Latest / The Schmidt Show PDX / Metro Chamber of (no) Secrets

Transcript

Metro Chamber of (no) Secrets · The Schmidt Show PDX

0:01
SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Leif Olson, and I run theliferecording.com.
0:08
I record audio-only life stories of parents and grandparents
0:13
and set them to original music.
0:16
It's a clean,
0:17
unbroken hour to preserve your parents' voices before they're
0:21
gone.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: Let's record your mom's laugh.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: Visit theliferecording.com today.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, everybody.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: My name is Mike Schmidt, former district attorney of Multnomah County.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Now,
0:52
podcasts are still obsessed with illuminating the people and
0:55
organizations fighting
0:56
SPEAKER_00: to make Portland a better place.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: And boy, do I have a show planned for you today.
1:02
I'm sitting down with John Isaacs,
1:03
the political operative at the Portland Metro Chamber.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: John has been around Oregon politics basically his entire adult life.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: Started in student government down in Corvallis,
1:13
SPEAKER_00: worked his way through every layer of Oregon government,
1:15
SPEAKER_00: spent time in Washington,
1:17
SPEAKER_00: D.C.,
1:18
SPEAKER_00: worked on Jeff Merkley's Senate campaign,
1:19
SPEAKER_00: worked for the Oregon House Democrats,
1:21
SPEAKER_00: and now he is the chamber's chief strategist and top lobbyist,
1:25
SPEAKER_00: a true political lifer.
1:27
And today he joins me to talk about something that is
1:29
impossible to ignore right
1:30
SPEAKER_00: now,
1:31
SPEAKER_00: the rise of democratic socialism.
1:34
Because let's be clear,
1:35
the DSA are not your underground,
1:37
under-the-radar organizers anymore.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: They have arrived.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: Nationally,
1:42
SPEAKER_00: the movement has reached its highest profile moment yet,
1:45
SPEAKER_00: the election of Zoran Mamdami as mayor of New York City,
1:48
SPEAKER_00: the most famous mayor in the world right now.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: running openly, proudly as a democratic socialist.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: And right here at home in Portland,
1:55
Ford card carrying members of the Portland DSA are sitting on
1:59
our city council,
1:59
SPEAKER_00: helping steer our city through some genuinely treacherous waters.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: But not everybody's happy about that.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: Doug Moore,
2:06
SPEAKER_00: who runs United for Portland,
2:07
SPEAKER_00: the political action committee set up by the Metro Chamber,
2:09
SPEAKER_00: said publicly that,
2:10
SPEAKER_00: quote,
2:11
the socialists are trying to take over the city council and
2:14
turn it into an
2:14
SPEAKER_00: ideological showcase for the rest of the country.
2:18
And the chamber's stated aim,
2:19
quote,
2:20
to stop DSA from taking over the council.
2:23
So today I'm going to sit down with John Isaacs and have that
2:25
conversation out loud.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about the new form of government, what's working, what's not.
2:29
We'll talk about this iteration of council,
2:31
and then we're going to get into it.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: The DSA,
2:33
their vision for Portland and what the chamber thinks of it and
2:36
why Portlanders
2:37
SPEAKER_00: should care.
2:38
Then I've got a friend of mine and a friend of the pod joining
2:40
me for a shorter conversation.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Sandra Comstock runs Hygiene for All or H4A,
2:46
a remarkable organization committed to getting hygiene services
2:48
to Portland's
2:49
SPEAKER_00: unhoused community.
2:50
They operate under the Morrison Bridge every single night and
2:53
right now they need our help.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: Sandra is going to walk us through a spate of fires that have damaged her
2:58
organization's equipment and left them trying to raise $15,000
3:02
to get back on their
3:03
SPEAKER_00: feet.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: I'll have details on how you can help at the end of the show.
3:06
But first,
3:06
my conversation with the political savant of the Portland Metro
3:09
Chamber,
3:09
John Isaacs.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: All right.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: With me today is John Isaacs,
3:22
executive vice president of public affairs for the Portland
3:24
Metro Chamber.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: John's career arc,
3:26
SPEAKER_00: he has been in politics pretty much his entire career,
3:29
SPEAKER_00: started off as student government in Oregon State University.
3:32
He was the executive director for Future PAC,
3:35
a senior policy advisor to U.S.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: Senator Jeff Merkley.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: He ran Jeff Merkley's 2008 U S Senate campaign,
3:42
SPEAKER_00: became a state director for Senator Merkley,
3:44
SPEAKER_00: executive director of the Oregon league of conservation voters,
3:47
SPEAKER_00: chief of communications of public affairs,
3:49
SPEAKER_00: Portland public schools,
3:50
SPEAKER_00: public affairs manager for Uber technology,
3:51
SPEAKER_00: now the Portland Metro chamber.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: John, it's almost too much.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: It's like,
3:54
SPEAKER_00: I feel like you are a hundred years old with this resume to have been,
3:58
SPEAKER_00: uh,
3:58
SPEAKER_00: you know,
3:59
SPEAKER_00: around politics for this long,
4:00
SPEAKER_00: but Hey,
4:00
SPEAKER_00: welcome to the podcast.
4:02
I actually got my first paid job on a political campaign when I
4:06
was a sophomore at OSU.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: The state senator from Corvallis at the time was the late,
4:11
SPEAKER_01: great Cliff Trow,
4:12
SPEAKER_01: who was a history professor from Oregon State.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: And his campaign manager was a guy named Todd Foster,
4:18
SPEAKER_01: who I actually just ran into at a restaurant this weekend.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: He hired me as the field director the last three months of the campaign.
4:25
And I,
4:25
at that point,
4:26
had no idea people actually got paid to do stuff like that.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: And it was amazing.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: I just loved it.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: I loved the energy.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: I loved being in the fight.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: I loved, you know...
4:35
SPEAKER_01: kicking a canvas off in the office, you know, running a phone bank.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: I just loved all that stuff.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: It gave me a sense of community and purpose and
4:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: The rest is history, man.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: The rest is history.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: Well,
4:45
SPEAKER_00: I feel like to that end,
4:46
SPEAKER_00: seeing people in restaurants,
4:48
SPEAKER_00: you pretty much know everybody as far as I can tell.
4:51
Your career arc is almost a history of the state of Oregon for
4:54
the last 30 or so years.
4:57
So I'm really excited to talk to you and,
5:00
and you and I are personal friends.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: We, you know, have hung out and, and I've appreciated your friendship.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: So I'm really excited to talk to you today.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
5:08
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate our friendship,
5:09
SPEAKER_01: too,
5:09
SPEAKER_01: because,
5:10
SPEAKER_01: you know,
5:10
SPEAKER_01: we don't always agree on everything,
5:12
SPEAKER_01: but it's never gets in the way of just,
5:14
SPEAKER_01: you know,
5:16
SPEAKER_01: the things that we enjoy,
5:17
SPEAKER_01: the shared interests we have and the fact that you're,
5:20
SPEAKER_01: you know,
5:20
SPEAKER_01: always I always know where you stand.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: I just love that about our relationship.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: So.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: Well,
5:24
SPEAKER_00: and speaking of that,
5:26
SPEAKER_00: our shared interests,
5:28
SPEAKER_00: you and I,
5:29
SPEAKER_00: like I said,
5:29
we've gone back and forth over the years and stay in constant
5:33
communication,
5:33
SPEAKER_00: hang out from time to time.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know when it was,
5:36
SPEAKER_00: maybe three or four years ago or something,
5:38
SPEAKER_00: but somehow baseball cards came up.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: And I think,
5:42
SPEAKER_00: you know,
5:42
and it came out that you are a baseball card collector and I
5:45
grew up as a baseball
5:47
SPEAKER_00: card collector,
5:48
SPEAKER_00: although I had kind of walked away from the hobby for,
5:51
SPEAKER_00: you know,
5:52
SPEAKER_00: the last several decades.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: But it was really that conversation with you that was like,
5:58
SPEAKER_00: you know,
5:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go buy a pack of cards and and rip them.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: And and now I'm completely hopelessly back into addiction level.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: You have to be careful.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: Like it can become an addiction.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: Right.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: And it's become quite expensive.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
6:12
SPEAKER_01: pre pandemic,
6:13
SPEAKER_01: it was a very affordable,
6:15
SPEAKER_01: like kind of low pro hobby that not,
6:17
SPEAKER_01: you know,
6:17
SPEAKER_01: it was very niche.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: And then the pandemic people are at home.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: They, we flooded the economy with money.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: People were feeling good.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: And yeah,
6:25
SPEAKER_01: the,
6:25
SPEAKER_01: like everything,
6:26
SPEAKER_01: the price of being a sports card collector shot through the roof,
6:29
SPEAKER_01: but then,
6:30
SPEAKER_01: you know,
6:31
SPEAKER_01: the value of certain cards you pull went through the roof.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: As you know,
6:34
SPEAKER_01: as someone who I know has pulled a one of one Steph Curry,
6:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to say anymore,
6:39
SPEAKER_01: but yes,
6:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm still jealous of that card.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: That was probably the best card I will ever pull out of a pack.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: But now,
6:46
SPEAKER_00: you know,
6:46
SPEAKER_00: so for those of you who are going to be listening to this as a,
6:50
SPEAKER_00: as a tool,
6:51
SPEAKER_00: I have brought in a bunch of cards and John and I,
6:54
as we're talking and having this really hard hitting
6:58
conversation about Portland
6:59
SPEAKER_00: politics and
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh,
7:00
SPEAKER_00: you might hear some ripping in the background because,
7:02
SPEAKER_00: uh,
7:02
SPEAKER_00: we're going to have a little bit of fun too.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Um,
7:04
SPEAKER_00: and I will say,
7:05
SPEAKER_00: you know,
7:05
SPEAKER_00: my boys,
7:06
SPEAKER_00: uh,
7:07
SPEAKER_00: are of little league age and,
7:10
SPEAKER_00: um,
7:10
SPEAKER_00: they were kind of,
7:11
SPEAKER_00: it was hard to get them excited about baseball and understand the game.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: And I tried to get them to watch the game,
7:16
SPEAKER_00: but the kids,
7:17
SPEAKER_00: you know,
7:17
SPEAKER_00: it's like the attention span watching it on TV.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: It just wasn't working.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: It was baseball cards.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: And now they're, now they are also addicted.
7:24
SPEAKER_01: Are they in Southeast Portland little league?
7:26
SPEAKER_00: No, they're in Hollywood.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Hollywood.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: Right on, right on Hollywood.
7:30
And so,
7:31
so now they love ripping cards and now they have favorite
7:34
players.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Of course, you know, my older son's favorite player is Shohei Otani.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: My younger son is following me with the big dumper Cal Rally.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: And so,
7:44
SPEAKER_00: but it's just,
7:45
SPEAKER_00: you know,
7:45
SPEAKER_00: it's so much fun for me to open cards with them at the kitchen table.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: And, and it's been a way to get them into the sport.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: I think baseball, youth baseball right now is incredible.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I love baseball cards because I love baseball, right?
8:01
SPEAKER_01: I was a...
8:02
SPEAKER_01: In high school, I was just really just an elite athlete.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: I just played baseball and soccer.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: I was the captain of both teams in high school.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: And I played on a really good high school baseball team.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: And I had the option to play in college.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: And I was really miserable as a baseball player at the time.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: It just felt not fun, even though I was good.
8:20
And so I just decided I needed a community of friends and
8:23
decided to go to Oregon State.
8:25
which was the best,
8:26
you know,
8:26
best decision I could have made for my life.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: Um,
8:28
SPEAKER_01: it was an incredible experience,
8:29
but baseball has always stayed a part of my life and I've
8:33
coached important.
8:33
This is the first year since my oldest son is now a senior in
8:38
high school played
8:39
SPEAKER_01: T-ball that I haven't coached in Southeast Portland little league.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: And, uh, I don't miss it.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: Like it was great.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: I coached both my kids.
8:46
I got to take the 13 year old all-star team to the state
8:48
tournament last year.
8:50
Um,
8:50
but I am enjoying watching my now youngest son who's 14 play
8:54
junior baseball and not coach.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: It was great.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: Like when I was done, I was done.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
9:01
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
9:01
SPEAKER_00: just from talking to you over the years,
9:03
SPEAKER_00: as you were a coach,
9:05
SPEAKER_00: you approached coaching his team,
9:08
SPEAKER_00: your son's team with as much,
9:10
SPEAKER_00: uh,
9:10
vigor and enthusiasm and professionalism as you do everything
9:14
else in your life.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
9:15
SPEAKER_00: it is like,
9:16
SPEAKER_00: you know,
9:16
SPEAKER_00: just hearing your conversations about talking to parents and then,
9:20
SPEAKER_00: you know,
9:20
setting things up and practices and your whole like philosophy
9:24
around practicing
9:25
SPEAKER_00: and getting the kids into the game.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: It was all about them loving baseball.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: Like that was it.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: Like,
9:31
SPEAKER_01: and also,
9:33
SPEAKER_01: you know,
9:33
SPEAKER_01: when I started in Southeast Portland Little League,
9:35
SPEAKER_01: this might make you laugh a little bit.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: I found it to be a little Portland hippy dippy.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, like
9:42
SPEAKER_01: Competition's not good.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: All right.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like my generation of coaches in that league,
9:48
SPEAKER_01: we,
9:48
we helped that league come up to find the balance between the
9:53
positive coaching
9:54
SPEAKER_01: alliance,
9:54
you reinforce effort and focus and being a great teammate and
9:58
not worrying about
9:59
SPEAKER_01: mistakes,
9:59
SPEAKER_01: which in baseball is everything.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: All right.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: Like,
10:03
SPEAKER_01: You know, I didn't, my generation didn't really talk about it.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: Baseball is an incredibly taxing sport mentally.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: It's essentially a game of failure.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: All right.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: Like the best play, you just talked about Shohei Otani.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: We consider him to be probably the best player ever, right?
10:17
SPEAKER_01: We're probably watching the greatest player in history.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: He only gets a hit three out of every 10 times he's up.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Like he's out 70% of the time.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't teach young players, the,
10:29
SPEAKER_01: Their ability to have resilience in the face of failure.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: Everybody makes errors.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Everybody strikes out.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: You can hit the ball as hard as possible and it goes right at someone.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: Right.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: So luck is such a part of baseball.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: Right.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: And so I am if I'm proud of anything is I,
10:45
SPEAKER_01: you know,
10:45
worked with a great group of coaches who instilled that in
10:48
Southeast where it's
10:49
SPEAKER_01: like.
10:50
You can be competitive and want to win and also make it fun,
10:56
teach resilience,
10:57
accountability.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: And these two things don't have to don't compete with each other.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: Right.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: I used to tell my kids last year,
11:05
SPEAKER_01: the coaches can only tell you,
11:07
SPEAKER_01: you know,
11:07
SPEAKER_01: show you the way that's all we can do.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: We can just prepare you.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: The end of the day, it's up to you, right?
11:13
SPEAKER_01: You know,
11:13
SPEAKER_01: when we say,
11:14
SPEAKER_01: Hey,
11:14
SPEAKER_01: get,
11:14
SPEAKER_01: find that extra gear and slide into the base or dive for a ball,
11:18
SPEAKER_01: right.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Or just foul a ball off with two strikes.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: All I can do is say it.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: I can't do it.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: You can't get in there.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: And it's entirely their choice.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: I wanted them to understand it was their, they were empowered.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: you know, to decide to try their hardest or not.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: And it really worked.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was amazing.
11:37
We could talk about baseball all day,
11:38
but that's not what we're here to do.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I could.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: I could.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: I could take us, you know.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: So, John, I'm going to hand you a pack of cards.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to take a pack of cards.
11:46
And while we're ripping these cards,
11:48
tell us a little bit about more your background.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: Before we open these, what's the game rules here?
11:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, if I pull, like, yeah, what if I pull something really good?
11:54
it's yours okay if you pull the 101 it's your 101 all right
11:59
this is for you but but
12:00
while you're ripping and flipping through these cards which by
12:02
the way our stadium
12:03
club which i think have some of the best photos yeah uh tell us
12:07
a little bit more
12:07
about your professional background growing up in oregon i mean
12:11
in politics
12:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, well, you know, I grew up here.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, I grew up in Clackamas County.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, I grew up in Oak Grove.
12:20
I went to Rex Putnam high school and I was mostly just an
12:24
athlete as a kid.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, I wrote like my very first book report.
12:29
I remember in fourth grade was on Washington DC and why it was
12:33
designed the way it was.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: And,
12:35
SPEAKER_01: um,
12:36
SPEAKER_01: I was always really,
12:38
SPEAKER_01: uh,
12:39
SPEAKER_01: best at,
12:39
SPEAKER_01: you know,
12:40
SPEAKER_01: government economics,
12:42
SPEAKER_01: those kinds of classes.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: So
12:43
SPEAKER_01: Once I got decided to quit playing baseball and go to Oregon state,
12:47
SPEAKER_01: I needed to make a transition in my life.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: And, um, yeah.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: And so discovering student government,
12:53
SPEAKER_01: what's really funny is I got introduced to a guy named Rob knows.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Who is now our state representative.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: Friend of the pod.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: Rob's been on the pod.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:02
He was executive director of the Oregon student lobby and he,
13:05
um,
13:06
you know,
13:06
just the,
13:08
Political organizing was the first thing I did that wasn't
13:10
sports that I got
13:11
SPEAKER_01: positive feedback on that.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, wow, you're really good at this.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: Like you do a great job.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: When we tell you to go,
13:17
we need 20 voters registered an hour on our campus voter
13:20
registration drive,
13:21
SPEAKER_01: which is the first thing I did in politics.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: wow, you hit your goal every hour.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, well, you told me to hit the goal, right?
13:27
SPEAKER_01: And so I hit the goal.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: You're very coachable.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Well, I take things very literally.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, if you say the goal is 20, it's like the goal is 20, right?
13:35
SPEAKER_01: And what, okay, what does it take to hit the goal?
13:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't, I don't ever think, well, the goal is 20.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: So, but that really means 10, right?
13:40
SPEAKER_01: You know, even if that's the organizing math we all use.
