9
Street roots
O ct 28, 2011
FRITZ, from page 8
There are a few silver linings to the
but if we’re looking at creating entire
recession. People have had to work together
communities we probably neèd to look at
J.T.: The Portland Business Alliance
with these partnerships because we’ve
that zoning, and we also have to puzzle
questionnaire came out recently. You said you
discovered that by doing that we leverage
through the challenges of the East Portland
would consider a downtown urban renewal
each others’ strengths and support each
school districts and the complexities of the
other. We’ve also increased our volunteering
area. What criteria would you use to assess the larger units and the smaller units and the
and our understanding that we are all in this
creation of such an urban renewal area?
challenges of having these larger units with
more kids and a smaller tax base and how
together.
A.F.: Who pays, who benefits and is that
I would like to be a part of the process
that’s going to work o u t This is the first
fair. And is this going to be a wise use of
that thinks big. Our
step of refining taxes
taxpayer money? There’s no magic money
city form of
so they’re more clearly
created in an urban renewal district because
government tends to
targeted toward what
it’s an agreement to use money that would
make each
we want.
We
shouldn't
be
making
go to other things to create development
commissioner look
I think that there’s a
decisions one at a time as if out for their bureaus.
that in the long run will spur economic
definite need to look at
development that pays back. I’m waiting to
they don't matter or don't
We ought to be
preservation of
see what’s being proposed. We don’t have
assessing the needs
affordable housing. We
have
a
connection
to
the
that much land for urban renewal, so we
of each bureau and
shouldn’t be looking to whole.
have to be strategic. I’m definitely open to
each program while
build more because
urban renewal districts. We are getting a lot
asking about public
new stuff is more
more property taxes because we have a
priorities.
expensive than
vibrant downtown, and there’s also work
preserving old stuff in
J.T.:
How
will
you
work
with county and
that needs to be done in the neighborhoods.
many ways. I opposed the Oregon
state to develop a better strategy for addressing
Sustainability Center because it’s proposing
J.T.: How would you assess how urban
the needs of people experiencing poverty?
to change land that is zoned residential for
renewal has been used in the past?
A.F.: I have been very collaborative with
commercial and office spaces, and, as you
A.F.: I’ve asked for a comprehensive
say, we have a no net loss of housing policy.
the county, in particular. The particular
report on th a t The auditor recently came
There’s no indication of how that’s going to . piece of that form e has been working with
out with a fiscal sustainability audit that
people with disabilities, 50 percent of whom
be m et We shouldn’t be making decisions
questioned the amount of debt that the city
live below the poverty line; and in particular
one at a time as if they don’t matter or don’t
has taken out for urban renewal that is paid
working with people experiencing mental
have a connection to the whole. So I voted
back by current taxpayers. I asked at that
illnesses, many of whom are unemployed or
against that because we need to understand
work session for what the benefits have
underemployed and impoverished.
how we’re going to save the housing units
been. We had an assessment when we made
I’ve started working with the police, the
right now rather than somewhere down the
the Airport Way urban renewal area. The
911 system, the county and Cascade
line.
numbers on that showed that a huge amount
I don’t have particular suggestions for
Behavioral Health on how we can take care
of property taxes were coming into the
of people experiencing mental health crises,
how to do th a t If you have a particular
general fund because we made the
So that police aren’t the first responders and
bureau, you don’t have all the staff to advise
investments there. But it’s very clear with
when police are toe first responders we can
on something like affordable housing. I
Airport Way what we intended to do and
keep everyone safer, and we don’t have
know that ComEmissioner Nick Fish is
what the outcome has been.
some of toe tragic outcomes we’ve had in
working on that, and he is the expert on
In government in general, we need to be
past years. The project is about halfway
affordable housing. So I’ve definitely been
much clearer about closing the loop and
through, it’s a three-year project. We’ve
one of Nick Fish’s most supportive partners
doingthereport, doing the evaluation to
made some changes in both police protocols
on the council and been a dependable vote
find out if something worked. I ran three '
and 911 protocol^ to begin dispatching
for him on affordable housing things he’s
year-ago promising to spend taxpayers’
people other than police to people feeling
brought forward. But my role on the couricil
gu^dahor ho n ^id al.^h en M s safe to do so.
mopey wisely, and that’s still the first tiung I a t th is tim e-is diff& rentÆ o I w oyld consider
do when I look at anything o n th e counciTs
Of course it’s a'very fine line. Keeping the
my role to be supportive. Commissioner
agenda. In order to be able to asses if they
public safe is probably toe most fundamental
Fish has been very congenial and
are spending taxpayer money wisely, I need
priority of a city government But then
collaborative about inviting me to work on
to have all the information to make that
planning and zoning issues, which have been realizing that public safety and social
services interact in a big way.
decision.
my area of expertise.
