aprii 16.2004 '
f^HïTTTFTRTïnews
F ighting C ity H all
Two gay men oppose Commissioner Randy Leonard
by M ichael Burdick
wo gay men are among
the
11
candidates
I
• vying for the seat occu
pied hy Portland City
Commissioner Randy
Leonard. Frank Dixon and Aaron
Hall are Portland natives who talk
about creating a better working rela
tionship between City Hall and
neighborhood associations and
helping small businesses in order to
create jobs. Both express dissatisfac
tion with Leonards performance,
saying his thuggish management
style hinders his ability to conduct
the city’s business successfully.
Aaron Hall recently married his Aaron Hall (left, with spouse Edmund Gaines) wants to
partner of seven years, Edmund streamline small-business regulations
Gaines, in the first few days Mult
nomah County issued licenses to same-sex couples.
entering politics. He was once an assistant to
After joining the Navy as a young adult, where he
Commissioner Dan Saltzman, and this is his sec
trained as an electrical engineer and worked as a
ond bid for elected office.
power plant operator, he attended architecture
Dixon explains how he and five other candi
school. He returned to Portland with Gaines a year
dates have employed a novel grassroots approach
ago after completing his architectural internship in
in their efforts to secure better leadership on the
Baltimore and Philadelphia.
council: “T he question was, would we just sit back
In explaining why he decided to run for City
and let [Leonard] have another term unopposed?
NobcxJy was stepping forward really to run against
Council, Hall says: “I’ve always been interested
him. So a number of us.. .decided to run against
in city government, the planning department,
him. The idea is to give Portland voters a choice.
[Portland Development Commission], all the
If we’re able to prevent him from getting 50 per
bureaus in the city o f Portland.... I actually
cent plus one of the vote in the primary, then we’ll
hadn’t planned on pursuing it quite so soon, but
sort of coalesce behind the person besides him
seeing Randy Leonard mess up so much— to be
blunt, he’s really screwed up a lot lately.”
who makes it in the race, assuming of course that
According to Hall, Leonard creates a dysfunc
Randy Leonard doesn’t end up third.”
tional working environment. “His demeanor is
Although Hall is a neighborhood advocate,
very abrasive. People that work for him are afraid
he has not been involved with this concerted
for their jobs basically because you never know
effort to unseat Leonard. T h e incumbent enters
when he’s going to go off. He’s like a loose cannon.”
the race with a big advantage because he has
As an active member of the Beaumont-
raised substantially more money— largely from
Wilshire Neighborhood Association, Hall has
developers and the firefighters union— than any
experienced firsthand the frustration of trying to
of his opponents.
work with Leonard. He says neighborh<xxJ rep
Dixon disagrees with Leonard’s votes that in
resentatives are “fed up with [Leonard’s] in
his view benefit developers at neighborhoods’
action and his not listening to the communities
expense. Dixon also believes Leonard’s ideas
in the city. There are 95 neighborhoods in the
about how to fulfill Portland’s transportation
city, and they all have different priorities and
needs are overly focused on cars.
needs. Randy’s just basically blowing them off.”
But Dixon’s greatest concern is not with ideol
Another thing Hall finds troubling is how
ogy or policy but with Leonard’s management
much money Leonard has received from develop
style. “In Portland we have a tradition of doing
ers in campaign contributions “and his votes while
things together, and his method is to try to go it
he’s been in City Council the last 18 months sup
alone. That causes problems that are usually
greater than the individual problem that he is try
porting these developers.” Leonard cast some of
these votes, Hall says, despite vocal opposition
ing to solve.”
Dixon acknowledges Leonard’s heart may be in
from neighborhcxxl advocates.
the right place but thinks that’s not enough.
If elected, Hall would make helping small
“There’s no question that he has some good inten
businesses a priority. “O n e o f the things 1 want
tions. . .but a commissioner is
to do is streamline regulations.”
an executive. He is the top
Hall believes Portland’s repu
manager of the bureaus he’s
tation for being unfriendly to
assigned. That takes leader
small businesses— which employ
ship and management skills
77 percent of those who work in
that are essential to make the
the area— perseveres because
city
work. I’m sorry to say that
the companies are ovcrregulated
we are not seeing them.” j H
and are subject to onerous taxes
and fees. “W e need to make it
For more information about
simple. W hat I’m propping is a
A aron H all and F rank
one-stop shop where businesses
D ixon visit
can go in and get all the permits
ivwuj.hall4dtyhall.com and
they need.”
www. dixm4council. com .
Frank Dixon is president of
the Northwest District Associ-
M ichael B urdick is a
ation and co-chairman of Basic
Rights Oregon. He attended Frank Dixon believes Randy
recent graduate o f Reed
Lewis & Clark Law School and Leonard’s votes benefit developers College. He can be reached
worked as an attorney before at neighborhoods’ expense
at nuke@mbWjcious .com.
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