Page 4
April 26, 2017
City Matters
on its increasingly expensive real
estate, Wheeler said.
$2,900 to $4,500, depending on the
“If we’re really serious about
size of the housing unit.
housing affordability, then we
The measure, which will only need to go down that road,”
last through October is part of Wheeler asserts.
emergency reprieve granted to
low and middle-income renters
in the city. Wheeler says that his
soon-to-be-released Fiscal Year
2018 budget will be reflective of
longer-term solutions for abetting
the housing crisis.
The mayor would like to see
more regulatory wiggle room for
future housing developments win-
ning city approval, insisting that
zoning rules can be loosened up to
aid developers who are attempt-
ing to create more housing. By
The mayor is bracing for little
allowing more structures such as immediate help on housing from
duplexes to be constructed within state and federal resources. He
single residence zones, for exam- said the Trump Administration in
ple, the city can maximize usage Washington, D.C. has clearly sig-
c ontinued froM f ront
naled its support for cutting feder-
al funds for low-income assistance
programs. A budget crisis affect-
ing Oregon state government also
limits new funding options.
“I don’t want to be one of those
politicians who paints a doom
and gloom view,” Wheeler said,
“but the truth is, there’s very little
reason for optimism beyond City
anti-gang task force at the Police
Bureau’s North Precinct on Friday
and helped dedicate a Rotary Club
of Portland Peace Pole at the pre-
cinct, said changes to police use of
force policies and other changes to
root out bias in the system must be
approached holistically.
“It’s got to go beyond the struc-
ture, to the culture of the organiza-
My job as mayor isn’t to create this unattainable
vision of what policing will look like in the future.
It’s being consistent in terms of stating what our
values are, and making sure that our practices are
consistent with those values.
-- Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler
Hall. The federal government is
not going to be supportive of the
interests of people with lower in-
comes and their housing issues.”
Wheeler, who also attended the
Community Peace Cooperative’s
tion,” he explained.
The aim is to give Portland the
most diverse administration in the
history of city government which
will ultimately help run the city
more effectively, Wheeler said.
“I believe I have achieved that
objective in terms of having a
great leadership team that actual-
ly can relate to and understand the
issues in our community,” he said.
Reforming the city’s police
bureau to address bias, officer
involved shootings and other is-
sues, has presented Wheeler with
a unique challenge, he said.
“My job as mayor isn’t to cre-
ate this unattainable vision of
what policing will look like in the
future,” Wheeler says, “It’s being
consistent in terms of stating what
our values are, and making sure
that our practices are consistent
with those values.”
Wheeler explains that while in-
creasing diversity in the Portland
Police Bureau is a key component
of success, other reforms which
would make young people of col-
or feel more comfortable in law
enforcement presents a unique
challenge.
The city is currently reviewing
the police bureau’s use of force
guidelines, and the mayor sup-
ports creating clearer expectations
and guidelines for how officers
will engage with citizens in future
confrontations.
“Those standards are under re-
view right now, and we have so-
licited community input,” he said.
Wheeler recently imposed
some of his own new rules on de-
corum at City Council meetings
hoping to help protestors safely
express their First Amendment
rights while limiting disruptions
on the council’s agenda.
“Civil disobedience, the right
to assemble, the right to express
discontent with government is
fundamental to American democ-
racy,” said the mayor. “I support
that 100 percent.”
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