February 10, 2004

(Updated) The Campaign Of One Hundreds

Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.

Phil Busse's mayoral campaign has become fond of calling attention to the prevalence of the number 100 in their activities. For example, they've capped contributions of $100 per person, and Busse says that as Mayor he would give away $100 every day (including weekends) to some worthy individual or organization.

This week, as the election cycle reached the point at which there were 100 days remaining until the May primary, the Busse campaign released its list of 100 ideas, programs, and projects a Busse administration would attempt to do in its first 100 days at City Hall.

(Reportedly, there is some sort of sidebar on this list connected to today's profile of Busse in PSU's Vanguard, but if so it does not appear with the online version of the article.)

"These 100 ideas," says the campaign, "are derived from talking with citizens, looking at other cities and brainstorming sessions."

As of this posting, the list has not yet been posted to the Busse campaign website (although it was completed on Sunday). So, the full and complete list is presented here, followed by some of our own comments and observations. While we've put them into an ordered list for easy readability and reference, there is nothing in the Busse campaign version which suggests they are ranked by priority.

1. A citizen oversight committee with full investigative powers for police shootings and in-custody deaths
2. Repeal sit-lie ordinance
3. End mayoral chauffeur service
4. Hold monthly Mayoral Brownbag Lunch in Pioneer Square
5. Give $100 from mayor�s salary to Sisters of the Road
6. Renew Housing Investment Fund
7. Accelerate affordable housing development in North Macadam
8. Use city lobbyists to encourage state law legalizing same-sex marriages
9. Equal Benefits Ordinance
10. Reschedule city council meetings to allow more citizen participation
11. On occasion, relocate city council meetings to neighborhood centers
12. Mayoral and Commissioner home dinners to improve city hall camaraderie
13. Give $100 to Oregon Heat
14. Adopt 10-year plan to end homelessness
15. Give $100 to Oregon Food Bank
16. Set new zoning ordinance to accommodate Dignity Village
17. A public boathouse at the Holman building with sailing lessons for PPS
18. Skateparks
19. Summer movie series in Pioneer Square
20. Develop artists� business incubator
21. Improve film production incentives
22. DVD-rom promoting local fashion designers
23. Hold local rock concerts in city parks
24. Art and theatre complex north of Freemont Bridge
25. Give $100 to Write Around Portland
26. Aggressively pursue cleanup of the Willamette River
27. Develop Ross Island Bird Sanctuary
28. Educational facility for PPS on Ross Island
29. Finish cleanup of McCormick & Baxter site
30. Work with neighborhood organizations to plan for recreational park at McCormick & Baxter site
31. Two-stroke boat motor exchange (for electric engines)
32. Restrict jet ski use on Willamette River
33. Examine and eliminate use of pesticides in city parks
34. Give $100 to Friends of Trees
35. Save the Reservoirs
36. Form sports committee from local experts and merchandise companies to attract national and international level sporting events to Portland
37. Host week-long international bike race in Willamette Valley
38. Develop Portland Memorial Coliseum Athletic Complex
39. Offer free memberships to the Memorial Athletic Complex for PPS students
40. Open design contest for coliseum conversion to local architects
41. Small Business Grant Initiative
42. Train small business development case managers
43. Give Earth Day awards for sustainable businesses and practices
44. Award points for sustainability in city contracting
45. Begin biodiesel buses pilot project
46. Tax incentives for businesses with more than 25% bicycle commuters
47. First dibs on unclaimed bikes go to bike non-profits
48. More bike lanes
49. Plant more trees
50. City Health Plan
51. Give $100 to NARAL
52. Local CEO mentors for PPS
53. Hold Gang Peace Summits (without police)
54. Support all-age venues
55. More �bar time� bus service to reduce DUII drivers
56. Re-evaluate funding priorities and rules for Children�s Fund
57. Establish drug and alcohol counseling outreach for street youth
58. Create city-supported sport and art rehab programs for youth substance abusers
59. More bike police
60. More foot patrols (get police out of squad cars!)
61. Half-day community service work for police officers each month
62. Help empower Old Town residents and businesses to reduce crime
63. Annual citywide citizen preparedness training
64. Free downtown parking on Saturdays during December
65. Free Motorcycle and Scooter Parking Downtown
66. Give $100 to streetroots
67. Revamp police protest training
68. Review police taser use
69. Mandatory police reports at every drawn gun
70. Reduce use of pepper spray, rubber bullets, and stun guns
71. Joint Terrorism Task Force oversight credentials for mayor and police chief
72. Collect on the �Cheney Invoice�
73. Reinstate and redefine Metropolitan Human Rights Commission
74. Repeal the poster ban
75. Restore mural rights to Portland artists
76. Give $100 to ORLO
77. Low-priority marijuana offense prosecution
78. Mandatory drug evaluation and counseling for hard drug offenders
79. Re-open Laurelhurst dog poisoning case
80. Increase doggy poop bag distribution at parks
81. Quarterly citywide neighborhood cleanups
82. Outfit every city street trash bin with recycling slots
83. Review waste removal contracting process
84. All new city vehicle purchases will be hybrids when appropriate
85. Free and secure Wi-Fi hubs at all city buildings
86. Permit the submittal of all city citations, forms and applications online
87. Post and track citizen complaints on �portlandonline�
88. City literature and forms available in Spanish, Vietnamese and Russian
89. Develop Minority Advisory Board
90. Create a high school governmental advisory committee
91. Give unused city computers and A/V equipment to PPS
92. Push campaign finance reform
93. City-sponsored non-profit mixers
94. Sister City artists swap
95. Cooperative economic development plan incorporating region
96. Farmers market in new PGE park
97. Create eco-roofs on any possible city buildings
98. Portland-based summit of all Oregon mayors to establish greater statewide cooperation on ports, tourism, commerce and waterway cleanups
99. Establish Center for Social Change
100. You tell us!

