Street roots
Oct. 26, 2012
CANDIDATE, from page 4
3. What policies would you pursue so that there is sufficient affordable housing and employment opportunities in order for low-income families
to continue to live in the city of Portland?
C harlie H ales: I’m running for mayor
Jefferso n Smith: First, keep the 30%
because I want to make Portland an
affordable place to live for all Portlanders in
every neighborhood.
That includes working to ensure more
affordable housing, like I helped create in
the Development Agreements with the
Pearl District and the South Waterfront
neighborhood, requiring at least 25% of
housing to be affordable housing.
But that also includes ensuring that
people have access to good family-wage
jobs, that our transit system is affordable,
that our streets are paved, that our water
and sewer rates are lower, and that every
child has access to a quality education at a
great public school.
As mayor I will focus on the basics so
that the opportunity that’s now available to
some is shared by all Portlanders,
regardless of who they are or in what part
of town they live.
set aside in place, and make it a floor, not a
ceiling. I’m open to the current policy of
averaging the spending across districts, as
it helps us to avoid adding to the growing
imbalance between East Portland and inner
Portland neighborhoods. There should be
flexibility in housing type. We should work
to ensure needed services and amenities
are in place so that neighborhoods are
healthy.
New forms of housing need not be scary.
We are in the midst of structural changes
in our economy, and it makes sense to look
at new housing types, like courtyard-style
family housing, or dormitory-style, with
shared amenities like kitchens and
bathrooms.
When it comes to publicly invested
money, we should do more to ensure that
local contractors, especially women and
minority owned businesses, get a healthy
share of the work. We also need a
workforce that better reflects Portland’s
diversity.
And I wouldn’t support getting rid of
systems development charges. The fees
developers pay for basic services like
sewers, streets, and parks.
Am anda Fritz: Homeownership is one
of the best ways to keep families in
Portland living in stable neighborhoods
rather than being displaced to outer
suburbs.
I will continue to support General Fund
assistance for homeownership programs.
Well-paying jobs are necessary for both
mortgage and rental payments.
I will continue to support job training,
college scholarships, and small business
development programs.
We need to promote a wide range of job
choices, for entrepreneurs and expansion
of existing businesses, for those wanting to
pursue higher education, and for folks who
prefer more technical/hands-on work.
Language translation services are often
crucial to publicize good jobs and
encourage everyone to apply. The City can
help by publicizing opportunities, with
translation into multiple languages.
I will continue to support and promote
the Office of Neighborhood Involvement’s
Diverse Civic Leadership program. In my
second term, I will coordinate an Alumni
organization for graduates of DCL
trainings, further engaging diverse
communities in sharing the riches of our
city.
Mary Nolan: It’s important that we
keep Portland welcoming and affordable for
a diverse and culturally rich population.
To do that I’ve been visiting with dozens
of community leaders in the affordable
housing movement as well as scores of
business managers to talk about what
would be most helpful to meet this
objective.
The first priority I hear is regulatory
certainty, so they know the rules and
whether their project will meet standards
before they invest money.
Second is prompt responses from the
city for land-use changes, permit requests
and licensing applications.
Third is a fee structure that allows
affordable housing projects to stay
affordable.
Finally, I’ll bring together competing
interests to reach common ground,
prioritize the most promising opportunities
and implement them as quickly as possible.
Measuring up
Street Roots weighs in on relevant local and state measures before voters this year. A ll conclusions were reached by a concensus o f Street Roots staff, volunteers and vendors, with
consideration on how the laws will affect people experiencing poverty
Restore school arts
Yes! Our schools need our help, but
Yes! Art is everywhere in Portland.
No! Indeed, gambling can be fun,
let’s face it, the improvement proposal
floated in the spring was too much and
too haphazard to galvanize real support
from the community at large. This
proposal brings it more down to size,
with public involvement and a more
equal distribution of assistance for long-
neglected facilities. Education is so
critical for the, wellbeing of future
Portlanders, and we hold a
responsibility to getting all students on
an level course toward success.
