Meet Terry Parker, 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: Terry Parker

Neighborhood: Rose City

Renter/homeowner: Homeowner

Education: Some College

Occupation: Retired

How long you’ve lived in the city of Portland: 74+ years

Age: 74

Pronouns: Prefers Terry or Mr. Parker

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 Bureau of Transportation’s public engagement process is broken. Decisions are being made for and by special interest groups. Drivers and neighborhoods are being left out of the up front decision making process. I will advocate for proportional representation from taxpaying motorists and neighborhoods on all PBOT advisory committees, and hopefully work with other council members to develop an equitable and balanced strategy for recruiting committee members.

Secondly, I think Portland Parks & Recreation should prioritize maintaining facilities already in place, such as tennis courts, over constructing something new while ignoring needed maintenance and/or repairs elsewhere. Compromise and common sense will be needed to reach agreement as it relates to dollars for projects that will be divided up into four separate council districts.

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

In the 1970′s I served the full four years on Oregon Department of Transportation’s Banfield Transitway Citizens Advisory Committee, the last two years as the elected chair. The committee recommended the region’s first MAX light rail line between Portland and Gresham coupled with widening the Banfield Freeway (I-84) between I-5 and Gateway. Many of the specifics of the project were developed within this committee.

In the 1980′s, I served for three years as the vice president of the Pacific Northwest Chapter, National Railway Historical Society followed by three years on the society’s board of directors. In 1984 as a volunteer while also having a full time job, I was heavily involved with the restoration and prep work for the Daylight excursion train that traveled from Portland to the World’s Fair in New Orleans promoting both Portland and the fair along the way.

I am currently a board member for my neighborhood association.

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?

The first step is to further streamline the permitting and inspection processes while at the same time respecting input from surrounding neighborhood property owners. As it stands today, constructing new large scale multi-household housing structures and/or converting office space into housing doesn’t pencil out for builders.

One thought I have is to advocate for the creation of a state bank whereby builders can receive low interest loans for the construction of new housing. One barrier to low income housing I would support is relaxing an existing requirement whereby builders must use the same materials in low income units as they do for market rate or luxury units in the same building; and instead replace the requirement with materials that are functionally the same. This could make it more feasible and less expensive for accommodating low income housing in large multi-household structures.

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?

Portland Comprehensive Plan Policy 8.28 reads: “Ensure the costs of constructing and providing public facilities and services are equitably shared by those who benefit from the provision of those facilities and services.” This overarching policy needs to be applied to the entire budget process including finding a way to apply Policy 8.28 to the PBOT budget thereby compelling the alternative mode users of transportation infrastructure to pay their fair share for specific infrastructure being utilized. The social engineering of motorists paying for alternative mode infrastructure must come to an end.

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 would eliminate the annual $35.00 arts tax on individuals. The way it is collected is goofy, not very enforceable and the same exact dollar amount applies to low-income earners as it does high-end income earners. Moreover, many of Portland’s historic public art statues toppled by protesters and vandals several years ago continue to remain damaged and locked up out of the realm from public viewing. These statues are important to our nation’s history. To my knowledge, the only statue where there is a restoration plan in place to return it to public view is the beloved Thompson Elk statue. Art is in the eye of the beholder. Instead of requiring a percentage of qualifying infrastructure projects be dedicated to public art such as rusty junk and plop art, maybe those dollars should go into a fund that replaces the arts tax on individuals.

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?

Yes. My biggest concern relates to the need for adequate funding and staffing for 12 city commissioners. One staff member per commissioner doesn’t seem enough to do all the research needed for commissioners to make common sense decisions and also respond to constituent issues. Additionally, given the mayor is not a member of the City Council, can only vote if there is a tie among council members and has no veto powers; I have concerns the mayor is simply a well paid figurehead bound to apply any policy, good, bad or ugly the City Council may come up with. I believe the chief representative for Portland needs to be more than just a figurehead.

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?

Yes. Tough love coupled with compassionate camping ban enforcement is needed so Portland’s street scene and notoriety is not that of tents and trash. This must include wrap-around services for people willing to accept them and a big stick for a refusal to accept a sheltered place to sleep.

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?

Cracking down on drug dealing, break ins, car theft, shoplifting and vandalism must be among the top priorities for police. The vacant ranks of officers need to be fully filled and the City needs to restore the crime prevention specialist positions. Funding would likely require a total budget review.

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

Not at this time. What I would like to see is how any excessive dollars in the clean energy fund can support existing shortages in bureau budgets while still adhering to the basic purpose of the fund itself.

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

Maintaining our roadway surfaces and infrastructure must be the top priority. More congestion, fuel consumption and emissions are being created due to road diets that remove full service traffic lanes and/or have narrowed lanes that can not safely accommodate large trucks and vehicles towing wide trailers.

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

Similar problems to those downtown exist throughout the city. All of the city’s neighborhoods need to be treated equally. People responsible for graffiti and vandalism need to be held financially accountable for repairing the damage.