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
Neighborhood: Born & raised in North/NE Portland … I have lived all over Portland. My family and I just recently moved to NW Portland.
Renter/homeowner: Renter
Education: Degree in business administration (Minor in communications)
Occupation: Mother, cultivator, nurturer, creator, connector, bridge builder, student of the human condition
How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland:
Age: 46 (will turn 47 a few days before election)
Pronouns: No thank you
Why are you the best candidate to serve as mayor at this time? Please point to specific accomplishments as part of your answer.
I am of the people! An indigenous, deeply melanated, little girl born & bred in Portland.
I had no privileges extended to me as I grew up here. Born into poverty, I was never educated on gaining prosperity. Sold an American Dream, though never told about the Black American’s perpetual nightmare, I would soon be invited to experience first hand. I have felt the pain Portland politics, policies, lack of principles, actions and inaction has perpetuated throughout almost 5 decades of experience. Still, I love this city.
So I bring my hunger for knowledge, unyielding pursuit of truth, justice and equality, overt optimism as well as my unwavering ability to continue to forge triumph as I thrive on the other side of trials. I know as a city, comprised of many intersecting communities, we can and will do better! Once we learn to come together & work together.
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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?
I see two primary underlying issues in The City of Portland: A legacy of inhumanity (greed & elitism) and inequity (misogyny & anti-Black racism). Both protected and perpetuated by a lack of integrity, transparency & accountability by our strategically selected local “leaders.”
The rest are merely symptoms of these two underlying diseases. However, I have noticed a third trying to take root more recently, after the dust of COVID-19 finally settled a bit & George Floyd “apologies” dried up, there has been a global rise in the normalization of narcissism (a decline in compassion, empathy, humility & grace).
What specific examples do you have that demonstrate your competence to oversee a city with an $8.2 billion budget?
I went from a foster child “aging out” and on my own at 17 years of age, to a first-time homeowner at 26. A newlywed who married a man whose lights were about to be cut off & home foreclosed. By bartering with B of A and adding myself to the mortgage upon refinancing, we not only saved our family home, but ended up with a prime loan dropping the mortgage to $1200 on a house that is now worth over ½ Million. Starting over post-divorce, providing for & raising two small children (ages one and three). Getting remarried, three years later, carrying the financial burden for our family of five, which became six shortly after COVID-19 hit.
What are your biggest concerns, if any, about the new form of government? What role do you think the mayor should play in it?
I am inspired by the idea of our new structure of city government!
I will work alongside the city administrator to implement the laws enacted by a 12-person council as we administer the city’s bureaus, employees, facilities, and resources.
Working with council members to develop strategies to create more community connectivity within their districts & pathways for active and ongoing two-way communication with constituents in order to be well informed of the specific needs within their particular districts so that we may be better equipped to not only address issues as they arise, but mitigate the need for reactionary fixes by proactively supporting measures that promote the health & stability of Portland! We must commit to operate with honesty, integrity, mutual respect, humility, teachability, transparency and accountability as we work toward the active, intentional and ongoing cultivation and elevation of humanity (freedom), equity (building toward equality) and unity.
Related: Issues important to Oregon voters
How would you work to promote and boost Portland nationally as mayor and reinvigorate people’s sense of civic pride?
Not only focusing on civic pride, but empowering Portland residents to establish an authentic sense of community, connectivity & belonging. Earning trust, by being habitually honest, transparent and humble. Earning the “right” to be heard, by actively listening, and hearing with our hearts, when Portland speaks, even when her voice trembles or seems to be “weak.” While holding my colleagues to the same standards of excellence and integrity I hold myself. As far as boosting Portland nationally, love doesn’t need advertising, it only needs an opportunity to thrive!
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?
Accountability — responsible appropriation of funds. We will immediately take an honest look at the preexistent budget and ensure we are getting an optimal return on our current investments. Is every dollar doing what the budget “says” it should be doing? Stop funding the same “well-known” CBO’s in the absence of any system of checks & balance, or expectation of providing proof of any specific measurable improvements to the health and wellbeing of the city. Base continued, ongoing and future funding (of partnerships & projects) on results not just corporate relationships. Next begin the process of seeing if there are cost effective, civically responsible, community centered ways of redirect city spending.
Shei’Meka As-Salaam, 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?
With a “we” not a me strategy (authentic collaboration). We have to be honest about what is not working in order to free up resources to invest in initiatives that are developing solutions to the root causes of the issues associated with homelessness, housing insecurity, addiction and behavioral health. Rather than throwing money away on temporarily addressing the symptoms of this disease!
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?
To reduce crime and the fear of crime I would prefer a strength based mission! I would ask and want to hear from the officers in their own words, “What are Your priorities as a Portland Police Officer?”
I would encourage the 130 officers eligible for retirement in November to retire and create a new branch of demilitarized “Community Officers” that are trained to administer Authentic Community Safety as a primary core value (people over property), with a deep integration of trauma informed/culturally responsible social work skills not only “Law Enforcement” training.
Hired from within the city and assigned to patrol the areas in which they live.
Fund more street-level youth empowerment organizations with built-in mechanisms for measuring success and the ability to more seamlessly adjust for shifts in needs, more methods of intervention (prevention efforts) vs “violence reduction” initiatives (inadvertent perpetuation of profiling/categorization of citizens).
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?
No!
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?
A lot of attention to downtown’s problems but not many actual solutions! Yes.
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?
No. Halt.
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?
Define “affordable housing?” Owned by whom?
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.
Again…We must commit to operate with honesty, integrity, mutual respect, humility, teachability, transparency and accountability as we work toward the active, intentional and ongoing cultivation and elevation of humanity (freedom), equity (building toward equality) and unity (justice vs just-us) throughout Portland.