street roots,
O ct. 26, 2012
A D A M S, fro m page 1
Portlanders of color continue to fare so
poorly. There are both great moral and
economic reasons for us to be an
equitable city.
The creation of the Office of Equity
and Human Relations is one example.
Twenty years ago, we had some of the
worst air quality in the nation. We didn’t
recycle, and we weren’t a bicycle city. We
had some of the most numerous air
quality violations. We put a plan together
and we got to the Office of Sustainable
Development. Twenty years later, we are
leaders in the nation. We reduced our
greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent
in the last four years while we’ve become
a hot place at creating jobs.
Budgeting and equity are one area
that we are set up to do good things. For
the first time, we’ve mapped
geographically where they city’s money
goes. Where we need it the most is the
continued push on the equity front. We
need to see equity brought to fruition,
especially around race. It’s holding the
city’s potential back. We have the Office
of Equity and an initial strategy, but we
are nowhere near being the city of
equality that we can be. There are so
many symptoms of inequality — poverty
is suffered too greatly on the shoulders
of folks in East Portland and of Portlanders
of color. The fact that no city across the
nation, much less Portland, has figured out
ways to improve neighborhoods without
gentrifying them is a challenge. Portland has
never focused on equity in any serious,
methodical, planned, accountable way. I
would say that whomever is elected mayor,
needs to focus on and strengthen the equity
agenda. It will take care of many of the
things we’re talking about here today.
So those are the four goals: prosperity,
education, health and equity. They go
together and they need to be worked
together. The Portland Plan is how to get
Mayor Sam Adams at the Clinton Global initiative in August, 2012
a two-way conversation.
“The Oregonian” likes to criticize me
because they think that if I am active on
social media I am too frenetic and I am not
focused. That is the old-school media
criticizing my direct relationship with my
constituents. We are able to learn things
real time about our city through social
media.
I ’ve been piloting using social media and
before I leave, it will be the expectation of
all the bureaus. For example, you will see us
roll out much more robust Twitter
'T v e worked In City H a ll long enough to know that this Is a
bobble. What a great way to peak outside of the bubble and
lo r others to connect w ith me as mayor by using social media«
JU1 of the social media 1 i<b I do It la a two-way
conversation/*
there. Build on it. There’s plenty of work to
do, and plenty of space for new ideas to
problems we have not solved.
I.B: What are the biggest challenges for the
incoming mayor?
S .A .: The fundamental challenge is fewer
resources than demand for programs and
services. After that, it’s the fact that the city
remains to have too great of a degree of an
inequity of opportunity. That is why I
focused on education. We don’t run the
schools, but I made huge investments in
education on behalf of the city. Even though
we don’t run it, education is one of the great
equalizers in our society.
I.B.: Talk to us about how you think social
media and technology can be used for the
common good as a public servant.
S .A .: What’s interesting right now,
according to what I read, is the technology
gap on text message availability. The
economic gap, the race gap, around a piece
of technology, which is text messaging and
basic cell phones, has never been smaller.
There is opportunity in that. It’s still tough
and a big challenge.
We are trying to take advantage of that.
Everyone in Portland is so wired up and
very active on social media. I love it. I’ve
worked in City Hall long enough to know
that this is a bubble. What a great way to
peak outside of the bubble and for others to
connect with me as mayor by using social
media. All of the social media I do, I do it in
expectations for individual police officers
and the police bureau.
Too many politicians use technology and
social media as just another way t push
information out. I love the conversation with
Portlanders.
I.B.: The technology world appears to be
taking off in Portland...
S .A .: Yes, Portland competes not only on
innovation in technology today, but also on
values. We’ve done surveys, and yes it’s
important for the tech companies and
people to be successful and make money,
but just as important is what they are
developing for the common good. It’s a win-
win to have real innovation being conducted
by value-laden groups. We are cheaper,
faster and for such a relatively small
industry here, we have it all. We have the
complete eco-system, especially for software
technology and app-technology. We’ve
worked on it, and it has been a targeted
industry of ours. We have a strategy around
it, it is a public-private partnership, and we
are doing great things. I couldn’t be happier
on this front.
