September 07, 2004
Mayoral Candidate Potter Speaks With East Portlanders
Or, Rather, He Did Back On August 20
As part of our continuing attempt to catch up on old items, we turn now to Mayoral candidate Tom Potter and his appearance before a handful or so of East Portland residents. Previously, we've reported on similar appearances by Mayoral candidate Jim Francesconi and City Council candidate Nick Fish (we missed the event involving Council candidate Sam Adams).
We've previously mentioned the beginning to this August 20 event, and we'll simply quote what we said then:
Meanwhile, at this morning's East Portland Chamber of Commerce meeting with Potter, the editor of East County News opted to ask that the "elephant in the room" be addressed first and gotten out of the way. Meaning, he asked Potter about the controversy over the ads, and the retraction of the union's endorsement.
"I'm glad they agree with my assessment," Potter said. "I don't respect that kind of behavior in politics." He then added this gem: "Some people think that Jim's actually working for me, and he's my secret weapon."
That said, we have around twenty-six pages of notes from this meeting, and so much of this write-up likely will use our quick-scan bullet point approach in the interest of getting what we're fairly certain is our final catch-up item out of the way once and for all.
Opening Remarks
"I know there are a lot of unique issues in East Portland," Potter began.
- The value of East Portland to downtown Portland.
- "The disconnect between some of the activities in the City and East Portland."
- "Heard a lot of the promises to East Portland, particularly roads and sewers."
- "Estangement between East Portland and City Hall."
- "Listen to what you folks have to say and what your concerns are."
- A couple of urban renewal areas. How are they functioning?
- Hear about the school districts. Some things the other school distracts in Portland could learn from.
- One priority on children, especially those who "haven't received benefit of adult population ... particularly in early childhood."
- When uprooted from home, reduces potential to learn by as much as thirty percent.
- "Be an advocate for affordable housing for families."
- "Better job of coordinating the services we do have."
- Jobs, economic development, business growth.
- "My special area of concern is in small business."
- Formal and informal relationships with City government.
- Since 1977, eleven studies done on small business. Year after year, the same recommendations come up. "Which says to me none of them have ever been implemented."
- "There are a lot of things the City does well, and things we do not so well."
- Diversity, breaking down walls, more transparency, strategic vision, results-driven.
- "As a community, as a City, we need to be more accountable for how we spend your money."
- "It's important as a Mayor and a Mayoral candidate to listen." Would spend half his time out in the community.
- "Equally concerned with what you have to say as with what I have to say."
The first question opened with a comment: "They haven't addressed the fact that right now we have businesses that are leaving town, almost daily." Our notes don't pinpoint the identity of "they" in that comment. "If the revenue stream is gone ... how can you support the things you talk about?" If a person has a job, the question/comment continued, a lot of these thigns would go away. Not once was Southeast considered for the potential call center (presumably this is a reference to Qwest, and has been raised in the other East Portland discussions as well). "City elected officials don't itneract with businesses because that's PDC's job."
Potter:
- Boils down to two issues.
- Relationship between City government and businesses.
- Businesses call and get a "low-level functionary" that can't answer their questions.
- How the City is organized. Silo effect.
- "I know there's a sense that Portland is unfriendly to business. ... I'm not sure if it's unfriendly or indifferent. Neither one is good."
- Proper tax base comes from citizens and businesses.
- City applies "cookie-cutter" approach. No relationship between City understanding the needs of small business especially, and a competetive tax base.
- "Portland and Multnomah County have a whole set of taxes that don't appear elsewhere regionally."
- Balance these against what individuals pay here.
- "Should be based on the community's needs" and not on what the government thinks is good for them.
- "How do we cut down on the tax base without affecting essential core services?" What services do citizens consider essential?
- "This is not an easy thing to do" and it hasn't been done in Portland in forever.
- "It's not like we do away with all taxes." Citizens have to see what they get for their taxes.
- Tax reform, government reform, and ensuring priorities set by the community.
Our notes of the first part of the next question are entirely indecipherable, but the second half reads: "In paper, word on street, considering Sten to oversee PDC."
Potter:
- Hear a lot of these rumors.
- "I have not made any of these decisions yet. ... I have not discussed PDC with Erik Stein, period."
- "I like to hear what these rumors are. I hear a lot worse."
Question about the "Big Pipe" project, saying the biggest share of the money is going to out-of-town companies. What about keeping the money in Portland? There are local contractors, and a lot of them are leaving Portland.
Potter:
- "I don't know if any local company has the technology or ability to drill a hole that size."