13:44
And so I got,
13:45
yeah,
13:46
it gave me community and positive feedback and kind of the rest
13:48
is history.
13:49
SPEAKER_01: You know, you learn, you have an aptitude for something and
13:52
SPEAKER_01: And,
13:52
SPEAKER_01: uh,
13:52
SPEAKER_00: well,
13:52
SPEAKER_00: what I love about that is not only,
13:55
SPEAKER_00: you know,
13:55
SPEAKER_00: uh,
13:56
SPEAKER_00: how you got started,
13:57
but you came up in a much different political atmosphere than
14:01
we're in today.
14:02
And in terms of,
14:03
uh,
14:04
Oregon politics,
14:06
um,
14:06
we were a purpler,
14:09
if not red state.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh,
14:12
SPEAKER_00: in fact,
14:13
SPEAKER_00: a,
14:14
SPEAKER_00: the,
14:14
SPEAKER_00: the Republicans controlled,
14:16
SPEAKER_00: uh,
14:16
SPEAKER_00: when you were in the S in the state Senate,
14:18
SPEAKER_00: right.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh, they had the majority.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: Well, not only – they had a supermajority.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: A supermajority.
14:23
So my first job in the Oregon legislature was 1997 in the
14:29
Senate Democratic office,
14:30
SPEAKER_01: okay,
14:31
SPEAKER_01: the minority office.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Another – I love telling this history.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: The caucus director was Steve Novick.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: Steve was my boss.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: The caucus –
14:43
SPEAKER_01: Minority leader was Cliff Tro from Corvallis, who I had worked for.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: So he hired me into the caucus office.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: We had 10 seats in the state Senate.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: It was 20 Republicans, 10 Democrats.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: We couldn't even do a walkout.
14:55
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: They had a quorum without us.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
14:59
You want to know what it's like to be in a minority office
15:01
where the other side can
15:03
SPEAKER_01: go like have quorum on the floor and pass whatever they want without you.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: I, you want to understand your relevance.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: Nobody cared.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the office was dead.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: We had hardly anyone in and out all day.
15:17
I was just working on policy briefs for members like we were
15:20
doing what you do as a
15:21
SPEAKER_01: caucus office,
15:22
SPEAKER_01: the things you do to provide support to your members.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: But we literally didn't mean anything.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: And it made an indelible.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: print on my brain.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Like this is not acceptable.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: Like this is not consistent with the state's values.
15:36
But I often say,
15:37
you know,
15:38
and this is I think we're going to get into some of this today.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: Like Brady Adams was the Senate president back then.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: Gordon Smith had been the Senate president.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: He had left.
15:44
He won the 1996 U.S.
15:46
Senate race after barely losing the special election to our now
15:51
SPEAKER_01: legendary U.S.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: Senator Ron Wyden.
15:53
And then he got,
15:54
you know,
15:54
he just kept running and he got elected to the U.S.
15:56
Senate.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: So Brady Adams became Senate president.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: I always say,
15:59
SPEAKER_01: like,
15:59
SPEAKER_01: do you think Brady Adams,
16:00
SPEAKER_01: when he had a 20 seat Republican majority,
16:03
ever in his wildest dreams contemplated that the state would be
16:08
as blue as it is
16:10
SPEAKER_01: today?
16:10
SPEAKER_01: Never.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: He would have never thought it.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: They felt like they were invincible and they got
16:17
SPEAKER_01: they took it for granted and they started to,
16:19
SPEAKER_01: you know,
16:20
SPEAKER_01: really,
16:20
SPEAKER_01: really enable the most kind of extreme parts of their party.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: And eventually that part, that wing of the Republican party took over.
16:28
And that,
16:28
you know,
16:29
was a big part of how we took the majority finally in 2006.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: I hear, I hear a moral in this story.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, we exploited that.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: Like we exploited that in when we,
16:40
SPEAKER_01: you know,
16:41
SPEAKER_01: finally flipped house districts in Washington County.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I got to,
16:45
SPEAKER_01: When I was the executive director of FuturePAC in 2004 and 2006,
16:50
SPEAKER_01: we took the majority for the first time in over 20 years,
16:53
SPEAKER_01: again,
16:54
SPEAKER_01: and this is only 20 years ago,
16:55
SPEAKER_01: right,
16:57
SPEAKER_01: by flipping Washington County.
16:59
Those were the two cycles when Washington County kind of was
17:02
trending that way and then flipped.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:06
But one of the key ingredients to that was how extreme the
17:11
Republican Party had
17:12
SPEAKER_01: gotten at the time on certain issues,
17:14
SPEAKER_01: most notably gun control.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: It was a really strong kind of wedge issue for us in Washington County.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: And the biggest battle in 2004 was in Tigard.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: And that, you know, that had been a Republican district all those years.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: And we won that seat by like less than 1%.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I just have that perspective and remember that.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: And so what worries me today,
17:38
SPEAKER_01: and you hear me talking to people,
17:40
SPEAKER_01: no one will be surprised that I'm talking about this on here,
17:43
SPEAKER_01: is that I see those things,
17:44
SPEAKER_01: same ingredients starting to bubble up,
17:46
like that kind of witch's brew of the things that come together
17:49
when you take
17:50
something that seems politically implausible and you start to
17:54
look down the road
17:54
SPEAKER_01: and,
17:55
SPEAKER_01: you know,
17:55
when you've worked in politics for 32 years,
17:57
your brain is trained to think in election cycles.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: I sound weird to people who don't work in politics.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, this cycle, I did that.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: That cycle, I did that.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: They're like, what are you talking about, right?
18:07
But if you are a political professional,
18:09
you think into your election cycle.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: So you think down the road in cycles.
18:15
I just think that the Democratic Party here needs to start
18:19
being aware of those
18:20
ingredients that come together that then start to shift a state
18:24
back the other way.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: You can go too far to one side of the ideological spectrum.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: And I think if you understand that,
18:32
you can see that as the kind of driver of some of the things
18:36
that are happening
18:37
SPEAKER_01: right now in this election today,
18:39
SPEAKER_01: in this primary election,
18:40
SPEAKER_01: even it's causing fractures.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: All right.
18:43
Well,
18:44
it's interesting because there's a there's a national overlay
18:47
in a local.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Right.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: And so national,
18:50
SPEAKER_00: we see the MAGA movement,
18:53
SPEAKER_00: MAGA Republicans,
18:54
and it looks like they are going to get absolutely decimated in
18:57
the midterms,
18:58
SPEAKER_01: which they are,
18:59
SPEAKER_01: which they are.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: So, but to your point, it's no question.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: It's only a question of how badly they get beaten and,
19:05
SPEAKER_01: and what,
19:06
SPEAKER_01: what,
19:06
SPEAKER_01: you know,
19:07
SPEAKER_01: does the Trump,
19:08
SPEAKER_01: does,
19:08
SPEAKER_01: does president Trump do,
19:11
SPEAKER_01: you know,
19:12
go down the road that we all fear he would have trying to do
19:15
some things that would
19:16
SPEAKER_01: be unprecedented in nationalizing elections.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
19:19
I tend to be from the group again,
19:22
pragmatic,
19:23
seeing various characters over the years.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: I tend to be from the group that, that,
19:27
SPEAKER_01: He may try it, but it won't be successful.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: Especially when you start to see how unpopular he is.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I hope we get into that some, because I'd love to talk about it.
19:37
SPEAKER_01: But let's get back to your point about the national and the local.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: Right, because I think they get conflated.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: There used to be more of a detachment, okay?
19:44
Like local politics used to not trend with the national
19:47
elections as much as they do today.
19:49
But as partisanships become the primary driver,
19:53
social media has driven that even more.
19:55
yeah,
19:56
you tend to see these like wave year after wave year after wave
19:59
year.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's healthy for our country.
20:01
I think it's driving the unsettlement that so many people have
20:05
when you just keep
20:06
SPEAKER_01: going from one side to the other.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: And then the other problem is when you do that,
20:13
SPEAKER_01: each side wins by what,
20:15
SPEAKER_01: 50.2%,
20:16
SPEAKER_01: but then they get in and govern as if they just got President Trump's
20:21
Beaver dreams of I won a hundred percent of the vote or
20:23
whatever the nonsense he always says.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: But if you govern that way,
20:27
SPEAKER_01: after you just barely swung back,
20:29
you just swung back from the other side and you did it based on
20:32
like 0.8% of the
20:33
SPEAKER_01: vote,
20:33
SPEAKER_01: but you govern as if you have 80% and you govern to the most extreme,
20:38
SPEAKER_01: it's driving the country crazy.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: It is like we just swinging back and forth.
20:43
SPEAKER_01: So everybody,
20:45
SPEAKER_01: is it any wonder why it doesn't matter as in the majority,
20:47
SPEAKER_01: they're still miserably unpopular.
20:49
know it's like okay i want to try that party now or i got to
20:51
stop that thing so i'm
20:52
going back the other way back the other way yeah at some point
20:55
we've got to find a
20:56
way to to settle this so we can actually solve problems because
21:00
we're not solving
21:01
anything in the meantime it's just this epic constant warfare
21:04
between two partisan
21:05
sides well and i think with when you have the national going
21:09
extremely one way that
21:10
SPEAKER_00: is out of line with local politics the local politics can
21:14
in the other direction because we have local control and local
21:19
agency to some
21:20
SPEAKER_00: extent over some of the things that happen.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's what we're going to get into.
21:25
I think that's a major thing that's happened in Portland since
21:27
Trump was elected in 2016.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: And I understand some of this instinct, right?
21:34
There has been a push to kind of,
21:36
okay,
21:36
we're going to,
21:37
we're going to make Portland this
21:40
progressive place that is kind of protected from the crazy
21:44
direction that the Trump
21:45
SPEAKER_01: administration is taking us.
21:47
And again,
21:48
to a certain extent,
21:49
I understand that and it's natural,
21:50
right?
21:50
SPEAKER_01: Our values, you know, just don't, they do not work, right?
21:54
SPEAKER_01: They're completely in clash.
21:55
The overriding kind of political values of this community
21:58
versus the Trump administration is,
22:00
SPEAKER_01: But you can only do that to a certain extent.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: It requires like to have things like Medicare for all, right?
22:06
Like universal healthcare,
22:08
which there's a very strong argument that this country could
22:11
use.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: That can only be done at scale, right?
22:15
And so you can get yourself,
22:16
I think we have gotten ourselves in trouble by trying to just
22:20
be
22:21
This isolated progressive place that does everything that we
22:25
want in a progressive society.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: And now we're starting to see the impacts of that.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: And of course,
22:30
nobody could have predicted the comet of a global once in a
22:34
generation pandemic
22:37
SPEAKER_01: that has completely changed everything.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: You cannot compare the economic landscape pre-pandemic to now.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: I say all the time, you show me a report that's got data pre pandemic.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: I just I'm not going to look at it because it doesn't matter anymore.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: We're in a completely different place.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I think that's something we should talk about.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: So, John, I read through your resume.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about all your history and background, everything right now.
23:03
You are the vice president of public affairs for the Portland
23:06
Metro Chamber.
23:08
I think that a lot of people and myself included at times have
23:12
had this like
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Portland Metro Chamber is the Death Star,
23:16
SPEAKER_00: the,
23:17
SPEAKER_00: you know,
23:17
SPEAKER_00: Darth Vader's walking around in there.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: We just know it.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: I would love to hear like you elaborate on that.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: Right.
23:23
It's because it's so interesting working there and not being
23:26
the Death Star.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
23:30
I think there are members within the chamber that have felt
23:34
very freely to throw
23:36
SPEAKER_00: large sums of money at political things.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: And I think that gets...
23:41
SPEAKER_00: distilled down or, or maybe generalized as the chamber.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh,
23:45
SPEAKER_00: some of your more,
23:46
SPEAKER_00: you know,
23:47
SPEAKER_00: high profile members that for example,
23:48
SPEAKER_00: funded things like people for Portland,
23:50
SPEAKER_00: which I,
23:51
SPEAKER_00: you know,
23:52
SPEAKER_00: I have a lot of history with,
23:53
SPEAKER_00: right.
23:54
But that wasn't the chamber that was individuals who were
23:57
throwing around money.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: But I think a lot of people have this idea like, oh, that's the chamber.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Right.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: And so I think those things get conflated.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I got to work with the chamber as district attorney, uh, over the years.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: And so I,
24:10
SPEAKER_00: came to understand and realize that it's much more nuanced than that.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: It's not a monolith.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: You have members that are as progressive as I am.
24:19
You have members that are not as progressive as I am and who I
24:23
clashed with.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: But the chamber itself is a conglomeration of individuals who
24:30
SPEAKER_00: you know,
24:30
represent their businesses in the business community and they
24:33
come together to
24:35
advocate for policies that they feel like will benefit the
24:38
business community.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: So it is a lot more nuanced than I think it gets painted as.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell a story or you can about how you and I collaborated,
24:48
SPEAKER_00: but just a little bit,
24:49
SPEAKER_00: tell us a little bit about the Metro Chamber.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in some ways we're
24:55
SPEAKER_01: A boring organization.
24:56
Every city in this state,
24:58
every city in the country has a chamber of commerce.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: It,
25:01
SPEAKER_01: we,
25:02
SPEAKER_01: we,
25:02
the vast majority of our organization is actually dedicated to
25:06
the traditional nuts
25:08
SPEAKER_01: and bolts of what chambers of commerce
25:10
SPEAKER_01: do.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: It's business people connecting with other business people,
25:15
sole proprietors wanting to connect with larger employers so
25:18
they can build their
25:19
SPEAKER_01: business,
25:20
SPEAKER_01: connecting young employers.
25:22
We have a program called EPOP,
25:24
Emerging Professionals of Portland,
25:25
that's thriving right now.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: It's growing.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: That helps young new professionals grow a network.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: Many people don't know that we are the home for Partners in Diversity,
25:35
SPEAKER_01: which is the largest private sector workplace in
25:39
SPEAKER_01: inclusion program in the Western United States.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: Jenny Lee is the executive director, now state representative.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: Mari Watanabe is the former, like founded the organization and built it.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: And then of course we also are the part,
25:55
SPEAKER_01: a formal partner of the downtown business improvement district,
25:58
SPEAKER_01: downtown Portland clean and safe,
25:59
SPEAKER_01: which is again,
26:00
SPEAKER_01: something that exists is a global best,
26:02
SPEAKER_01: best practice across the nation,
26:04
SPEAKER_01: right?
26:04
SPEAKER_01: Like these are nuts and bolts things.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm constantly just,
26:11
SPEAKER_01: depending on the day,
26:11
SPEAKER_01: how I feel about it,
26:12
SPEAKER_01: some days amused,
26:13
SPEAKER_01: some days annoys,
26:14
some days kind of outraged at how things as simple as like
26:18
downtown Portland clean
26:19
and safe here are made to be massive controversy versus when
26:24
they're really,
26:25
SPEAKER_01: really straightforward.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: And the one thing about the chamber,
26:28
SPEAKER_01: because we recognize how much scrutiny we're under,
26:31
SPEAKER_01: we do everything hyper transparent,
26:34
SPEAKER_01: right?
26:34
SPEAKER_01: Like we do and say what we're going to do out loud.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: We try to put it as out there as we can and
26:41
SPEAKER_01: because A, we wanna set the standard for that.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: We have to set the standard because of the scrutiny we're under.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: And then as you say, we are our own
26:51
Wiley Coalition,
26:52
okay,
26:52
like every industry has their own industry association,
26:56
right?
26:56
SPEAKER_01: You know,
26:57
SPEAKER_01: if you want to talk to about the realtor industry,
27:00
SPEAKER_01: you go to the Portland Metro Association of Realtors,
27:02
SPEAKER_01: not us.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: We are the umbrella that brings all those different industries together,
27:08
SPEAKER_01: different,
27:09
SPEAKER_01: as you say,
27:10
sometimes individual leaders together to set priorities on
27:13
behalf of all of them.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: That's a hard job, right?
27:15
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes...
27:18
There are places that certain industries need to go to and
27:21
their advocacy that is
27:22
SPEAKER_01: not part of that overall agenda that brings all of business together,
27:28
SPEAKER_01: right?
27:30
So that's why you see us focus on the overall health of the
27:32
economy,
27:33
right?
27:33
SPEAKER_01: Like we have to get our livability done.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: which is what you and I worked on together,
27:39
SPEAKER_01: especially on Carthap production,
27:41
SPEAKER_01: which I hope we're going to talk about.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: I mean, little known, little known story.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we can divert right now.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean, so, you know, obviously I got elected as a progressive district.
27:51
district attorney and I wanted to do a bunch of things that I
27:53
think help with,
27:55
SPEAKER_00: you know,
27:55
SPEAKER_00: racial justice and the criminal system.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: We know that certain communities have been over criminalized.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: We know that we're the most incarcerated nation on the planet.
28:03
We spend more money on our criminal justice system than anybody
28:06
else does.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: And we do not get the best results and yada, yada, yada, yada.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: So I ran as district attorney to try to fix some of those things.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: Also,
28:14
I ran as district attorney to really try to work on the
28:18
challenges that this community faced.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: And during the pandemic, we saw a spike in certain types of crimes.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: Catalytic converters, they blew up at one point and we worked on that.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: We got them back down.
28:31
Uh,
28:31
homicides,
28:32
uh,
28:32
exploded,
28:33
not only in Portland,
28:34
but across the country.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: I saw violent crime exploded.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Now that's, that's back down as well.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things, um, that I, it was so frustrating to me.
28:41
And I think you too,
28:42
that we just absolutely knocked it out of the park on was auto
28:46
theft.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: And the way that we did that,
28:49
SPEAKER_00: I think is a story that most people,
28:51
SPEAKER_00: uh,
28:51
SPEAKER_00: don't know,
28:52
SPEAKER_00: uh,
28:53
SPEAKER_00: which was,
28:53
SPEAKER_00: I remember,
28:54
SPEAKER_00: uh,
28:55
SPEAKER_00: you giving me a call,
28:56
SPEAKER_00: John,
28:56
SPEAKER_00: and you're like,
28:57
SPEAKER_00: Mike,
28:57
SPEAKER_00: uh,
28:58
SPEAKER_00: you know,
28:58
SPEAKER_00: maybe we were talking about,
28:59
SPEAKER_00: Hey,
29:00
SPEAKER_00: We need to focus on,
29:01
SPEAKER_00: you know,
29:03
SPEAKER_00: safety issues,
29:04
SPEAKER_00: getting people,
29:05
SPEAKER_00: you know,
29:05
SPEAKER_00: feeling safe and everything else.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: And we've got some real challenges.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: What can we do to work together on some of these challenges?
