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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2018)
August 29, 2018 Page 15 ‘I can win this’ C ontinued from P age 14 Portland and for policies that en- courage city employees to reside in the city or work from home to help reduce automobile conges- tion. She’s also advocated for more sidewalks and crosswalks be built in outer east Portland, which has suffered historically from a lack of public infrastructure and transit. Smith has refrained from fully backing an I-5 Rose Quarter free- way project until a state environ- mental assessment on the expan- sion is completed. One of the proposals calls for expanding the freeway in a key area around the Rose Quarter where traffic congestion is heavy, in lieu of adding tolls there, which Smith said may disproportionate impact communities of color. She added that safe and varied trans- portation options for all are high on her priority list. “I want a multi-modal approach to transportation with more op- portunities for pedestrians and for biking opportunities and ways for vehicles to expand,” Smith said. On the issue of policing, Smith calls for better cultural sensitivity training of police officers so that they are better equipped to inter- act with people of color, people that have mental health issues, and people with other challenges. She lauded Police Chief Danielle Outlaw for implementing training against bias in May. In addition to her eight years of experience as a county commis- sioner, Smith was an assistant to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., for more than 20 years. She worked her way up from a receptionist to a field representative for Mult- nomah County while raising her son in northeast Portland. Her dad was an acclaimed boxer and her mom, a union auto worker. Smith, now a grandmother herself, is a third generation Portlander. Many prominent African Amer- ican community leaders have en- dorsed Smith, an alliance that has held strong during her entire polit- ical career. Smith boasts the endorsements of a controversial firing of a prom- inent African American county health supervisor, Tricia Tillman, last year. More than a dozen oth- er county employees’ testimonies around that time also cited racism involving county personnel. Smith herself was the subject of a county investigation that alleged wrong way. “I’d be the first person to stand up for someone who is in trouble.” Though Smith denies having bullied anyone on her staff, she took it upon herself to incorporate sensitivity training in her office, including for herself, and to make it clear that open communication regarding conflicts should be dis- cussed civilly by both parties, an approach she said she’ll continue as a city commissioner. “We don’t ever want anyone Photo by d anny P eterson /t he P ortland o bserver Wanda Coleman discusses the issues with Portland City Council Candidate Loretta Smith at the Beech Street Block Party in northeast Portland Thursday. Smith, currently Multnomah County Commissioner, has been attending community gatherings like this throughout the summer, hearing from constituents in her race for a seat on the Portland City Council. of every sitting black legislator in the state, including state senators Jackie Winters, James Manning and Lew Frederick, who rep- resents north and northeast Port- land. Included in the list are for- mer black lawmakers Avel Gordly and Margaret Carter. Black lead- ers defended Smith when she ac- cused the county of systemic rac- ism, and following the aftermath she bullied her staff with deroga- tory remarks about their ethnicity and gender. The claims were un- substantiated, Smith said, but she expressed regret for anyone she may have inadvertently offended. “I had no intention of making anybody feel uncomfortable or hurt their feelings and I apologize for that,” Smith said, adding that her passionate and animated na- ture can sometimes get taken the to feel uncomfortable at all,” she said. Smith also boasts the endorse- ments of many labor unions and advocates of workforce develop- ment. She wants to create more ways for women and minority business- es to access capital, especially in the tech industry. Among some of Smith’s ac- complishments as county commis- sioner was creating the Summer Works program, a jobs generator for high-schoolers that boasted over 600 jobs in its latest iteration. The program was created after Smith held a listening session of African American men, ages 12 to 74, in part to help mitigate com- munity violence from gangs. “I’ve never seen a kid doing a drive-by on their way to work,” she said. Smith also facilitated the con- tinuation of an elderly care pro- gram, called Project Indepen- dence, that helped seniors age gracefully in their homes; backed a program providing housing for homeless youth utilizing rental and transitional housing assistance to families; and helped develop an ordinance to declare Multnomah County as a “sanctuary county” to support immigrants and refugees. As the only second Afri- can-American County Commis- sioner in history, Smith also paid homage to her predecessor, the late Gladys McCoy, by naming the entire county Health Depart- ment building after the pioneering black public official. A plaque in- side honoring McCoy was created to inspire other young people of color who may have dreams of running for public office one day, Smith said. “I know it so important for young people to see people of col- or who have done things and to be reminded that they left a legacy in this community,” she added. Smith said diversity in public office is one way to ensure com- munities of color can feel heard. “When people see me they feel like think they have a voice. They have someone that can relate to them and that will listen to their concerns. That’s why I’m excited and inspired about being at City Hall because it’s going to be a new front door with Councilwom- an Smith. People are going to feel like they have access and that they can come in and talk,” she said.