Page A3
January 28. 2 0 0 9
Fritz Stays Close to Her Activist Roots
New city commissioner outlines
long-term ambitions, strategies
by J ake T homas
T hf . P ori i . and O bserver
W hen A m anda Fritz made her first
foray into local governm ent in 1996 by
accepting an offer to join Portland Plan­
ning Com m ission, som e o f her friends
w ondered if she'd gone to the "dark
side."
W hen she further deepened her civic
involvem ent by running for and being
elected to City C ouncil, Fritz found her­
self assuaging the same anxieties am ong
the com m unity activists she used to run
with.
''They're trusting that I'm not going
to suddenly becom e an evil person,"
she said. "Not that anyone in the city is
an evil person."
In an exclusive interview with the
Portland O bserver, Fritz talked about
her am bitions and strategies as one o f
City Hall's new est additions, and her
strenuous efforts to keep from straying
from her neighborhood activist roots.
Fritz was assigned the O ffice o f H u­
man Relations, a relatively recent office
that is geared toward im proving- am ong
other things- race relations. Because
the office is so new its purview isn't
com pletely fleshed out.
Fritz said the office has a clear scope
over civil rights issues and outreach into
thecom m unity, but isn't sure exactly what
will be done with the office, since it de­
pends to an extent on what policies the
City Council wants it to enact.
H ow ever, one o f the biggest chal­
lenges facing all appendages o f City
Hall is an increasingly com m on one:
falling revenues. Fritz said that revenues
from busin ess licen ses have fallen
sharply and the city has less to work
with. O verall, the city is facing a $6.4
m illion budget shortfall.
C urrently tw o out o f four positions in
the O ffice o f H um an relations are un­
funded.
"That greatly influences w hat that
office can do," she said.
Fritz said she is concerned that the
city may cut some program s that don't
produce im m ediately tangible results,
but are invaluable in the long term.
"Feeling safe isn't necessarily a quan­
tifiable m easurem ent," said Fritz.
She points to a program funded by
Amanda Fritz
the city and m anaged by the N ortheast
Coalition o f N eighbors to alleviate gang
violence. Fritz argued that the recent
g an g -related shootings dem onstrate
how crucial it is for the city to think long
term in making budget decisions.
"I'm going to w ant to look at every-
thing. It is going to be very challenging
to decide the relative merit o f all these
w orthy programs," said Fritz.
Fritz was also assigned the Office of
Cable Com m unications and Franchise,
which negotiates service agreements
with telecommunications companies for
consum ers.
Unlike many other city agencies, this
office actually generates revenue for the
city. Fritz explained that she hopes to use
the office to squeeze as much money out
o f telecommunications companies as
possible to help with the revenue short­
fall. Recently the office came up with a
$4< X),(X X) settlement with a company, which
will add to starved city coffers.
"1 want them to continue pursuing
that," she said.
Fritz moved to Portland in the 1980s
with her husband and worked as a psy­
chiatric nurse at OHSU. She was a long­
time com m unity activist. In 2006 she
was the first person to qualify for public
cam paign financing, a recent initiative
that gives qualifying candidates access
Fritz on Obama: ‘A Beacon of Hope’
PortlandCity Commissioner Amanda
Fritz celebrated the inauguration of
President Barack Obama while looking
at the city’s own progress for equality
and justice.
“He'sabeaconofhope," said Fritz of
Obama. "There's a sense of accom­
plishment that that we have taken a
huge step to get over some of our
historical barriers for African Ameri­
cans and people o f color."
Fritz grew up in Britain, but still has
memories o f the seeing the country's
ow n bi and o f racism. She remembers
people being historically disadvantaged
as well because o f the color o f their skin.
Fritz is only tlie seventh woman to
ever serve on Portland's City Council.
She said that she keeps her son's bas­
ketball jersey with Fritz and the number
"7" on the wall.
" I'm really proud to be the 7th woman
on the council," she said. "It shouldn't
be that unusual."
She added that it is also regrettable
that “w e’ve only had two people of
color on the council in 157 years.”
to public money to run her campaign.
Arm ed with $150,(XX) in public funds,
she made her first bid for city council
running against Dan Saltzman.
U nsuccessful, she made another bid
last year (also with public financing).
She ran another shoe leather campaign.
She knocked on doors, pounded the
pavement, worked m arathon days and
visited every neighborhood in the city.
Her efforts paid off. She w on with 70
percent o f the vote.
T h ro u g h o u t the in terv iew , F ritz
stressed that she has gone to Herculean
ef forts to satisfy her City Hall responsi­
bilities and keep engaged with the pub­
lic. She continues to go out o f her way
to show up at com m unity m eetings and
keep her ear to the street.
However, there rem ains work to be
done.
"Part of our problem with citizen en­
gagem ent in Portland is that citizens
expect to show up at council at the last
hearing and talk for three minutes and
somehow that's going to change the
o u tco m e o f so m eth in g th at's been
worked on for two years," said Fritz.
She wants to citizens to have a better
handle on how city governm ent works
so that they can more effectively shape
the policy making process. She hopes
that even if a citizen doesn’t get their
desired outcom e, they'll at least under­
stand how and why adecision was made
and will be better prepared in the future.
Fritz hopes to accom plish this with
her meticulous work to stay i nformed on
the issues and a very wonky blog at
amandafritz.com.
Portland Mayor Goes Back to Work
(A P) -- M ayor Sam A dam s is
back but his spokesm an is gone.
A w eek after knocking P ort­
land for a loop by confessing that
he had a sexual relationship with
an 18-year-old and then lied about
it, A dam s returned to work at City
Hall M onday.
But the m ayor’s com m unica­
tions director, W ade N krum ah,
announced he w as resigning.
T he 48-year-old N krum ah de­
clined to com m ent on his rea­
sons, but said his departure was
voluntary and A dam s was disap­
pointed. A form er O regonian re­
porter, N krum ah said he has no
new jo b lined up.
M eanw hile, A dam s is project­
ing an air o f business as usual at
City Hall.
R eporters rushed to m eet him
as he w alked to w ard the C ity
C ouncil ch am b ers on M onday
m orning. H e said o nly that he
w as h appy to get back to w ork.
T he co u n c il m em b ers d is­
cu ssed the 1-5 brid g e p ro ject
and d id n ’t talk about last w eek ’s
ev en ts, w hich included calls for
A d am s to resig n and d ay s o f
s e c lu s io n d u rin g w h ic h the
m ay o r said he co n su lte d w ith
frien d s an d ad v isers ab o u t his
future.
A fter m eeting w ith council
members on Saturday, Adams said
Sunday he w ould not resign.
At the beginning o f his cam ­
paign for m ayor in 2(X)7, Adams
denied he had a sexual relation-
ship w ith a 17-year-old legislative
intern. But A dam s adm itted last
week that they had sex after the
young man turned 18 and tried to
cover it up.
The scandal has resulted in an
investigation by the Oregon A t­
torney General.
Michael Sweeten (from
left), Michael Hearn and
Chris Skrapits attend a
Friday night rally supporting
Portland Mayor Sam
Adams. (AP Photo)
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