August 01, 2004

Arts And Culture And Candidates

Notes From That July 21 Forum

We owe our readers some sort of report from the July 21 candidates forum on matters relating to arts and culture in Portland. Since it was the first major candidate event of the general election season of which we've been aware, it would not be right to ignore it entirely.

But we've lacked the motivation to get around to it, in part because (as we opined to Phil Busse and others during the post-forum schmoozing) we came out of it feeling that if the rest of the campaign plays out the way this forum did, we're going to be bored to tears writing about this election.

So while we're uncertain of the amount of specificty with which we we delve into our notes of the event for this item, we should at least reference other articles on the forum -- especially since we just noticed clear differences between two versions of the same article. So that's where we'll start.

In the original version of The Oregonian article on the forum, as posted to OregonLive, there is this sequence of paragraphs:

The evening was a rare opportunity for the candidates to talk about the arts before the November elections. But there were no earth-shattering revelations. The calm forum, moderated by the regional council's Executive Director Eloise Damrosch and Northwest Business for Culture and the Arts board member John Mangan, followed brief statements on the arts by each candidate with questions from the moderators and then questions from the audience.

High-profile issues such as the creative economy, Oregon as a cultural destination and arts funding for public schools were invoked to varying degrees of specificity by each candidate. Other major topics, such as the city's percent for art programs on public works projects and the tangled public-private sponsorship to build a new theater for Portland Center Stage in the Pearl District, were addressed by Fish, Adams and Francesconi.

At one point, each candidate highlighted his personal history with the arts to appeal to the audience. Francesconi talked about his daughter Micah, who is a dancer and will study dance in North Carolina. Potter, a former police chief, declared his lack of experience with the arts -- "I'm not an artist. I'm a former cop" -- but nonetheless pledged to work with all citizens to make art valuable.

Fish cited his long history of affiliation with arts organizations in his former home state, New York. Adams talked about the summer he studied at an arts center as a teenager and how it set "a flame of imagination" in him.

Tense confrontations were virtually nonexistent, though Fish and Adams casually mocked one another on occasion.

Whereas in the second version to be posted to OregonLive, much of that sequence is removed, and things simply jump from the first paragraph in the above blockquote to the last paragraph in the above blockquote.

Oddly, we have a vague recollection that the first version is the one that was published in the print edition itself, so we're unsure why the second version exists at all. Meanwhile, Randy Gragg briefly mentioned the forum in a recent column as well.

So what we're left with is the question of how much to rummage around in our own notes. For the sake of our own sanity, but being mindful of the need to reflect some sense of what each candidate had to say, we're going to abandon our usual transcript-like approach to such events and simply cull through our notes to provide some bullet points for each candidate.

Those items in quotes are direct quotations, while those not in quotes are some variety of paraphrase or condensation, and collect things each candidate said over the course of the entire event.

Tom Potter

• "I know how important the arts are to our community and economy."
• Can't separate the arts from the economy.
• "Work with all citizens to develop a shared vision of our community."
• Specifically, restore arts to K-12.
• "If Salem doesn't have the stomach for it, we're going to do it here."
• Children deserve that, and they learn better.
• The creative class needs "places for them" -- affordable housing, zonling laws, work/live places.
• Applaud Mayor Katz's efforts giving small grants to artists.
• "Support efforts to create avenues where artists can share work with each other and the community."
• A Portland Arts Center at the Centennial Mills.
• "We have a tremendous possibility here."
• Mayor should be strong advocate for Portland as a "destination stop" for creative art.
• First priority is children.
• Broader appeal to finance art.
• Portland not doing a good enough job reaching out to the region.
• Encourage City employees to do something similar to the United Way, but for the arts.
• Tax-increment financing and tax abatements should require "community benefits agreements."
"We don't have a vision."
• "Will develop shared vision."
• Why aren't non-profits given a discount or waiver regarding system development charges?
• Why are most urban renewal areas in downtown? When they expire, put new ones elsewhere. Create live/work spaces in hardest hit, pre-gentrification areas.
• Encourage efforts regarding Centennial Mills. PDC should not tear it down. "Tremendous opportunity."
• Re: types of artists and creative people the City should focus on: "Music and art."
• Grants, incubator programs, or other assistance to groups that are struggling. "Young emerging artists."
• "The next Mayor has to be able to travel places to promote Portland."