I.B.: Watching the critics publically
denounce city government for strategically
putting money into the cycling infrastructure,
I think back to when the City of Portland
decided to maintain Forrest Park instead of
developing it. Seems like an investment in the
future generations that will last for years to
come.
S .A .: Yes, I can only imagine the debates
that took place during that time. (Laughing).
Bicycling is strategic. I back cycling
because it makes sense for the individual
Portlander and for the city as a whole. Even
if you never plan on getting on a bike, it
makes sense for you as well. It’s less
congestion for folks that have to, or want to,
use a car. It’s less wear and tear on the
road, which means that gas tax dollars go
further because the roads will stay better,
longer. It keeps people healthier, which has
a positive impact on our health care
premiums, if we are lucky enough to have
health care.
On the an individual basis, it is oftentimes
the fastest way to get from point A to point
B.
That aside, I have made safety of all
modes my top priority for the Department
of Transportation. Despite all of the flash
points and “Oregonian” critiques against
bikes, by far most of our expenditures are
going to the automobile-related aspects of
our transportation system. My goal is to
take a common sense approach with safety
in mind.
That all being said, there is also the fact
that, according to CEO s for Cities, which did
an analysis of transportation costs for
families in about a dozen cities across the
United States. Portland families spent 20
percent less on transportation costs than
comparable cities. Now that’s money that
stays in individual families pockets. Not
every trip is going to work for every person
on pedestrian, bike or even transit. But the
more people that it does work for, the less
they have to pay on transportation for their
individual households, which makes their
household budgets, which are under stress
now, more secure.
I.B.: Talk to Street Roots readers about
police reform and the directions you see the
bureau going in the next decade.
S .A .: Fully embracing the fact that
whether we control it or not, whether folks
on the bureau like it or not, the Portland
Police Bureau needs to be viewed as part of
the treatment system for folks that are
suffering from mental illnesses or
addictions.
We know that having so many people who
are suffering on the streets is beyond the
ureau’s control. We have to step up, both
the police commissioner and a bureau and
be more effective. We have to continue to
help lead the community discussion to do
better with the inadequate resources that
currently exist for addiction, mental health
and homelessness. We have to do better in
fighting for more resources.
I am very optimistic with health care
reform coming to fruition in the Tri-County
area and with the Combined Care
Organization strategy being led by Governor
Kitzhaber and President Obama. It’s now
called Health Share Oregon. These are the
hospitals and health care providers; it is the
county and now the city, with our fire and
police, and first responders of AM R
ambulances and others who are coming
together under health care reform and
creating a system, including the police
bureau, that are considered a part of the
treatment system. We have 28,000 mental
health calls a year, thousands that are so
serious that we have to take a person
against their will to the hospital because
they are a threat to themselves or to others.
We need to do that in a way with less force.
I.B.: The city of Portland and Multnomah
County offer more money than any other
government body towards creating and
maintaining affordable housing and offering
services for people experiencing poverty in the
region, or the state. What's it going to take for
the region and the state of Oregon to change
the way they do business on the poverty front?
S .A .: Having a regional and statewide
approach to the issues of affordable housing,
access to housing, mass transit, mixed
income neighborhoods and homelessness is
critical. It has to be on a regional basis.
The fact is 40 percent of the population
in Multnomah County and the City of
Portland are spending 80 percent (twice the
number of local dollars than we should be
based on population). I have to admit that
its frustrating when well-intentioned
advocates for affordable housing and the
homeless population, which I am a big
advocate, only beat up on the City of
Portland. I don’t mind them beating up on
the City of Portland, that’s advocacy. Saying
that, when was the last time advocacy
groups put together a successful campaign
and advocated in Washington, Clackamas,
Clark County Commissioners, or Oregon
City, Wilsonville, Beaverton, Hillsboro,
Vancouver, Washington? Those communities
have chosen not to spend local money on
housing and homelessness. The money is
there, it is just being spent on other things.
I’m hopeful that Sam Chase is going to do
a great job at Metro as helping to educate
the region on these issue. The majority of
folks who are suffering economically should
have the services and options throughout
our region and not just in Portland.
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