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Lane Change · The Schmidt Show PDX

0:00
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0:58
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm Mike Schmidt, former Multnomah DA, pickleball enthusiast and part-time podcaster.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: Before she was a city councilor,
1:06
SPEAKER_01: she was Teacher Tiffany,
1:08
SPEAKER_01: 16 years in Portland Public Schools,
1:10
SPEAKER_01: a union leader,
1:11
SPEAKER_01: a fourth generation Japanese American,
1:13
SPEAKER_01: and the first Asian American woman ever elected to Portland city government.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: She spent the year before her election trading childcare with neighbors just
1:20
SPEAKER_01: to have long conversations on their porches about what District 3 actually needed.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: Since taking office,
1:26
SPEAKER_01: she's been the council's first ever vice president,
1:28
SPEAKER_01: and more recently, one of the loudest voices in the room telling a billionaire, no.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: When the city and the Trailblazers ownership handed counselors an NDA to sign
1:36
SPEAKER_01: before discussing a $600 million publicly funded arena renovation,
1:40
SPEAKER_01: she refused and posted about it,
1:42
SPEAKER_01: writing, public money deserves public accountability.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: And she voted against the term sheet when it came to council.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: But there's another side of her record that doesn't make the headlines.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: Just last week,
1:54
SPEAKER_01: council voted 12 to 0 to rename Cesar Chavez Boulevard to Campesinos Boulevard,
1:59
SPEAKER_01: legislation she co-sponsored with Councillor Loretta Smith.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: And it's one of a string of unanimous wins she's quietly built
2:06
SPEAKER_01: on sanctuary city protections,
2:07
SPEAKER_01: on anti-discrimination laws and art tax reform that complicate the easy,
2:12
SPEAKER_01: this council can't agree on anything narrative.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: And that narrative matters right now.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: A new survey out this week found only 31% of Portlanders feel represented by anyone
2:22
SPEAKER_01: on this council,
2:22
SPEAKER_01: which is down 10 points in a year with trust in the body sitting at just 39% and
2:28
SPEAKER_01: the impression of effectiveness at a low of 22%.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: So today, what actually goes into getting 12 strong-willed counselors to agree on something?
2:38
SPEAKER_01: Is unanimous the same as easy?
2:40
SPEAKER_01: And a year and a half into this new form of government,
2:42
SPEAKER_01: does she think Portlanders' skepticism is fair?
2:45
SPEAKER_01: But first,
2:46
SPEAKER_01: we turn once again to our trash news correspondent,
2:49
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor Jones, for our recurring segment called In the News.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor, fall is not only a change of the seasons.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: It brings us new TV, movies, and most importantly for me, football is back.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: What have you seen that caught your attention in the news this week?
3:08
SPEAKER_02: Wow, I am so glad you asked.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: So like you said, fall is football season for a lot of people.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: It's not football season for me because I don't really care about football.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: Football only comes to me when it penetrates other news,
3:21
SPEAKER_02: as in when football players are dating celebrities.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: So Aaron Rodgers is back in the news right now, which is usually not a very good sign.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: So what I learned about him is that he plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
3:34
SPEAKER_02: So knowing nothing about football, are the Pittsburgh Steelers a good team?
3:38
SPEAKER_01: No.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Is Aaron Rodgers an important player?
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Historically to the league,
3:44
SPEAKER_01: he's been an important player,
3:45
SPEAKER_01: but much like you,
3:46
SPEAKER_01: every time he ends up in the news,
3:48
SPEAKER_01: I cringe because he gives football and football players, I think, a bad name.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: Well,
3:55
SPEAKER_02: that's very interesting to know because one would think he's really important based
3:59
SPEAKER_02: on how often he's in the news,
4:01
SPEAKER_02: but I can't tell if it's because he's actually good or
4:04
SPEAKER_02: if he's just really irritating.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: It can be
4:09
SPEAKER_01: both, right?
4:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's great to be both.
4:11
SPEAKER_02: It's very entertaining to be both.
4:14
SPEAKER_02: He recently went on some podcast and put all of his celebrity ex-girlfriends
4:19
SPEAKER_02: on blast because he alleged that they always brought him up to get clicks when,
4:25
SPEAKER_02: of course, he is the one bringing them up in an interview.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: So his famous exes include Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick, and actress Shailene Woodley.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: Are you familiar with these people?
4:37
SPEAKER_01: The first two, I am.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: The last one, I'm sure if I saw a photo, I would know, but I'm not a huge celebrity name person.
4:43
SPEAKER_02: Well, your wife probably knows
4:44
SPEAKER_01: who she is.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm positive.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm sure she would.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: All right.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: So anyway,
4:47
SPEAKER_02: all of them have insinuated that he is basically a soul sucking narcissist
4:51
SPEAKER_02: that left them all emotionally depleted when it ended.
4:55
SPEAKER_02: That checks out.
4:55
SPEAKER_02: Right.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: So Shailene,
4:57
SPEAKER_02: who was engaged to him,
4:58
SPEAKER_02: said, this is a quote, I felt like I lost my soul, myself, my happiness, my joy.
5:04
SPEAKER_02: I knew I was depressed when I looked at a tree and felt nothing.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: So she's basically a wood nymph.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: So saying that she looked at a tree and saw nothing is really strong words.
5:15
SPEAKER_02: That's like me saying I looked at a couple gossiping in public and
5:18
SPEAKER_03: felt nothing.
5:21
SPEAKER_02: Rogers is now reportedly married to a woman named Brittany,
5:26
SPEAKER_02: despite the fact that nobody has ever seen this woman.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: She's just like Madonna.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: She's Brittany.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: It's yeah.
5:31
SPEAKER_02: Yes, exactly.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: No, it's more like my girlfriend lives in Canada vibes.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: So no one has ever seen her and there's no marriage record.
5:40
SPEAKER_02: So what little he has mentioned makes her pretty much just sound like a real girl doll.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: Is it possible that he was catfished?
5:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: Like maybe he is in this relationship and Brittany is a guy in Canada.
5:53
SPEAKER_02: That's very possible that he is.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
5:55
SPEAKER_02: For the sake of all the rest of the actual living human women out there,
5:58
SPEAKER_02: I hope that is the case.
5:59
SPEAKER_02: Let's hope so.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:01
SPEAKER_02: Fall is also a really big time for movies.
6:04
SPEAKER_02: So this is a time of year when studios kind of run the festival circuit to tee up
6:08
SPEAKER_02: the big movies that are going to come out on holiday season
6:11
SPEAKER_02: for Academy Award consideration.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh, and well, I mean,
6:15
SPEAKER_01: I personally always love Halloween movies and horror movies,
6:18
SPEAKER_01: so I'm sure there's a spate of those coming to us.
6:22
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: Those are not really in the same part of the Venn diagram as
6:25
SPEAKER_02: the Academy Award nominated for these.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: Scream didn't win an Academy Award.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: It should have.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: I know.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: But the big one out of the Venice Film Festival right now is
6:34
SPEAKER_02: a four hour long documentary about Elon Musk called Musk.
6:41
SPEAKER_02: Clever.
6:42
SPEAKER_02: Right.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: Four hours is definitely way longer than I would ever want to spend with Elon Musk.
6:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
6:48
SPEAKER_02: His dozens of children don't even spend that much time with him.
6:52
SPEAKER_02: What's cool about the movie, though,
6:53
SPEAKER_02: is that it does include a 10-minute intermission,
6:56
SPEAKER_02: which is nice,
6:56
SPEAKER_02: and I think that that's something that should take off with more movies.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: That's thoughtful.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: So hearing of this feature, Musk was like, 10 minutes?
7:02
SPEAKER_02: I could knock out visitations with 10 of my kids in that time.
7:07
SPEAKER_02: Musk didn't participate in the documentary,
7:11
SPEAKER_02: so instead, filmmakers used an AI-generated Musk to deliver Musk's own words.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: That seems fair.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: What's conflicting for me is that I really hate AI things,
7:22
SPEAKER_02: AI slop appearances, et cetera, but I also really hate Elon Musk.
7:26
SPEAKER_02: And so if you take out some Elon Musk and put in AI,
7:30
SPEAKER_02: is that better because it's less Eon or is it worse because it's more AI?
7:35
SPEAKER_01: This is like a chicken or the egg.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: It really is.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not going to watch the four hour movie to find out.
7:39
SPEAKER_02: So hopefully someone will tell me.
7:42
SPEAKER_02: And then speaking of AI,
7:44
SPEAKER_02: the founders of three leading AI companies came out over the weekend to say
7:48
SPEAKER_02: that they think that they need to slow down AI development
7:51
SPEAKER_02: before it threatens humanity.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: Right.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: We're all going to die within 10 years, perhaps.