- After that comes the subcontracting. "I don't know the percentage" of local subcontractors on the project.
- As a City and as a Mayor, there's a need to "go to the next tier down" and use local contractors for support functions.
- "That is where the City has a vested interest" in ensuring preferential treatment in thie bidding process to local businesses.
- "When we make an investment in local businesses, we're making an investment in Portland."
- When spending the public's money, "we're returning more of it to the local community" when we contract locally.
- "I don't know if they are spending it appropriately."
- "It's easy for the Mayor to request an audit of a bureau. Well, it's not easy, but it's their purview."
- Need more citizen advisory groups in the City. "You call it citizen oversight, Ilike to think about it as citizen cooperation."
There was then a question about hearing mostly generalities. "I'd sure like to hear a little bit more specifically how it would work." Mayor Katz a few years ago sent out a survey asking citizens how to run the government. "The duty of elected officials is to make the hard decisions."
Potter:
- Changes, internal and external.
- How we relate to the community is determined by internal organization.
- First day, all bureaus into the Mayor's portfolio. "Keep them there until some point at the end of the budget cycle."
- Traditionally, Mayors have done this.
- "Remove temptation to act parochially."
- The difference: "I'm going to issue specific directions to bureau heads." Four areas, to address the "disconnect."
- Require plans on how they intend to create both internal and external customer focus. "Almost by design, bureaucracy looks inward."
- "You don't make requirements of people that you can't do yourself."
- "Focus on employees of the City helping solve problems."
- Silo effect between City bureaus. The "dont' do a good job at coordinating or collaborating."
- Commission government helps make it this way.
- People to guide people through the process.
- Rather than tell them "here are the rules," ask them how we can solve the problem.
- Currently: "If you don't know the right question, you might not get the right answer. ... Wouldn't that be an interesting sign to see at Nordstrom's?"
- Mindset shift.
- "Our workforce does not represent the community we serve."
- Not just entry-level positions "filled with people who look like our community."
- Require diversity plan.
- How we manage City resources.
- Concept of "managing for results" has several components to it.
- City needs long- and short-range plans. For example, need "Plan Bs" in place, anticipating possible changes.
- "Not being crisis-driven." Not waiting until it gets too bad and then reacting to it.
- Build goals into the budgeting process. "They don't think beyond that next year."
- "When you don't have any long-range plan" you end up being crisis-driven.
- "We are not developing capital reserves, we are not providing maintenance funds."
- "That lack of precise and future focus and management happens when you don't tie long-range goals to the budgeting process."
- Manage based upon the budget and the short- and long-term goals. "You have to be accountable for results."
- "Reporting on how we've used the resources we've been given."
- "This is nuts and bolts stuff."
- Review not just by the City but by the citizens.
Potter then told a brief story from his tenure as the public information officer for the Portland Police Bureau during the 70s. Crime (or some type of crime, my notes don't say) apparently was down, and they were making the decision on how to report this. To the group of East Portlanders he offered a question on why the Bureau would take credit for crime going down if it doesn't take "credit" for crime going up?
"The purpose of that story," Potter said, "is whether we do good or bad shouldn't be determined by the bureaus, it should be determined by the citizens."
- "I haven't talked to anybody ... who says that making decisions behind closed doors is a good thing."
- Doors should swing both ways.
- "Without that engagement process with citizens, democracy really slips."
- Saying citizens should have a seat at the table is different than putting your finger to the wind.
- External changes: "Where do we want to be in thirty years?"
- "Where do you think we should be in thirty years?
The enxt question (if we're reading our notes correctly) asked both about that "thirty year" vision, about loss of businesses, and about PGE.
Potter:
- "People to know they have the best-managed government there is."
- Best school system, citizens support their schools. More citizens and family involvement in schools.
- Communities to be safe from crime, police are their to protect them.
- Significantly different economy in thirty years. Shift inlast 5-10 years from industrial base to knowledge base.
- "In thirty years we're going to be looking at issues on a more regional basis."
- How we treat each other.
- Every citizen has the fundamental right to health care. "I believe that, too."
- Cut out these things and "we pay a price on the back end."
- "I know my opponent says I support the condemnation of PGE. I'm not there yet, but I'm open to Portland" being involved in the conversation.
- Has to be a net benefit to ratepayers.
- "What I see going on right now concerns me."
- Texas Pacific Group using retained earnings to hel pay for takeover? "That will come back onto the ratepayers."
- Portland needs to be at the table for this discussion.
- Tipping point is "will this be good for Portland?"
