Ideas
continued from page 11
“In issues, programs, policies and priorities
that most impact the African American com-
munity, and other communities of color, I
know I need advice, wisdom, criticism, and
advocacy to get it right,’ she says. “I’ve tried
to welcome and absorb that advice in my
public and private life.”
Fritz’ record on equity is crystal clear:
Despite massive opposition to creation of a
citywide Office of Equity and Civil Rights –
even from her own fellow city commission-
ers – she eventually persuaded the rest of the
council to back her big idea, which is: a
“one-stop” center for tackling racial issues in
City Hall that would help bird-dog the other
Eileen Brady at the Multnomah Youth Commission elections forum, where all
candidates were invited to meet with youth in breakout sessions.
The Hales campaign stresses that their can-
didate is “shovel-ready” – as a former City
Commissioner who was instrumental in
bringing more diversity to the Portland Fire
Bureau and is intimately acquainted with
how the city works, Hales, if elected, should
be able to just plug in and go.
“Charlie is the only candidate with a
proven track record of delivering results for
local schools, parks, streets. More important-
ly, he's the only candidate that has shown he
can bring diversity and equity in hiring to an
existing City Bureau - bringing real change
fire bureau when he last served on council,
pushing it into hiring more minorities and
women,” his campaign manager Jessica
Moskovitz said.
Hales’ biggest idea is to stop looking at
services and communities as completely sep-
arate – but rather to consider the whole city’s
services together.
“Speeches and promises can be inspiring,
but they don't run a city. My idea for Portland
is a city that serves all of its
communities -- uplifting our
neighborhoods, and not replac-
ing them - with functioning
parks, summer programs for
our kids, and affordable, acces-
sible services. I want to set the
stage for the next 20 years, with
a city government that reflects
and respects all of our resi-
dents,” Hales said.
Smith’s campaign did not
supply a comment by press
time, but by many measures
what really set him apart from the others is
his deadpan refusal to accept the Columbia
River Crossing Plan.
In our interviews with candidates, Smith
had a simple idea for how to address equity
issues of all kinds – creation of a citizen advi-
sory committee of his own for feedback on
his policies.
Portland City Council
The two Council races – for position #1
and #4 – couldn’t be more different.
In the first, Commissioner Amanda Fritz is
neck and neck against former state Rep.
Mary Nolan.
Nolan, a canny career politician, outlined
for The Skanner News detailed ideas about
police accountability (she would “prioritize
real change in recruitment, psychological
screening, initial training, ongoing training
and General Orders”).
She also strongly cast herself as a strong
leader who “gets things done.”
Cameron Whitten drew attention to
lack of representation at candidate
forums.
city bureaus on equity.
The incumbent is also strongly rooted in
local communities of color as well as the
immigrant and refugee communities – per-
haps the only contender for city office who
can say that besides Jeri Williams, a Native
City Commission candidate
Mary Nolan
American city employee who is running for
the #4 seat.
Not a career politician, Fritz has spent
much of her spare time attending community
events rather than hosting big-bucks
fundraisers.
The race for seat #4 is a fascinating one for
ideas, as frontrunner Steve Novick is so far
ahead of the contenders that he faces no real
opposition – and for that reason has had free
reign to brainstorm.
Novick – an attorney who made his name
successfully prosecuting a major corporation
in an industrial pollution case –says that
cleaning up the Superfund site in Portland
harbor may not be a good idea.
He also suggests a Portland-based health
reform effort that targets the individuals who
use up the most health care dollars by essen-
tially improving their health care services.
His idea about Measure 11 is similarly
thought-provoking: The state gives each
county a lump-sum budget for Public Safety,
including its prison system, forcing local law
enforcement and prosecutors to calculate the
actual costs of their incarceration rates.
May 9, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 13