7:57
SPEAKER_02: Totally.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: And so you can see a lot of situations where there have been movies about this kind
8:05
SPEAKER_02: of thing, but I really just go back to my favorite movie, which is Jurassic Park.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: And the founder being like, oh, and we have control again.
8:12
SPEAKER_02: And then Laura Dern's like, you'll never have control.
8:14
SPEAKER_02: That's the illusion.
8:16
SPEAKER_02: So that was in reference to fighting dinosaurs,
8:19
SPEAKER_02: where it kind of made sense that they wouldn't have control because you can't train
8:23
SPEAKER_02: a dinosaur.
8:24
SPEAKER_02: But AI, you can turn off.
8:28
SPEAKER_02: It's technology.
8:29
SPEAKER_02: There's got to be a switch.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: They're building all of these new data centers right now to make there be more AI.
8:35
SPEAKER_02: But if they stop building the data centers...
8:40
SPEAKER_02: There's just less.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: It's not like trying to control a dinosaur.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: I like the analogy, though,
8:45
SPEAKER_01: because remember the part in Jurassic Park where the raptors are testing the fences?
8:50
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, clever girl.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like AI is testing our fences.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: They have broken out of some jails.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: They are like...
8:56
SPEAKER_01: Face hugging.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: I don't I mean,
8:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't exactly know what that means,
9:00
SPEAKER_01: but I know that they like hacked into some other company or website or something and
9:04
SPEAKER_01: that they weren't supposed to be able to do that.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, the Jurassic Park is apt.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think when I think AI and movies,
9:12
SPEAKER_01: I, of course, go back to Terminator and I think, you know, that's my fear.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: But, you know,
9:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm also interested in this idea that it's it's the movies and the sci fi
9:23
SPEAKER_01: that are leading us instead of the other way around.
9:27
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, no, totally.
9:28
SPEAKER_02: And that is the way that it's going.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: They're definitely getting all of their ideas from Terminator,
9:33
SPEAKER_02: and instead of taking the bad lessons, they're like...
9:35
SPEAKER_01: They're like, that was awesome, though.
9:37
SPEAKER_02: Those are some really sick ideas.
9:40
SPEAKER_02: But just all of them complaining about how AI is getting out of control
9:44
SPEAKER_02: while still developing the technology to make it get out
9:47
SPEAKER_02: of control is very early COVID days when we're all complaining about gaining weight,
9:51
SPEAKER_02: but all we did was make bread.
9:53
SPEAKER_02: So they go hand in hand,
9:56
SPEAKER_02: and it just seems very insincere for me,
9:59
SPEAKER_02: for my ears to hear them complaining about it because they're the ones
10:02
SPEAKER_02: that are doing it.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: They're like,
10:03
SPEAKER_01: we're all going to die,
10:04
SPEAKER_01: but also I need to be leading this so I can make all the money and then die.
10:09
SPEAKER_02: All they need to do is just keep enough AI plugged in so
10:12
SPEAKER_02: that Aaron Rodgers can continue to have his fake girlfriend and leave the rest of
10:15
SPEAKER_02: the women alone.
10:16
SPEAKER_02: And then we'll be good.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: And then we're good.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor Jones.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor Jones, everybody.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: Eleanor, where can people find you?
10:22
SPEAKER_02: You can find me on the Portland Mercury, the trash report.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
10:26
SPEAKER_02: Thanks a lot.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: And now to our interview,
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Counselor Tiffany Koyama-Lane, Teacher Tiffany, welcome to The Schmidt Show.
10:32
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
10:33
SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having me.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm so excited to talk to you today.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: I've been following your tenure.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you are one of my representatives, D3.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: Which means you're one of my bosses.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: That's absolutely true.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that perspective.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Before we dive in to what it's been like,
10:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, City Council, we did a whole governmental revamp.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: You're the first of our new, I was going to say test case, but this is the way it's going to go.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: So it's not a test case.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: But I want to get into all of that.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: But before I do, I want to step back to before you were an elected official, you were a teacher.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: In fact, you're affectionately known as Teacher Tiffany.
11:13
SPEAKER_03: And I still am a teacher.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes people say I was a teacher.
11:15
SPEAKER_03: I am a dues paying member of my union still because of my union contract.
11:20
SPEAKER_03: I have I'm serving political leave right now.
11:22
SPEAKER_03: So my job in PPS is saved for me and I can go back to it.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: Oh, great.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: How long does that go on?
11:29
SPEAKER_03: It goes for four years at a time.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: Oh, fantastic.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: I didn't read and realize that.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: So you decided, though, to take political leave and to run for office.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: First time ever running for office?
11:41
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: And when you were elected the first time?
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Why'd you do that?
11:45
SPEAKER_03: Great question.
11:46
SPEAKER_03: Why you crazy person?
11:48
SPEAKER_03: I will say I said no to the idea of running for office dozens of times,
11:53
SPEAKER_03: probably close to like to 100 or over that because I love teaching
11:59
SPEAKER_03: and I have I'm one of those people who I knew literally at age seven what I wanted
12:05
SPEAKER_03: to do.
12:06
SPEAKER_03: So I had a really amazing teacher named Mrs. Laurent in second grade.
12:09
SPEAKER_03: I had a She spent a lot of time investing in me.
12:13
SPEAKER_03: And at age seven, little Tiffany, I was like,
12:25
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to be a teacher like Mrs. Laurent.
12:27
SPEAKER_03: And I didn't stray from that.
12:29
SPEAKER_03: I, like, volunteered in classrooms, in middle school, in high school.
12:33
SPEAKER_03: I went to the University of Oregon knowing they have a teaching program
12:35
SPEAKER_03: that I was going to do, the undergrad and grad program all together.
12:39
SPEAKER_03: And then there I went.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: Well, shout out Mrs. Laurent.
12:41
SPEAKER_03: Mrs. Laurent.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: And all the Ms. Lorents out there.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:45
SPEAKER_03: She changed my life.
12:46
SPEAKER_03: Incredible.
12:48
SPEAKER_03: Taught in classrooms for 17 years in Springfield, Oregon and New York City and Portland.
12:54
SPEAKER_03: And when people would ask me to run, I'd say like, why?
12:56
SPEAKER_03: I have a great job and kids are way more fun for me to be around all day than adults.
13:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
13:03
SPEAKER_03: And I people just kept asking.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: So why?
13:06
SPEAKER_01: Why?
13:06
SPEAKER_01: Why did 100 people?
13:07
SPEAKER_01: So I ran for district attorney, obviously, and I won.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: I will say 100 people didn't ask me to run the first time.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: So why?
13:15
SPEAKER_01: What is it about you that people are like, hey, you we need you there?
13:19
SPEAKER_03: Well, now I know now that I got I've gotten officially trained as an organizer, I got more.
13:25
SPEAKER_03: I'll explain how my union has been part of this.
13:28
SPEAKER_03: We I ended up seeing there was one slide when I was at my union and they're like,
13:32
SPEAKER_03: these are the people you're looking for people to recruit,
13:35
SPEAKER_03: to become stewards,
13:37
SPEAKER_03: to become building reps who have these kind
13:38
SPEAKER_03: of personalities like they bring people together.
13:41
SPEAKER_03: They stand up when things aren't.
13:43
SPEAKER_03: Check, check, check, check.
14:01
SPEAKER_03: Started to have a little bit more space in my life and got recruited
14:05
SPEAKER_03: to do more stuff with my union.
14:07
SPEAKER_03: And anyone who volunteers with a union or kind of volunteers in general,
14:12
SPEAKER_03: you know, like once you do one thing, people are like, ooh, come on in.
14:15
SPEAKER_03: We're going to like see how we.
14:16
SPEAKER_03: We can engage you.
14:17
SPEAKER_03: It is a little silly for me to say out loud now that I know I didn't know
14:22
SPEAKER_03: then how political unions are and how connected all of that was.
14:27
SPEAKER_03: I really was wanting to stand up for educators and help make sure that the parents
14:32
SPEAKER_03: in my class that they could have access and they could be fighting
14:36
SPEAKER_03: for what their kids deserve.
14:38
SPEAKER_03: But it was involvement with my union.
14:41
SPEAKER_03: It was getting recruited to collect signatures to get preschool for all on the ballot.
14:47
SPEAKER_03: And that's how I actually first got connected with DSA.
14:50
SPEAKER_03: It was like the kid centered marches that I helped lead with some other moms
14:55
SPEAKER_03: in southeast Portland that went on for the whole summer of 2020 and also in
14:58
SPEAKER_03: the summer of 2021.
15:00
SPEAKER_03: Like all of those things were happening around the same time.
15:02
SPEAKER_03: People kept being like, hey, you're doing a great job.
15:04
SPEAKER_03: You're bringing people together.