We in toe city have provided funding for
J.T.: The affordable housing inventory in
J.T.: What ideas do you have fo r securing
toe county for both mental health
the city's core continues to shrink despite a
sustainable revenue for housing and homeless
professional services and also for law
promise to preserve those units. Meanwhile, the services for years to come?
enforcement services through toe county
waiting list for a lowdncome apartment
district attorney’s office so that when we
A.F.: I would be supportive of a number
remains very long or closed. What are your
have people on our streets who are needing
of different options. I’m disappointed that
ideas to increase the amount of affordable
services they can get them, and when we
the legislature hasn’t stepped up oh the real
housing for the lowest-income households in
have people who are committing crimes
estate transfer tax [that would generate
■Portland?
money for affordable housing]. That was just against people, such as drug dealing and
a start, but it seems to me that when people prostitution and other vice crimes that are
A.F.: I’m actually working with
Com m iss io n e r Nick Fish, County Chair Jeff
sell their home that’s an opportunity to start really impacting people who live outside,
there’s a reason for the police to make an
Cogen and Commissioner Deborah Kafoury
building a significant amount of money that
arrest because there is going to be a
from the county. We’re looking at the issue
can be put into affordable housing. I’d
consequence. Before we were funding those
of tax abatements and affordable housing.
consider a bond measure after the
recession. Now is hot the time to raise taxes DA positions there was a decrease in the
It’s a project called The Big Look, and we
number of arrests and and an increase in
or fées on pretty much anything. People are
just had one of our sessions this afternoon.
toe problems on toe street especially in Old
We talked about how everything in outer
barely making ends m eet
Southeast is pretty much zoned multifamily,
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SSS-„..„,
Town.
J.T.: What is the city doing right and what
is it doing wrong in terms how it’s prioritizing
the use of taxpayers money? -
A.F.: I think we’re careful about cutting,
but we’re not always as careful as we could
be on what we spend. We’ve had a little bit
of a surplus, and I would have preferred that
we put it all away for the rainy day that has
come around in just a year. We are not as
careful as we should be in spending
ratepayers’ money with Water Bureau and
environmental services. That really has
been one of my most significant challenges
and most significant achievements in
changing some of toe policies.
But we need to do more. I think we have
been strategic in things like the short-term
rent assistance, which stops people from
becoming homeless. We’ve been careful in
continuing to provide money for community
involvement, which again leverages
volunteer time and dollars and helps people
know that they’re not in this plight by
themselves. It’s provided some community
cohesion, which is hugely important. It also >
doesn’t show up on a balance sheet, but it
will. One of my goals for my second term is
that Portland becomes toe number one
volunteer city in America, we’re coming in
two after Minneapolis. When Portlanders
work together, and we show that we care
about each other that’s good for everybody,
and that’s the kind of city we are. We also
need to be able to show that in toe budget.
J.T.: Every year public transportation gets
more expensive and the free zone downtown
gets chipped away steadily and is being
threatened with elimination. What are you
going to do to preserve the free rail zone?
A.F.: I did as much as I could. As you
know, toe city does not have any authority
over TriMet, I went to testify when they
were considering getting rid of toe free rail
z n n e and th ey h ad a tra n scrip-tionist thcre-
At toe very least they should listen to how I
think this is going to affect people; don’t
give me a transcriptionist I was very
discouraged. The TriMet board is not
elected; it’s appointed. I’d like to see some
more accountability in TriMet and more
accessibility so that people can feel part of
the decision-making process.
I will say that there’s been a degree of
listening to people with disabilities who’ve
been very concerned about toe LIFT
program. I recognize that TriMet has had
significant budget constraints. Because they
rely on the payroll tax, I would like us to
consider alternative funding for TriMet as
one of toe first things we do when we dig
out of toe recession. We’ve seen that during
toe recession that people rely more on
public transit when they can’t run their car.