September 16, 2003
'Oregon Blog' Interviews Mayoral Candidate (And 'Mercury' Editor) Phil Busse
Emma and Fred of The Oregon Blog interview Phil Busse, managing editor of The Portland Mercury and one of eight official candidates for next year's mayoral race.
Their interview is presented in three parts. For quick reference: Part one, part two, and part three.
I'm as skeptical and leery of the seemingly random political candidacy of anyone from the local independent media scene as most everyone else seems to be, but it's worth putting that aside for the moment to look at how Busse casts some of the issues facing this town.
For example, here's Busse on small business:
First, get rid of most licensing fees for small businesses. Yes, there need to be licenses to maintain standards. But to charge $1700 for a business to hang a sign outside their building? In addition, businesses under 10 employees should be given tax incentives during their first year of operation.
At the University of Oregon, I worked as the assistant director for the entrepreneurship center. There, I started a "business incubator" which gave student-run businesses a year of infrastructure (office space, computers, accountants, lawyers, etc.). City hall needs to realize some of these same issues and help support start-up businesses during the first year.
Portland's character is best characterized in business districts like Hawthorne and Alberta. City hall needs to provide viable support for these micro-businesses.
And here he is on the aftermath of the Kendra James shooting:
Bad police training. Horrible internal investigation. The dividend from this tragedy should be a police oversight committee that is external to the bureau. How could the investigators allow the officers involved confer AFTER the shooting? Moreover, horrible public relations. How could city hall NOT apologize? How could city hall NOT immediately call for community forums? (It took two months, and even then they delayed the first meeting.) It was rude and inhumane. No one in any town should be dead from a routine traffic stop.
More importantly (to me, anyway -- in part because I just returned from volunteer orientation at the Oregon Historical Society, where during their grand re-opening I'll be staffing the mock voting booths intended to be part of an outreach to youth about the importance of civic involvement) perhaps is this bit:
If I inspire 100 Mercury readers to understand how local politics impact their life - and get them involved in making gestures to change city hall to work for them - then I've succeeded with my campaign. This campaign is not about winning, it is about defining and inspiring a political bloc that I don't think yet exists (but should) in Portland. This town is about young, smart, hip people. But that same group is not a political voice. Even if they don't vote for me, I want them to vote and be active in making city hall OUR city's city hall.
Ultimately, what's important about this upcoming mayoral election is that is must be, at all costs, a very real and very vibrant discussion about what Portland is, what it isn't, and where it should be heading. In any discussion -- especially one as important as this mayoral one will be for the city -- it's important that we not lose sight of the ideas presented, the perspectives and the contexts, regardless of whether we take this or that candidate seriously.
As I said, I have my own reservations about the seriousness of the Busse run for mayor. But there's nothing in this interview, for example, to suggest he should be excluded from the serious debate over Portland's direction.
Oh, and for those who read the interview and know my position on bringing Major League Baseball to town: I don't want professional football here either.