15:06
SPEAKER_03: We had one of those marches at Sunnyside that brought thousands of people.
15:10
SPEAKER_03: I don't love being on stage.
15:14
SPEAKER_03: I don't love this.
15:14
SPEAKER_03: I can do it.
15:15
SPEAKER_03: I've learned how to do it.
15:16
SPEAKER_03: But people were like,
15:17
SPEAKER_03: hey, you actually like you speak pretty well and you like make people feel good.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, part of that, I think, discomfort reads as authenticity to normal people.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: I think people who show up and they're very polished and very slick,
15:32
SPEAKER_01: people are like, hmm, something's not right.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: So I can see why that's appealing.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: You made the leap now.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: You've been in this job for over a year and a half.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: What was the biggest surprise or change from being a classroom teacher?
15:48
SPEAKER_01: And maybe what are the things are the same?
15:51
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm sure there are things that are the same.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: I know, again,
15:54
SPEAKER_01: from my experience,
15:55
SPEAKER_01: I've taught middle school for a couple of years in New Orleans,
15:58
SPEAKER_01: and then I And I went on to have a career in criminal law.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: And I felt like my teaching experience
16:04
SPEAKER_01: when I was up there teaching middle schoolers, it was a lot like talking to jurors.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: Like, let me explain to you this concept and try to teach.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: So what are the things that you've come across that you're like, you know what, this is similar.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: And actually, this is a lot different maybe than what you thought it would be.
16:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there are way more skills that I use,
16:26
SPEAKER_03: have used in my classroom that applied to City Hall than I could have ever imagined.
16:31
SPEAKER_03: A lot of those are connecting with people,
16:34
SPEAKER_03: relationship building,
16:36
SPEAKER_03: even helping people be able to name their emotions,
16:39
SPEAKER_03: being able to figure out what someone's unmet need might be.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: Seen a lot of emotions.
16:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
16:44
SPEAKER_03: And I think that folks...
16:47
SPEAKER_03: Oftentimes adults are afraid to just name that we have different emotions,
16:51
SPEAKER_03: but I mean,
16:52
SPEAKER_03: I've sat with a city councilor,
16:53
SPEAKER_03: I've sat with the mayor before, and I've asked, like, what are you feeling?
16:57
SPEAKER_03: Are you feeling upset?
16:58
SPEAKER_03: Are you feeling betrayed?
17:00
SPEAKER_03: And just to get folks to externalize that feeling is actually really powerful
17:04
SPEAKER_03: because then- You can maybe make your decision not just based on that.
17:10
SPEAKER_03: I am surprised.
17:11
SPEAKER_03: I really thought that I knew that I would have a steep learning curve changing jobs.
17:15
SPEAKER_03: I thought that it was going to be mostly around like,
17:18
SPEAKER_03: how am I going to know how to vote on this land?
17:20
SPEAKER_03: Right.
17:36
SPEAKER_03: I lean on experts.
17:37
SPEAKER_03: I look at data.
17:38
SPEAKER_03: I get briefed.
17:39
SPEAKER_03: And then I can use all of that different information and listen to people
17:43
SPEAKER_03: that have dedicated their whole career to this certain specific topic
17:47
SPEAKER_03: that we're voting on to make my decisions.
17:51
SPEAKER_03: But for me,
17:52
SPEAKER_03: I definitely had the steepest learning curve and just I'm kind of the only
17:57
SPEAKER_03: if I'm not one of the only ones who...
18:00
SPEAKER_03: Really came as an outsider into this.
18:03
SPEAKER_03: When I won in 2024 in the fall,
18:05
SPEAKER_03: I had a third grade classroom that I was teaching in and I had to be like,
18:09
SPEAKER_03: okay, class.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Substitute teacher tomorrow.
18:12
SPEAKER_03: We kind of knew what was going to happen.
18:13
SPEAKER_03: So we knew like teacher Simon, he had been like shadowing, he's going to take over.
18:18
SPEAKER_03: But it was like the culture.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: Tell me about your students.
18:20
SPEAKER_01: How excited were they when they found out that you won?
18:23
SPEAKER_03: Really excited.
18:23
SPEAKER_03: And they still are.
18:24
SPEAKER_03: They still are.
18:25
SPEAKER_03: There's a wishing tree outside of Sunnyside Environmental School.
18:28
SPEAKER_03: Someone sent me a picture of a wishing tag.
18:31
SPEAKER_03: Like, do you know what a wishing tree is?
18:32
SPEAKER_03: It's like you can put your wishes on it.
18:34
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
18:34
SPEAKER_03: And there's a book that is connected to it.
18:37
SPEAKER_03: But someone sent me a picture of one from one of my former students that says,
18:40
SPEAKER_03: I wish that one day I can have the courage to do something like Teacher Tiffany
18:43
SPEAKER_03: and run for office or something like that.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: Inspiring the next generation of our leaders.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you, it's a new form of government, new job to you.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: A lot of big questions and issues have come before you already,
19:00
SPEAKER_01: and we're going to jump right into those pretty quick here.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: But how do you de-stress?
19:04
SPEAKER_01: You have a nine-year-old, you have an 11-year-old.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm a parent myself,
19:08
SPEAKER_01: and I remember there aren't a lot of extra hours in the day between the job and
19:13
SPEAKER_01: then especially now you're in campaign season.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: That's a job on top of the job.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: And then you've got family.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: What does teacher Tiffany time look like?
19:21
SPEAKER_01: How do you get a little space to kind of recharge batteries?
19:25
SPEAKER_03: If I have time, I do love to do puzzles.
19:27
SPEAKER_03: I find them very soothing.
19:28
SPEAKER_03: Oftentimes my office has a puzzle going.
19:30
SPEAKER_03: And then if some of my other colleagues on council come and visit my office,
19:34
SPEAKER_03: they like to do the puzzle together.
19:36
SPEAKER_03: I also love coloring books and I like doing them with my kids or even by myself,
19:40
SPEAKER_03: like the little adult coloring books.
19:43
SPEAKER_03: Those are a few things I do.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think that's so important to keep that time and just recharge.
19:48
SPEAKER_03: I'm also running the Portland Half Marathon, I think.
19:51
SPEAKER_03: Oh, you're crazy.
19:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:52
SPEAKER_03: So I signed up for that because I was like,
19:54
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to really schedule something that I am going to have to take some time.
19:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: All right.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: Time for the hard hitting questions.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: You ready?
20:28
SPEAKER_01: You ready to jump in?
20:30
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about the Moda Center.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: You know, in fact, I don't want to talk about the Moda Center.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Let's start there.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: But we are going to talk about the Moda Center because it probably has been one of
20:39
SPEAKER_01: the most high profile,
20:41
SPEAKER_01: certainly,
20:41
SPEAKER_01: and maybe one of the most consequential issues that's come in front
20:45
SPEAKER_01: of this young city council.
20:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: So at the very beginning of this kind of quest to figure out what
20:54
SPEAKER_01: the city would invest,
20:57
SPEAKER_01: early on,
20:57
SPEAKER_01: it came out that some city councilors were asked to sign an NDA,
21:01
SPEAKER_01: a non-disclosure agreement.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: You refused to sign that.
21:06
SPEAKER_03: Right.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: Why?
21:07
SPEAKER_03: I did.
21:08
SPEAKER_03: Because part of what I could see, I mean,
21:10
SPEAKER_03: even backing up a year before that,
21:13
SPEAKER_03: I could see that there were conversations about public funds going to
21:17
SPEAKER_03: the Moda Center.
21:18
SPEAKER_03: I kept saying a year before that, hey,
21:19
SPEAKER_03: if you're really going to do this,
21:20
SPEAKER_03: I think we need We need to just be really honest with the public
21:23
SPEAKER_03: and let's just lay it all out, get people's feedback.
21:26
SPEAKER_03: Maybe even some people will come along if you do that.
21:29
SPEAKER_03: But at that point,
21:30
SPEAKER_03: when folks wanted me to be at that table,
21:34
SPEAKER_03: when the council president and mayor were open to me being part of that process,
21:40
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I said, I'm willing to do it.
21:41
SPEAKER_03: They know that I'm the union member on council, dues pay union member, public school teacher.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: And if they could get me kind of on board with it,
21:50
SPEAKER_03: probably some of my colleagues and many other people would be interested that I was
21:54
SPEAKER_03: on board.
21:55
SPEAKER_03: But I was like,
21:56
SPEAKER_03: if I'm going to be doing this work,
21:57
SPEAKER_03: I want to be able to actually be transparent with the public because
22:00
SPEAKER_03: that is what people are really upset about,
22:02
SPEAKER_03: that the Senate bill was really hastily pushed through,
22:07
SPEAKER_03: that constituents felt pretty blindsided by that happening.
