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Hello newsletter readers! I hope you and yours have been joining me in finding some brightness amidst this string of chilly but sunny mid-January days. We are nearing the end of our third full week in our community's journey into expanded democracy with its new city council. In this newsletter I will give a brief recap of what our work has been like inside City Hall over the eventful past week, as well as some comments on the events playing out at other levels of government, from our State Legislature to US Congress, to the Presidential Inauguration in the District of Columbia.
Let's start with an outline of the major hearings the Council has held since I last wrote to you:
- On Friday, January 17 the City issued a report on the city's budget prognosis heading into the 25-26 budget year which begins on July 1. The city and council face a very challenging budget situation that will require intense work, and input from our communities, in the coming months.
- On Tuesday, January 21 we came back from the 3-day weekend to a full day of presentations and public comment on the Zenith corporation's Land Use Compatibility Statement and general operations along the northwest waterfront. I want to say thank you to all of the talented and passionate Portlanders who took time out of their day to share their knowledge and position with me, my Council colleagues, and City officials in attendance.
- On Wednesday, January 22 Mayor Wilson and his team held a 3-hour presentation and Q&A in public with the full council. The presentation focused on many of the details of Mayor Wilson's emergency plans to strive to end unsheltered homelessness in Portland by December 1, 2025, the start of next winter.
- On Thursday, January 23 District 3 Councilors Novick, Morillo, and I met with Mayor Wilson for an hour of open dialogue. I expressed gratitude to the Mayor for his willingness to hold these regular meetings for direct and open dialogue on our work to serve Portlanders.
- On Thursday all councilors also met in chambers for a full morning presentation on Portland's Public Works, a presentation and dialogue that I greatly appreciated.
- On Friday, January 24, all Councilors are joining Portland Solutions for a full-day tour of some of their operations. Many of you may never have heard of this program. Here is a paragraph from the city's Portland Solutions website: Mayor Ted Wheeler created Portland Solutions, formally established July 1 2024, to create a centralized program hub to address our community’s most pressing homelessness and livability challenges. It brings several programs under one umbrella for added effectiveness and service.
As you can see, the 12 new Council members are immersed in a lot of learning at a rapid pace. But of course, these public hearings and tours are only a fraction of what Councilors and our staff are seeking to accomplish every day. We are also doing one-on-one deep work with constituents who reach out to us to help solve real challenges. We are meeting with our colleagues for specific briefings on topics important to our offices and constituents. We are building our websites (mine is growing here!) and crafting newsletters. We are meeting with each other as newly-minted Committee Chairs to get a sense of what topics the Committees will prioritize first, how the Committees will run, and how frequently they will meet.
On the topic of Committees, our Council leadership is simultaneously attempting to put all the puzzle pieces together to schedule our first Committee meetings sometime in early February. Our intention is that Committees will all meet in Council Chambers, which means we need to fit all the scheduling needs around that one space, which has the technology and infrastructure to properly record and broadcast the meetings for the public. For a basic run-down of Committees and Committee membership, see this from our Council Comms: Portland City Council establishes eight policy committees (Portland.gov)
My comment on Council's decision to allocate additional funding to council offices:
Last week on Wednesday evening the Council voted 10-2 to use city contingency funds to allow Council offices to hire additional staff and open district offices. Heading into the hearing I and several of my fellow Councilors knew that we needed more funding so that we can have the staff to help run our offices properly amidst a large amount of work and responsibility to produce good results for our residents and voters in the short term and long term. However, many of us entered chambers with the intention to ask questions and deliberate with an open mind on what level of funding would be appropriate, if any, at this time. (A rather lengthy council deliberation on this topic can be watched here starting at 1:42:00)
Ultimately, I was convinced to vote Yes alongside a majority of my colleagues to use contingency funds for the remaining 5 months of the fiscal year. I was tipped to a yes by some key testimonies: 1) I heard strong, public testimony in support from AFSCME 189 President Rob Martineau, whose members are currently bargaining with the city, and 2) Portland's Government Transition Advisory Committee has recommended from the beginning that in all comparable cities this is the kind of budget that councilors and the public need to have a chance at the best outcomes. For me, my Yes vote means that councilors in my districts can hire additional staff and secure a district office, should a suitable site be available (we do believe we have a great site for our District 3 office, which I will tell you about in future newsletters). I was also assured that any council office money that is unused in the next few months will revert back into the city's general fund. Going forward, we will discuss ongoing funding for our offices as a part of the wider 25-26 city budget discussions over the coming months. I intend to hire two staff, one more policy- and internal-focused, and the other more community engagement focused.
