Earlier this week, I met with volunteers and staff at the Macadam Resource Table. This is a collaboration between PIRC, Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice (IMIrJ), Clear Clinic, and Together Lab to help support immigrant neighbors as they come to the ICE building on Macadam for check-ins. Volunteers, lawyers, clergy members, and legal observers are all working together to help people know their rights and get them enrolled in the Equity Corps of Oregon (ECO) program for free legal representation. And if they’re detained at their check-in, the Portlanders working at the table can activate rapid response support.  Like many Portlanders, the volunteers I spoke with were feeling frustrated before they found this program; they wanted to know, “what can I do to help?” By putting their time and effort into something that is productively supporting our most vulnerable community members, they’re turning those feelings of frustration into purpose.  So, my message to you right now is to find your own path. Check in with friends, loved ones, neighbors: can you help run an errand for someone that doesn’t feel comfortable leaving the house right now? Can you help share Know Your Rights information, so people understand what to do if they interact with a federal agent? Do you have PIRC’s hotline (1-888-622-1510) saved in your phone so you can report suspected federal agent activity and get it verified?   We overcome fear through action. No matter what happens in these coming days, I know that Portlanders are going to continue to speak out and look after our neighbors.

In solidarity,

Candace Avalos

Joint Gateway Town Hall with Councilor Dunphy Next Week 

We are four days out from my joint Gateway Town Hall with Councilor Dunphy! On Wednesday, October 8^th, we’ll be gathering at the Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization’s (IRCO) Sokhom Tauch Community Center to hear from Portlanders who live, work, and play in Gateway:

What questions do you have about the plan for Gateway and what kind of investments in Gateway do you want to see?

A catered dinner will be served to the community at 5:30pm (RSVP here) before we kick off the town hall at 6:00pm.

After a short presentation from Prosper Portland about the Gateway TIF district, we will go to breakout sessions where representatives from various offices (Prosper Portland, Community Safety, Trimet, PBOT, and more) will connect with community members, answer questions, write down feedback, and report back to the whole group afterwards. There will be a Q&A session with the entire audience at the end, and the event will conclude at 8:00pm.

Candace Call to Action: Please RSVP for dinner, childcare, and interpretation needs! We look forward to hearing your concerns and ideas.

Candace at Work

What the deployment of the National Guard means for Portland

My Vienna Trip Takeaways

After I returned from my trip to study alternative housing models in Vienna, I immediately got to work with Councilor Dunphy and Councilor Green on ways to share our takeaways and learnings with Portlanders. At the Housing Oregon conference, we sat on a panel with other members of our cohort to talk about key insights from our trip with Oregonians spanning the world of housing. The next week, we gave a presentation to the Homelessness and Housing Committee that went over the Vienna model, renter stability and equity, community design and livability, and economics and achievability. We also collaborated on a Hey Portland column, which you can read here.  Vienna shows us what it means to treat housing as a human right. Permanently affordable housing gives people true stability and makes communities safer. In Portland, we’re experiencing the results of a broken housing system where profit, rather than the public good, decides outcomes.   Our current way of doing housing isn’t working, and it’s costly both in terms of dollars and human lives. Vienna shows us a different, more effective way to make sure every Portlander has a safe place to call home.  I’m in ongoing conversations with my colleagues in City Hall and community partners to work out what the next steps look like for implementing the ideas we learned in Vienna. In December, the Homelessness and Housing Committee will hear an update on the social housing report due in Spring 2026 that’s being created after Council unanimously passed the resolution I led with Councilor Green.

Weigh in on TriMet cuts

Help Shape the Future of Portland Street Response

Candace in Community

Celebrating our Latinidad at El Grito

El Grito (or “the cry” in English) is a tradition held on the night of September 15 in Mexico to mark the beginning of the fight for freedom from Spanish rule. Eight other Latin American countries, including Guatemala, also have their independence days on the same day!  I joined Portland’s El Grito festivities with local leaders and community members, and it was especially meaningful to celebrate our shared history of independence and liberty when our community is under attack from the highest levels of power.     So, when it feels overwhelming and when the news feels like too much — just like right now — I want you to take action and show up for your neighbors. Because the joy and community I saw at El Grito, and I see around East Portland: that’s worth fighting for.

Green infrastructure at Springwater Wetlands 

If you know me, then this next sentence should sound familiar. East Portland doesn’t have enough green spaces, and it doesn’t have enough green infrastructure to address the increasing threats from climate change. Springwater Wetlands is a newly opened wetlands enhancement project along Johnson Creek that shows how East Portlanders are working to change that.  