29:11
SPEAKER_00: And I said, John, I got this idea for auto theft.
29:14
But,
29:14
you know,
29:15
politically,
29:15
I'm going to need some resources to make this work.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: I don't know exactly how I'm going to get those resources.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, let me make some calls.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: I think we can make this happen.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you tell the story?
29:23
Well,
29:24
okay,
29:24
so I could go on a long time about it,
29:26
so make sure I want to be concise here.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: But,
29:29
SPEAKER_01: you know,
29:29
SPEAKER_01: what I love about working for the Chamber is that it is truly we're
29:36
SPEAKER_01: non-ideological.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: All we want is problems that we identify.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: Let's work together in a transparent way.
29:43
Almost always requires public private partnership and to solve
29:48
a big problem.
29:49
SPEAKER_01: There are two things that almost always you look at cities.
29:51
We run the best practices trips here where we go to pure
29:54
markets and look at how
29:55
SPEAKER_01: they solve problems.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: A city that's actually solves a problem.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: It almost always involves two things.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: One is.
30:02
public private partnership and multi inter jurisdictional
30:05
cooperation that agrees
30:07
SPEAKER_01: this problem has to be solved.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: So everyone brings their resources to it.
30:10
So you propose that you you recognize that we had seen an
30:14
extraordinary like,
30:15
SPEAKER_01: yes,
30:15
SPEAKER_01: crime went up across the nation.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: But in Portland, we saw a particularly
30:21
extraordinarily high spike in vehicle thefts,
30:24
catalytic converter thefts,
30:25
vehicle break-ins.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, we can all get into why that took place.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: I will share our perspective,
30:32
which is we should not be surprised when we defund our police
30:36
and we announce
30:36
SPEAKER_01: publicly that we are
30:38
SPEAKER_01: specifically reducing our traffic police,
30:40
SPEAKER_01: that that was just an invitation for criminals to come in and say,
30:44
SPEAKER_01: hey,
30:44
SPEAKER_01: all right,
30:45
SPEAKER_01: you've told me the areas you're not going to be policing.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to target those.
30:49
We also had another issue that we needed to provide some
30:52
assistance to our former
30:54
SPEAKER_01: city councilor,
30:56
SPEAKER_01: Rene Gonzalez,
30:57
SPEAKER_01: who had run on this concept of
31:00
SPEAKER_01: starting a municipal court, which is actually a good idea.
31:03
And I could make an argument for that was a mistake whenever
31:06
the Muni court was
31:07
SPEAKER_01: eliminated,
31:09
SPEAKER_01: whenever that happened.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to get into that.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that was a mistake.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: But there's just no way.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
31:14
SPEAKER_01: if you're,
31:14
SPEAKER_01: again,
31:15
SPEAKER_01: non-ideological,
31:16
SPEAKER_01: practical,
31:17
SPEAKER_01: you understand the city of Portland's budget limitations,
31:19
SPEAKER_01: the good use of resources.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: It didn't make any practical sense to have a municipal court.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: It's extremely expensive, would have taken years to stand up.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it wasn't a realistic possibility.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
31:29
no matter how good it sounds or whether it's a good idea or we
31:32
should have never
31:33
SPEAKER_01: done it,
31:33
SPEAKER_01: there's just,
31:34
SPEAKER_01: again,
31:34
SPEAKER_01: thinking of the
31:36
I was just looking at it saying,
31:38
there's no way that he's going to get this done.
31:40
And so it provided an opportunity for you and him to people who
31:44
I couldn't,
31:46
I don't think I've been in any room since I've been in this job
31:49
where two people
31:50
SPEAKER_01: disagree on more things where you actually agreed on this one thing.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: And he led the way at the city.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: You led the way at the county.
31:58
We helped everyone stay at the table to stand up that vehicle
32:01
theft task force.
32:02
And I just want to say it was not,
32:05
man,
32:05
the grumbling from everyone about it.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, we have to work together.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: You know,
32:10
I'm not going to it just there was just a lot of grumbling
32:13
because we developed a
32:14
SPEAKER_01: culture here.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: And it's still a problem from our perspective of our community.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: independent government agencies,
32:21
SPEAKER_01: particularly the county and the city,
32:23
SPEAKER_01: just pointing fingers at each other.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: It's driving the community crazy.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: You got that task force together.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: We got it done.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: And then what are we at now?
32:32
SPEAKER_01: We were third in the nation in vehicle thefts.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: I think we,
32:35
SPEAKER_01: we brought it down to like 2013,
32:37
SPEAKER_01: 2012 levels,
32:38
SPEAKER_01: like far below where it was even pre pandemic.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: And we did it.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: You know,
32:45
SPEAKER_00: the city making an investment into us,
32:48
SPEAKER_00: into the district attorney's office to have a dedicated prosecutor,
32:50
SPEAKER_00: to have dedicated investigators that we could assign to a task force.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: You know,
32:56
SPEAKER_00: our folks worked really well,
32:57
SPEAKER_00: not only with the police because they were dedicated,
33:00
SPEAKER_00: again,
33:01
SPEAKER_00: assigned running missions.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: Right.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: They had units dedicated to it.
33:04
SPEAKER_01: They had units dedicated to it.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: And OHSU had developed their algorithm that- OHSU.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: Provided guidance to police officers.
33:11
To our police on the streets to identify likely stolen vehicles
33:16
where race was not a factor.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: Right.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: Like it was I mean, it was an algorithm based on physical conditions.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: To your point about,
33:24
SPEAKER_00: you know,
33:25
SPEAKER_00: collaboration across you had,
33:28
SPEAKER_00: you know,
33:28
SPEAKER_00: you had our science university developing an algorithm.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: that you're completely right, was not based on the driver or anything.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: It was based on physical signs of a vehicle.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: They developed that.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: It's incredible work.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: The police were putting that into place.
33:43
We formed a task force that enabled us having a dedicated
33:48
resource,
33:48
investigator,
33:49
prosecutor.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: We also collaborated.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: There was during the pandemic, it maybe still exists.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: There was a Facebook group of people who were
33:58
SPEAKER_00: Our eyes on the street, right?
34:00
SPEAKER_00: Here's an abandoned car.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: Here's an event here.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: I'll go take a picture of the VIN number.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: They were finding stolen cars.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: We all knew people who use that.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Like I had two or three friends, right.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: Who had their car stolen and use the Facebook sleuthing.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: So to find their car and often they'd find their car.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: We,
34:18
SPEAKER_01: you know,
34:19
SPEAKER_01: it's like,
34:19
SPEAKER_01: sometimes I feel like we've,
34:20
SPEAKER_01: the pandemic was four years ago and we taught,
34:23
SPEAKER_01: it feels like it was 50 years ago.
34:25
SPEAKER_01: So I forget about these things until we talk about them.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: I remember my friends describing, they found their car.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: There was someone in the car sleeping who they woke up clearly had,
34:35
SPEAKER_01: you know,
34:35
SPEAKER_01: been using fentanyl,
34:37
SPEAKER_01: you know,
34:37
SPEAKER_01: just to say it.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: And the person gladly gave them the vehicle.
34:40
The person was probably the seventh person to have slept in
34:43
that car since it was,
34:44
SPEAKER_00: you know,
34:45
SPEAKER_00: and so.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: And then we all had the friends starting to write.
34:47
We also had the friends who found their car,
34:49
found the windows all smashed out.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: Every part looted off of it.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: I had a friend that happened to, it was devastating.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, losing somebody's car is it.
34:59
I mean,
34:59
it really is one of the most important things that a person can
35:02
have.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: It gets your kids to school.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: It gets you to work.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: It is your lifeline to, I mean, you need to have a car.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we could talk about a society.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: their cars like they feel about their homes.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: Like there's, you feel violated almost at that level.
35:15
I had my car broken into three times in a year during the
35:18
pandemic and it,
35:20
SPEAKER_01: yeah,
35:20
SPEAKER_01: every time it just feels icky,
35:22
SPEAKER_01: you know,
35:22
SPEAKER_01: it's just icky.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: To your point or to the point
35:25
I think we're trying to make is we formed an unlikely alliance
35:30
between myself,
35:31
SPEAKER_00: the progressive district attorney and Renee Gonzalez,
35:34
a I would say a more conservative member of our city council
35:38
who he and I don't
35:39
SPEAKER_00: agree on.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: on most things.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but everybody can agree.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: I don't care what your political stripe is.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Stolen cars are bad, right?
35:47
Like that's not a controversial position and we need to do
35:50
everything we can and we
35:51
SPEAKER_00: work together.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: And,
35:53
SPEAKER_00: uh,
35:53
SPEAKER_00: the,
35:53
you and the chamber were a crucial linchpin of helping form
35:57
that relationship,
35:59
SPEAKER_00: uh,
35:59
SPEAKER_00: that was able to politically get something done that really,
36:02
SPEAKER_00: uh,
36:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
36:03
SPEAKER_00: well,
36:03
SPEAKER_00: you propose,
36:04
SPEAKER_01: I think we're leaving one part out,
36:05
SPEAKER_01: which is the role we played.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: You guys were the experts.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: Like you had the plan.
36:10
You did a great job of persuading counselor Gonzalez that it
36:13
was a good investment of his time.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: You can't,
36:16
there was a budget that we agreed on and then we led the
36:18
advocacy that was
36:20
SPEAKER_01: connected to your proposal.
36:21
SPEAKER_01: So we led the, you know, push cause you had to get the money approved.
36:24
SPEAKER_01: Had to get the money.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: And so we, that I was very proud of that role.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: And it's, this is a great example of when we're working at our best.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: We,
36:33
SPEAKER_01: Love to work with unusual partners.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
36:36
Because all we want to do is find our areas of agreement,
36:41
no matter who you are.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: Another example, we just.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: successfully worked with the Metro Council and Metro,
36:47
SPEAKER_01: you know,
36:48
SPEAKER_01: now out former Metro president,
36:50
SPEAKER_01: Lynn Peterson,
36:51
SPEAKER_01: but like you,
36:52
I think needs to get credit for something that she's likely not
36:56
going to get it for
36:57
SPEAKER_01: until later,
36:58
SPEAKER_01: right?
36:59
SPEAKER_01: Like you and vehicle theft, you've not been given enough credit for that.
37:02
SPEAKER_01: Like we are, we do a great job in society of just blowing up problems.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: Every problem is a crisis these days.
37:09
SPEAKER_01: So you have a hard time
37:11
SPEAKER_01: Is that a real crisis?
37:12
SPEAKER_01: Is that an actual crisis?
37:13
SPEAKER_01: We have some actual crises in our community.
37:15
SPEAKER_01: And so I just have the sensitivity to that word being overused,
37:18
SPEAKER_01: but we,
37:20
SPEAKER_01: we do a great job of just talking about that part.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: But then when we actually do solve one of them.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: It's almost like it happens in the dark.
37:30
SPEAKER_01: Like we don't even pay any attention to it.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: I completely agree.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: I mean, catalytic converter type is another great example.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: Like nobody talks about that anymore.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Nobody even remembers it happened.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: It was an extreme crisis.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: Like my mother-in-law was yelling at me on a regular basis.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: Like I had to go get a cage installed and I'm like,
37:45
SPEAKER_00: it's not my fault,
37:47
SPEAKER_00: but we were all feeling that so acutely.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: And then a number of things happened.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: A big prosecution happened of a,
37:54
SPEAKER_00: uh,
37:55
of a place where they were obviously fencing all the catalog
37:57
converters in Lake
37:58
SPEAKER_00: Oswego for the record,
37:59
SPEAKER_00: not Multnomah County.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh, for those of you keeping score at home.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we went and I partnered with our, uh, Senator Chris Gorsuch.
38:08
We changed the law and we worked with,
38:10
uh,
38:10
industry to get that law changed.
38:12
So we made it so that you have to have a VIN number if you're
38:14
going to legally sell
38:16
SPEAKER_00: a catalytic converter,
38:17
SPEAKER_00: right?
38:17
SPEAKER_00: You couldn't just come off the street with 10 of them.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: Right.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: You needed to have a VIN number.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: So we made it harder to turn them into cash.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh,
38:25
SPEAKER_00: you know,
38:25
SPEAKER_00: and,
38:25
and metal values and everything changes a whole bunch of
38:28
factors as to why,
38:29
SPEAKER_00: but catalytic converter theft,
38:31
SPEAKER_00: a bunch of us got together.
38:31
SPEAKER_00: We worked on the issue from different angles.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: It went away and nobody talks about it.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: And everyone's like, oh yeah, I remember that was a thing, right?
38:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, that's right.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: We don't talk about it.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: We don't celebrate our victories and,
38:41
SPEAKER_00: and the people who deserve credit for those frequently don't get them,
38:43
SPEAKER_00: uh,
38:44
SPEAKER_00: get that credit.
38:45
We talked a little bit about,
38:46
you know,
38:47
our working together and everything else.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: What I, what I'm interested in.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: hearing from you is I want to kind of get your take.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you feel like I want to start with our new form of government?
39:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, what do you think we got now where we went from five, uh,
39:06
SPEAKER_00: you know, elected officials in the city that were running bureaus.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: Now we've got this more legislative body,
39:11
SPEAKER_00: 12 city commissioners who are now,
39:15
SPEAKER_00: like I say,
39:15
SPEAKER_00: more legislative tackling issues.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: How do you feel like that is working?
39:20
SPEAKER_00: How's that transition been?
39:21
SPEAKER_00: What's your take on the, on the structure?
39:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think it's a disaster.
39:27
SPEAKER_01: I mean, how else can you think anything else right now?
39:31
SPEAKER_01: You know, our organization opposed it.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: We were disappointed that we had to oppose it,
39:36
SPEAKER_01: but it was very easy to predict that the complete.
39:41
Dysfunction,
39:42
the struggle,
39:42
the council has to find majorities to pass things.
39:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, the speed in which it required the city to transition from the old
39:53
SPEAKER_01: executive, you know, bureaus, separate governments.
39:55
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
39:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't think people,
39:57
a lot of people realize they are literally separate legal
39:59
entities that would often
40:01
SPEAKER_01: charge fees of each other,
40:02
SPEAKER_01: force each other to pay rents to each other,
40:05
SPEAKER_01: to consolidate that all into one executive,
40:07
SPEAKER_01: you know,
40:07
consolidated executive branch bureaucracy saying you're going
40:11
to do it in a year
40:11
SPEAKER_01: was too fast.
40:13
SPEAKER_01: We needed to give the city more time to make that transition.
40:17
SPEAKER_01: And then there were just design flaws that I think are totally obvious.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: To this day,
40:21
SPEAKER_01: the idea that we're going to elect three people from the same district,
40:25
SPEAKER_01: the same place,
40:27
and it is institutionalized that you will elect three people
40:31
who don't agree from
40:32
SPEAKER_01: that same area.
40:33
SPEAKER_01: It is.
40:34
SPEAKER_01: Needing 25% of the vote, it just very...
40:40
Quickly,
40:40
the electorate,
40:42
the voters sort themselves into ideological lanes.
40:44
SPEAKER_01: And you can see it when you do the analysis of the last election.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: And so we've produced, and it will always produce, a fractious council.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say something real quick, though.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: Let's say you think that's good.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: I remember some proponents were like, that's good.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be more proportional representation.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: You're going to have the wider...
41:07
SPEAKER_00: You know,
41:07
SPEAKER_00: somebody who's never had their viewpoint,
41:10
SPEAKER_00: uh,
41:10
SPEAKER_00: expressed because they've never been able to win an election.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: Now they have somebody in the council that represents what they think.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: We've,
41:16
we've provided a guaranteed lane in this city for the
41:20
democratic socialists of
41:21
SPEAKER_01: America to have
41:23
SPEAKER_01: a third of the seats, literally.
41:25
And as an organization that we know was deeply involved with
41:28
designing this,
41:29
SPEAKER_01: like it was designed to produce that outcome that's good for them.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: You may think that's good, okay?
41:35
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just saying that I think it's disastrous.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: I think you can see it.
41:39
You have to then structure it in a way that facilitates some
41:43
way of getting to decisions,
41:44
okay?
41:45
SPEAKER_01: And it lacks that as well.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: 12 seats.
41:48
SPEAKER_01: Why would we have 12 seats, okay?
41:51
There's a reason almost all elected bodies are designed with an
41:53
odd number,
41:54
SPEAKER_01: and eventually a side has to be able to have the votes to win.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: That's a fundamental part of democracy, right?
42:01
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
42:02
SPEAKER_01: We didn't provide a veto to our mayor.
42:05
SPEAKER_01: There are ways to kind of help drive towards decisions.
42:10
SPEAKER_01: But if you followed that process,
42:12
the decisions were made based on a perception of who had power
42:17
and who we wanted to
42:18
SPEAKER_01: give power to.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: There were some laudable goals.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: There was definitely on the record the Charter Commission wanted to
42:27
would hopefully ensure that we would have more elected leaders
42:33
of color on the city council.
42:37
We can have a debate about whether that's appropriate to say
42:40
we're going to do this
42:40
SPEAKER_01: so that we guarantee these outcomes in elections,
42:43
SPEAKER_01: right?
42:44
SPEAKER_01: But it was on the record they were transparent about that.
42:46
SPEAKER_01: I would argue that
42:48
SPEAKER_01: that has not been successful and it wasn't necessary.
42:51
SPEAKER_01: Look at our elected bodies all over the region.
42:53
SPEAKER_01: They're all diversifying as we diversify as a culture,
42:57
but you have to set up that body for success and an ability to
43:01
have straight,
43:03
SPEAKER_01: you know,
43:03
SPEAKER_01: those,
43:03
those checks and balances that also help you drive towards
43:06
policy solutions.
