8
street roots
O ct 14, 2011
The
challenger
Mary Nolan, the only candidate
challenging an incumbent in City
Hall, wants to bring Oregon’s cultural
and commercial hub into focus
BY AMANDA WALDROUPE
. STAFF WRITER
regon Rep. Mary Nolan has been a
name in politics for more than a
decade down in Salem. Now she’s
hoping to bend a few ears at City Hall.
Nolan is in the race to unseat City
Commissioner Amanda Fritz.
Nolan was first elected to serve
downtown and Southwest Portland in 2000.
She held a variety of leadership roles,
including cochairing the budget writing
Ways and Means Committee, and as
Democratic Caucus Leader and Speaker
Pro-Tempore, the number two position to
the Speaker of the House.
Before serving in the Legislature, Nolan
was CEO of AvroTec, an aviation supplies
company in Hillsboro. She also worked as
director of Portland’s Bureau of
Environmental Services.
Nolan attended Dartmouth College,
majoring in mathematics. Her freshman
H
T irst y e a r D a r t m o u t h a d m it t e d
women, and Nolan often was the only
woman in her classes.
“For the most part, it was a non-event,”
she says. “I had one professor who clearly
was unhappy that the college had decided to
admit women. He would ask occasionally for
the female interpretation of this theorem or
that theorem. I was able to handle my own,
but it was a bit awkward.”
Those classroom experiences prepared
Nolan, in some ways, for the professional
world. Men still largely dominate the
technical and engineering world, and there
were many other times when Nolan found
herself being the only woman in the room.
“Being able to handle that with some
aplomb is a very valuable skill,” she says.
Amanda Waldroupe: Why are you
running for City Council?
Mary Nolan: The City Council needs to
be more focused on providing efficient,
respectful, and timely services that support
our neighborhood livability, economic
prosperity, and assure safety for all citizens.
We’ve sort of become distracted over the
PHO TO COURTESY O F
last several years.
A.W.: In what ways?
M.N.: We’ve floated lots of ideas, and we
end up spending energy, resources and good
will studying them to death. The council and
the entire city will benefit from people who
not just have good ideas, but who have a
mindset and skillset to bring them to
conclusion. My background both in business
and in the Legislature is all about bringing
together people with diverse and sometimes
contradictory interests ... that enable you to
push people beyond what they want and
develop solutions and negotiate deals that
can be implemented and endure.
A.W.: How come you don’t want to serve in
the House of Representatives anymore?
M.N.: I served there for six terms, or will
have by the end of this term. I’m very proud
and pleased to have that opportunity. But
my heart is also with my hometown. I am at
a place where I think the most value I can
regional
green building
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bring, to not just Portland, but Oregon,, is to
be part of leading the state’s largest city and
trade center back to economic vitality, and
keep it focused on smart, forward thinking
policies.
. A.W.: W/ry are you challenging
'
Commissioner Amanda Fritz, specifically?
M.N.: Because I don’t think she can
deliver as effectively as I can.
A.W.: I f elected, what city bureaus would
you like the mayor to assign to you?
M.N.: It should not surprise you that I’m
most interested in providing leadership for a
heavily infrastructure portfolio of bureaus. .
Transportation would be one, the Water
Bureau would be another, and the Bureau of
Environmental Services. The Parks Bureau
I also consider to be an infrastructure-
related bureau. Some combination of th a t
See CHALLENGER, page 9
M A R Y N O L A N FO R
P O R T L A N D C IT Y
C O U N C IL