- Make it another Water Bureau? No. Independent group and make it regional "if we ever move towards something like that."
- Right now, industrial users are concerns and not adverse to public takeover if it's done right.
- "It's foolish to say it shouldn't be considered."
The next run of related questions is less than clear to us, and so as we've sometimes done before, we'll simply transcribe them verbatim and let the reader try to sort it out based upon the responses and other questions that follow.
what portion would City of PDX and what other entities (counties?)
"I think it's less than half" (PDX)
"the indust. users account for about 15%"
nuke decision by PGE, major liabilities in whoever buys PGE, becos not solid generating capac. -- increases risk to buyer
Potter:
- "You ratepayers are on the hook regardless."
- (Someone interrupts to point out that some of Portland is udner Pacific Power.)
- "The question is what are the hidden costs on this?"
- Understand what we're buying. "Here are all the costs associated with the decommissioning of Trojan." Here are the costs ofpurchasing power.
- "This would be a regional approach."
- "For those who aren't in that, they're going to be helping pay for the cost. Good question: How to we achieve equity?" (We think this is in response to people under Pacific Power.)
- Government has better interest rate, doesn't pay taxes on public utility.
- "The hidden costs need to be fuller explained." We don't know, because the TPG information is confidential.
At this point, we took a brief break, much as we did for the other two discussions in East Portland. When we returned, Potter appeared to be continuing the same line of thought. "I want to have the best information," he said. "I'm not afraid to step up and make that decision."
The next question was on a subject that has been raised at each of the East Portland discussions we've attended: The question of "one size fits all" when it comes to matters of buildings coming closer to the street, rather than some areas being able to build back from the street to account for up-front parking and the like. "I don't know how [light rail] is helping," the questioner said. There appears to have also been something about freeway congestion.
Potter:
- "I'm not aware of what the specific zoning requirements are."
- (Questioner interruption to describe "general commercial" versus "storefront" zoning. "We had a general commercial, flexible" that was changed in 1999.)
- Free congestion "partly because we're seeing an increase in people moving to the Portland metropolitan area."
- Zoning regulation. The City has made the decision that we want to build more inside the City.
- What are the issues when we start living closer together?
- "In an urban area, we give up some things in order to live in the City."
- You get to another important area related to traffic congestion. Business and "freight mobility."
- Freight mobility in Portland is going to become more difficult. Another reason we need long-range plans.
- Asks what congestion is caused by. The questioner, according to our notes, acted somewhat "sheepish," presumably because he knew the answer, which Potter than gave. "Passenger cars."
- "We need to start taling about using other forms of transportation."
- Referenced a survey showing that 70% of people still drive to work in their cars alone.
- How can we ensure more alternative forms of transportation are used?
- Narrowing of streets (another matter raised by the questioner which we don't appear to have explained in our notes), "some of that is to accomodate other forms" of transportation.
Question: Why put bike lanes on arterials? It does reduce traffic lanes.
Potter:
- The point is how do we look at different forms of transportation.
- How do yu set public policy to make this happen?
Another topic from past discussions arose again: The "subsidizing" of the downtown Fareless Square by all transit riders. "Get ride of the free zone, but if a person works in an office building, you get a free pass." Create "equity to the subsidies."
Potter:
- On the free passes. "I think that's a good idea. Some businesses do that right now."
- "What we need to do though is make is across the board for all businesses." Make it part of public policy.
- If we could reduce number of people driving to work alone to 35%, "we would take thousands of cars off the streets."
- Reducing the number of private vehicles going to and from work would also icnrease freight mobility.
- Vehicle registration fee based on mileage, with exceptions for people who drive for a living?
A previous questioner returned to the "one size fits all" criticisms. "Even apartments come right to the street."
Potter:
- First of all, one of the best things about your question is you said, "When you are Mayor."
- We need some regulation in society, but when bureaucratic purposes rather than useful public policy, that's problematic.
- We're got some really good neighborhoods, but they are all individual. The business communities are also all individual.
- "The City has to be flexible in meeting needs," but some regulation to meet the public's needs.
- "If we can't justify a given regulation and it serves no public purpose, then reconsider."
Finally, there was a question, or comment really, about changing the culture inside the City. "One of the challenges is it takes a great deal of effort, and changing perceptions is difficult," a City staffer offered. "We have moved far away from the cookie-cutter approach."
Closing Remarks
We're unsure if Potter's closing remarks were more extensive than what we've noted down. But what we do have serves well enough, we believe.
"This election is about some important issues," he said. "About what kind of leadership you want for the City. I look forward to more conversations after I'm Mayor."