43:07
And right now we're,
43:11
I just think we're going to struggle for that to happen under
43:13
the system.
43:14
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
43:15
SPEAKER_01: We need to find a way to,
43:18
SPEAKER_01: fix some of these design flaws at some point,
43:21
SPEAKER_01: or it's going to continue to primarily be a dysfunctional body.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: That's my perspective on it.
43:27
You know,
43:27
I know there's other opinions,
43:28
but I think the evidence is clear right now.
43:31
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's why I want to.
43:32
SPEAKER_01: The problem with this is we are at a time where we can't afford this.
43:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
43:36
SPEAKER_01: Like our economy is in, this is the trajectory.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: We've been in a recession for three straight years.
43:43
SPEAKER_01: There is nothing happening right now that will abate that.
43:47
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
43:48
SPEAKER_01: Right.
43:49
And it doesn't take a lot to think,
43:51
just think about the community you're in right now.
43:53
SPEAKER_01: Do you see a lot of investment happening?
43:55
SPEAKER_01: Do you know about a business that is on a straight up growth trajectory?
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Do we have exciting new big investments coming in?
44:03
SPEAKER_01: We don't because in many ways business has divested already.
44:07
And so we've got to figure out how to intervene in that cycle
44:11
and turn it around.
44:12
SPEAKER_01: And we can't do that if our city council isn't functional.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: So,
44:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
44:17
a lot of people would say maybe yourself included that the
44:21
prior iteration of our
44:22
SPEAKER_00: city council wasn't functional.
44:24
I think that's why voters decided that they were going to
44:27
completely change our
44:28
SPEAKER_00: form of government.
44:29
SPEAKER_00: So.
44:30
we went from in your assessment or i think the voters
44:33
assessment non-functional
44:35
city council and then now in your assessment this is 2.0 of
44:38
non-functional city
44:39
council yeah so i mean i guess um you know you have said
44:43
multiple times it's
44:44
obvious that this is a complete failure what tell me exactly
44:48
what you're looking at
44:49
because a lot of the problems you're articulating business
44:52
divesting from the city
44:53
SPEAKER_00: of portland these are issues that
44:56
SPEAKER_00: I know the chamber was saying previous to this version of council,
45:00
SPEAKER_00: this iteration of councils,
45:01
SPEAKER_00: this is not new.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: And you said the last three years,
45:03
obviously this form of government hasn't existed for the last
45:06
three years.
45:06
SPEAKER_00: So it's not, this is not their creation, this problem.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: Of course I'm not, I'm not blaming any individuals.
45:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the way it was designed.
45:15
SPEAKER_00: No, no fully.
45:15
SPEAKER_00: And that's what I wanted to, to get your take on is.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm just trying to, uh,
45:22
SPEAKER_00: You mentioned the veto.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: That would be a thing.
45:24
Um,
45:25
is that what functionally,
45:27
what other design thing would you like to see change?
45:30
SPEAKER_01: So I think that it would be.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: no matter what happens in the election this fall,
45:35
I think our council would be wise that the council that we have
45:39
after this election
45:40
SPEAKER_01: this year,
45:41
SPEAKER_01: which could be substantially the same,
45:43
SPEAKER_01: it's going to be substantially the same.
45:45
SPEAKER_01: I think it would be wise for us to consider some reforms to this.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: I would,
45:51
I think it would be wise to consider if we want to have
45:54
multi-member districts,
45:55
SPEAKER_01: having each seat its own election,
45:58
SPEAKER_01: rather than this never been before tried in the world,
46:02
SPEAKER_01: combination of,
46:04
of single transferable vote and ranked choice voting and
46:07
multi-member districts.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
46:08
I think that's a thing that will help a lot because then you
46:11
have a series of
46:12
SPEAKER_01: candidates who you can choose from for one seat rather than
46:16
Trying to make a choice based on one election thinking you have
46:20
three votes when in
46:20
SPEAKER_01: fact you only have one vote.
46:22
One thing I think this election does is it misleads voters into
46:25
thinking they get
46:26
SPEAKER_01: to cast six votes when in fact they're casting one vote.
46:29
SPEAKER_01: And by and large, the transfer doesn't matter that much actually.
46:33
SPEAKER_01: It's not that big of a factor.
46:35
SPEAKER_01: So I would –
46:37
That would be something I would consider if we want to keep
46:39
multi-member districts.
46:40
If you're asking me,
46:41
I think the multi-member districts was a complete mistake.
46:44
Going to districts was a great,
46:46
there was universal agreement as far as I understood.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: We needed to go to a district system.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: Makes sense to me.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: That's how you ensure voices that you haven't heard.
46:55
SPEAKER_01: It was not,
46:56
it was embarrassing for our city that we'd had like one city
46:58
councilor elected from
47:00
SPEAKER_01: east of 82nd Avenue in our entire history,
47:02
SPEAKER_01: I think,
47:03
SPEAKER_01: right?
47:03
SPEAKER_01: Like that's totally unacceptable, right?
47:06
SPEAKER_01: You, you solve that by districts.
47:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
47:09
SPEAKER_01: If we wanted to have ranked choice voting, great.
47:11
Like we actually,
47:12
as the chamber at the time said,
47:13
we could agree to that.
47:15
But this is where I think decisions started to get made based
47:19
on desired outcomes
47:21
SPEAKER_01: of those who were designing the system.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: And that started to, in my, my view, pollute the process.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: We were driving towards smart reform, multiple new districts.
47:32
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
47:32
SPEAKER_01: Ranked choice election.
47:34
SPEAKER_01: Executive branch, legislative branch, checks and balances, right?
47:37
SPEAKER_01: Consolidation on the executive side.
47:40
And then we resulted in this kind of very experimental system
47:43
because it got
47:44
SPEAKER_01: infected with wanting to create presupposed outcomes.
47:49
SPEAKER_01: And in a democracy, we can have a debate.
47:52
SPEAKER_01: I think that's starting to not be democratic.
47:54
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's ridiculous.
47:55
SPEAKER_01: The whole thing is just to guarantee partisan power.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: Right, which has been going on for decades in this country.
48:02
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
48:03
SPEAKER_01: Gerrymandering,
48:04
SPEAKER_00: redistricting,
48:05
SPEAKER_00: everything they were seeing,
48:05
SPEAKER_00: and now at the national level is being taken to an absolute extreme.
48:09
But what I'm saying is what's different about designing a city
48:11
council election to
48:12
SPEAKER_01: try to produce the outcomes that you want in advance?
48:16
SPEAKER_01: It's not the same.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: It's not a direct parallel, but it's the same thinking, okay?
48:20
SPEAKER_01: And this is the problem.
48:21
SPEAKER_01: But isn't that politics?
48:23
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
48:24
SPEAKER_00: cause they,
48:25
SPEAKER_00: they built a coalition,
48:26
SPEAKER_00: the folks who wanted this,
48:27
SPEAKER_00: uh,
48:27
SPEAKER_00: they made a proposal and the voters chose it.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that is how the system works.
48:30
SPEAKER_01: And now they've,
48:31
SPEAKER_01: now we're faced with the results,
48:33
SPEAKER_01: which so far have been in my view,
48:37
SPEAKER_01: extremely non-optimal,
48:38
SPEAKER_01: I guess.
48:39
SPEAKER_00: And so I guess,
48:40
SPEAKER_00: and that is the,
48:41
SPEAKER_00: is first of all,
48:42
the idea that you can have one form of government pretty much
48:45
from the existence of
48:46
SPEAKER_00: the way the city was founded and then change it in a year and
48:50
SPEAKER_00: and hope that every change you made was exactly the right change.
48:53
SPEAKER_00: That's not realistic.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: No matter what you're going to change,
48:55
SPEAKER_00: you're going to find things that work,
48:56
SPEAKER_00: things that maybe didn't work the way that we're thinking.
48:59
And so I think isn't that the case then that needs to be put
49:02
back to voters or to
49:04
SPEAKER_00: council members and say,
49:05
SPEAKER_00: hey,
49:06
SPEAKER_00: This isn't working, so let's fix that, right?
49:08
SPEAKER_00: That's democracy.
49:09
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm saying that I think we... That we should do that.
49:13
SPEAKER_01: I acknowledge your point.
49:14
SPEAKER_01: When you make a new thing,
49:15
SPEAKER_01: whatever the new thing is,
49:17
SPEAKER_01: you need to give time for the new thing to mature,
49:19
SPEAKER_01: right?
49:20
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, right now, we...
49:22
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's say that that's what's going to happen.
49:24
If we just give this time,
49:25
eventually it's going to be extremely high functioning.
49:28
SPEAKER_01: Right now,
49:29
this is the worst time for our economy in the last 50 years to
49:34
wait for that to
49:34
SPEAKER_01: happen.
49:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so let's just say that.
49:38
I would also say anyone who really believes in a new thing that
49:42
they were a part of
49:43
SPEAKER_01: creating,
49:44
SPEAKER_01: if you are an intellectually honest and curious leader –
49:48
SPEAKER_01: Of course,
49:48
SPEAKER_01: any new thing after you implement it,
49:50
SPEAKER_01: you're going to go,
49:50
SPEAKER_01: whoa,
49:51
SPEAKER_01: okay,
49:51
SPEAKER_01: we didn't get that right.
49:52
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, yeah, we should have gone with an odd number of districts, okay?
49:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was a mistake.
49:58
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
49:59
SPEAKER_01: Instead of this tie-breaking thing,
50:01
SPEAKER_01: which then was left up to our city attorney to interpret,
50:04
SPEAKER_01: even though it just says the mayor breaks ties in the charter,
50:07
SPEAKER_01: the city attorney interpreted that as it's only on the last vote.
50:10
SPEAKER_01: So now we have this series of 6-6 amendment votes, the 6-6, 6-6.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: With no, this is what I mean, no prescription.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: As the kids would say, we need six, seven.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I'm a dad.
50:22
Perhaps we should go to an odd number of districts and move to
50:26
a veto with a
50:27
SPEAKER_01: two-thirds override,
50:28
SPEAKER_01: which most cities have.
50:29
So all I'm saying is there are some tweaks you can make that
50:33
could make a big
50:33
difference in the short term that perhaps would find a middle
50:37
ground between what
50:38
SPEAKER_01: you're talking about and what I'm talking about.
50:40
SPEAKER_01: But I'm just going to say that we...
50:44
SPEAKER_01: It was easy to anticipate.
50:45
And the chamber articulated these concerns to the community,
50:49
which is why we opposed it.
50:51
SPEAKER_01: And this is the kind of thing I think the whole old saying,
50:55
SPEAKER_01: it's better to slow down and get it right than speed up and get it wrong.
50:59
SPEAKER_01: And our perspective is we could have waited to get it right.
51:04
SPEAKER_01: One more election, let's do a little more work.
51:06
SPEAKER_01: But we didn't.
51:06
SPEAKER_01: We sped up.
51:08
And my perspective is because it got there was an element of we
51:12
need to get this
51:12
SPEAKER_01: done because if we don't,
51:14
SPEAKER_01: we're not going to be able,
51:15
SPEAKER_01: you know,
51:15
SPEAKER_01: us,
51:15
SPEAKER_01: the democratic socialist or the far progressive left will continue to.
51:19
Their perspective was they were losing an election,
51:21
so they needed to change the system.
51:23
SPEAKER_01: to be able to be successful.
51:25
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, that's my, our person, my perspective.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:28
SPEAKER_00: I mean, pushing back on that.
51:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:30
SPEAKER_00: I'd say the democratic democratic socialist,
51:33
SPEAKER_00: the DSA seems to be having a moment,
51:35
SPEAKER_00: not that they were losing,
51:36
SPEAKER_00: but you now see the chief executive of New York city,
51:40
SPEAKER_00: uh,
51:40
SPEAKER_00: is an outspoken democratic socialist.
51:43
SPEAKER_00: It seems that they're gaining ground, not losing ground.
51:46
SPEAKER_00: 100% gaining ground.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
51:49
SPEAKER_01: No question.
51:49
SPEAKER_01: Right.
51:50
SPEAKER_01: Um,
51:51
And,
51:51
you know,
51:51
I will say for Mayor Mondami,
51:53
he's an extremely gifted politician.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: He's incredible.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: Let's acknowledge that.
51:57
SPEAKER_01: He's incredible.
51:57
SPEAKER_01: If he were a Republican, he would be an extremely gifted Republican.
52:02
SPEAKER_01: And we have those leaders.
52:03
SPEAKER_01: We need to acknowledge that great leaders can come
52:07
SPEAKER_01: from any walk of life, any ideology, right?
52:09
And I mean by have that gift of leadership to be able to
52:13
articulate their vision in
52:15
SPEAKER_01: a way that's inclusive.
52:17
He's already demonstrated that he will back off some of his
52:20
things when he learns
52:20
SPEAKER_01: new information,
52:21
SPEAKER_01: which I greatly value in this stage of my career.
52:25
SPEAKER_01: I think that's the best sign of our best leaders.
52:27
SPEAKER_01: But yes, having a moment.
52:29
The fourth largest Democratic Socialists of America chapter in
52:32
the nation is in
52:33
SPEAKER_01: Portland,
52:34
SPEAKER_01: Oregon.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: The other three are in
52:36
SPEAKER_01: New York City,
52:37
SPEAKER_01: Los Angeles and Washington,
52:38
SPEAKER_01: D.C.,
52:39
SPEAKER_01: three of our largest metropolises and then Portland,
52:42
SPEAKER_01: our 21st largest market.
52:44
SPEAKER_01: So in terms of market share,
52:46
there's no question the Democratic Socialists of America have
52:49
the largest market
52:50
SPEAKER_01: share here in Portland.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
52:51
SPEAKER_01: Well, including a third of the city council.
52:54
SPEAKER_00: Right.
52:54
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
52:55
And you've we've now you've alluded to it several times that
52:59
obviously is the
53:01
SPEAKER_00: chamber's position that that's really bad for the city,
53:04
SPEAKER_00: that a quarter of our or a third of our council is Democratic Socialists.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't I don't necessarily look.
53:10
SPEAKER_01: I want to be clear.
53:11
SPEAKER_01: I don't it's not bad if somebody gets elected.
53:13
OK,
53:14
I think I mean the Democratic Socialists of America
53:18
organization,
53:19
what their goals are.
53:21
SPEAKER_01: to me would be very, very damaging to Portland and the state of Oregon.
53:26
SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about that.
53:26
SPEAKER_01: And I don't,
53:27
SPEAKER_01: one thing that is frustrating to me,
53:30
and anyone who watches this podcast and who's talked to me will
53:32
know this because I
53:33
SPEAKER_01: talk about it all the time.
53:36
If you are a thriving organization here who has successfully
53:38
elected people,
53:40
the goals of that organization should be examined in a way that
53:43
the community can
53:44
SPEAKER_01: be aware of.
53:44
And my view is that we have not had a full public discussion in
53:49
this community that
53:51
SPEAKER_01: not what the DSA candidates say and go and campaign on.
53:54
SPEAKER_01: I know when they campaign and say,
53:56
I'm for Medicare for all in a democratic primary or a
53:59
democratic city like
54:00
SPEAKER_01: Portland,
54:00
SPEAKER_01: that's really good politics.
54:02
SPEAKER_01: And that's mainstream in a lot of democratic circles,
54:05
SPEAKER_01: but that isn't the ultimate goal of the democratic socialists of America.
54:08
SPEAKER_01: There are,
54:09
SPEAKER_01: there's a whole series of goals that I think would be highly alarming to
54:13
SPEAKER_01: Portlanders if they were just provided the information.
54:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
54:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
54:17
The other thing that I think folks don't know is that the
54:19
Democratic Socialists of
54:21
America Portland chapter plays a significant role in the
54:23
leadership of the national
54:25
SPEAKER_01: organization.
54:26
SPEAKER_01: So there's a direct link between Portland DSA and the national.
54:31
SPEAKER_01: All right.
54:31
I think there's three Portlanders on the national DSA steering
54:35
committee and,
54:37
SPEAKER_01: um,
54:37
SPEAKER_01: the chapter,
54:38
SPEAKER_01: uh,
54:39
SPEAKER_01: president that,
54:40
SPEAKER_01: um,
54:41
who was quoted extensively in Willamette week last year has led
54:44
national plenaries
54:45
SPEAKER_01: at their national convention.
54:46
SPEAKER_01: Portland chapter is a major player in the entire national organization.
54:50
SPEAKER_00: So, um,
54:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to,
54:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to play a video that I sent you ahead of time,
54:55
SPEAKER_00: uh,
54:56
SPEAKER_00: of one of our counselors talking about,
54:59
SPEAKER_00: um,
54:59
SPEAKER_00: the,
55:00
SPEAKER_00: what it means to be a democratic socialist here in Portland.
55:05
SPEAKER_00: And then I,
55:06
SPEAKER_00: I want to get your reaction to that,
55:07
SPEAKER_00: but then,
55:08
SPEAKER_00: you know,
55:08
SPEAKER_00: talk more about why we think,
55:10
SPEAKER_00: why it's the chamber's position that this is bad for Portland.
55:14
SPEAKER_02: Hello everyone.
55:15
SPEAKER_02: It's Angelita or Angelita, a Portland city counselor.
55:18
SPEAKER_02: And today I want to talk to you about a big topic.
55:21
SPEAKER_02: Socialism.
55:22
SPEAKER_02: With the massive rise of wealth inequality in the United States,
55:25
SPEAKER_02: the prominence of political figures like Bernie Sanders,
55:28
SPEAKER_02: AOC,
55:29
SPEAKER_02: and most recently,
55:30
SPEAKER_02: Mayor Momdani of New York,
55:31
it's no surprise that democratic socialism would have entered
55:34
the popular lexicon
55:36
and that lots of people would be discussing it without actually
55:38
knowing what it
55:39
means or what democratic socialists are fighting for at the
55:41
national and local
55:42
SPEAKER_02: level.
55:43
SPEAKER_02: We've basically returned to like 1950s,
55:46
SPEAKER_02: Red Scare,
55:46
SPEAKER_02: McCarthyism levels of understanding of what socialism is.
