannot use city sidewalks because of encampments and open drug use. We must honor the social contract for all.
Have the problems impacting downtown Portland received too much or too little attention among current city leaders? Are there other specific neighborhoods in the city that have not received enough attention?
Downtown is the economic and cultural center of the city and has a disproportionate impact on its economic health and spirit. It needs special attention. Additionally, our neighborhoods city-wide are facing livability and safety issues that need direct intervention, and our industrial clusters are significant sources of family wage jobs.
Do you support the decision to use millions from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to backfill budget holes in various city bureaus? Would you seek to continue, expand or halt that practice?
The corporate surcharge that funds PCEF is producing seven times its original projections. We must evaluate on an ongoing basis how to most strategically deploy this source of revenue. Stabilizing funding for city bureaus is a legitimate use of those funds and should be done openly and transparently.
Do you support a potential change to the region’s homeless services tax that would direct some of the program’s unanticipated revenue to construct more affordable housing? Why or why not?
We must accelerate development of shelter and accompanying services with the tax to show continued progress improving street-level conditions that are harming livability in our communities. The discussion around the homeless services tax and affordable housing funding should continue, further evaluating taxpayers’ total burden in the region for services delivered.
Describe the qualities and experience you will seek in a city administrator. Describe the working relationship you plan to build with the top administrator and their half dozen deputies.
Enterprise-level management experience is a must for the CAO. They must lead with a focus on providing high-quality services to Portlanders. Ideologues need not apply. I anticipate very direct involvement with both the Police Chief and Prosper Portland, as opposed to working through the CAO and Deputies.