Those readers who are familiar with the current state of the Busse campaign platform (also not yet available online) will recognize some of these items. Other items on the list likely are predictive of what's to come in the document as it continues to be rolled out.

We're glad to see the Summer movie series in Pioneer Courthouse Square listed, since we first heard about this after Busse's showing of the film Bob Roberts at the downtown Stumptown last week, after we asked if he'd continue showing movies were he to be elected Mayor.

After the two pints of Guinness (and the two samples of other random beer given to us by the Stumpies on duty) we're fairly certain that what we said in response to the idea was something along the lines of this: "That idea is so stupid, someone should have thought of it by now." By which we intended to be complimentary of the idea.

For comparison's sake, browser through the strategic actions laid out by Jim Francesconi, which makes occassional reference to the first 90 days of a Francesconi administration. Included along the way are "establishing a new attitude and a new climate toward job creation," "[c]reate and lead a Council of Economic Advisers," "[l]ead the effort to lobby the 2005 Legislature for permanent, stable and long-term state funding for all schools," and "ensure stable funding for police, local jails, courts, prosecutors and indigent defense."

It's not immediately clear if all of the "strategic actions" section of the Francesconi platform plan are meant to be goals for the first 90 days, so we've included in the above only a sampling of what is specifically labelled as such.

Further comparison, for the Hell of it: Both the Busse and Francesconi campaigns call for City Council meetings occassionally to be held out in the City's neighborhoods.

Expanding the context somewhat, we should point out that the Tom Potter campaign has yet to release any sort of comprehensive platform or near-term "to-do" list.

And while the James Posey campaign last week was supposed to announce the date and location for the release of their "City of Excellence" plan, to our knowledge this has not yet occurred. If it has, we're out of the loop again.

Which brings us around to disclaiming and disclosing. At this point, we are mainly waiting to see if the Potter camp releases any sort of platform or plan beyond the varied issue statements that are scattered across their website before getting down to the dirty business of making an endorsement.

At this time, however, we are compelled to admit that the leanings at this point indeed are in a Busse-ward direction. His campaign continues to release rather involved and detailed sections to its evolving campaign platform, and Busse's candidacy has clearly moved past the initial "yeah, ok, the Mercury editor is running" reaction stage -- not that you'd particularly know this from local coverage of the race.

Stay tuned. One way or the other, it's not likely to be more than a few weeks before we make our official endorsement. Potter has the potential to sway us, but only if they kick it into gear. It's February already. There are less than 100 days until the local primary. It's just about time to start placing your bets staking a claim on this election.

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