22:11
SPEAKER_03: And for me,
22:11
SPEAKER_03: just I mean,
22:12
SPEAKER_03: my core values as a public school teacher,
22:14
SPEAKER_03: I saw that the state legislature chose to not lift the cap on funds
22:17
SPEAKER_03: for special education.
22:18
SPEAKER_03: There wasn't money for that, but there's money to remodel the Moda Center.
22:25
SPEAKER_03: And I understand that.
22:25
SPEAKER_03: My husband has been cheering for the Blazers since he was a
22:40
SPEAKER_03: And so have my two sons and they know everything about the Blazers.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: And also they, you know, I've been in classrooms where ceiling tiles fall literally on kids.
22:51
SPEAKER_03: And I've been in the Moda Center and I understand the importance of it.
22:54
SPEAKER_03: I don't want the Blazers to leave,
22:56
SPEAKER_03: but I mean,
22:56
SPEAKER_03: it just stuff was not adding up when I can see so many other assets
23:00
SPEAKER_03: that we're not taking care of and remodeling.
23:02
SPEAKER_03: And so for me, it was also just like We need more transparency.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: That's not okay.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate that so much.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think this is going to keep coming up.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: And I've seen across the country and even locally,
23:18
SPEAKER_01: NDAs being talked about for counselors considering data centers, for example.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's the resolution I'm bringing.
23:24
SPEAKER_03: It's coming to council this week.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, we're going to have another conversation about that.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: And I think, I imagine most people listening to this would be like, yeah, absolutely.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: This is government.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: This is not a private corporation.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: Like we have a right, like you said, I'm your boss as a constituent of D3.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: I have a right to know what are you looking at to help make your decision.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: So I really appreciate that.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: And I want to lift up.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: It's not an easy decision because I'm sure that you had supporters and constituents
23:57
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate your stance on this, but boy, we want your voice at that table.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: And there's a saying that I think many people know that I really like, right?
24:05
SPEAKER_01: If you're not at the dinner table, you might be on the menu, right?
24:08
SPEAKER_01: And so that was a hard decision for you, I imagine.
24:11
SPEAKER_03: It was a hard decision, but I also knew if I was publicly saying, hey, I can't sign an NDA.
24:18
SPEAKER_03: Most of my constituents are also telling me that NDAs don't seem appropriate
24:22
SPEAKER_03: for public officials to be signing.
24:24
SPEAKER_03: Totally.
24:26
SPEAKER_03: That I think it would I realized it would be hard for them.
24:29
SPEAKER_03: It would make it also hard for other counselors to sign NDAs.
24:32
SPEAKER_03: And so the process did have to change.
24:33
SPEAKER_03: And moving back even a few months before I was asked to sign the NDA,
24:37
SPEAKER_03: there was a letter that I was the only one on council that didn't sign
24:40
SPEAKER_03: that said we apply.
24:40
SPEAKER_03: I'm not ready to applaud the Senate bill for passing at the state legislature.
24:44
SPEAKER_03: And I just said, that does not feel genuine to me, does not align to my values.
24:48
SPEAKER_03: I'm not ready to actually applaud because you pass that
24:51
SPEAKER_03: without putting any strings attached to it.
24:53
SPEAKER_03: So my role in this whole thing is, you know, I know I can count the votes.
24:58
SPEAKER_03: I know that I knew it was going to happen.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: I want to get to that because the vote did happen.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: And as you're foreshadowing, you knew which way that this was likely to go.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: Council ended up voting to approve the term sheet that they sent eight to four.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: You were in the no side of that equation.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Why did you vote no on the city putting in the dollars for the Moda Center?
25:26
SPEAKER_01: And what would a deal have looked like perhaps that you would have voted yes on?
25:31
SPEAKER_03: I've been really clear from the beginning that I need to see
25:34
SPEAKER_03: the owners add something to the capital stack.
25:37
SPEAKER_03: And I've been hearing as I talk to voters,
25:39
SPEAKER_03: hear them saying, we want to see that they have skin in the game too.
25:42
SPEAKER_03: We want to see them put in some money,
25:44
SPEAKER_03: not just the county, not just the city, not just the city.
25:47
SPEAKER_03: So I've been really clear on that.
25:48
SPEAKER_03: And so I knew going into that vote that I was a no vote.
25:51
SPEAKER_03: And I will say there were different amendments coming around
25:55
SPEAKER_03: and we weren't actually sure what that was going to look like.
25:57
SPEAKER_03: It was possible that I was going to be the only no vote.
25:59
SPEAKER_03: It was helpful that I had that clear reason why I was going to vote no.
26:04
SPEAKER_03: And I also have been very clear with the mayor and council president from
26:09
SPEAKER_03: the beginning that My goal,
26:12
SPEAKER_03: because I can see the votes,
26:14
SPEAKER_03: I knew that this was going to happen from the beginning.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: But my goal was for us to make this as best of a deal as possible.
26:20
SPEAKER_03: And that term sheet did get a lot better.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: And I've been clear with our council presidents have said,
26:24
SPEAKER_03: hey, if you need to be like, look at that.
26:26
SPEAKER_03: Oh, sorry.
26:27
SPEAKER_03: Billionaire Tom Dundon.
26:28
SPEAKER_03: I got this like teacher union unionists like on council,
26:32
SPEAKER_03: like we're going to really need to make sure that we have labor protections.
26:36
SPEAKER_03: We're really going to have to make sure that there's a real ROI for the people.
26:40
SPEAKER_03: Use me in this bargaining.
26:42
SPEAKER_03: I know contracts.
26:43
SPEAKER_03: I'm, you know, involved in my union.
26:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
26:46
SPEAKER_03: And I know that you need to have a starting point that's really strong
26:49
SPEAKER_03: and not just come to the table super thirsty,
26:51
SPEAKER_03: like we'll give you anything just because you're threatening to leave.
26:54
SPEAKER_03: And I was the one that actually just read the bridge lease and said,
26:56
SPEAKER_03: oh, they can't leave till 2030.
26:57
SPEAKER_03: Oh, hey,
26:58
SPEAKER_03: do you guys see that it's actually the owner's job for keeping this building
27:01
SPEAKER_03: in first class condition?
27:03
SPEAKER_03: Let's just.
27:04
SPEAKER_03: Make sure the public can know these things.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I remember when that came out from the dais that you were saying, hey, look,
27:09
SPEAKER_01: they actually have to,
27:10
SPEAKER_01: what is it, first class condition they have to keep the Moda Center in?
27:13
SPEAKER_03: Can I also say that there are members of council who were going to vote yes for this
27:17
SPEAKER_03: the whole time,
27:17
SPEAKER_03: and they came up to me at the end of this and they said,
27:20
SPEAKER_03: we really appreciate how you've shown up in this, that you're not like...
27:24
SPEAKER_03: Trying to blow everything up, but you're trying to make sure that it's a really good deal.
27:28
SPEAKER_03: And we appreciate how principled you've been.
27:31
SPEAKER_03: You have a very principled stance and your vote is very principled.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, I appreciate hearing that.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: I think that's an important vignette for folks to hear because there's
27:39
SPEAKER_01: the perception, I think, that is popularized.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: I think the media always loves to say pit one group against the other, right?
27:48
SPEAKER_01: And so there's this perception of divided council and non-collegiality.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: And to be fair, we've seen some of that play out publicly.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: But it's nice to hear that actually behind the scenes, there's human movement.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: All right.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Well, so thank you for that.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for, you know, you did your homework.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: That's what I take away from that.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: You did the reading,
28:09
SPEAKER_01: you showed up, you asked the right questions and you didn't take things for granted.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: So.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: Let's take a quick break there for a short word from our sponsors.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: A quick word from our show sponsor,
28:20
SPEAKER_01: Dr. Adam Moret at Corbett Hill Wellness Center, people I know and trust.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Dr. Moret from Corbett Hill Wellness Center.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: My vision for Corbett Hill has always been simple,
28:29
SPEAKER_00: to give our community a place for whole person care with people they can trust.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Today, we offer chiropractic,
28:35
SPEAKER_00: massage,
28:36
SPEAKER_00: acupuncture, naturopathic medicine, laser treatment, shockwave therapy, and more.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Different kinds of care with one goal.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Corbett Hill Wellness Center.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: I think people genuinely want to understand.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: Some people are hearing a lot of the scare tactics that are being thrown out there.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: Maybe definitely in other parts of the country, some of the national Republicans.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: Talking points is all about,
29:23
SPEAKER_01: oh, you know, everybody's socialist and communist and everything else.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: But even here locally,
29:27
SPEAKER_01: I think there are people that are trying to understand it and maybe have
29:30
SPEAKER_01: a little bit of fear about what that actually means.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: So why don't you tell me what what does that actually mean for you to be a member of
29:36
SPEAKER_01: the Democratic Socialists?
29:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I shared that I learned about DSA through Preschool for All,
29:42
SPEAKER_03: and it was a great entryway in to say,
29:46
SPEAKER_03: okay, this is something that is going to benefit everyone.
29:51
SPEAKER_03: This really is what economic justice can look like, changing things for families.
29:54
SPEAKER_03: I know many people that rely on it now and are able to go to work because they have
30:00
SPEAKER_03: a preschool for their kids.
30:03
SPEAKER_03: For me...
30:04
SPEAKER_03: DSA, I'm proud to be a democratic socialist,
30:07
SPEAKER_03: to be part of that movement because, I mean,
30:10
SPEAKER_03: I'm pulling up like right here,
30:12
SPEAKER_03: the Portland DSA website, which everyone should check out, PortlandDSA.org.
30:16
SPEAKER_03: I mean, the things that we stand on are like our path to victory as
30:21
SPEAKER_03: an organized working class movement.
30:23
SPEAKER_03: Like that is just something that I, that aligns with.
30:26
SPEAKER_03: And it doesn't mean that fair doesn't mean everything's going to look exactly
30:30
SPEAKER_03: the same for everyone, but everyone's going to get what they need.
30:42
SPEAKER_03: And we see everyone as a human.
30:45
SPEAKER_03: I see DSA and Working Families Party really living that out in their work.
30:50
SPEAKER_03: And that's why I'm proud to say I'm part of DSA.
30:52
SPEAKER_03: I'm part of Working Families Party.
30:54
SPEAKER_03: And there are two groups that I'm part of.
30:56
SPEAKER_03: I have other, you know, my union's obviously very important to me, the AAPI community.
31:00
SPEAKER_03: I'm the first Asian-American ever elected to Portland City government,
31:03
SPEAKER_03: along with Samir Khanal, where a lot of people didn't realize that.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: And the first Asian-American woman.
31:07
SPEAKER_03: First Asian-American woman.
31:09
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and so I do see a lot of the scare tactics.
31:11
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm in District 3,
31:12
SPEAKER_03: which is the most left-leaning district,
31:15
SPEAKER_03: and folks are really excited that I'm part of DSA and they see what Mamdani is doing
31:19
SPEAKER_03: and AOC and Bernie, and they really want this change.
31:24
SPEAKER_03: I have my old DSA sweatshirt here that just says a better world is possible.
31:27
SPEAKER_03: This idea that we don't have to just accept the status quo,
31:31
SPEAKER_03: but we can push for environmental justice and we can push
31:34
SPEAKER_03: for progressive tax revenue.
31:36
SPEAKER_03: We can be doing these things together.
31:38
SPEAKER_03: And the power of people is something that you can't really buy.
31:41
SPEAKER_03: So you can see that we have a really strong ground game.
31:44
SPEAKER_03: We're knocking tons of doors.
31:46
SPEAKER_03: I'll be doing that right after this.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: And I appreciate that.
31:51
SPEAKER_03: Well, that's a perfect lead into my next question,
31:53
SPEAKER_03: which is,
31:53
SPEAKER_03: I think there is a thought process out there that you're going
31:55
SPEAKER_03: to do whatever DSA says,
31:56
SPEAKER_03: that they're going to come up with what you're going to do,
31:59
SPEAKER_03: and then you're going to go in and execute.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: And you just rattled off.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: You are affiliated with other groups.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: You're supported by other groups.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: I know from my time,
32:25
SPEAKER_01: I was supported by a panoply of different types of groups and things,
32:29
SPEAKER_01: and they would not have all agreed with each other.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: So.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: So how do you reconcile that?
32:34
SPEAKER_01: Is that true, first of all, that you take your marching orders?
32:38
SPEAKER_01: Or are you the person that they want there because your values and
32:44
SPEAKER_01: the way you approach issues is aligned with theirs?
32:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, tell me about that.
32:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you can see a lot of different scare tactics being used.
32:52
SPEAKER_03: And they do remind me of some of the same scare tactics that are used
32:55
SPEAKER_03: against my teacher's union, where people try to be like, it's not...
32:59
SPEAKER_03: You know,
33:00
SPEAKER_03: cause people love their teachers actually for the most part
33:02
SPEAKER_03: and like really appreciate the teachers and the educators in their building,
33:06
SPEAKER_03: but they're like, oh,
33:07
SPEAKER_03: but the union's scary and they're evil and try to separate those things
33:12
SPEAKER_03: and separating,
33:14
SPEAKER_03: you know,
33:14
SPEAKER_03: like DSA is this boogie monster rather than like,
33:17
SPEAKER_03: these are thousands of your neighbors who actually are like volunteering
33:21
SPEAKER_03: and are choosing to be part of this.
33:23
SPEAKER_03: They're not paid.
33:24
SPEAKER_03: It's a volunteer organization.
33:25
SPEAKER_03: I'm really grateful for the small donors program because really no one,
33:29
SPEAKER_03: I don't owe anyone anything.
33:34
SPEAKER_03: I make my decisions based on my constituents, my bosses.
33:36
SPEAKER_03: You are one of about 160,000 of them and my conscience.
33:41
SPEAKER_03: So these are my three Cs when I'm not sure how to vote.
33:44
SPEAKER_03: So my constituents, what am I mostly hearing?
33:46
SPEAKER_03: I'll listen to all of them.
33:47
SPEAKER_03: Where are they leaning?
33:49
SPEAKER_03: My conscience land.
33:50
SPEAKER_03: And then I think about the health of the full council and what's going to be best
33:55
SPEAKER_03: for our council.
33:56
SPEAKER_03: And then if if I kind of am split there, then the conscience one will have the heaviest weight.
34:01
SPEAKER_03: That actually is something that Tobias Reid taught me.
34:04
SPEAKER_03: He went to college with my brother and I asked him like my first week into office,
34:09
SPEAKER_03: like, how do you take votes when like your colleagues are telling you this?
34:12
SPEAKER_01: And he told me those three C's and I Shout out to our Secretary of State.
34:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:17
SPEAKER_03: So that has been something that has been helpful for me.
34:21
SPEAKER_03: And there have been groups, different groups that have been like, we need you to do this.
34:27
SPEAKER_03: I listen to them,
34:27
SPEAKER_03: but I also go back to my three C's and no one has given me over $350 because I'm in
34:32
SPEAKER_03: the small donors program.
34:33
SPEAKER_03: My base is really grassroots.
34:36
SPEAKER_03: In the last,
34:37
SPEAKER_03: in 2024,
34:38
SPEAKER_03: I got more donations than Keith Wilson, got more donations than everyone who ran.
34:42
SPEAKER_03: And I'm leading also this time too.
34:43
SPEAKER_03: So I also know, like there's no one group, That decides things or controls things.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's talk about scene number one, your constituents.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: You mentioned already that you're about to go door knocking.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I'm holding you back from doing that.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate your time.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: What are you hearing on the doors?
35:00
SPEAKER_03: I'm hearing that folks are really mad about the Moda Center deal.
35:05
SPEAKER_03: I'm hearing and confused,
35:07
SPEAKER_03: confused that we have cut services and cut jobs,
35:10
SPEAKER_03: but there are funds for extra projects like that.
35:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
35:15
SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of concern and fear around school closures and worry
35:20
SPEAKER_03: that constituents aren't being able to actually give input and be brought into it.
35:28
SPEAKER_03: They're feeling like it's another opaque process that is going to happen
35:33
SPEAKER_03: to them rather than with them.
35:35
SPEAKER_03: And then affordability.
35:36
SPEAKER_03: Folks are really worried about just paying their bills and their rent prices
35:40
SPEAKER_03: and are worried about More people getting evicted and the inflow into homelessness.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: Well,
35:48
SPEAKER_01: that that really does seem even nationally that we hear that a lot and locally here
35:54
SPEAKER_01: in Portland.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: Portland is a very expensive place.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: So to continue on the constituents,
36:00
SPEAKER_01: there was a survey that came out,
36:02
SPEAKER_01: I think in the past couple of weeks or so, and it had some different numbers on it.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: It said one of the results from this survey was that 31%
36:11
SPEAKER_01: of Portlanders now say someone on council represents them,
36:14
SPEAKER_01: which the survey found was actually down 10 points from the previous year.
36:19
SPEAKER_01: And that's interesting.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: And I think the reason that this was brought,
36:22
SPEAKER_01: you know,
36:23
SPEAKER_01: given prominence in the article that I read from OPB is Was because this form
36:28
SPEAKER_01: of government was supposed to increase people's feelings of representation
36:33
SPEAKER_01: when you are electing counselors from specific districts that you live in.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: So what do you make of that feeling from Portlanders?