I understand the frustration coming from some District 3 voters who disapprove of this decision. I voted Yes because to do this job well - receiving over 100 emails a day, having constant new problems arising, Chairing the Governance Committee which will be handling urgent issues as well as long-term decision-making, taking leadership on critical efforts to stand up for our neighbors' rights, needing to maintain coordination with other local government and community bodies so that our efforts and intentions align, needing to be out in the community at schools, at constituent events, at businesses, with workers, being a mom to two kids, and being the Council Vice President - to do this well, for month after month, requires more than me, my Chief of Staff Emory, and our shared district admin hero Alex. We are working hard, we are working smart, we are learning, we are responding to as many people as we can. And we are just getting started with significant responsibility to come. I want to deliver the results I promised to voters, and the leadership my Council colleagues trusted in me when they voted me Council VP. For all these reasons my gut said to vote Yes to serve District 3 and our City to the best of my ability.
State and Federal Government
Of course, we are not operating in a vacuum. Not only did we have a Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C. followed by a flurry of destabilizing and reckless Executive Orders, but locally our 90-member State Legislature kicked off its biennial "long session" in Salem that runs from January - June of this year. Portland's Office of Government Relations has worked hard for many months with our Bureaus and electeds to prepare a legislative agenda so the City can bring a unified voice of its top priorities to our state decision-makers. You can read the legislative agenda here. As a Councilor and Council VP I have the opportunity to review and provide input to this work, much of which was prepared in advance of the new Council taking office.
With our local budget crunch, and ambitious city goals, it's essential that we as a city seek funding support from every available resource. Here are the top state funding priorities listed in the document:
a. Transportation: Increased funding to operate and maintain the city’s transportation network, make critical safety improvements, and complete the Rose Quarter project.
b. Housing Production: Secure ongoing investment in the public infrastructure to accelerate the development of affordable and workforce housing for individual developments, office-to-residential conversion, and major site redevelopment projects at Broadway Corridor, near OMSI, and in lower Albina.
c. Shelter Operations: Attain ongoing funding to support the operations of a continuum of shelter options, including Portland’s Temporary Alternative Shelter Sites (TASS) and Safe Rest Villages, along with additional rental assistance and vouchers to help move individuals from shelter to housing when they are ready.
d. Economic Recovery: Secure investments that will help retain and grow local businesses and accelerate industrial site readiness and brownfield improvements. Support development of a large performing arts auditorium in downtown Portland.
The New President and New Congress
While our community members have told us they want improved livability, improved educational opportunities, lower rents, healthcare for all, better infrastructure to serve our families, children, elders, and people of all abilities, a welcoming community, and action on the climate crisis, we are now faced with a Presidential administration seemingly fixated on making our jobs harder and dis-investing in our key infrastructure and emergency services. We are seeing Congressional legislation that is putting fear in communities when we should be focused on building a positive future together.
Let me be clear, we need our community, from workers to business owners, right to left, to organize and speak out for executive leadership that helps us solve problems, invest in people where they need it, and care for each other. We are not going to be able to keep everyone housed if people are kicked off healthcare coverage. We are not going to mitigate climate disasters like the horrible fires in the Los Angeles area if we deliberately attempt to emit as much fossil fuel emissions as possible. We are not going to be able to engage in harm and crime reduction if wide swathes of our community are made to hide in the shadows afraid to call the police or 9-1-1 if they need help.
As this new Presidential Administration shows us just how recklessly it is going to behave, we must be looking to connect with each other more to build new ways to persevere in our values, and build up the future we all hope to attain. I can assure you I have been taking steps with my colleagues, and key city partners, to connect with those who are going to be made highly vulnerable over the coming weeks. Our most vulnerable neighbors want to know - do their local officials support them? Are local police people they can trust? Will they be welcome in family shelters? What are their rights? What plans do their families need in case the worst case scenarios happen?
Those are the questions I am hearing, and that I am getting answers to, and that I am communicating out to the community. My Japanese-American ancestors survived being labeled "the enemy within", and I believe our wider community can learn from its mistakes from the past so that we do not stand by while some are isolated and labeled fit for detention centers and camps, with no due process.
I will mention that many people are on high alert right now about different enforcement agencies potentially being in communities. One request I have is that we not engage in spreading unverified rumors. We must do our best to limit fear in our wider community, and instead lean on our wisdom and our relationships to strengthen our community bonds amidst what could be sustained duress. Join me in protecting one another and keeping our eye on a bright future, as we seek to move through this time of darkness.
Thank you, as always, for reading and following my work. I am loving the role and am so appreciative of everyone I've been meeting - friends and neighbors old and new! Below, please find opportunities to volunteer and connect with your neighbors, and see some upcoming events related to Council work.
Until next week,
Tiffany
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