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Street roots
Nov. 25, 2011
Eileen
Brady
The grocery executive talks big
bridges, urban renewal a n d ,
creating jobs in her bid to
become P ortla n d ’s next mayor
BY JAKE THOMAS
STAFF WRITER
Street Roots is
conducting a
series of interviews
with the candidates
for mayor and City
Council If you
missed an edition,
you can catch up
at www.streetroots.
wordpress.com
ileen Brady is perhaps best known for
founding New Seasons Market with
her husband Brian Rohter, a chain of
stores that has drawn national attention for
stocking its shelves with products from local
and sustainable sources. But Brady is
hoping to leave an even bigger mark on .
Portland by getting elected mayor. Aiming to
bring her “results-driven approach” to city
hall, Brady wants to make Portland a place
that is both sustainable and nurturing
toward businesses.
While Brady serves or has served on the
board of multiple nonprofit and government"
entities and her name was-thrown fo n a ti as
potential candidate for U S. Senate in 2008,
she came from more humble origins.
Shortly after graduating from Evergreen
State College in Olympia, Wash., she moved
to Portland as a young mother and started
working at Nature’s Fresh Northwest, a
precursor to New Seasons, for $5 an hour,
on the process toward that end. What I
eventually rising to human resources
think is going to happen, is there’s going to
director.
be a decision we’re going to get soon, and
“Portland’s a good city/’ says Brady. “It
probably the project is going to get slimmed
could be a great city. In order to be a great
down. There’s no way that project is going
city we’ve got to be able to build that •
to move forward in it’s current existing bulk
economic piece of the puzzle and provide
and size.
the civic leadership to get there. That’s
This is one of the largest public works
what I’m most excited about: How do you
projects that we’re going to have that we
move Portland from a good city to a great
could bring into reality. Even though it’s
city?”
been a mess getting to this point, and it’s
been a bit of government run amok on the
Jake Thomas: You’ve raised hundreds of
planning process, I’m supportive of moving
thousands of dollars so far for your campaign.
this thing forward.
Do you worry that there’s a perception out
So, in terms of how it affects the
there that there’s too much private money in
neighborhoods and the environmental
politics?
pieces of this puzzle, I think I’m the only
candidate who has come out and said that
Eileen Brady: Yeah. There’s too much
we need congestion pricing or tolling. The
influencè. I’ll tell you one thing, you spend a choke point is right where you’re thinking of
lot of time raising money. My husband was
where these neighborhoods are. The issue
the chair of the Voter Owned Elections
is really a one-way issue; it really is people
campaign, and we came really close to
coming south. We need to be the model and
winning. I was very disappointed that we
step up on congestion pricing — period. So I
didn’t get over the hump. We think that if
think there are huge opportunities there.
we had two more weeks, voters would have
kept public financing of elections. I am a
J.T.: In the Portland Business Alliance
huge supporter of campaign finance reform.
questionnaire, you said, “Portland is currently
But right now, we’re playing with the rules
trying to use (urban renewal) in a convoluted
we have. If I could wave my magic wand and way as a job development tool. ” What’s an
make this different, I would. I think one of
example of the city doing that, and what is the
the huge shifts in our politics, locally and
proper role of urban renewal?
nationally, when it comes, will be true
campaign finance reform.
E.B.: Great question. Let me back up, I’m
in this race because I am concerned about
J.T.: You support moving ahead on the
the economy in Portland. It is a tough place
Columbia River Crossing. How confident are
to find a job or make a living, and it doesn’t
you that the project won’t have an adverse
have to be that way. The premise of my
effect on the environmental health of the
thinking and my race is that we have a myth
neighborhoods of North and Northeast
here that says that you can’t have a
Portland?
progressive city and a vibrant economy.
There’s a whole generation that’s just
E.B.: Good question. So let’s be really
struggling to create stability in their lives.
clear what my position is: I support moving
So that’s the underpinning of why I get into
forward on the bridge and moving forward
the race.
E
Urban renewal is ultimately a tool to
eliminate blight, an “old-school, 20th
century” idea. But at its core, urban renewal
is a real estate development tool, and it
does a relatively good job at that, and
whether we’ve been using it for blighted
areas is beside the point in this particular
question.
We have to be honest about those'dollars,
and that tool is about real estate and
housing development. We can use some of
those dollars for job development, but if we
want to be really honest with ourselves, we
have to say that either general fund dollars
or some other funding mechanism needs to
fund true economic development and job
development Right now, it’s much easier to
discuss the tax increment, or the services
that are going to get created in that area or
how you’re going to change the face of the
neighborhood.
There are jobs created in URAs, but
could you maximize job creation if you had a
set of funds you could use differently? Can
we set up shared manufacturing centers,
with, say, advanced metals manufacturers,
or sewing manufacturers, or food processing
centers, so that we can literally restart the
manufacturing centers in the Portland area
and commit to that piece of the puzzle?
That takes a certain kind of financing.
What I’m calling for is an economic
catalyst team that would work with larger
employers to help them accelerate their
business programs. A lot of our larger
employers have plans to grow and add
professional, good-paying jobs with benefits,
and the city should be a partner and help
accelerate those plans. There are jobs in
the pipeline.
For instance, OHSU has 13,000 jobs, the
largest employer in the city of Portland, and
in the middle of the recession they added
See BRADY, p ag e 4