36:44
SPEAKER_03: I'm not too surprised to see that it's down from last year because the narrative
36:48
SPEAKER_03: that media newspapers put out is everything is dysfunctional.
36:51
SPEAKER_03: Everything's divisive.
36:52
SPEAKER_03: It's horrible.
36:53
SPEAKER_03: So if you are putting that out there, that can affect people's perspective.
36:57
SPEAKER_03: I would be interested to see also if there's any breakdown with that by district.
37:02
SPEAKER_03: I will say I do like looking at data.
37:04
SPEAKER_03: I think it's incredibly important.
37:06
SPEAKER_03: And while the approval rating for this council is still higher than the last form
37:12
SPEAKER_03: of government, and it is helpful for me to hear from my colleague, Steve Novick.
37:16
SPEAKER_03: Who served as a commissioner and now is in this counselor form of government to say,
37:20
SPEAKER_03: look, this is way more functional.
37:22
SPEAKER_03: The last one where like one person was in charge of the Bureau of Transportation and
37:26
SPEAKER_03: then you could never get anyone else to vote to fix our streets.
37:29
SPEAKER_03: That was not great.
37:31
SPEAKER_03: I think we have work to do.
37:32
SPEAKER_03: I think we need to be building public trust and take those numbers seriously
37:35
SPEAKER_03: and also push back that everything is divisive because I have passed a long list
37:41
SPEAKER_03: of policies that took a lot of work and were passed unanimously, actually.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to get into that because I think you're exactly right.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: I think that there's that perception out there.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: And I do think that that perception is stoked by people who love to kind of get
37:56
SPEAKER_01: the clicks and that's, you know, their angle.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: And also there have been obviously objective displays of devices.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: They are there.
38:05
SPEAKER_03: Not everyone has the same approach as me.
38:07
SPEAKER_03: I am seen as the bridge builder.
38:08
SPEAKER_03: I just went into the Mercury endorsement and they said,
38:11
SPEAKER_03: your colleagues describe you as a bridge builder.
38:14
SPEAKER_03: That is the role that I play.
38:15
SPEAKER_03: Not everyone plays that role.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: So in the same survey, 22% of people said that they felt like this council was effective.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I've been in and around city.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: I've never been in city government, but I've been in county.
38:31
SPEAKER_01: I've been in state.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I was paying close attention during the bureau form of Portland's government.
38:39
SPEAKER_01: And now I see the legislative form.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: And I what.
38:43
SPEAKER_01: Counselor Novick says about how this difference is actually a positive resonates with me.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: When I saw that bureau form of government,
38:51
SPEAKER_01: it did seem like it could be very challenging to get things passed for
38:54
SPEAKER_01: a specific bureau and how that played.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I saw Joanne Hardesty have bureaus taken from her because of politics and things.
39:04
SPEAKER_03: And I will say,
39:04
SPEAKER_03: I see what I hear oftentimes from Portlanders is that they are amazed to see
39:09
SPEAKER_03: a working mom on council.
39:11
SPEAKER_03: They're amazed to see someone who's an Asian American woman on council,
39:15
SPEAKER_03: who's a rank and file union member.
39:18
SPEAKER_03: And so I do get feedback that folks feel...
39:22
SPEAKER_03: Many of my neighbors feel represented in ways that they haven't in the past.
39:25
SPEAKER_03: And government has a lot of work to do in building trust.
39:29
SPEAKER_03: I don't think anyone, I'd be shocked to see that 100% of people are trusting government.
39:34
SPEAKER_03: We have a lot of trust to build back.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's hard.
39:39
SPEAKER_01: I like to focus on this show and this podcast on the local.
39:42
SPEAKER_01: Right.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: But everything is within the context of our lives.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: And so when you see the national sentiment and the attacks on government and things,
39:52
SPEAKER_01: it's hard for that not to trickle down to how people feel locally as well.
39:56
SPEAKER_01: And I agree with you.
39:57
SPEAKER_01: That there's this perception that government's not working.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, there's always going to be things that people can point to that aren't working.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: But there are also things that are working.
40:07
SPEAKER_01: And in that same survey,
40:09
SPEAKER_01: 63 percent of Portlanders say they're still satisfied with Portland as a place
40:13
SPEAKER_01: to live.
40:13
SPEAKER_01: So and that's actually a slight increase from the previous year.
40:17
SPEAKER_01: So tell us about some of the things you see working.
40:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm very proud of how Portland has shown up in pushing back
40:26
SPEAKER_03: against federal overreach and how we have been able to stand together in many ways.
40:31
SPEAKER_03: And I will say,
40:32
SPEAKER_03: so I got to lead and I was the counselor
40:34
SPEAKER_03: who both co-sponsored putting our sanctuary status in code and also worked on
40:38
SPEAKER_03: the Protect Portland program.
40:39
SPEAKER_03: And a resolution which directs the administration to do a long list
40:43
SPEAKER_03: of different things to be keeping Portlanders safe and to make sure
40:46
SPEAKER_03: that our city employees know what to do.
40:47
SPEAKER_03: For example,
40:48
SPEAKER_03: if I shows up to a city city building,
40:52
SPEAKER_03: being able to get a 12-0 vote there,
40:55
SPEAKER_03: folks might not realize like that that wasn't easy.
40:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
40:59
SPEAKER_03: Also, probably all my colleagues would say I did a lot of the behind the scenes work
41:03
SPEAKER_03: and having conversations and managing egos and seeing what we needed to tweak
41:08
SPEAKER_03: to make sure that we could stand together.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: And I think that's important for Portlanders to see.
41:11
SPEAKER_03: We're going to fight it out on some on different things.
41:14
SPEAKER_03: We've seen it.
41:15
SPEAKER_03: There have been some six six votes, but there have been.
41:19
SPEAKER_03: A ton of unanimously passed things, too, and I have led them.
41:24
SPEAKER_03: So those things after that,
41:25
SPEAKER_03: I also got to lead the LGBTQ protections package that we passed earlier this year
41:29
SPEAKER_03: that expands our sanctuary status to LGBTQ community and also changes a bunch
41:33
SPEAKER_03: of things in code to make sure they're updated, changes things around restrooms.
41:41
SPEAKER_01: So maybe people are getting a sense of that.
41:44
SPEAKER_01: I think you're right.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: Those stories aren't frequently told.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: I testified in front of city council within the last couple of weeks,
41:52
SPEAKER_01: and I encourage people to do that simultaneously.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: I testified on the renaming of Cesar Chavez Boulevard to Campesinos Boulevard,
42:04
SPEAKER_01: which as you say, passed unanimously.
42:06
SPEAKER_01: So you were a sponsor of that ordinance.
42:10
SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
42:11
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
42:11
SPEAKER_01: And why don't you tell us a little bit about that?
42:14
SPEAKER_01: That was not a uncontroversial thing to come before the council.
42:19
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people had very strong feelings.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: I got to, as a person who testified, I respect anybody who shows up to testify.
42:27
SPEAKER_01: And so I don't care if they're against my position on the issue or not.
42:31
SPEAKER_01: It's great to see people engaging with their government.
42:34
SPEAKER_01: And there were people on very much on both sides of this,
42:36
SPEAKER_01: but it somehow got to unanimity on council.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:40
SPEAKER_01: Can you share a little bit of a behind the curtain?
42:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, how does that happen?
42:43
SPEAKER_01: It didn't seem like at the outset that that was going to be unanimous.
42:46
SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to decide how much to share here.
42:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:50
SPEAKER_03: So there's the piece of listening to different community members.
42:54
SPEAKER_03: Where is community at?
42:55
SPEAKER_03: Where are my constituents?
42:57
SPEAKER_03: As soon as the information about Cesar Chavez's abuse came out,
43:02
SPEAKER_03: a I got a flood of emails saying, you need to get on this.
43:05
SPEAKER_03: You need to change this.
43:06
SPEAKER_03: It really hurts as someone who's a survivor of sexual abuse.
43:11
SPEAKER_03: People would tell me to see that name still there.
43:14
SPEAKER_03: It's important that we are able to still honor this movement and not wipe that out.
43:20
SPEAKER_03: So I got a lot of information.
43:22
SPEAKER_03: And I did a lot of listening at first and listened to where different community members were at.
43:26
SPEAKER_03: I also did a lot of research on the process.
43:29
SPEAKER_03: We have some code that's really challenging for That says like,
43:33
SPEAKER_03: you can't name a street after someone until they have been deceased for five years.
43:38
SPEAKER_03: You have to have both names up for a full five years.
43:42
SPEAKER_03: You have to get these kinds of signatures.
43:44
SPEAKER_03: And what we see is with every name change And so I did a lot of.
44:13
SPEAKER_03: You know, listening to the folks that went through that process.