55:51
And that's even permeated to the local level for democratic
55:53
socialists like yours truly.
55:55
SPEAKER_02: And that's why you get folks like Doug Moore,
55:57
SPEAKER_02: powerful people who run in Portland circles,
55:59
SPEAKER_02: who set up PACs like United for Portland,
56:01
SPEAKER_02: AKA the Metro Chamber,
56:03
SPEAKER_02: AKA the Business Alliance,
56:05
SPEAKER_02: as they were formerly known before they rebranded,
56:08
SPEAKER_02: who said,
56:09
socialists are trying to take over the city council and turn it
56:12
into an ideological
56:13
SPEAKER_02: showcase for the rest of the country.
56:15
SPEAKER_02: And the chamber's aim is to stop DSA from taking over council.
56:20
SPEAKER_02: Now,
56:21
SPEAKER_02: elected officials tend to get painted as the face of these movements,
56:24
SPEAKER_02: but I hate to say it,
56:25
SPEAKER_02: it's not a conspiracy.
56:26
SPEAKER_02: Democratic Socialists are regular people who are your neighbors,
56:30
SPEAKER_02: who are organizing for their communities,
56:31
SPEAKER_02: for their rights,
56:32
SPEAKER_02: and for their livelihoods.
56:34
And on a city council body that has 12 people and requires
56:36
seven votes to pass
56:37
SPEAKER_02: policy,
56:38
SPEAKER_02: having four Democratic Socialists in office does not mean that we
56:41
SPEAKER_02: We control the operation.
56:43
SPEAKER_02: But I think the big fear that people are experiencing,
56:46
SPEAKER_02: at least powerful moneyed interests are feeling,
56:49
is that we can mobilize people because the community has our
56:52
backs and we have
56:53
SPEAKER_02: theirs.
56:53
SPEAKER_02: If I could boil down what democratic socialists want to do politically,
56:57
SPEAKER_02: it would be a return to empathy.
56:59
Because right now we are being run by billionaires and
57:02
oligarchs who think that
57:03
empathy and caring for those that have the least among us and
57:06
empowering all of us
57:08
SPEAKER_02: is a sign of weakness.
57:11
Her articulation of of democratic socialism is this been around
57:15
a long time and in
57:16
SPEAKER_00: the chamber specifically is trying to scare you away from from this.
57:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what's what's your reaction to that?
57:23
SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like it is the chamber's position.
57:26
SPEAKER_00: This isn't good for Portland.
57:27
SPEAKER_00: So.
57:28
SPEAKER_00: So why is that?
57:28
SPEAKER_01: So.
57:29
SPEAKER_01: First of all, the chamber's aim is to have a thriving, healthy economy.
57:34
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
57:34
SPEAKER_01: That is our aim to have a thriving community where our needs are met.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: We have a resilient economy and where all people can thrive.
57:42
SPEAKER_01: So let's be clear about that.
57:43
SPEAKER_01: That's our aim.
57:44
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
57:46
SPEAKER_01: As part of that aim,
57:47
SPEAKER_01: yes,
57:47
it's our view that if you examine the stated goals by the
57:52
democratic socialists of
57:53
SPEAKER_01: America,
57:54
SPEAKER_01: that
57:54
SPEAKER_01: that their goals are dangerous for Portland, okay?
57:58
SPEAKER_01: From an economic perspective, okay?
58:01
You know,
58:01
that,
58:03
the TikTok video,
58:04
I think that was TikTok that you just showed me.
58:06
SPEAKER_01: You know,
58:06
SPEAKER_01: it's a very,
58:07
SPEAKER_01: that was a very effective,
58:08
SPEAKER_01: you know,
58:09
SPEAKER_01: use of rhetoric to kind of,
58:11
SPEAKER_01: you know,
58:14
Present yourself as a victim and then kind of smear the
58:17
messenger who's going to
58:18
inform folks about some things that your organization stands
58:22
for and try to,
58:23
SPEAKER_01: you know,
58:23
kind of smear the messenger before it's delivered so that
58:26
people won't hear it,
58:27
SPEAKER_01: okay?
58:28
SPEAKER_01: Score one for Counselor Murillo.
58:30
SPEAKER_01: That's, you know, that's an effective form of political communication.
58:33
SPEAKER_01: Game recognized game, I hear you saying.
58:35
Like,
58:35
yeah,
58:36
she's a really gifted communicator and I respect that about
58:38
her.
58:39
SPEAKER_01: But let's get to the substance.
58:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's get to the substance.
58:42
SPEAKER_01: And I want to say this brings this full circle because I carry in myself,
58:47
SPEAKER_01: A,
58:47
SPEAKER_01: my job on behalf of the chamber and I look at the economic data,
58:50
SPEAKER_01: you know,
58:52
SPEAKER_01: which we strive to present to this community in the most detached,
58:56
SPEAKER_01: non-emotional, non-ideological, non-hyperbolic, non-rhetorical way.
59:01
We really strive to get out of the way and allow our economists
59:04
to present that so
59:05
SPEAKER_01: that it will be accepted by our community.
59:08
SPEAKER_01: I feel like the need to state that because we're constantly told,
59:12
SPEAKER_01: oh,
59:12
you're doing this for this ill-gotten goal or the reason you
59:15
present this is
59:15
SPEAKER_01: because you really want that.
59:17
People would really serve folks as maybe a piece of advice to
59:21
give to people who
59:22
SPEAKER_01: like to not like us.
59:24
You're going to be a happier person for those who don't like us
59:27
if you just take us
59:28
SPEAKER_01: literally and just because we do what we say and we say what we do.
59:31
SPEAKER_01: We don't have hidden ulterior motives.
59:34
But I think if we take the time to look at the goals of the
59:39
Democratic Socialists
59:40
SPEAKER_01: of America,
59:41
SPEAKER_01: it isn't what,
59:42
SPEAKER_01: you know,
59:42
Councilor Murillo does a very effective job of kind of painting
59:45
this very kind of
59:47
SPEAKER_01: benign,
59:48
SPEAKER_01: hey,
59:48
SPEAKER_01: we're just a good organization.
59:49
SPEAKER_01: And that's good politics.
59:51
SPEAKER_01: I believe in that.
59:52
SPEAKER_01: When you are part of something, you want to go fight for it.
59:56
I would argue no one respects DSA more than me in the city
59:59
because they're a strong
1:00:01
SPEAKER_01: political organization that achieves its goals.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_01: But
1:00:04
SPEAKER_01: I worry personally,
1:00:05
both at the chamber and what you and I talked about with the
1:00:08
history I have of
1:00:09
knowing we had a 2010 Republican majority in 1997 in the state
1:00:14
Senate here.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_01: I start to see all those same elements.
1:00:18
I feel like you're seeing all those elements that eventually
1:00:22
swung things from the
1:00:23
SPEAKER_01: Republicans to the Democrats happening within the Democratic Party here.
1:00:27
And primarily the kind of foundation of that or the root of it
1:00:32
is an intentional
1:00:33
SPEAKER_01: effort by the DSA to salt the Democratic Party,
1:00:36
SPEAKER_01: which in many ways they have successfully,
1:00:39
SPEAKER_01: especially at the county precinct committee level.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_01: to achieve their goal.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_01: And I'm, can I just read there?
1:00:47
SPEAKER_01: Please go ahead.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:00:49
SPEAKER_01: They require their candidates.
1:00:51
SPEAKER_01: They call them cadre candidates.
1:00:52
And every,
1:00:54
every DSA member of the city council has sought to be a cadre
1:00:58
candidate of DSA.
1:00:59
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:00:59
SPEAKER_01: At one point in their career,
1:01:01
they are required to criticize the democratic party
1:01:04
establishment and put forward
1:01:06
the necessity for a socialist party and a rupture within the
1:01:10
democratic party
1:01:11
And recognize that building socialism requires a mass
1:01:15
orientation and cannot be
1:01:17
achieved through backroom deals and collaboration with
1:01:19
capitalist parties.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:01:21
SPEAKER_01: So if you are a DSA candidate,
1:01:24
SPEAKER_01: like for example,
1:01:25
SPEAKER_01: Tammy Carpenter,
1:01:26
SPEAKER_01: who's writing for house sister 27 right now,
1:01:28
SPEAKER_01: very out there again,
1:01:30
SPEAKER_01: credit for transparency.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_01: You know,
1:01:31
SPEAKER_01: me,
1:01:32
SPEAKER_01: anyone who says who they are out there transparently,
1:01:34
SPEAKER_01: I respect,
1:01:35
SPEAKER_01: I think that's the ticket to successful politics in this day and age,
1:01:39
SPEAKER_01: the most transparent.
1:01:41
SPEAKER_01: But she's out there running credit to her.
1:01:43
SPEAKER_01: She has been gifted.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_01: She's running as a Democrat.
1:01:47
Committed to this goal of destroying the Democratic Party to
1:01:50
replace it with the
1:01:51
SPEAKER_01: Socialist Party.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_01: She's been given infrastructure by the Democratic Party.
1:01:55
SPEAKER_01: They've donated the voter file to her.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_01: That's a critical piece of campaign infrastructure.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_01: And we have one of the best voter files in the country.
1:02:03
I was part of the effort back in the day when we were getting
1:02:06
our asses kicked.
1:02:08
By the Republicans all the time,
1:02:09
we knew we had to build that infrastructure.
1:02:11
SPEAKER_01: We have a really good voter file here.
1:02:14
SPEAKER_01: Or the Democratic Party has a really good voter file here.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm not part of that anymore.
1:02:19
SPEAKER_01: But that's been donated to Tammy Carpenter,
1:02:22
who's part of wanting to destroy the Democratic Party and
1:02:24
replace it with a
1:02:25
SPEAKER_01: socialist party.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_01: I don't think Democrats, by and large, want that.
1:02:30
I think right now Democrats are frustrated with their party
1:02:33
leadership because they
1:02:34
SPEAKER_01: haven't stood up to Trump.
1:02:35
SPEAKER_01: I share that frustration.
1:02:37
When I hear people say,
1:02:39
can you believe these people who voted for Donald Trump?
1:02:43
SPEAKER_01: My God, what morons?
1:02:44
SPEAKER_01: How could they do it?
1:02:46
SPEAKER_01: I just want to look back that,
1:02:47
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:02:47
SPEAKER_01: when you're in Portland,
1:02:48
SPEAKER_01: that always comes from a Democrat.
1:02:49
I just look at the Democrat and say,
1:02:51
well,
1:02:52
how can the Democrats lose to this guy twice,
1:02:55
right?
1:02:55
Like before you start criticizing those who voted for him,
1:02:59
look at yourself.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_01: And it's my very,
1:03:02
very strong belief that Donald Trump won because the Democratic
1:03:06
Party has embraced
1:03:08
SPEAKER_01: the same wing of its party,
1:03:10
SPEAKER_01: primarily through DSA,
1:03:11
SPEAKER_01: that
1:03:12
SPEAKER_01: the Republican party embraced through MAGA.
1:03:15
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:03:16
SPEAKER_01: And I can tell you that when we flipped this state from R to D,
1:03:21
SPEAKER_01: okay,
1:03:22
SPEAKER_01: we did not do it on an extremely left platform.
1:03:26
We did it by finding candidates who ran on a mainstream center
1:03:30
left agenda that
1:03:32
SPEAKER_01: worked in places that got them elected in places like the coast,
1:03:36
SPEAKER_01: central Oregon,
1:03:37
SPEAKER_01: suburban Eugene,
1:03:38
SPEAKER_01: Southern Oregon.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_01: That's how you win majorities.
1:03:43
We cannot have a legislature that just constantly tilts towards
1:03:46
the ultra-left
1:03:48
SPEAKER_01: politics of Portland,
1:03:50
especially when Portland's economy is right now in a
1:03:54
straight-down negative
1:03:55
SPEAKER_01: trajectory.
1:03:56
SPEAKER_01: Those are all the things.
1:03:57
When I talk about the ingredients,
1:03:59
the ingredients you start to see bubble up.
1:04:01
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
1:04:02
SPEAKER_01: that in three or four cycles,
1:04:04
SPEAKER_01: you can see it coming where we could see it swing back the other way.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_01: And so I guess part of me is just kind of issuing a warning.
1:04:11
SPEAKER_01: And it's playing out right now.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_01: We have DSA candidates challenging incumbent Democrats who are,
1:04:19
SPEAKER_01: by and large,
1:04:20
SPEAKER_01: progressive Democrats.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_01: We don't really have, in Oregon, our version of what a moderate is, is
1:04:27
SPEAKER_01: It's far to the left of most other places.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_00: Well,
1:04:30
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:04:30
SPEAKER_00: one of the things that,
1:04:31
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:04:32
SPEAKER_00: I think that Mayor Mom Donnie that I'm watching,
1:04:35
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:04:36
SPEAKER_00: like we all are on social media.
1:04:37
SPEAKER_00: He just filled how many potholes, like 90,000.
1:04:41
SPEAKER_00: I've popped two tires.
1:04:42
SPEAKER_00: Smart.
1:04:42
SPEAKER_00: Last couple months, right?
1:04:43
SPEAKER_00: That's brilliant politics.
1:04:45
He just did a March madness tournament of people proposing
1:04:50
issues in the city that
1:04:51
SPEAKER_00: need to be fixed.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_00: And then he let the people vote head to head, which issue.
1:04:55
SPEAKER_00: And then they, but all of the, all of them are going to get fixed.
1:04:58
SPEAKER_00: But one of them got prioritized because it won the tournament of.
1:05:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, boy, that is that's a great politician.
1:05:04
That's not like that's not any like we should see politicians
1:05:09
across the board,
1:05:10
SPEAKER_01: Democrats,
1:05:10
SPEAKER_01: Republicans,
1:05:11
SPEAKER_01: independents,
1:05:12
SPEAKER_01: DSA,
1:05:12
SPEAKER_01: whatever,
1:05:13
SPEAKER_01: do stuff like that.
1:05:14
SPEAKER_01: OK,
1:05:15
one of the problems we've had important we haven't had we need
1:05:18
a super extroverted,
1:05:20
SPEAKER_01: really great communication.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_01: politician in the city, right?
1:05:24
SPEAKER_01: Like that.
1:05:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:05:25
SPEAKER_01: But that isn't an argument for DSA.
1:05:27
That's an argument for Mondami,
1:05:28
great politician doing smart things that get attention.
1:05:31
And that isn't,
1:05:34
that's not an argument for the democratic socialist of,
1:05:36
of America agenda.
1:05:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:05:38
SPEAKER_01: Are you getting where I,
1:05:39
SPEAKER_01: where I,
1:05:39
SPEAKER_01: well,
1:05:40
SPEAKER_00: I think if I was to keep playing the,
1:05:42
SPEAKER_00: the Angelina Murillo video,
1:05:44
SPEAKER_00: she would talk about,
1:05:45
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:05:46
SPEAKER_00: Doing livability issues,
1:05:48
SPEAKER_00: talk,
1:05:48
SPEAKER_00: standing with workers,
1:05:49
SPEAKER_00: like caring about these things that people are organizing.
1:05:52
I mean,
1:05:52
look,
1:05:53
the DSA,
1:05:54
uh,
1:05:54
I think they've done a fantastic job organizing.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_00: They don't have money.
1:05:58
SPEAKER_00: They're not throwing money around at candidates.
1:06:01
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:06:01
SPEAKER_00: When I was running,
1:06:02
SPEAKER_00: there were members of the,
1:06:04
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:06:04
SPEAKER_00: in the Metro chamber,
1:06:05
SPEAKER_00: they're throwing tons of money against me.
1:06:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:06:08
SPEAKER_00: very small people overrepresented in political speech.
1:06:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, there was, okay, but let's be real.
1:06:13
SPEAKER_01: And that's not the metric of money spent to support you.
1:06:17
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_01: Big contributions from the working families party.
1:06:20
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:06:20
SPEAKER_01: And, and others.
1:06:22
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:06:22
SPEAKER_01: But, but it's all money, right?
1:06:24
SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
1:06:25
SPEAKER_01: So I, you know, we get into the money conversation.
1:06:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:06:28
One thing that always drives me nuts,
1:06:29
especially about the left is like,
1:06:31
well,
1:06:32
our money's okay.
1:06:32
SPEAKER_01: Your money's bad.
1:06:33
SPEAKER_00: All right.
1:06:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, let's be real.
1:06:35
SPEAKER_01: But I'm saying the DSA doesn't have money.
1:06:36
SPEAKER_00: I've not seen them throw money into any races.
1:06:39
SPEAKER_01: No,
1:06:40
SPEAKER_01: they're,
1:06:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
1:06:40
SPEAKER_01: here that is not,
1:06:42
SPEAKER_01: but they have been,
1:06:43
their candidates have been backed by efforts that have a lot of
1:06:46
resources.
1:06:47
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:06:47
SPEAKER_01: But that organization yourself correctly has not played that role.
1:06:51
SPEAKER_01: They are really good at grassroots organizing.
1:06:53
SPEAKER_01: That's interesting, right?
1:06:54
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
1:06:55
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, that's how I came up.
1:06:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
1:06:56
I spent two years as the national organizing director of the
1:06:59
United States student
1:06:59
SPEAKER_01: association.
1:07:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:07:01
SPEAKER_01: Two years flying around this country,
1:07:02
teaching college students that the fundamental principles of
1:07:05
direct action
1:07:06
SPEAKER_01: organizing.
1:07:07
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:07:07
SPEAKER_01: But let me tell you something in that training.
1:07:10
SPEAKER_01: The first training that I did for two years was called Choosing an Issue,
1:07:15
and we taught our activists to choose deeply felt and broadly
1:07:20
felt issues.
1:07:21
SPEAKER_01: We taught pragmatism.
1:07:23
SPEAKER_01: To me, that's lacking today.
1:07:25
SPEAKER_01: We taught you can't just go from here to here tomorrow.
1:07:29
SPEAKER_01: You're going to fail ultimately in the long run.
1:07:31
And that is where I think is missing from our progressive
1:07:36
politics these days.
