Street roots., January 06, 2012, Page 3, Image 3

Street roots
Jan. 6, 2012
The City Council candidate takes his
supporting role to a larger arena, with
plenty to say about East and West, and how
to respect the real values o f Portlanders on
both sides o f the river
BY JAKE THOMAS
S T A F F W R IT E R
ark White isn’t quite sure how
many city boards, committees and
commissions he’s served on over
the years (he estimates that it’s a couple
dozen), but is hoping to add one more to his
resume: City Council.
For the past seven years, White has been
a full-time volunteer, working on a number
of community projects, as well as serving on
city boards set up to get input from the
public on issues that span housing, urban
renewal and many others. Most notably,
White serves as the co-chair of the Charter
Commission, which recommends changes to
what is essentially the city’s constitution.
White, 52, moved to Portland 20 years
ago from California and eventually made
East Portland home. He has served as
president of the Powellhurst-Gilbert
Neighborhood Association for the last three
and a half years. He is challenging Steve
Novick, a well-connected and popular
candidate, for the seat being vacated by
Commissioner Randy Leonard.
M
Jake Thomas: You’ve served on a lot of
city boards and commissions. What lessons
have you learned from serving on them that
you would bring to City Hall?
Mark White: Well for one, I bring an
understanding of how City Hall works and
what the real deal is behind how decisions
are made. I’m not deluded to think that
what happens in a committee is something
that City Hall is going to take seriously. I’ve
had numerous times when the city folks
hear what they don’t want to hear, and their
usual refrain is, you’re just an advisory
1 feel very conlWent that the housing bureau
Is wanting to do the right thing, but I don't
know 11 they have the ability to do all the
things that are necessary In order to do the
right thing. There are political pressures that
guide some of the things they i o with
collaborations and partnerships.
committee. I have a true respect for folks
who serve on committees and commissions
and boards because I’ve done so many of
them, and the folks who sit on them are
incredibly, incredibly, incredibly passionate
about what they do.
Frankly, I’m not really one for the
paternalistic approach that’s been done in
the past and believe that folks who live in
the areas in which they live or are involved
in the things in which they’re involved have
a much better perspective and better
insights than peopte in City Hall.
J.T.: You served on the Portland Housing
Advisory Commission, which was set up to
advise the Portland Housing Bureau (PHB).
What is your assessment of how the Portland
Housing Bureau’s plans are meeting the needs
of low-income Portlanders?
M.W.: The Portland Housing Bureau is
relatively new. It’s actually kind of a
reinvention of the Bureau of Housing and
Community Development. But I think
they’re trying to create their own path, and
so in some ways they are essentially starting
over. In some ways I think that’s good, in
some ways I think that’s not so good.
I was on that commission for about a a
year. I could tell that there was definitely a
commitment from the bureau to listen. I
kind of felt like they were a bit more
preoccupied with the transition of
responsibility from the Portland
Development Commission and the monies
generated from urban renewal and how it
applies to housing and homelessness and all
those other kind of things and trying to
make that transition as smoothly as
possible.
I feel very confident that the housing
bureau is wanting to do the right thing, but
I don’t know if they have the ability to do all
the things that are necessary in order to do
the right thing. There are political pressures
that guide some of the things they do with
collaborations and partnerships. What’s nice
right now, I think, is the new director, Traci
Manning, is one of the original members of
the Housing Advisory Commission. So she
can see both sides. She has housing
experience. She has experience with the
commission, and now she’s the director. So
I think that’s a really good thing. I know
Traci. She’s a great person.
J.T.: So the purpose of the commission was
to advise the Portland Housing Bureau. What
advice do you have for the PHB?
M.W.: I was the only representative from
East Portland. I think the reason I was
appointed was because I had been very
vocal about a lot of things with regard to
housing out in our area. My neighborhood,
all by itself in the last 10 years, has added
thousands and thousands of households, and
it’s a lot different from a lot of other parts of
the city.
For example, there’s an affordable
housing complex around the corner from
my house. It has 37 units, but it has 174
people living in it and 126 of them are
children. So it’s a really different dynamic
from downtown, for example. You could
have a multi-story condominium complex
that has eight or 10 stories or more and not
have that many people.
In my neighborhood, there’s no services
for folks, so everyone has to travel to get
groceries and just about everything. So it’s
very problematic when you throw tons and
tons of people in an area with limited
services and tremendous infrastructure
problems and are low-income and have lots
of social service needs. It complicates their
lives even more. I was hoping to bring that
voice to the table to let folks know that in
order for Portland to be the best city it
possibly can be, we need to all be lifted up
together, and if we don’t recognize or
understand the issues being put on our
most vulnerable citizens, then we have no
right to be talking about equity and
sustainability because the truth of the
matter is that it’s not so copacetic and
groovy in Portland.
The city of beer, bikes and bridges: it’s
not the way we think it is, and I think it’s
not because of the people in the city. I think
it’s their government not responding in a
way that respects the values of the citizens
of Portland.
i.Y.'.What would you do with housing in
East Portland?
§ ee WHITE, page 4
PH O TO BY
JA K E T H O M A S