Street roots., February 15, 2013, Image 1

FEBRUARY 15, 2013
From sidwalks to
social services,
Charlie Hales talks
about what to expect
as he takes the reins
as Portland’s
new m ayor
P H O T O B Y K R IS T IN A W R IG H T
BY ISRAEL BAYER
S T A F F W R IT E R
ew Mayor Charlie Hales recently sat down
with Street Roots to talk about the state of
the city, and what’s to come.
Hales is inheriting a possibly $25 million dollar
deficit and recently took all 27 city bureaus under
his control. Hales will be leading a challenging, yet
hopeful next year in Portland.
Street Roots asked the mayor about his plans
for Right 2 Dream Too, sidewalks, housing and
homeless services, police reform, transportation
and more. Here’s what he had to say:
N
Israel Bayer: You are walking into a brutal
budget cycle with a potential deficit o f $25 m illion
dollars. W hat’s the process fo r determ ining what
should be cut an d what should n’t?
Charlie Hales: First, it’s going to be very open.
The mayor in our system of government has the
ability to disappear into a room for a couple of
months and then produce the mayor’s proposed
budget. I am certainly not going to do that. I am
going to open the doors to that room and invite
the rest of the City Council first and then the
whole community in to say, ‘This is a tough
situation, we are all going to have to face these
difficulties together. Let’s put everything on the
table.’
We are starting off with a big hole in the city’s
budget. There is no bag of tricks in terms of some
new revenue source or extra money that we can
lay our hands on. It’s managing scarcity. Now,
that’s the bad news: It’s going to be a tough
budget.
The good news is that the economy is
improving. The city’s forecast for its own budget,
over time, is positive. So over the next few years,
whatever base we build this year we’ll be building
on that base. We won’t be cutting, and then cutting
again.
I.B.: Some city bureaus are also fa cin g federal
cuts. Will these cuts be taken into consideration when
determ ining the loss o f program support from the
city?
C.H.: It’s really important that you mention
that. One of the first things we are going to do is
have the county leadership come over and brief us
on their situation before we even start thinking
about our budget. We are partners with
Multnomah County, particularly in homelessness,
mental health and housing. In those areas, we are
joined at the hip. We need to know how strong our
partner is or what our partner’s problems are. We
will then look at how that’s related to federal cuts
and what it all means.
I.B.: Should the city and county work toward
consolidating their programs, specifically fo r housing
and homeless services?
C.H.: Yes. And that time is now. We will at least
start to ask those questions. The example I’ve
used in trying to explain this multiple levels of
government, is, if you drove over from City Hall to
the east side, you drove on a city street, got on a
county bridge and touched down on a city street
on the other side. If there is a homeless juvenile
on the bridge while you crossed, that guy was
Multnomah County’s responsibility. If there was a
homeless adult on the bridge, she’s the city’s
responsibility. That’s how crazy the patchwork is
of what the city and the county do. Anyone can
look at those examples and reach the conclusion
that we might be able to be more efficient.
See H A LES, page 4
Inside
Where the flu
Sallie Ford and
Vendor Profile
hits hardest
the Sound
Luke Sensei shares
a little peace with
every paper
Outside
Doctors witness the
harsh consequences
o f being homeless
with the flu
Portland’s rock ‘n
roll geek girl
Page 3
Page 8
A talk with
Page 6