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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2011)
Street roots Al«. 19, 2011 Setting new sights on the city li» Steve Novick returns to the campaign trail with a bid for Randy Leonard’s open seat BY STACY BROWNHILL renewal district. One question the council has teve Novick, the currenlty uncontested to consider going forward is: Have candidate for Randy Leonard’s spot on we done urban renewal in a way Portland City Council, has plenty of novel that’s made previously affordable ideas for a City Council facing more change housing unaffordable through than it’s seen in decades. With Mayor Sam gentrification? We have to be Adams and Leonard leaving, and Commissioner really careful that we’re not just Amanda Fritz facing a tough contest, as many creating more neighborhoods j as three of the five Council seats could change for rich white people to live J next year. in. New Jersey-born and Oregon-raised, Novick I was not aware until ^9 graduated from University of Oregon at 18 and recently that'we spend jB9 Harvard Law School at age 21 before launching $106 million per year of / prolific careers as an environmental lawyer, property taxes on urban MH nonprofit director and community advocate. In renewal — that’s like 24 1998, Novick was chief of staff for the Oregon cents of every tax dollar. WH Senate Democrats, and has since eyed ' To some extent, the city positions at city, county, state and fédéral M Portland over the past 20 J levels, most notably running a close race for years has been blinded by 9 the Senate in 2008. The “fighter with the hard cuteness. We keep thinking if ■ left hook,” a pun addressing his left hand hook we build more cute prosthesis, currently works for the Oregon neighborhoods then that’s an I Health Authority. economic development 1 Novick received strategy. But we’ve got cute the endorsement of neighborhoods coming out of I Gov. John Kitzhaber our ears and we’re still lagging I last week, and has behind comparable cities, like ' "To some extent, the city of raised more than Seattle and Denver, in terms of $100,000 in the mere income and jobs. So I would bé Portland over the past 20 52 days since his very hesitant about where we years has been blinded by campaign put more urban renewal money. cuteness ... We keep thinking announcement (in Also, offering better jobs is a contrast, state Rep. if we build more cute way of making housing more Mary Nolan, affordable. If we had a stronger ; neighborhoods, then that's Commissioner economy, more people would be an economic development Amanda Fritz’s able to afford housing because a strategy. But we've got cute opponent, has they would be making more 9 reported less than money. neighborhoods coming out half of that amount). of our ears and we're still S.B.: You've been hailed asa 9 Street Roots grabbed big supporter of the East Side lagging behind comparable coffee and kebabs and proponent for creating with Novick this cities." equity between communities week, and picked his of color and whites. What brain op everything ¿ire some of your ideas for from his ideas for urban renewal and equity health care and on the East Side? public safety to his distaste for gentrification. STAFF WRITER g Stacy Brownhill: The Portland Housing Bureau Director, Margaret Van Vliet, is moving to lead the state housing agency. In her interview with Street Roots, she talked about the need for housing to be “front and center,”so that when we’re talking about jobs or health or community issues, we’re talking about housing problems that underlie those other things. What are your ideas for creating affordable housing in Portland? Steve Novick: Creating affordable housing is hard. Rent control and inclusionary zoning are ways to create affordable housing but are against state law, as I understand it. We have the low-income housing tax credit program, which ensures some affordable housing. Urban renewal is a problematic tool for affordable housing because only 15 percent of the city can be an urban renewal district at any given time, and the districts tend to last awhile. So most' people will never live in an urban S.N.: Bus service is a big thing I hear people on the East Side talking about. The 71 bus rims up and down Southeast 122nd Avenue, and I’ve been told it’s the worst combination of demand and lack of service in the city: There are a lot of people who ride it, and it doesn’t come very often. So I would ask TriMet, how much would it cost to run the 71 bus as often as the 14 bus, which comes every 10 minutes? I feel guilty that a new light rail line is going up by my house in Westmoreland. I would use it, but I don’t need it as much as somebody who can’t afford a car. I think we need td prioritize the poorer areas of the city as we make future transit decisions. What (Commissioner) Nick (Fish) is trying to do in terms of building new parks in the Outer East Side is also important Investing more in schools and less in fancy, cute stuff is part of dealing with equity. People ÍHB ■ m ■ IBM TIM ■■■ alii ■ IB! Sii JI f always argue that the Wcity should stick to the F basics and that schools aren’t part of the city’s mission, but every politician ignores that. S.B.: What ideas do you have for helping Portland schools? S.N.: I think that there are targeted investments that the city could make in the schools. (Commissioner) Dan Saltzman has come up with a special pot of money for social services for kids. One thing I suggest in my campaign is an ' annual forum in the summer where we pay for teachers and principals to come and learn from schools with tough demographics where unusually good things seem to be happening. Another idea that I’ve adopted from Bobbie Regan is to physically expose more kids to college. Let’s take sixth graders on field trips to community colleges. I heard a teenager say at Mayor. Adams’ education summit that she hadn’t heard of financial aid until an adult told her. Another thing I’d like to restore to schools is financial education. Teaching kids about credit See NOVICK, page 5 PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVE NOVICK