1:07:38
It is an economic strength of Portland that we have this
1:07:42
progressive idealism reputation.
1:07:45
SPEAKER_01: When we are thriving as a city, that is a great thing.
1:07:48
SPEAKER_01: People want to move here.
1:07:50
SPEAKER_01: It's a place where you can feel free to live however you want to live.
1:07:53
SPEAKER_01: I still think that's the greatest strength of Portland.
1:07:56
SPEAKER_01: I know.
1:07:58
SPEAKER_01: But when we go too far,
1:08:00
SPEAKER_01: it,
1:08:01
SPEAKER_01: it can very quickly as it has now from our perspective,
1:08:04
SPEAKER_01: become an absolute economic detractor.
1:08:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:08:08
SPEAKER_01: Cause we've, we're going too far.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_00: All right.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_00: So,
1:08:11
SPEAKER_00: and so I wanted to,
1:08:13
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:08:13
SPEAKER_00: we're,
1:08:13
SPEAKER_00: this has been a great conversation and we're going to have,
1:08:16
SPEAKER_00: we're going to have to have part two.
1:08:17
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have to have part two,
1:08:18
because I wanted to go through all these policies and talk
1:08:21
through them and really
1:08:21
SPEAKER_00: get your perspective.
1:08:22
SPEAKER_00: Cause I think it's so important.
1:08:24
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that has bothered me,
1:08:25
SPEAKER_00: um,
1:08:27
SPEAKER_00: is,
1:08:27
SPEAKER_00: is I hear,
1:08:28
SPEAKER_00: I go,
1:08:28
SPEAKER_00: I meet with business owners and people in the business community.
1:08:31
And what I hear them say is how much it sucks to feel like the
1:08:36
people who live here
1:08:37
SPEAKER_00: don't support them.
1:08:39
SPEAKER_00: And how,
1:08:40
SPEAKER_00: and,
1:08:40
SPEAKER_00: and,
1:08:40
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:08:41
SPEAKER_00: to some extent I can see that in some extent,
1:08:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:08:44
SPEAKER_00: we love our small businesses in this community.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of the most popular, literally the most popular
1:08:51
SPEAKER_01: group of,
1:08:53
SPEAKER_01: of organizations,
1:08:54
SPEAKER_01: I guess in Portland,
1:08:55
SPEAKER_01: like the survey,
1:08:56
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:08:56
SPEAKER_01: that survey for the community every year,
1:08:58
SPEAKER_01: we put it out this year.
1:08:59
SPEAKER_01: I was like, who do you trust most on the economy?
1:09:01
SPEAKER_01: small businesses, 72% of Portland.
1:09:03
SPEAKER_00: I love when I travel to other cities and I get this,
1:09:07
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:09:07
SPEAKER_00: no offense to other cities,
1:09:09
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:09:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they're great,
1:09:10
SPEAKER_00: but you go there and they got the chain,
1:09:12
SPEAKER_00: this and the chain that,
1:09:13
SPEAKER_00: and it's like,
1:09:13
SPEAKER_00: and I'm like,
1:09:14
SPEAKER_00: ah,
1:09:14
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to get back to Portland where I can go in my neighborhood.
1:09:17
SPEAKER_00: Yesterday, pipsqueak donuts opened down the street from me.
1:09:20
SPEAKER_00: They sold out a thousand donuts between 7am and 10am.
1:09:25
SPEAKER_00: I do love that about Portland, man.
1:09:26
SPEAKER_00: They had people down the block.
1:09:29
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:09:29
SPEAKER_00: And so I just,
1:09:31
You cannot have a successful city or successful region without
1:09:38
supporting your businesses.
1:09:39
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
1:09:40
And I,
1:09:41
I do,
1:09:42
I am concerned when I see people on the left that I feel like
1:09:45
lump
1:09:47
SPEAKER_00: Amazon in with business, right?
1:09:49
SPEAKER_00: And they say like,
1:09:50
SPEAKER_00: look,
1:09:50
I think that everybody should get rid of their Amazon
1:09:53
subscriptions and only shop
1:09:54
SPEAKER_00: at Pipsqueak donuts.
1:09:55
SPEAKER_00: If you could get everything like do it locally.
1:09:58
I think that that would be such a form of resistance to what we
1:10:01
see happening
1:10:02
SPEAKER_00: nationally,
1:10:03
SPEAKER_00: but I don't see that happening as much.
1:10:05
SPEAKER_00: And I really wish that Portland would get behind it.
1:10:07
So I think that we do need to have a very serious conversation
1:10:10
about supporting our businesses.
1:10:13
in this region and economy and that's why i'm so glad you're
1:10:15
here and i wish i
1:10:16
could go through so many things i want to say right now by
1:10:20
issue on on the things
1:10:21
but we're not going to get to do it so what i i'm going to a
1:10:24
couple things i want
1:10:25
to wrap us up on one you have you've said multiple times the
1:10:29
dsa is really bad and
1:10:31
SPEAKER_00: and the the the thesis that is not my
1:10:34
SPEAKER_01: language.
1:10:34
SPEAKER_01: I said that our community should understand what their goals are.
1:10:39
And I think if the community had a better understanding of what
1:10:42
their ultimate
1:10:43
SPEAKER_01: goals are,
1:10:44
SPEAKER_01: for example,
1:10:45
SPEAKER_01: the chair is quoted in Willamette week.
1:10:48
She led the national plenary last year on the DSA's goal of
1:10:52
ending the traditional
1:10:54
SPEAKER_01: family in this country.
1:10:55
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:10:55
SPEAKER_01: Because they call it the gateway to capitalism.
1:10:59
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:11:00
SPEAKER_01: Having, you know, promoting the kind of traditional family structure.
1:11:05
SPEAKER_01: They call for the complete defunding of child protective services,
1:11:08
SPEAKER_01: that this is all a capitalist system.
1:11:10
SPEAKER_01: OK, I think that's highly alarming to Portlanders.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_01: I also think it's highly alarming economically when today,
1:11:18
SPEAKER_01: today in the Oregonian,
1:11:19
SPEAKER_01: we are more people are dying in Oregon than than being born now.
1:11:24
SPEAKER_01: Pretty consistently, it's gonna continue that way for a while.
1:11:28
SPEAKER_01: The only real immigration we've had is from folks from other countries.
1:11:31
SPEAKER_01: That's gonna be cut off, okay?
1:11:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no kidding.
1:11:34
SPEAKER_01: Portland's greatest economic strengths has been,
1:11:37
SPEAKER_01: this is a great city to raise a family in,
1:11:41
SPEAKER_01: the livability.
1:11:43
it should be highly alarming that the ultimate goal of the DSA
1:11:47
is to end that.
1:11:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:11:48
To actually work against having families here,
1:11:51
the way that we think about it.
1:11:52
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
1:11:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to try to speak for them.
1:11:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm just going to look at their agenda.
1:11:57
SPEAKER_00: That's all I'm trying to say.
1:11:58
SPEAKER_00: You're making the case that their agenda,
1:12:00
SPEAKER_00: if people really understood it,
1:12:01
they would understand that it's actually bad for the success of
1:12:06
this city in this
1:12:06
SPEAKER_00: region.
1:12:08
Calling right now when we need in migration,
1:12:11
we need to compete for people.
1:12:12
SPEAKER_01: We need to reestablish our reputation as a great family city.
1:12:17
SPEAKER_01: That is absolute necessity.
1:12:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:12:19
SPEAKER_01: And by the way,
1:12:20
bringing our vehicle car thefts down from third in the nation
1:12:23
to one of the lowest
1:12:24
SPEAKER_01: we've had in 20 years is part of doing that.
1:12:26
SPEAKER_01: And that's why it was so important.
1:12:29
SPEAKER_01: So yes,
1:12:30
I can make an economic case for calling for the end of the
1:12:33
traditional family is
1:12:35
SPEAKER_01: not only alarming just from a values perspective and culture perspective,
1:12:38
SPEAKER_01: but yes,
1:12:39
SPEAKER_01: economically it's,
1:12:40
SPEAKER_01: it's,
1:12:41
SPEAKER_01: it's bad for our city.
1:12:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_01: Ice coming into our city and doing what we've seen,
1:12:47
SPEAKER_01: like Trump,
1:12:48
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:12:48
SPEAKER_01: essentially announcing a,
1:12:50
SPEAKER_01: like a military takeover.
1:12:51
SPEAKER_01: It didn't really occur, but those are bad for our city because it,
1:12:55
SPEAKER_01: drives immigration down.
1:12:56
SPEAKER_01: We need immigration to carry our economy.
1:12:58
We need a workforce that's industrious and can meet the needs
1:13:02
of our businesses.
1:13:03
SPEAKER_01: Those are all bad for our economy.
1:13:04
SPEAKER_01: I can make the case when we go to extreme on both sides.
1:13:07
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:13:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:13:08
SPEAKER_01: And I, I'm going to end on this.
1:13:09
SPEAKER_01: You made a great point about how we love small businesses.
1:13:13
SPEAKER_01: If just by our structure,
1:13:15
50% of the city's revenues and about 50% of the county's
1:13:18
revenues come from
1:13:19
SPEAKER_01: business income taxes,
1:13:20
SPEAKER_01: okay?
1:13:21
SPEAKER_01: The rest are property taxes,
1:13:22
SPEAKER_01: which is primarily a business tax combined with residential homeowners.
1:13:27
Logic just says that if half of our government is funded by
1:13:31
business taxes,
1:13:32
we should want to make this the greatest place in the country
1:13:36
to do business.
1:13:37
SPEAKER_01: Because then all of the progressive social ideals we have,
1:13:41
the things that we believe government can be a force for good
1:13:45
and equality in this
1:13:46
SPEAKER_01: country,
1:13:47
SPEAKER_01: we can do when we make it a great place to have business.
1:13:50
But if we vilify businesses the way I heard in Council
1:13:54
Murillo's video you just showed me,
1:13:57
SPEAKER_01: We're living at that result right now.
1:13:59
SPEAKER_01: Business has by and large moved,
1:14:02
SPEAKER_01: transitioned to Clark County where they're experiencing an economic boom.
1:14:07
SPEAKER_01: And so we can't, we're cutting our government.
1:14:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're cutting important services.
1:14:11
We wanna turn that around so we're investing,
1:14:14
then we've got to attract employers here,
1:14:17
okay?
1:14:18
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't help to have an organization,
1:14:22
SPEAKER_01: the biggest,
1:14:22
SPEAKER_01: the kind of fastest growing political organization
1:14:25
SPEAKER_01: That by its very nature vilifies businesses.
1:14:29
SPEAKER_00: So I want to end on a positive vision.
1:14:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:14:32
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:14:33
SPEAKER_00: Let's send in a positive vision.
1:14:36
SPEAKER_00: I think I want the city of Portland to succeed.
1:14:39
SPEAKER_00: I know you do.
1:14:40
SPEAKER_00: You're invested deeply in this community personally.
1:14:43
SPEAKER_01: Almost my whole life.
1:14:44
SPEAKER_00: I've raised two kids here.
1:14:46
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:14:46
SPEAKER_00: you know, work for the school district.
1:14:48
SPEAKER_00: Both my kids went through the school district.
1:14:51
I think the folks who are part of the DSA similarly would feel
1:14:54
the same way.
1:14:55
SPEAKER_00: So we, we need to be successful together and build this thing together.
1:15:00
SPEAKER_00: What is the thing?
1:15:01
SPEAKER_00: And here's your vision.
1:15:03
SPEAKER_00: We are facing some challenging economic times, right?
1:15:05
SPEAKER_00: And there are national headwinds.
1:15:07
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the tariffs have been devastating on the state of Oregon.
1:15:10
SPEAKER_00: Immigration policy has been devastating on the state of Oregon.
1:15:13
SPEAKER_00: The big, beautiful bill is going to punch a hole in our state budget.
1:15:16
SPEAKER_01: Most of any state in the country.
1:15:17
SPEAKER_00: Any state in the country.
1:15:18
SPEAKER_00: So we are facing some national headwinds.
1:15:22
SPEAKER_00: And also we have to do things locally that make sense.
1:15:27
SPEAKER_00: What is the chamber's vision?
1:15:29
SPEAKER_00: If we did this thing, it would get us...
1:15:34
SPEAKER_00: a better place to be.
1:15:34
SPEAKER_00: What, what is that thing?
1:15:35
SPEAKER_00: Give us, give us the positive vision.
1:15:37
SPEAKER_01: So to, I'm just going to go to, okay.
1:15:41
We need to recognize that we're in a completely different
1:15:44
economic landscape.
1:15:45
SPEAKER_01: Like we just do,
1:15:45
SPEAKER_01: we got to recognize it and accept that as a matter of kind of fact,
1:15:49
SPEAKER_01: if you can do that and say what we,
1:15:51
SPEAKER_01: where we were in 2019 just absolutely doesn't exist today.
1:15:54
We were the fifth fastest growing Metro economy in the nation
1:15:57
where we are now one
1:15:58
SPEAKER_01: of the bottom five performers consistently in every single
1:16:03
SPEAKER_01: We have a list we call the anti-symperlatives.
1:16:05
SPEAKER_01: So number one is we need to restructure our taxes to be competitive.
1:16:09
We're finally at that point where our love of not having some
1:16:14
sort of broad-based
1:16:15
SPEAKER_01: consumption tax – I don't want to say the S word because –
1:16:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm calling it a broad base,
1:16:21
SPEAKER_01: low rate consumption tax that's predictable,
1:16:24
that you can increase in very small increments when you want to
1:16:27
do something big.
1:16:28
SPEAKER_01: The fact of it that we don't have something like that,
1:16:30
we're just going to have to address because what it's produced
1:16:33
is super high rate
1:16:35
SPEAKER_01: specialty taxes.
1:16:36
SPEAKER_01: So we're starving our basic stuff.
1:16:38
SPEAKER_01: roads, public safety, parks.
1:16:40
SPEAKER_01: We're starving it while we are overfunding specialties that are great.
1:16:44
SPEAKER_01: Again, we are for the specialties, but not at the expense of the basics.
1:16:49
But we need to do it so that it's competitive and we can
1:16:51
attract employers and
1:16:52
SPEAKER_01: families again,
1:16:53
SPEAKER_01: okay?
1:16:54
That also includes funding our basic stuff so that we,
1:16:57
you know,
1:16:57
like the Parks Levy last year.
1:16:58
SPEAKER_01: We endorsed that, okay?
1:17:00
You know,
1:17:00
even though everyone loves to talk about how we're just,
1:17:02
all we do is hate taxes.
1:17:04
SPEAKER_01: We helped write the Supportive Homeless Services Tax, okay?
1:17:07
We are,
1:17:07
it's about a pro-tax of a business group that you're going to
1:17:09
find.
1:17:10
SPEAKER_01: We just, we've gone too far again, so we need to do that.
1:17:12
Number two,
1:17:13
we need to just accept that we need to incentivize the private
1:17:17
housing market,
1:17:18
okay?
1:17:19
SPEAKER_01: We're just, we can't spend our way into housing.
1:17:22
SPEAKER_01: We've spent
1:17:23
SPEAKER_01: We've successfully built thousands of units of affordable housing.
1:17:27
SPEAKER_01: We've flooded that into the market, and now that is in crisis.
1:17:33
We are not going to fix our housing market if we don't just
1:17:36
incentivize building,
1:17:37
okay?
1:17:37
SPEAKER_01: We've got the policy frameworks in place, right?
1:17:40
SPEAKER_01: We did residential infill.
1:17:42
SPEAKER_01: Tina Kotak has championed some really great reforms that will matter,
1:17:45
SPEAKER_01: so we need to incentivize the private sector.
1:17:48
It is disastrous for our community right now that we are ranked
1:17:52
next to last in
1:17:53
SPEAKER_01: investability for housing investment by the Urban Land Institute.
1:17:57
SPEAKER_01: That is disastrous.
1:17:58
SPEAKER_01: That means...
1:18:00
investment around the nation,
1:18:01
which we have to have here to build housing.
1:18:03
SPEAKER_01: We, we don't have enough here to do it ourselves.
1:18:06
SPEAKER_01: We have to attract investment.
1:18:09
SPEAKER_01: It's not coming here right now.
1:18:10
SPEAKER_01: It just isn't okay.
1:18:11
SPEAKER_01: That's what it means.
1:18:12
We need to take it seriously and we need to take the steps to
1:18:15
change that.
1:18:16
SPEAKER_01: And that's going to require accepting incentives.
1:18:19
SPEAKER_01: We need to go with carrots rather than sticks.
1:18:22
SPEAKER_01: So when I see things like a vacancy tax proposed,
1:18:26
Which just the fact that there were headlines on that has
1:18:28
already hurt us.
1:18:29
I mean,
1:18:31
there are developers who were having positive conversations
1:18:35
trying to attract capital.
1:18:38
SPEAKER_01: Just a headline about Portland just kind of stomps that out, right?
1:18:44
So we have to change from that mentality that somehow
1:18:49
commercial building owners
1:18:50
SPEAKER_01: are intentionally keeping their buildings empty,
1:18:52
SPEAKER_01: intentionally losing money so we're going to tax them.
1:18:55
SPEAKER_01: What do you think is going to happen?
1:18:56
SPEAKER_01: We don't have the demand to fill spaces.
1:18:58
Commercial building owners are already incentivizing their
1:19:01
tenants to get them.
1:19:02
Now we're going to tax you as if it's your fault that you have
1:19:05
empty spaces.
1:19:06
SPEAKER_01: That's the mentality that we have to get away from to an incentives.
1:19:10
SPEAKER_01: Carrots.
1:19:11
SPEAKER_01: We want you to do this.
1:19:12
SPEAKER_01: We're going to give you that.
1:19:13
SPEAKER_01: We're going to make it less expensive for you.
1:19:16
SPEAKER_01: Those are the two things we need to do.
1:19:17
SPEAKER_00: All right.
1:19:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, John Isaac, thank you so much.
1:19:19
SPEAKER_00: I want to come back.
1:19:20
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have to have a part two.
1:19:21
We did not even come close and we still have more packs of
1:19:24
baseball cards to rip.
1:19:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh my God.