44:14
SPEAKER_01: And yeah,
44:15
SPEAKER_01: I did a whole show on just that topic and had Mayor Potter here and Marta here
44:21
SPEAKER_01: to talk about that.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: And it was painful.
44:22
SPEAKER_03: So I decided, you know, okay, this is something I'm going to support.
44:25
SPEAKER_03: I know there's some people that want to go back to 39th and I'm really listening
44:29
SPEAKER_03: to them and that, you know, they're not wrong about I want my name on this.
44:46
SPEAKER_03: Especially, I imagine, during election season.
44:50
SPEAKER_03: And for me,
44:51
SPEAKER_03: I was like,
44:52
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to be laser focused on listening to the groups that did this
44:56
SPEAKER_03: the first time,
44:57
SPEAKER_03: listening to the folks who are part of the Latine community who are saying,
45:01
SPEAKER_03: hey, our neighbors are being terrorized.
45:03
SPEAKER_03: Our families are being terrorized and being attacked by ICE.
45:07
SPEAKER_03: We don't want to go through this whole process right now.
45:09
SPEAKER_03: We want your help here.
45:11
SPEAKER_03: And this is how you can stand with our community.
45:13
SPEAKER_03: Stay focused on that.
45:15
SPEAKER_03: And And what I, yeah, we didn't actually know if we were gonna get unanimous support.
45:23
SPEAKER_03: And so what I did is my work as a union organizer,
45:26
SPEAKER_03: I thought, okay, which counselors are on the fence and why?
45:29
SPEAKER_03: And it was all different reasons.
45:31
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't like, this is the other thing we actually think needs to happen.
45:34
SPEAKER_03: I did what I do as a organizer.
45:36
SPEAKER_03: I power mapped and I said, OK, well, I know Mike Schmidt has done a lot of research.
45:42
SPEAKER_03: OK, who can I?
45:43
SPEAKER_03: I sent your podcast to one of the counselors.
45:45
SPEAKER_03: Can you please can you please listen to this and see and learn about the process?
45:49
SPEAKER_03: I had someone else,
45:50
SPEAKER_03: you know, and be able to like debunk some of the myths or misunderstandings.
45:55
SPEAKER_03: Well, I don't know.
45:56
SPEAKER_03: What does this word actually mean?
45:57
SPEAKER_03: Hey, let me tell you an example.
45:59
SPEAKER_03: Hey, have you heard of Pacoon?
46:01
SPEAKER_03: Oh, you haven't heard of Pacoon?
46:02
SPEAKER_03: That's a problem.
46:03
SPEAKER_03: Let me get you a history story.
46:05
SPEAKER_03: You know, one pager and, you know, not shaming you.
46:07
SPEAKER_03: Like, let me explain to you how important this advocacy group is.
46:10
SPEAKER_03: They support our current farm workers in Oregon.
46:12
SPEAKER_03: And so having a ton of one on one conversations,
46:15
SPEAKER_03: helping some counselors push back, push,
46:17
SPEAKER_03: push back against some feelings of like, OK, well,
46:19
SPEAKER_03: maybe I don't like your co-sponsor Loretta Smith and being like,
46:23
SPEAKER_03: let's focus on who this is really about.
46:25
SPEAKER_01: Back to the three C's.
46:26
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
46:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
46:27
SPEAKER_03: And, you know,
46:29
SPEAKER_03: and I've done that with other packages that I've gotten passed to having those
46:32
SPEAKER_03: behind the scenes conversations and also like the community coming out and
46:36
SPEAKER_03: the community support and having different validators who do know the history
46:41
SPEAKER_03: and having someone come and say, hey, actually, I think it was.
46:46
SPEAKER_03: So Kathleen Sadat came and said, I helped get the very first name change to MLK.
46:53
SPEAKER_03: And let me tell you what that was like.
46:54
SPEAKER_03: And this is why I support this.
46:57
SPEAKER_03: We have so many different things we're voting on.
46:59
SPEAKER_03: So sometimes it's also just helping my colleagues have the information in front of them.
47:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:04
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know,
47:05
SPEAKER_01: I think it's a testament to that work that you put in to make that happen,
47:10
SPEAKER_01: that it went unanimous because- Right.
47:14
SPEAKER_01: Right.
47:14
SPEAKER_01: Right.
47:31
SPEAKER_01: Well, good work.
47:33
SPEAKER_01: And I think it sends a powerful message when people from different districts,
47:37
SPEAKER_01: different parts of the town,
47:39
SPEAKER_01: and also a continuum of politics,
47:43
SPEAKER_01: of political philosophy can come together and say, you know what, we do all.
47:47
SPEAKER_01: So, well done.
47:48
SPEAKER_01: Give us one more example of some unanimity that you have achieved on this council.
47:54
SPEAKER_01: Because again, I want to get through this divided council narrative, dysfunctional narrative.
47:59
SPEAKER_01: Give us another time when your colleagues from across the spectrum came together
48:04
SPEAKER_01: to support something.
48:05
SPEAKER_03: I'm really proud as someone who's a cycling advocate,
48:08
SPEAKER_03: pedestrian advocate,
48:09
SPEAKER_03: safe routes to school advocate,
48:12
SPEAKER_03: someone who cares about everyone just being able to get home safely at the end
48:15
SPEAKER_03: of every day and believes our streets should be safe for everyone.
48:18
SPEAKER_03: I'm so proud that I have gotten the council to unanimously say, we care about Vision Zero.
48:23
SPEAKER_03: We care about getting our traffic deaths, death numbers down and having that goal be to zero.
48:29
SPEAKER_03: And there were folks that said, don't try to get a few of these people.
48:31
SPEAKER_03: They don't care about Vision Zero or traffic deaths.
48:34
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, no, I'm going to try to get.
48:35
SPEAKER_03: And that was a lot.
48:50
SPEAKER_03: Have been hurt by this group of cyclists.
48:51
SPEAKER_03: I hear that.
48:52
SPEAKER_03: How about pedestrians?
48:53
SPEAKER_03: Do you want to be the pedestrian champion?
48:55
SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
48:55
SPEAKER_03: Here, I even got you a shirt that says everyone's a pedestrian.
48:57
SPEAKER_03: It's a real thing I gave to one of my colleagues and got unanimous recommitment.
49:01
SPEAKER_03: But recommitment's not just enough.
49:03
SPEAKER_03: Also have gotten 25% approval.
49:05
SPEAKER_03: Of the new transportation utility fee to specifically go
49:08
SPEAKER_03: towards traffic safety improvements and infilling sidewalk
49:12
SPEAKER_03: where we don't have those.
49:13
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
49:13
SPEAKER_03: And the big thing is, I mean,
49:15
SPEAKER_03: I have advocates who are like you and Eric Zimmerman passed that 25% amendment
49:21
SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's pretty amazing.
49:23
SPEAKER_03: And so trying to build a big tent as possible and same as in my classroom.
49:27
SPEAKER_03: Hey, you know what?
49:28
SPEAKER_03: We don't all have to agree on everything.
49:29
SPEAKER_03: If we agreed on 100 percent of things, that would be weird.
49:32
SPEAKER_03: But let's draw a Venn diagram and let's start where let's find some places
49:35
SPEAKER_03: where we do agree and start from there.
49:37
SPEAKER_03: And that is why I'm able to get my legislation passed with with quite a bit of support.
49:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, credit to Counselor Zimmerman for working with you on that.
49:46
SPEAKER_01: It would be a hard position for anyone to take,
49:48
SPEAKER_01: be like, I actually don't care about traffic tests.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: So glad everyone could get on board.
49:52
SPEAKER_01: And I imagine is what's happening on 82nd Avenue,
49:56
SPEAKER_01: is that part of improving that corridor for safety?
49:59
SPEAKER_01: Is that part of the Vision Zero work?
50:02
SPEAKER_03: There's absolutely Vision Zero components in there and access to transit.
50:07
SPEAKER_03: I don't believe,
50:07
SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure,
50:08
SPEAKER_03: I think that's separate from the transportation utility fee and what that's going
50:11
SPEAKER_03: to fund.
50:12
SPEAKER_03: But those are conversations I've been part of also.
50:14
SPEAKER_03: And I feel really, I want to shout out Bike Bus.
50:16
SPEAKER_03: I mean, this isn't just like abstract, this area to me.
50:20
SPEAKER_03: My kids bike to school every morning.
50:23
SPEAKER_03: We were part of Bike Bus before I was elected.
50:26
SPEAKER_03: This is just genuinely something that's dear to me.
50:28
SPEAKER_03: To my heart,
50:29
SPEAKER_03: Jeanne Diaz,
50:29
SPEAKER_03: the youth librarian who was sitting at the bus stop across from the Belmont Library
50:33
SPEAKER_03: and was killed by a reckless driver.
