Commentary
Page 13
Nick Fish: My yeai r-end report to the community
BY NICK FISH
who’s struggling.
Supportive housing isn’t cheap. It costs
’ve had the honor of serving on the
around $60 per night But the cost of not
Portland City Council for nearly a
doing something is even higher - $210 per
decade. At the end of each year, I share
night for a bed in Multnomah County Jail,
a report with the community. You can read $500 for an emergency room visit, or $900
the full report on my website,
for a night at the hospital.
portlandoregon.gov/fish. But I wanted to
A recent report by consulting firm
take this opportunity to highlight a few key
ECONorthwest independently confirmed
issues that may be of interest to Street
that supportive housing is the best tool to
Roots readers - housing, climate change
address chronic homelessness, and we’re
and the arts.
making steady progress toward our goal.
Arts and Culture
C O N T R I B U T I N G C O L U M N IS T
I
N ick Fish is the
commissioner in
charge o f Portland
Parks and Recreation
and the Bureau o f
Environm ental
Services.
Housing
Affordable housing is the reason I first
ran for City Council, and it continues to be
my highest priority. The market is not ‘
meeting the needs of too many Portlanders
- older adults on a fixed income, low-income
families, minimum-wage workers, and the
formerly homeless.
I believe government’s role is to step in
arid fill the gaps that the market will never
serve. That’s why I helped to lead the Metro
housing bond campaign that voters
overwhelmingly passed in November. It will
mean an additional $652.8 million for
affordable housing in the metro region. And
the passage of companion Measure 102
allows us to stretch those dollars by
partnering with trusted nonprofit
developers.
, A special tbank you to( $treet Roots, for ,
being a champion for the Metro bond!
Last year, at my urging, Portland and
Multnomah County adopted a shared goal of
2,000 additional units of supportive housing
in 10 years. Supportive housing combines
deeply affordable and safe homes with
intensive services for people struggling with
mental illness and/or addiction.
About two-thirds of the people in our
community living outside report having a
mental illness, suffering from addiction,
facing a chronic medical condition, or a
combination of the three.
A little over a year ago, I learned I have
abdominal cancer. Cancer doesn’t
discriminate. But I’m one of the lucky ones
- good health insurance, great doctors and
nurses at the OHSU Knight Cancer
Institute, a loving and supportive family and
community, and a safe roof over my head.
Imagine fighting cancer while living on
the street. It’s a lethal combination -
homelessness coupled with a chronic
illness. And it helps to explain why 79
people died on our streets in 2017.
That’s where supportive housing plays an
important role. Having a safe place to call
home can be the difference for someone
Climate Change
I am deeply committed to both preparing
our community for climate change and
bringing more nature into the city. As
Commissioner-in-Charge of Portland Parks
& Recreation and the Bureau of
Environmental Services (BES), I am
working to strengthen the alignment
between these two “green” bureaus.
Working with the Army Corps of
Engineers, Parks and BES are welcoming
native salmon back to our city. For the first
time in nearly 100 years, salmon in the
Willamette River will be able to use Oaks
Bottom Wildlife Refuge as an important rest
stop on their journey. That’s because we
replaced a small pipe with a new “salmon
subway” - a large, natural-bottom culvert.
This is our second “salmon sanctuary”
project, following asuccessful collaboration
at Crystal Springs in Southeast ^Portland.
I’m proud to report that salmon can be
found in almost half of Portland’s 300 miles
of streams. In 2019, we’ll be working to add
a third salmon sanctuary - Tryon Creek.
Last year, the BES launched an innovative
venture to turn waste into clean energy
while earning money for our ratepayers. We
call it “poop to power.”
Here’s how it works: every year, BES
processes over 30 billion gallons of
wastewater. A natural byproduct of sewage
treatment is methane, a potent greenhouse
gas. For years, the City has been capturing
a portion of this methane gas to produce
electricity. The rest gets burned and
released into the atmosphere. When the
project is fully up and running next year,
we’re going to capture that methane,
convert it fo renewable natural gas to fuel
the city’s vehicles and sell the surplus to
NW Natural.
That means we’ll replace over 1 million
gallons of dirty diesel fuel with renewable
natural gas, eliminate 21,000 tons of ‘
greenhouse gasses, and generate upwards
of $3 million for our ratepayers - every
year. A triple win!
I’m passionate about arts and culture.
They are important to our local economy
and our brand, they inspire us, and they
make our community special.
This year, City Council
adopted, and we began
implementing, a plan to
address arts affordability -
responding to the rapid
growth and housing crisis
that is displacing artists
and arts organizations. The
goal is to protect and
expand affordable arts
spaces through
collaborative, proactive
action by the City, private
and non-profit developers,
community groups, and
artists.
I worked with my
Council colleagues to
secure an early win -
hiring an arts concierge
service team in the Bureau
of Development Services.
The team will help artists
navigate the unique ,
building codes that apply
to them. We are also
exploring ways to
showcase and support local
artists through Portland
Parks & Recreation. And we’re developing a
universal permit for film and TV
productions, streamlining the process and
strengthening our reputation as a great
place to do business.
c c Supportive
housing isn’t cheap.
It costs around $60
per night, But the
cost of not doing
something is even
higher - $210 per
night for a bed in
Multnomah County
Jail, $500 for an
emergency room'
visit, or $900 for a
night at the hospital.
Conclusion
I’m proud to share this news with you,
but it’s only a small part of what our city has
accomplished over the past year.
We launched a partnership with nonprofit
Project SEARCH to create opportunities
and job experience for people with
intellectual disabilities. We invested in safer
streets and lowered speed limits on
residential streets. We recognized small
businesses who are going the extra mile to
support older adults. And we joined trusted
partners DePaul Treatment Centers and
Cascade AIDS Project in calling for renewed
public investment in inclusive and accessible
healthcare.
It is an honor to serve as your City
Commissioner. Thank you, and happy
holidays.
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