1:19:26
SPEAKER_00: Can I do one more?
1:19:27
SPEAKER_00: Do one more.
1:19:28
SPEAKER_00: It's been a great conversation.
1:19:29
SPEAKER_00: This has been super fun.
1:19:30
SPEAKER_00: We need to get into it some more.
1:19:31
SPEAKER_00: And so we will do that.
1:19:33
SPEAKER_00: But thanks for coming on.
1:19:34
SPEAKER_00: Thanks a lot, Mike.
1:19:42
My next guest today is Dr.
1:19:43
Sandra Comstock,
1:19:44
Executive Director of Hygiene for All.
1:19:47
SPEAKER_00: Sandra holds a doctorate in development sociology.
1:19:50
Her academic background is from Harvard,
1:19:52
Cornell,
1:19:52
University of Western Ontario.
1:19:55
She's a former business owner of the Glyph Cafe and Artspace on
1:19:59
the North Park blocks.
1:20:00
SPEAKER_00: Hygiene for All operates a hygiene hub under Portland's Morrison Bridge.
1:20:04
SPEAKER_00: It provides restrooms, showers, laundry, and basic health care supplies.
1:20:09
Right now,
1:20:09
it's only open two days a week from 3 to 9 p.m.
1:20:13
on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
1:20:15
SPEAKER_00: And it's run by and for our houseless neighbors.
1:20:19
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, Dr. Comstock.
1:20:20
SPEAKER_00: Sandra.
1:20:21
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
1:20:21
SPEAKER_03: Yes, please call me Sandra.
1:20:24
SPEAKER_03: It's a pleasure to be here.
1:20:26
SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having me on.
1:20:27
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm so thrilled to have you.
1:20:29
SPEAKER_00: And,
1:20:30
and really one of the reasons I reached out to you and wanted
1:20:33
to have you on is
1:20:34
SPEAKER_00: because hygiene for all has experienced some fires in the,
1:20:37
SPEAKER_00: in the past several months and that's caused damage.
1:20:40
SPEAKER_00: And,
1:20:41
SPEAKER_00: and so I want to make people aware of that and,
1:20:43
SPEAKER_00: and help the organization and connect people want to help.
1:20:46
SPEAKER_00: But before we get into that,
1:20:48
I want to just kind of have you tell us a little bit about
1:20:50
yourself and then we'll
1:20:50
SPEAKER_00: get into the organization.
1:20:52
SPEAKER_03: Oh, boy.
1:20:52
SPEAKER_03: Well,
1:20:53
SPEAKER_03: I,
1:20:54
SPEAKER_03: in addition to being the executive director of Hygiene for All,
1:20:56
SPEAKER_03: I'm also on the steering committee of the Welcome Home Coalition,
1:21:01
SPEAKER_03: which is a housing justice organization.
1:21:04
And I'm the co-chair of the Supportive Housing Services
1:21:09
Multnomah County Community
1:21:11
SPEAKER_03: Advisory Group,
1:21:12
SPEAKER_03: something like that.
1:21:14
SPEAKER_03: I want to have two wonderful kids.
1:21:18
SPEAKER_00: And so you have been doing this type of work,
1:21:21
SPEAKER_00: work around housing,
1:21:23
SPEAKER_00: around homelessness,
1:21:24
SPEAKER_00: around these issues for a long time.
1:21:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:21:27
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I have had an interest for a long time.
1:21:29
SPEAKER_03: Like even in high school,
1:21:30
I was working on affordable housing and then ironically ended
1:21:34
up homeless for a
1:21:35
SPEAKER_03: year and a half on the streets.
1:21:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:21:37
bounced around,
1:21:37
did a whole bunch of popular education and work down in Central
1:21:41
America.
1:21:43
SPEAKER_03: And then coming to this area,
1:21:46
I sort of switched out of academia and ended up with Lyft Cafe
1:21:51
and Art Space,
1:21:52
where I started to interact with and build friendships with a
1:21:57
lot of folks that
1:21:57
SPEAKER_03: were living on the streets around our space.
1:22:01
SPEAKER_03: And that in combination with one of my fellow artists who ended up
1:22:05
SPEAKER_03: um, inviting me to get involved with advocacy work.
1:22:09
SPEAKER_03: I somehow fell into this.
1:22:12
SPEAKER_00: Well,
1:22:12
SPEAKER_00: I love,
1:22:13
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:22:13
SPEAKER_00: you've got so much,
1:22:14
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:22:15
SPEAKER_00: different experiences,
1:22:16
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:22:16
SPEAKER_00: but a business owner,
1:22:17
SPEAKER_00: a business owner in downtown Portland,
1:22:19
SPEAKER_00: we hear a lot from business owners,
1:22:21
SPEAKER_00: some of the louder voices.
1:22:24
SPEAKER_00: What's your perspective?
1:22:25
SPEAKER_03: Um,
1:22:25
SPEAKER_03: well,
1:22:26
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
1:22:26
SPEAKER_03: I guess being on the North park blocks,
1:22:28
SPEAKER_03: we always had,
1:22:29
SPEAKER_03: um,
1:22:29
SPEAKER_03: we have central city concern and many,
1:22:31
SPEAKER_03: um,
1:22:31
SPEAKER_03: services down there and,
1:22:33
SPEAKER_03: um,
1:22:33
SPEAKER_03: Having been homeless myself,
1:22:35
built some very constructive relationships with folks and was
1:22:40
able to sort of,
1:22:42
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:22:42
SPEAKER_03: when people were having a moment of trauma or whatever,
1:22:45
just to provide a little bit of respite and get people back to
1:22:50
a space where,
1:22:51
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:22:51
SPEAKER_03: they could solve whatever problem was going on.
1:22:54
SPEAKER_03: And then unfortunately, what mayor was that prior to Wheeler?
1:23:00
Hales had the moment where he had stopped sweeping people and
1:23:06
then decided to
1:23:07
SPEAKER_03: restart them up without a plan about where all these folks would go.
1:23:12
SPEAKER_03: So basically, I think he started on the east side of the river.
1:23:16
SPEAKER_03: We were on the other side, the west side.
1:23:19
SPEAKER_03: And in doing that all at once,
1:23:21
we ended up with a lot of folks that were super traumatized
1:23:24
from having that
1:23:25
SPEAKER_03: experience,
1:23:26
SPEAKER_03: from losing their belongings,
1:23:27
SPEAKER_03: from,
1:23:28
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:23:28
SPEAKER_03: just suddenly being displaced.
1:23:30
And things became a lot more challenging because people were
1:23:34
rightly like,
1:23:35
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:23:35
SPEAKER_03: when you lose your home and you lose all your belongings,
1:23:39
SPEAKER_03: you're not in the greatest headspace.
1:23:41
SPEAKER_03: So that was one of my first experiences.
1:23:44
SPEAKER_03: I mean, also being
1:23:46
SPEAKER_03: You know, rents were super high to run the space that we had.
1:23:49
And the enhanced service district services that we're obligated
1:23:53
to pay did not,
1:23:55
SPEAKER_03: were not helpful in any way,
1:23:57
SPEAKER_03: shape or form.
1:23:58
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
1:23:58
I'm much better at managing a problem directly than waiting for
1:24:02
someone to show up
1:24:03
and just to tell someone something I could tell them myself in
1:24:06
a much nicer way.
1:24:07
SPEAKER_03: So...
1:24:07
SPEAKER_00: Well,
1:24:07
SPEAKER_00: that just,
1:24:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:24:08
the reference to Mayor Charlie Hales just tells you how long
1:24:12
the city of Portland
1:24:13
SPEAKER_00: has been grappling with the best way to handle homelessness.
1:24:19
SPEAKER_00: You know,
1:24:19
SPEAKER_00: Mayor Wheeler famously ran on,
1:24:21
SPEAKER_00: I think,
1:24:22
SPEAKER_00: a campaign of ending homelessness in his first year.
1:24:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:24:25
Two terms later,
1:24:26
we had our next mayor who was going to end homelessness in a
1:24:29
year.
1:24:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:24:31
SPEAKER_00: And here we are a year in,
1:24:33
and still I think actually probably the actual numbers of folks
1:24:37
who are identified
1:24:39
SPEAKER_00: as being homeless are worse than they've ever been.
1:24:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah,
1:24:42
SPEAKER_03: I think it was around 14,000,
1:24:44
SPEAKER_03: 15,000 the year that December before,
1:24:48
SPEAKER_03: just as Mayor Wilson was taking the reins.
1:24:53
SPEAKER_03: Now we're at 18,000 with 2,000 additional people, so I think it's 7,000.
1:24:58
SPEAKER_03: who are living unsheltered on the streets.
1:25:01
SPEAKER_03: So double the number of shelter beds that he created are now unhoused.
1:25:08
And I just want to emphasize that the real issue and the issue
1:25:13
that hasn't been
1:25:14
fully addressed is affordability and that the rents have just
1:25:18
gone through the roof
1:25:19
SPEAKER_03: throughout the time that I've lived in Portland.
1:25:21
SPEAKER_03: My house is worth double what I paid for it.
1:25:24
SPEAKER_03: And we can't continue this.
1:25:25
We have to,
1:25:26
you know,
1:25:26
we have to create housing and the market isn't doing it.
1:25:29
SPEAKER_00: You and I,
1:25:30
SPEAKER_00: as we were talking beforehand,
1:25:33
SPEAKER_00: we have a similar reference when we talk about affordability.
1:25:37
SPEAKER_00: You know,
1:25:37
SPEAKER_00: a lot of times there is this idea that maybe drugs or mental illness,
1:25:43
SPEAKER_00: that's what drives homelessness.
1:25:44
And certainly Oregon struggles with those things and providing
1:25:47
services for those things.
1:25:48
SPEAKER_00: But you said affordability.
1:25:50
SPEAKER_00: Just say a little bit more about affordability.
1:25:53
um about affordability in apartments or in general or i mean
1:25:57
just how do we know
1:25:58
that that okay so all right so let's just take i mean there's a
1:26:02
great book called
1:26:03
um homelessness is a housing problem who that did a whole study
1:26:08
of different cities
1:26:09
across and continuums of care across the united states and the
1:26:13
one thing that
1:26:15
correlates with the level of homelessness is the price of rent
1:26:19
um and then um
1:26:21
SPEAKER_03: availability of apartments.
1:26:23
SPEAKER_03: So you look at West Virginia, they have the highest rate of addiction.
1:26:26
And they do not have a homeless problem because people can
1:26:28
still afford the rent,
1:26:29
SPEAKER_03: like they can still scrape it together.
1:26:32
SPEAKER_03: And a lot of times,
1:26:34
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:26:35
SPEAKER_03: the relationship is opposite,
1:26:37
SPEAKER_03: when becomes evicted and unhoused,
1:26:39
SPEAKER_03: and then trauma,
1:26:41
SPEAKER_03: etc.
1:26:41
SPEAKER_03: And
1:26:42
SPEAKER_03: I say,
1:26:43
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:26:43
SPEAKER_03: if you don't go onto the streets with some mental health issues,
1:26:47
SPEAKER_03: oh,
1:26:47
SPEAKER_03: you'll have them in a very short time span.
1:26:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
1:26:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, talk to us a little bit about Hygiene for All.
1:26:55
SPEAKER_00: What is the organization?
1:26:56
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about this is it really is a place where you are...
1:27:02
SPEAKER_00: Having firsthand interactions with people.
1:27:05
SPEAKER_00: So you get to hear from the people themselves what is going on.
1:27:08
So tell us about Hygiene for All and then we'll talk about what
1:27:10
you've learned as
1:27:11
SPEAKER_00: the executive director.
1:27:12
So we started out because I was asked to come speak about what
1:27:18
an enhanced service
1:27:19
SPEAKER_03: district might do or might not do for the Central East side.
1:27:23
And one of the things we were quick to point out is that most
1:27:25
of the money that
1:27:26
they were proposing to spend would be spent on policing or
1:27:29
private policing of
1:27:30
SPEAKER_03: public space.
1:27:32
SPEAKER_03: And at that point,
1:27:34
there was one bathroom in the total 77 city square blocks on
1:27:38
the Central East side
1:27:39
SPEAKER_03: that was available.
1:27:41
SPEAKER_03: And now that's gone, actually.
1:27:43
SPEAKER_03: They raised that to put up an apartment building.
1:27:46
SPEAKER_03: So now our porta-potties and the porta-potty next door...
1:27:52
at ground scores bottle drop are the only public bathrooms that
1:27:55
are open 24 seven
1:27:57
and available without having to go through a barrier of do you
1:28:01
belong here do we
1:28:02
let the public use our bathrooms um so yeah actually literally
1:28:06
i was down there the
1:28:07
other day showing some folks around there like we love you we
1:28:09
can use a bathroom
1:28:10
any time of day because we leave the gates open so the poor the
1:28:13
bodies are
1:28:14
available all the time because people have nowhere to go so
1:28:18
that's just one piece
1:28:19
SPEAKER_03: of it but also we spent a year
1:28:22
SPEAKER_03: interviewing folks.
1:28:23
SPEAKER_03: We had lunch things up at St.
1:28:25
SPEAKER_03: Francis Dining Hall and various other places asking homeless folks,
1:28:31
SPEAKER_03: what does safety look like to you?
1:28:33
SPEAKER_03: What do you want,
1:28:35
SPEAKER_03: need,
1:28:35
desire in a space where you can get some basic services and
1:28:40
what are the things
1:28:40
SPEAKER_03: that you don't like about other places that keep you from going there?
1:28:44
And so everything was built with that in mind out of that deep
1:28:48
consultation.
1:28:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think there's a term that I absolutely detest.
1:28:54
SPEAKER_00: It's called service resistant,
1:28:56
SPEAKER_00: which is some manufactured made up thing,
1:28:59
SPEAKER_00: which is supposed to stand for the idea that people just don't want help.
1:29:02
SPEAKER_00: They're just not interested in help.
1:29:03
SPEAKER_00: They're resistant to services.
1:29:06
What I love about what you just said is you actually asked them
1:29:10
what they want.
1:29:13
SPEAKER_03: In the rest of the world, right?
1:29:14
In the business world,
1:29:15
we do customer research and we figure out what,
1:29:19
what,
1:29:20
SPEAKER_03: Are customers satisfied?
1:29:21
SPEAKER_03: Do they like the product?
1:29:23
We don't blame them if they don't want to get the cherry Coke
1:29:26
or whatever.
1:29:27
SPEAKER_03: This is the same situation.
1:29:30
SPEAKER_03: So people want a place where they feel welcome,
1:29:34
SPEAKER_03: obviously,
1:29:35
but also we have high standards in terms of people not using
1:29:40
slurs against one
1:29:40
SPEAKER_03: another.
1:29:41
SPEAKER_03: We won't kick someone out for long, but if somebody is speaking in a way
1:29:47
SPEAKER_03: that is offensive as well as doing anything,
1:29:51
SPEAKER_03: we'll say,
1:29:51
SPEAKER_03: hey,
1:29:52
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:29:52
SPEAKER_03: this is a place for community sanctuary,
1:29:54
a place where people can sit down without having their head on
1:29:58
the swivel and take
1:30:00
SPEAKER_03: a break from all the things outside these gates.
1:30:03
So,
1:30:04
you know,
1:30:04
for the community's sake,
1:30:05
we're going to ask you to like step out.
1:30:07
SPEAKER_03: But even then we're asking people or telling people, you know,
1:30:11
SPEAKER_03: you can come back the next day.
1:30:12
SPEAKER_03: If you need to take a longer break because you keep doing those things,
1:30:15
SPEAKER_03: we will still get you what we can at the gates as long as,
1:30:20
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:30:21
SPEAKER_03: certain kinds of ways,
1:30:22
SPEAKER_03: basic respect are followed.
1:30:25
SPEAKER_03: And that's really important.
1:30:27
SPEAKER_03: To us,
1:30:27
SPEAKER_03: it's a process,
1:30:29
SPEAKER_03: and it's the relationships,
1:30:31
SPEAKER_03: and it's our sense of being very tuned in to how people are feeling,
1:30:36
SPEAKER_03: what they need in those moments.
1:30:38
SPEAKER_03: So people need a listening ear a lot, you know,
1:30:41
SPEAKER_03: People want to be able to share or not share and be respected for that.
1:30:46
But when they come in,
1:30:47
they get that plus some other questions that we ask them about.
1:30:52
SPEAKER_03: Are you interested in hygiene products?
1:30:53
SPEAKER_03: Are you interested in getting on the shower list?
1:30:56
SPEAKER_03: first aid related stuff, charging devices.
1:30:59
And then there's a warm handoff to the person that's in charge
1:31:01
of that station.
1:31:03
Or sometimes we have Portland Street Medicine there to offer
1:31:07
medical appointments.
1:31:09
SPEAKER_03: And then it's actually like, that's the initial thing.
1:31:12
But where the rubber hits the road in terms of understanding
1:31:14
people's needs is
1:31:15
having enough time and space to sit down and just kind of talk
1:31:20
about things.
1:31:21
SPEAKER_03: Because that's where like people unfold a little bit more and let us know
1:31:25
Actually,
1:31:27
I'm looking for a mental health referral or something like that
1:31:30
or a bus pass.
1:31:32
SPEAKER_03: First and foremost is relationship.
1:31:36
SPEAKER_03: And being in the hub is a mood lifter.
1:31:40
SPEAKER_03: It's a place where people feel a sense of connection to others.
1:31:46
And we get to bear witness to all sorts of generosity from
1:31:49
those that have the least.
1:31:51
SPEAKER_03: And that's amazing.
1:31:52
SPEAKER_03: That's my happy spot.
1:31:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:31:54
SPEAKER_00: I,
1:31:55
SPEAKER_00: I,
1:31:55
SPEAKER_00: um,
1:31:56
SPEAKER_00: some years ago now it's been a while,
1:31:57
SPEAKER_00: but,
1:31:58
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:31:58
for a time I was volunteering with a group called home PDX and
1:32:01
we would go out in
1:32:02
SPEAKER_00: the mornings and give people coffee before work,
1:32:05
SPEAKER_00: uh,
1:32:05
SPEAKER_00: six 30 in the morning or so.