50:35
SPEAKER_03: My family knew her and adored her.
50:37
SPEAKER_03: This is something that is very real and close to many people.
50:43
SPEAKER_01: Shout out Bike Bus.
50:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're incredible.
50:46
SPEAKER_01: Hey, it's an incredible thing.
50:47
SPEAKER_01: But I see every time some superstar comes to town, they get them to ride the bike with the
50:52
SPEAKER_03: kids.
50:54
SPEAKER_03: The network is incredible.
50:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I'm part of it.
50:56
SPEAKER_03: We'll write Justin Timberlake 500 times.
50:59
SPEAKER_03: Be like, come on, come on.
51:00
SPEAKER_03: It's going to be fun.
51:01
SPEAKER_03: And I've done every bike bus and every walking school bus in my whole district.
51:07
SPEAKER_03: My team knows that that is how to lift my spirits at any point.
51:12
SPEAKER_03: If I start my day with a bike bus or if I end my day with a bike bus going
51:15
SPEAKER_03: with kids home, I'm always going to be in a better mood.
51:18
SPEAKER_03: It's amazing.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're more than a year and a half into this new system.
51:25
SPEAKER_01: What is something that you're proud of that you've been able to accomplish?
51:32
SPEAKER_01: I know it's hard to choose.
51:33
SPEAKER_01: You know, you got many children.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: You can't pick your favorites, but we're going to ask you to.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: What's something that really stands out for you?
51:40
SPEAKER_03: Well,
51:40
SPEAKER_03: I'm proud that I am the counselor in this district that is the first one to open up
51:45
SPEAKER_03: an in-district office.
51:46
SPEAKER_03: So we have an office at Southeast Uplift, and it is really a chance and a place that...
51:52
SPEAKER_03: Folks can come meet with my team, meet with me.
51:55
SPEAKER_03: My team is there.
51:56
SPEAKER_03: And to have that presence in district feels really great because not not all folks
51:59
SPEAKER_03: in District 3 are going down to City Hall.
52:01
SPEAKER_03: And so for me,
52:02
SPEAKER_03: that connects to just my commitment to constituent engagement and make sure
52:06
SPEAKER_03: that I'm really listening and connected to constituents.
52:09
SPEAKER_03: I have a Friday newsletter that goes out to over 10,000 people.
52:13
SPEAKER_03: You can subscribe to it if you just Google Counselor Koyama Lane Newsletter.
52:17
SPEAKER_03: And I have a lot of folks that reach out and say,
52:19
SPEAKER_03: this is the only news I read each week,
52:21
SPEAKER_03: or this is how I stay up to date on what's going on in Portland.
52:25
SPEAKER_03: And we put a lot of information in there.
52:27
SPEAKER_03: I actually did that when I was a teacher too.
52:29
SPEAKER_03: Every Friday, you got to train people to expect it there.
52:32
SPEAKER_03: And I have monthly opportunities for constituents to have coffee with me and chat with me.
52:36
SPEAKER_03: So the like...
52:38
SPEAKER_03: Face-to-face constituent engagement is something that I'm really proud of.
52:41
SPEAKER_01: Well, I love that, right?
52:42
SPEAKER_01: Because it's not one policy issue that you're highlighting.
52:45
SPEAKER_01: Say, hey, I accomplished this, accomplished that.
52:47
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like what you're most proud of is connecting your constituents
52:50
SPEAKER_01: to what's actually happening on city council.
52:53
SPEAKER_03: And I've had people say, hey,
52:55
SPEAKER_03: I don't agree on all of your issues,
52:57
SPEAKER_03: or maybe you vote a little differently in some areas,
53:00
SPEAKER_03: but I really love your newsletter and I can tell you really care
53:03
SPEAKER_03: about your constituents and you care about community and thanks for this newsletter.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: And so your goal, obviously, is to get reelected and do this again.
53:35
SPEAKER_01: So thank you,
53:35
SPEAKER_01: first of all,
53:36
SPEAKER_01: for your service, not only as an elected official, but as a campaigner.
53:41
SPEAKER_01: I thank all campaigners for the work that they do because they are allowing people
53:45
SPEAKER_01: in their community to have a voice no matter who they end up voting for
53:49
SPEAKER_01: and choosing.
53:50
SPEAKER_01: And it's a lot of work.
53:51
SPEAKER_01: So thank you for that.
53:52
SPEAKER_01: I want to imagine for our last question into the future.
53:56
SPEAKER_01: You're reelected.
53:57
SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
53:58
SPEAKER_01: Your kids are excited.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: They're putting more wishes on the wish tree.
54:02
SPEAKER_01: What's the next four years look like for Teacher Tiffany in office?
54:07
SPEAKER_03: I want to continue my work in fighting for safe streets because that's not done.
54:10
SPEAKER_03: And we have a lot more to do.
54:14
SPEAKER_03: I want to keep working on protecting all Portlanders and making sure
54:17
SPEAKER_03: that we are Continuing to make sure that Portland is a safe place for everyone.
54:24
SPEAKER_03: And especially if there is federal overreach,
54:26
SPEAKER_03: I think that's something that we're going to be continuing to face.
54:29
SPEAKER_03: Investing directly in our neighborhoods and thriving neighborhoods.
54:32
SPEAKER_03: I was in the last budget able to save.
54:34
SPEAKER_03: I want to continue accountability and just like bringing community into City Hall
54:38
SPEAKER_03: and bringing City Hall out to community and then
54:49
SPEAKER_03: And one other specific area that I'm excited to dig into
54:52
SPEAKER_03: if I have I earn this four year term is to think
54:55
SPEAKER_03: about how we can specifically give more rights to our domestic workers.
54:59
SPEAKER_03: I have a friend in Philadelphia,
55:01
SPEAKER_03: Kendra Brooks,
55:02
SPEAKER_03: who passed a package that is kind of like a domestic workers bill of rights.
55:06
SPEAKER_03: And that's something that I want to be looking at and pushing forward.
55:09
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
55:10
SPEAKER_01: Well, where can people find you if they want to go knock doors with you,
55:13
SPEAKER_01: if they want to send you a little bit of money to get the public financing match?
55:18
SPEAKER_01: How do they find you?
55:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
55:19
SPEAKER_03: Teacher Tiffany for the people dot com.
55:22
SPEAKER_03: I'm Tiffany Koyama Lane or Teacher Tiffany.
55:24
SPEAKER_03: Please rank me number one on your ballot.
55:26
SPEAKER_03: You'll get to rank up to six people and then the top three will win.
55:29
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
55:30
SPEAKER_01: Counselor Koyama Lane, thank you so much for coming on to the pod.
55:32
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for having me.
55:33
SPEAKER_01: That's counselor Tiffany Koyama-Lane,
55:35
SPEAKER_01: District 3,
55:36
SPEAKER_01: a teacher who has become a very consequential voice on
55:39
SPEAKER_01: the new Portland City Council.
55:40
SPEAKER_01: What struck me most today is how much of her job happens off camera.
55:44
SPEAKER_01: The division within council gets a lot of the attention,
55:47
SPEAKER_01: but the actual work of governing,
55:49
SPEAKER_01: getting 12 people from different districts and different philosophies
55:52
SPEAKER_01: to come together, happens in rooms when nobody's filming.
55:55
SPEAKER_01: The reality is always more nuanced than the headline,
55:58
SPEAKER_01: and I'm grateful she came in to give us a look behind the curtain.
56:01
SPEAKER_01: And we spoke about the recent survey that shed some light
56:04
SPEAKER_01: on what Portlanders are thinking about their new form of government.
56:07
SPEAKER_01: With elections,
56:07
SPEAKER_01: for half of the counselors coming up,
56:09
SPEAKER_01: the poll question that matters most is,
56:11
SPEAKER_01: will Portlanders return the incumbents to office,
56:14
SPEAKER_01: or will they look for new voices to step in to represent them?
56:17
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to have to wait until November to see how they respond.
56:20
SPEAKER_01: Thanks to our sponsor for making this show possible.
56:23
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56:27
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56:30
SPEAKER_01: who are helping bring these conversations to you.
56:33
SPEAKER_01: And thank you, as always, for listening.
56:35
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56:36
SPEAKER_01: like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and tell a friend.
56:40
SPEAKER_01: Word of mouth is how this show grows, and we appreciate every one of you who spreads it.
56:45
SPEAKER_01: Until next week, enjoy some football.
56:47
SPEAKER_01: And if that's not your thing, get out there and support a local business or meet a new neighbor.
56:52
SPEAKER_01: And we'll see you next time.
56:54
SPEAKER_01: A quick word from our show sponsor,
56:56
SPEAKER_01: Dr. Adam Moret at Corbett Hill Wellness Center, people I know and trust.
57:00
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