Street roots
5
LLlìixcd
Aug. 19, 2011
NOVICK, from page 4
cards, mortgage and basic financial literacy
used to be a mandatory part of the
curriculum, and now it’s barely brushed
over.
I don’t think people realize just how hard
the schools have been h it Twenty years ago,
we had a school system that was funded
largely by local property taxes, and people
in Portland would vote for the schools. Now,
we have a system where the money that’s
raised in Portland is thrown in a statewide
pot, and our Portland schools are much,
muqh worse off than they were.
S.B.: With your experience in
environmental law, arguing on behalf of the
EPAfor 10 years and tackling the Love Canal
case in the 1980s, what are your thoughts on
the Columbia River Crossing? Should they
build the bridge?
S.N.: I agree with a lot of points the
critics are making. I would also caution that
eventually you probably need to replace a
100-year-old bridge. If there’s an opportuhity
to get federal money that we might not have
down the road, that shouldn’t be dismissed
too easily, eveffif it’s not a high priority at
this particular time.
Now, if the people of Portland were being
asked to pay for that bridge, then I would
not say it’s a high priority. But if it’s
combiiied funding from the federal
government, the state governments, and the
people of Vancouver, then it doesn’t sound
like the worst thing in the world to me.
In terms of how many interchanges we
have to accommodate more people coming
over from Vancouver, and whether we’re just
adding to the congestion in the Rose
Quarter once they get over here, I think
those are important questions to ask.
The argument that the trade unions have
— that the CRC is a jobs project - that’s not
thousand people to work for awhile, I’m not
going to say that’s an irrelevant argument.
S.B.: In your campaign, you've talked about
spending less public-safety money on dramatic
reactive procedures, like long prison terms,
and spending more on preventative measures.
How would that switch'in spending work?
health care is the fastest rising cost If
Portland became a leader in controlling
health care costs, that would be an
advantage for existing employers and
attractive for anybody we’re trying to
recruit
S.N.: In the short term I think the- city
There are some models you could scale to
and the county should work more closely
a city. For example, the Atlantic City casino
together on public-safety issues; do joint
workers’ union adopted a strategy where
budgeting and joint strategy. But my big-
they identified their highest-cost employees
picture dream is to work out a deal with the
and built a clinic just for them. The clinic
state for the county to get its public safety
included a couple of doctors, a couple of
budget in a lump sum, allowing it to spend
primary nurses and eight health care
more money on prevention programs.
coaches — professional nudges — who would
What we have right now is a system with
call people up and check on them. And they
a limited budget for police, a limited budget v
managed to significantly reduce their health
for supervision, a limited budget for
care costs just with that model.
treatment, a limited budget for re-entry
That’s something I think the city could do
programs, but in effect, an unlimited budget
as an employer: build a system for high-cost
for prisons. The state pays for prison, and
employees that would collectively reduce
there’s no incentive for the district
our health care costs, and invite public and
attorneys to give shorter sentences.
private employers. Then, you can say to new
If the state put the county in charge of its
employers, ‘Come to Portland and you’ll get
own public-safety budget, it would create a
the advantage of this network.’ Over time, if
situation where the DAs would have to
a city has taken the initiative to control
count the cost of prison sentences and
health care costs, that’s a significant
figure out a way to divide it with other costs,
economic advantage.
like prevention.
Another of thy health care interests is
People have talked about repealing
getting the city prepared for the huge
Measure 11, but you don’t need to repeal
expansion of Medicaid in 2014, if Obama’s
Measure 11 if you change the mix of prison
health care reform is not repealed. A lot of
versus prevention through the budget.
people who had no previous health care
S.B.: This summer, Street Roots wrote a
coverage will be eligible for physical health
series on traumatic brain injuries that
care, mental health care, and drug and
examined Portland's health systems, and how
alcohol treatment. Suddenly, we’ll have
we can improve them for people living on the
federal money paying for Medicaid for a
streets. But affordable and navigable health
population that previously was going
care is an issue for everyone.
begging for services, and that’s something
You've done lot of work with Oregon
the nonprofit community, the city an'd the
Health Authority to streamline Medicaid and
county should be planning for.
generate ideas for Obama’s health care reform.
S.B.: You've spoken out against the Iraq
I f you could shape health care in Portland
War since 2003. What can Portland be doing
however you wanted, what would you do?
better to help veterans returning from Iraq and
S.N.: One of my ideas for economic
Afghanistan who face joblessness and even
homelessness?
development js to make Portland a leader in
an a re a t h a t ’s n o t tra d itio n a lly th o u g h t o f a s
economic development but should be:
controlling health care costs.
For employers that provide health care,
S.N.: Working with employers to tryt<T
make sure to prioritize giving jobs for
veterans, to the extent they’re still able to
work, that’s something we can do. Getting
vets the health care they need and
connecting them with resources at the V.A.,
that’s something we can do.
S.B.: You’re reputed to be something of a
budget wonk. How could Portland be spending
our dollars better? In particular, what do you
think of Commissioner Leonard's strategy of
using water and sewage money for special
projects?
S.N.: If it were my choice, I wouldn’t have
done the special projects. There’s an
argument for doing less (special projects) in
order to avoid distraction, and even if it’s a *
small amount of money, we should spend
money for what it’s supposed to be used for.
But they are not big-ticket items. They
might look bad when they’re on thè front
page, but they haven’t added a lot to sewer
or water bills.
I called up the Water Bureau and asked,
‘How do we compare to other cities?’ It
turns out that our water is more expensive
than most other major cities in the country,
and I’d like to know why. I will keep pushing
the Water Bureau on that. If we’re higher
than Milwaukie, (for example) let’s ask them
what they’re doing differently.
S.B.: What's on fire in Portland today that
nobody else is noticing? .
S.N.: There are things that have
happened over the past 20 years that I’m
not sure a lot of people recognize. Portland
is a great city to be an upper middle-class
white person because there are all sorts of
nice restaurants and pretty placés to go. But
the Communities of Color Coalition did this
report last year that showed in terms of
inequities between white people and non
white people, we’re worse than a lot of cities
that we think of as comparable, like Seattle.
We’ve also gotten significantly poorer in
relation to other cities in the past 20 years.
I think there are a lot of good-hearted,______
civicallyengagedpeopre’m Portland who
aren’t aware of that.
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