1:32:07
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that has always stuck with me is,
1:32:10
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:32:11
SPEAKER_00: we go out,
1:32:11
SPEAKER_00: we meet people and we're saying,
1:32:12
SPEAKER_00: Hey,
1:32:12
SPEAKER_00: do you want some coffee?
1:32:13
SPEAKER_00: You want some hot chocolate?
1:32:14
SPEAKER_00: And we try to have a conversation.
1:32:16
SPEAKER_00: Um,
1:32:18
SPEAKER_00: When we would give somebody something,
1:32:20
SPEAKER_00: a cup of coffee or something,
1:32:21
SPEAKER_00: they would want to give us something back,
1:32:23
SPEAKER_00: like something physical,
1:32:24
SPEAKER_00: right?
1:32:24
SPEAKER_00: Like an actual thing.
1:32:26
SPEAKER_00: And we're like, no, no, that's okay.
1:32:28
SPEAKER_00: You keep that.
1:32:30
SPEAKER_00: You're talking to somebody who's living in a tent.
1:32:33
SPEAKER_00: They have next to nothing in their life.
1:32:36
SPEAKER_00: And it was so important for them to show some generosity and reciprocity.
1:32:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:32:42
SPEAKER_03: And creating a space of generosity.
1:32:45
feeds the natural generosity and ways of looking out for
1:32:50
community outside the hub.
1:32:52
SPEAKER_03: So it's a ripple effect.
1:32:54
SPEAKER_00: So Hygiene for All is doing the work of caring for Portlanders in need.
1:32:59
SPEAKER_00: But now I think Hygiene for All could use our help.
1:33:02
SPEAKER_00: So how can we return the favor?
1:33:05
I know,
1:33:05
and one of the reasons I reached out to you is because there
1:33:08
have been some fires at the
1:33:11
SPEAKER_00: place that you are meeting people and some things have gotten destroyed.
1:33:15
SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit about that.
1:33:16
SPEAKER_00: And what we what could you use from the community?
1:33:20
Yeah,
1:33:21
I mean,
1:33:21
the broader context,
1:33:22
we lost all of our public funding in July.
1:33:25
SPEAKER_03: So we've been sort of making do and then on top of that,
1:33:29
SPEAKER_03: Starting in November,
1:33:30
SPEAKER_03: we had one fire,
1:33:33
SPEAKER_03: and then sometime in February through March,
1:33:36
SPEAKER_03: three more fires that destroyed our porta-potties,
1:33:39
SPEAKER_03: two water tanks in different instances,
1:33:41
SPEAKER_03: part of our shower trailer,
1:33:44
and then everything that was inside of one of our storage pods
1:33:47
once the dumpsters
1:33:48
SPEAKER_03: went up in flames.
1:33:50
So it's,
1:33:51
you know,
1:33:52
it's been exhausting,
1:33:54
and we are,
1:33:54
I've been doing a fundraiser with
1:33:58
SPEAKER_03: Our goal is $15,000.
1:33:58
SPEAKER_03: That's what we need to just replace everything and get it back to normal.
1:34:04
SPEAKER_03: And we're about $11,000 right now.
1:34:05
SPEAKER_03: Great.
1:34:07
SPEAKER_03: But also, we love volunteers.
1:34:10
The more people we have down there that can see and become part
1:34:14
of the community in
1:34:15
SPEAKER_03: that way,
1:34:16
people can volunteer three hours a month or two times three
1:34:19
hours a month,
1:34:21
either on site or in the back helping with supplies and washing
1:34:24
all the clothing.
1:34:26
SPEAKER_03: That is available.
1:34:27
SPEAKER_03: should I say on the website?
1:34:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, please.
1:34:29
So if anybody's interested in getting involved or just knowing
1:34:32
more,
1:34:33
it's h4apdx.org.
1:34:36
SPEAKER_03: And then what is it?
1:34:38
SPEAKER_03: Contribute.
1:34:39
SPEAKER_03: There's a contribute button, but there's also a donate button.
1:34:41
SPEAKER_03: But if you just want to understand all the ways you can contribute,
1:34:44
SPEAKER_03: like,
1:34:45
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:34:45
SPEAKER_03: there's in-kind donations,
1:34:46
SPEAKER_03: there's all sorts of opportunities.
1:34:48
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, we also just love to
1:34:52
train people up in our way of doing like site awareness and
1:34:55
team awareness and
1:34:56
building that sense of safety and trust um that has served us
1:35:00
so well so we're
1:35:02
always excited and we're happy to talk to people too about us
1:35:05
all the work you know
1:35:06
i mean one of the things i think a lot of people in this city
1:35:11
have opinions on
1:35:12
SPEAKER_00: homelessness um
1:35:15
I wouldn't say the same is true for a lot of people having
1:35:18
interacted directly with
1:35:20
SPEAKER_00: folks who are experiencing homelessness.
1:35:24
I that was one of the most formative things for me,
1:35:26
like my experience with home PDX.
1:35:27
And I've I've done some other outreach and volunteer with other
1:35:30
groups over the years as well.
1:35:32
SPEAKER_00: but just interacting with people directly, um, and having conversations.
1:35:37
I mean,
1:35:38
that was one of the things that struck me about what we were
1:35:40
doing at home PDX.
1:35:41
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't about,
1:35:42
SPEAKER_00: yes,
1:35:42
SPEAKER_00: we were handing people coffee or hot chocolate,
1:35:44
SPEAKER_00: but they always said it's about the conversation.
1:35:47
If you have one conversation and it lasts your whole hour
1:35:51
shift,
1:35:52
that's a win.
1:35:53
SPEAKER_00: Even if you didn't give 20 people coffee, you only gave one coffee out.
1:35:56
SPEAKER_00: Like that's, that's what we're going for.
1:35:58
SPEAKER_00: And
1:36:02
than I have from reading any article in the Oregonian or the
1:36:06
Lament Week or news
1:36:08
SPEAKER_00: reports or anything else.
1:36:10
SPEAKER_00: And so I just,
1:36:11
SPEAKER_00: for folks listening,
1:36:12
SPEAKER_00: if you have not had that experience,
1:36:15
SPEAKER_00: I highly encourage you to reach out to,
1:36:19
SPEAKER_00: if it's Hygiene for All,
1:36:20
SPEAKER_00: there's a bunch of organizations where you can reach out and volunteer,
1:36:23
SPEAKER_00: but to do that.
1:36:25
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:36:26
SPEAKER_00: And to have that human interaction, because I think that,
1:36:30
SPEAKER_00: If you want to learn about this issue,
1:36:32
SPEAKER_00: if you want to really think about,
1:36:35
SPEAKER_00: hey,
1:36:35
SPEAKER_00: how can we change the way things are going?
1:36:39
SPEAKER_00: It's offset.
1:36:40
SPEAKER_00: Start with the people who are closest to the problem.
1:36:43
SPEAKER_03: Right.
1:36:44
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
1:36:45
SPEAKER_03: I think I would just add that,
1:36:48
SPEAKER_03: yeah,
1:36:48
like especially when you get a chance to work alongside folks
1:36:52
that are unsheltered,
1:36:54
SPEAKER_03: which is the case at our place and places like PDX Saint's.
1:36:59
you get a real understanding of all the amazing potential and
1:37:03
possibilities that
1:37:05
SPEAKER_03: exist out there.
1:37:07
SPEAKER_03: And it's joyful, and it makes you feel better.
1:37:09
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
1:37:11
SPEAKER_00: Well,
1:37:11
SPEAKER_00: I think,
1:37:12
SPEAKER_00: unfortunately,
1:37:13
SPEAKER_00: we're living in some dark times nationally,
1:37:16
SPEAKER_00: internationally,
1:37:17
SPEAKER_00: and that hopelessness is real and palpable.
1:37:22
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's no better antidote than just, you know what?
1:37:26
SPEAKER_00: You can't control what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz,
1:37:29
SPEAKER_00: but you can go out to your community,
1:37:32
SPEAKER_00: to your neighborhood and talk with somebody and meet with somebody.
1:37:36
And I think that seems to me like a real antidote for some of
1:37:39
the feeling of,
1:37:41
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:37:41
SPEAKER_00: just overwhelming feeling.
1:37:42
SPEAKER_03: Isolation,
1:37:44
alienation is definitely overcome when you spend time
1:37:49
strengthening your community
1:37:50
SPEAKER_03: by being part of the fabric itself.
1:37:53
SPEAKER_00: Well,
1:37:53
SPEAKER_00: one thing I wanted to unearth,
1:37:56
because you do talk to people and you have a kind of a
1:38:00
questionnaire when people
1:38:01
SPEAKER_00: come in,
1:38:02
SPEAKER_00: you assess what's going on,
1:38:03
SPEAKER_00: you assess what they need.
1:38:06
SPEAKER_00: There have been over the last year in this new mayoral administration,
1:38:10
SPEAKER_00: an increase in sweeps of folks who are experiencing homelessness.
1:38:16
SPEAKER_00: Do you see...
1:38:18
any kind of a correlation or causation to things that are going
1:38:22
on with the people
1:38:22
SPEAKER_00: you're talking to and in the sweeps,
1:38:24
SPEAKER_00: like what,
1:38:25
SPEAKER_00: what is that doing to the people you serve?
1:38:27
SPEAKER_03: I mean, absolutely.
1:38:28
SPEAKER_03: Like one of the questions that we ask when people come in are,
1:38:31
SPEAKER_03: um,
1:38:31
SPEAKER_03: when was the last time that you experienced being swept,
1:38:34
SPEAKER_03: which is basically,
1:38:36
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:38:36
SPEAKER_03: being displaced and losing your belongings.
1:38:39
SPEAKER_03: Um, and yeah,
1:38:41
SPEAKER_03: In 2024,
1:38:42
SPEAKER_03: it was about 46% that said our lowest amount that you can say is,
1:38:49
SPEAKER_03: I've been swept in the last two weeks.
1:38:50
SPEAKER_03: So it's 46%.
1:38:52
SPEAKER_03: Now it's 67% of folks,
1:38:54
SPEAKER_03: which means on average,
1:38:56
SPEAKER_03: like seven out of 10 folks coming in have been displaced in 2020.
1:39:01
SPEAKER_03: are being displaced every two weeks and probably more because of,
1:39:04
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:39:04
SPEAKER_03: just what I'm seeing on the streets each time we come in.
1:39:07
What you made me think of is your experience as a business
1:39:10
owner on the North Park blocks.
1:39:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:39:13
SPEAKER_00: And,
1:39:14
SPEAKER_00: and thinking,
1:39:15
SPEAKER_00: so what does that do when,
1:39:16
SPEAKER_00: when you see people getting moved around every two weeks more frequently?
1:39:20
SPEAKER_03: That intensification makes people poorer.
1:39:24
SPEAKER_03: Literally they lose their property.
1:39:26
SPEAKER_03: They lose their extra set of clothing.
1:39:28
SPEAKER_03: I see more people in sopping wet,
1:39:31
SPEAKER_03: freezing cold clothing with no tent or any kind of bag to keep it in.
1:39:37
We see a lot more people expressing just deep depression and a
1:39:43
sense of hopelessness.
1:39:46
But the other thing that happens is,
1:39:48
as I was explaining earlier,
1:39:49
that people are community.
1:39:52
SPEAKER_03: And when you are displaced like that on a regular basis,
1:39:55
SPEAKER_03: you're breaking up community and relationships of mutual care.
1:40:00
And the people that are more mentally healthy or what have you
1:40:06
and those that can
1:40:07
have more mobility in terms of their physical health tend to
1:40:12
move and hide more
1:40:14
SPEAKER_03: often.
1:40:15
SPEAKER_03: And what you're left with are folks that are not capable of doing that,
1:40:19
SPEAKER_03: the folks that are really suffering mental health wise or physically.
1:40:24
And those were the people that move away were the people that
1:40:28
were making sure that
1:40:28
SPEAKER_03: they were fed.
1:40:29
SPEAKER_03: making sure that they were regulated,
1:40:31
SPEAKER_03: reminding them,
1:40:32
SPEAKER_03: like,
1:40:32
SPEAKER_03: hey,
1:40:33
SPEAKER_03: don't walk into the middle of the street.
1:40:35
When that goes,
1:40:37
people are left on their own to be less regulated than before.
1:40:42
SPEAKER_03: And I think,
1:40:42
SPEAKER_03: like,
1:40:43
SPEAKER_03: to me,
1:40:43
SPEAKER_03: those fires,
1:40:44
we've never had a fire before this last November in the five
1:40:49
years we've been
1:40:49
SPEAKER_03: operating.
1:40:50
And I feel like there are knock-on effects for increasing and
1:40:55
ratcheting up the kind of...
1:41:00
punishment type,
1:41:01
uh,
1:41:02
sticks that are being used in the community,
1:41:04
if that makes sense.
1:41:05
SPEAKER_00: And that, that destabilization has symptoms that are manifested.
1:41:10
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:41:10
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
1:41:10
SPEAKER_03: you may see less tense,
1:41:12
SPEAKER_03: but,
1:41:13
SPEAKER_03: um,
1:41:13
SPEAKER_03: I would be surprised if we aren't seeing more,
1:41:17
SPEAKER_03: more fires and more kinds of,
1:41:19
SPEAKER_03: um,
1:41:19
SPEAKER_03: mental health episodes,
1:41:21
SPEAKER_03: et cetera,
1:41:22
SPEAKER_03: as a result of this kind of,
1:41:24
SPEAKER_03: um,
1:41:24
SPEAKER_03: breaking up of community.
1:41:26
SPEAKER_03: And, um,
1:41:27
SPEAKER_03: fraying of,
1:41:28
SPEAKER_03: um,
1:41:29
the social fabric of folks on the streets that care for one
1:41:32
another and keep each
1:41:32
SPEAKER_03: other safe.
1:41:35
Well,
1:41:36
uh,
1:41:36
what I'm taking away from this conversation is one people can
1:41:39
go on the website.
1:41:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh,
1:41:40
SPEAKER_00: they,
1:41:41
SPEAKER_00: they can make a donation,
1:41:42
SPEAKER_00: which would help a hygiene for all replace the damaged,
1:41:46
SPEAKER_00: um,
1:41:47
SPEAKER_00: things that you need to serve the people.
1:41:49
SPEAKER_00: Um,
1:41:50
and also it's a good place that they can connect with the
1:41:53
organization to maybe do
1:41:54
SPEAKER_00: some volunteering.
1:41:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, volunteering.
1:41:57
SPEAKER_03: And also we do a newsletter.
1:41:59
SPEAKER_03: I try not to use it very often.
1:42:01
SPEAKER_03: I don't use it often for fundraising.
1:42:03
SPEAKER_03: I try to use it for sharing information,
1:42:06
SPEAKER_03: both from what we gather on the ground and also in the work that we do as
1:42:11
SPEAKER_03: advocates.
1:42:11
So if you're interested in just knowing more and becoming
1:42:15
educated about what's
1:42:17
SPEAKER_03: going on and why,
1:42:18
SPEAKER_03: sign up.
1:42:20
SPEAKER_00: Well, Sandra, thank you so much for coming on The Schmidt Show.
1:42:24
SPEAKER_00: As always,
1:42:25
SPEAKER_00: appreciate you,
1:42:26
SPEAKER_00: the work that you do for your community and the support you've shown for
1:42:30
SPEAKER_00: conversations like this.
1:42:31
SPEAKER_03: Oh, thank you.
1:42:32
SPEAKER_03: I really appreciate all you do.
1:42:34
SPEAKER_03: Take care.
1:42:47
SPEAKER_00: I want to end today where we should probably always end.
1:42:49
Not with politicians,
1:42:51
not with the Chamber of Commerce,
1:42:52
not with anybody's ideology.
1:42:54
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about $15,000.
1:42:56
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
1:42:58
Sandra Comstock and her team at Hygiene for All are trying to
1:43:00
rebuild after a
1:43:01
SPEAKER_00: series of fires that took out their water tanks,
1:43:04
SPEAKER_00: their toilets,
1:43:05
SPEAKER_00: and their equipment.
1:43:06
SPEAKER_00: The people who depend on those showers didn't cause Portland's problems,
1:43:09
SPEAKER_00: but they are surviving them.
1:43:11
You'll find the link to Hygiene for All's fundraiser in the
1:43:14
show notes,
1:43:15
h4apdx.org.
1:43:17
SPEAKER_00: Give what you can.
1:43:18
SPEAKER_00: Even a little helps.
1:43:19
SPEAKER_00: Because in a city arguing about who gets to control,
1:43:22
SPEAKER_00: for example,
1:43:22
SPEAKER_00: a $600 million arena,
1:43:25
it matters that someone is still showing up under the bridge in
1:43:28
order to make sure
1:43:29
SPEAKER_00: that people can wash their hands.
1:43:31
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to volunteer, reach out to them.
1:43:33
There's no better way than to learn about what people are
1:43:37
facing on the streets
1:43:39
SPEAKER_00: than to show up and talk with them.
1:43:41
If today's show made you think,
1:43:43
made you angry,
1:43:43
made you feel something,
1:43:44
that means it worked.
1:43:46
And the best thing you can do is share it,
1:43:48
send it to a friend,
1:43:49
post it,
1:43:49
talk about it.
1:43:50
SPEAKER_00: That's how we grow this conversation.
1:43:53
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to support the work we're doing here at Schmidt Show PDX,
1:43:55
SPEAKER_00: the research,
1:43:56
SPEAKER_00: the interviews,
1:43:57
SPEAKER_00: the journalism,
1:43:58
SPEAKER_00: consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack.
1:44:01
SPEAKER_00: Every subscriber makes it possible to keep doing episodes like this one.
1:44:05
SPEAKER_00: The link is in the show notes.
1:44:08
SPEAKER_00: Like the show,
1:44:08
SPEAKER_00: subscribe,
1:44:09
share it with someone who thinks Portland is either doomed or
1:44:12
saved because the
1:44:13
SPEAKER_00: truth as always is somewhere in the fight between those ideas.
1:44:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm Mike Schmidt.
1:44:18
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being here and I'll see you next time.