Jim Francesconi

• "Personally witnesses the transforming power of the arts."
• "I would also be the arts commissioner."
• Arts and culture is integrated with what we want to be as a City.
• "It's not just about studies, it's about things that I've done." School-saving local tax. Co-foudned SUN program. Parks levy.
• Expand small business and recruit large businesses.
• Supporting PSU and OHSU as "all part of supporting the vibrancy."
• "Part of being Mayor is doing difficult things. ... You need to do difficult things even during campaigns." Supporting the Armory redevelopment as the right thing to do.
• As Mayor, insist PDC adopt a "1% for art" program.
• Every neighborhood deserves equal treatment.
• Arts transforms the "I" into "we."
• It's about we're all in this together.
• The need for more resources "is not something I'm talking about for the future" but instead "I've already been there."
• Grants to aritsts, not to infrastructure.
• Defeat tax repeal measure, in order to protect Portland Public Schools.
• "Like to tell you I have a strategy for new funding, but I don't." Hold the line on further cuts.
• Regional Arts and Culture Council as conduit for cutting deals with other entities. More money to RACC when economy improves.
• Other regional jurisdications haven't stepped up.
• Re: zoning laws and live/work space creation: Part of the problem is seismic requirements.
• Loosening planning regulations plus incentives from PDC. Incentives in tax-increment districts.
• Re: Centennial Mills/Portland Arts Center: "I need to learn more about it." How much will it cost? Tax-increment financing is limited and there's a neighborhood park that also needs the money. "We can't make the entire City a tax-increment district, folks."
• "We have too many visions."
• Re: top type of artists or creative people the City should focus on: "It's not the government's job to pick the winners and losers."
• Setting environment, involving artists, infrastructure.
• "Create the entreprenuerial climate."
• Effort for a more cohesive package. Arts organizations to work together.

Sam Adams

• "Arts and culture enriches me every day." Not just surface, but around the corner and underneath.
• Want every Portlander to be "enriched with meaningful arts and culture interactions every day."
• Portland is one of the most creative and supportive cities.
• "The days are gone when livability and quality of life will keep artists here."
• "If you're not moved by the intrinsic value of the arts," consider the economic value of the arts. Richard Florida and the creative class.
• Funding education, affordable space, help existing firms first.
• Raise the "percent for art" program to 2%.
• Arts united fund, workplace giving.
• Business license fee and income tax from filmmaking, some into local arts fund.
• There are loopholes in precent for art program: Housing Authority of Portland and PDC. More money for art if that changes.
• Affordable housing for artists.
• In mid-90s, the Association for Portland Progress designated an entertainment district, but no energy behind it. "It makes sense." Requires planning.
• New zoning type that is both housing andlight industrial.
• What's being built needs to be appropriate to the artists in question.
• Opportunities through links to Portland Community College and Portland State University.
• With percent for arts increase to 2% and addition of HAP and PDC, add private partners and require arts bids to include arts education component in public schools.

Nick Fish

• "I had a life before I moved to Oregon. ... It paled in comparison."
• How do we take sacred site resources that are underused and make them used?
• We have made the judgement that the arts are not important.
• Re: adequate funding. Increase percent for arts to 2%. Get PDC to join.
• Provide certification to businesses that support the Oregon Cultural Trust.
• Re: arts accessibility. Ethan Seltzer's "most public City" idea. [Editor's note: Post-forum, Fish explained that he had heard about this idea from us.] Arts should be affordable for everyone. Public funds mean more access.
• Restore arts funding in schools, as part of curriculum, not just after school.
• Market Portland as "important cultural destination."
• We must all insist that arts are essential part of infrastructure.
• Grassroots and small artists in addition to major downtown institutions.
• Re: Armory redevelopment. Example of City using creative tools, understand the pwoer of seed money and leverage, but the problem is the loan guarantee. "It wasn't a moral obligation, it was a guarantee." No one had ever publicly described the critera for making such determinations.
• Need a philosophy for using public resources, and need to do it evenly.
• Have not scratched the surface regarding housing for artists.
• "We have the tools, do we have the will?"
• "Not prudent to promise the moon."
• Will be a champion, hoping to "fill the shoes" of Mike Lindberg.
• Re: entertainment district. Loves the downtown jazz scene at night.
• "Please move on a headquarters hotel." Let's build a 400-room hotel today, build more later if necessary. Bring people downtown.
• We have available array of tools for affordable housing.
• Legal issues around providing housing just for artists.
• Would ask to be liason to RACC and Portland Oregon Visitors Association.

Since we've simply browsed through our notes and transplanted their bits and pieces almost directly into these sets of bullet points, there may be unclear context here or there, or something I missed altogether. Others who were in attendance -- if not the candidates or their campaigns themselves -- are free to post comments filling in any gaps. But for now, that will have to do it for our coverage of this forum. After a week and a half, the experience of it is no longer fresh enough in our mind to combine properly with our notes to offer anything more complex than the above.

Posted at 06:38 PM | PermalinkComments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
More In 2004 Mayoral Campaign, Design & Development, Livability, Metro-Area Politics

« Previous Next »