It’s at the core of our city’s personality.
But in our core institutions, particularly
for children and the poor, art is either
nonexistent or out of financial and social
reach. The benefits of arts training - on
math skills, cognitive processing and
simply our joie de vie - are well
documented. For $35 per person, we
can fund not only public school
programs but also programs generating
community involvement among people
who are social and economically
marginalized.
There are caveats, to be sure, and the
administration of this new tax has to
ensure that it does not become a burden
to the very people it is intended to help.
and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But there is a reason that vice is best
kept in check. The proliferation of
gambling centers is a regressive model
for extracting tax dollars from middle-
and low-income Oregonians. This is a
service no one is clamoring for, so it is
being sold as a jobs package with a
bonus pay-off for the state. In
exchange, we get low-wage service
sector positions and millions of dollars
siphoned out of Oregon’s economy. Oh,
and a constitution that now says we’re
OK with that, so everybody join in!
Oregon has its share of gambling
facilities, and we have a practical
system in place to keep this vice under
some measure of control. We cannot
afford to expand this poor man’s taxing
industry further in our state.
Yes! The last line says a lo t The
majority of the savings come in curbing
the manipulation of final-year income
measures, meaning ~ like the rest of us
— benefits are based on the actual final .
year of pay. And it shifts payments for
injuries incurred during probationary
periods to the Oregon workers
compensation program. We want our
firefighters and police taken care of in
the event of a disability, and this
measure lets us continue to do the
right thing without expensive
loopholes.
Yes! Libraries are one of the last
resources for public knowledge, research
and cultural enrichment that are
universally accessible to the public,
regardless of income, stature or
resources. But such an asset does not
come without the community’s
investment. This measure will also
replace the patchwork levy process that
exists now. It will dedicate* funding for
this valuable resource, freeing up other
dollars for social services for families
experiencing homelessness and poverty.
No! We do not want a private,
national trade organization spending
hundreds of thousands of dollars in our
state to rewrite our constitution under
the fog of false necessity. We have a
statewide ban on real estate transfer
taxes. We have a system that allows for
the people of Oregon, our elected
officials and due public process to both
keep it that way and reserve the right
to consider our options for the future.
Likewise, real estate transfer fees
are not the taxation boogie men they
have been made out to be. They can be
constructed to provide relief to first
time homebuyers, lower-priced homes
and long-term homeowners. And they
can be directed to support real
community needs, right here in
Oregon, in ways that benefits all
residents.
This measure isn’t something
Oregon wants or needs.
No! If you inherit an estate worth $1
million or more, you have acquired a
measure of great wealth and you should
pay taxes on i t The argument of double
taxation, that opponents of estate taxes
often use, holds no water here. Value
and wealth change hands every day, for
the advancement of many, and property
is no exception. Moreover, property can
accrue “unrealized” capital that is never
taxed unless it is sold. Taxes are the
responsibility of every citizen of means
to support the local and national
wellbeing, including feeding the hungry
and educating our children. We can’t
afford to write in yet another loophole
for the wealthy to skirt that
responsibility.
< <•
Yes! It’s time Oregon pushed the
envelope on the issue of hemp
production, marijuana use and
government oversight, and this bill will
do just th a t It’s far from a panacea on
the nonsense of our war on drugs. But
it is a starting point that can draw out
new ideas on the matter of managing a
long-distorted crop that has potential in
many markets.
Yes!
Measure
85 will
not solve
the '
' ,
•>
' '
'<
,
, s
' s ' ' '
state’s education funding issues - the
state’s tax system is broken far beyond
one or two simple repairs. This
measure is hopefully the first of many
to begin working on fixing that system
— something that the leadership in
Salem has be unable or unwilling to do.
Street Roots supports the passage of
Measure 85, not because we think it
will fix the broken tax system and result
in proper funding for education. We
support the passage of this measure as
a first step in tackling a seriously
broken tax system. It is our hope that
with the passage of Measure 85 many
more steps will be taken to ensure that
education, social services and other
things that we count on the state to
provide are properly funded.