 Argay Terrace Constituent Day 

Before heading to Argay Terrace, I started my constituent day in the Hazelwood neighborhood at Happy Go Lucky, a local childcare provider based in the Nick Fish building. Thanks to owner Anna for showing us around the space!

After visiting the preschool, we headed to Argay Terrace, which is in the NE part of our district. At Luuwit View Park we saw a great playground, community gardens, and view of Mt. St. Helens and the city!    Our next stop was Midland Library for constituent meetings. My constituent hours are open to anyone in D1 and you can sign up for a meeting slot here.

We got lunch at Honey Jar Cafe, and this is a longtime neighborhood Thai spot you should check out the next time you’re in Argay Terrace. Some other suggestions I got were: Taqueria Querétaro, 14100 NE Sandy Blvd Portland, OR 97230 Tidal Boar (inside Level Beer), 5211 NE 148th Ave, Portland, OR 97230 Sa Bai Thai Cuisine, 4440 NE 131st Pl, Portland, OR 97230 I’m looking forward to getting to know more of our East Portland neighbors and neighborhoods better at my next Constituent Day at Powellhurst-Gilbert!

East Portland shows out at Midway Bazaar and Mill Park

During the challenging times we’re facing, I think it’s important to remember what our communities stand for. At the Midway Bazaar and Mill Park grand opening, I saw an East Portland community that values and celebrates our diversity, our immigrant neighbors, and our ability to come together to solve hard problems.

East Portland has a unique set of challenges because of our history of disenfranchisement, but we’re not waiting around for other people to fix our problems. What I see wherever I go in our part of town is a community that organizes and builds from the ground up.  And we’re a community that takes care of each other — no matter what difficulties we face.

Candace in City Hall

Homelessness & Housing Committee

At the September 23^rd Homelessness & Housing Committee meeting, we started with an update on the current work of the Homelessness Response System Steering and Oversight Committee. The SOC is responsible for developing new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Homelessness Response Action Plan (HRAP), the shared strategies between the City and Multnomah County to tackle the homelessness crisis.  KPIs help make sure we’re on target with our homelessness response, but the actual benchmarks are being worked out in part because funding cuts at the federal and state levels will affect what resources we have at the local level to address homelessness.

We also approved three reappointments to the River Community Advisory Committee. RCAC members represent different floating structures interests, like Portlanders who live in floating homes on the Columbia. They help Permitting with the review process for development of floating structures. After approving an ordinance to streamline City code updates when the state changes their building codes, I gave a presentation with Councilor Dunphy and Councilor Green about our takeaways from the Vienna trip, which I discussed earlier in this newsletter and in our joint column. The next committee meeting is on Oct. 7, from 12:00pm – 2:00pm.

Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee

We started the Sept. 25^th Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee with a discussion of a resolution to adopt the Portland Urban Forest Plan to improve public health, build resilience to climate change, and promote environmental justice. This was a carry-over from the previous committee meeting because Councilor Kanal had suggested amendments to add more accountability for the City to take care of street trees, ensure the City takes responsibility for street tree-related sidewalk repairs, and make sure our tree care program centers low-income Portlanders.

I heard some concerns from other councilors around if we should address the maintenance of street trees in neighborhoods that are more wealthy. I think it’s a bad idea to place the responsibility of street tree care maintenance on property owners in general, because that means the City has no consistent way of maintaining street trees. In East Portland they planted a whole bunch of trees that all died because the City didn't water them. That’s more costly for us as a city, which is why I was supportive of the amendments. All three Kanal amendments were adopted and included in the resolution the committee moved to Council.

Before committee, I joined a great rally for Inner Eastside for All organized by Portland: Neighbors Welcome (P:NW). In the presentation we heard on the Inner Eastside Infrastructure Assessment study, City staff discussed that even though the Inner Eastside’s current infrastructure overall needs upgrades to fully support the increased density P:NW envisions, there are neighborhoods with lower hanging fruit where the land use planning process can get started. Portland is facing a housing crisis, and we need every single tool available to expand supply in ways that are sustainable and equitable. I’m especially supportive of exploring opportunities to increase mixed use and multi-unit residential development in the Inner Eastside areas that are close to transit, jobs, and services. I think the work in the Inner Eastside can set a foundation for future planning that pairs housing production with the infrastructure investments needed for successful neighborhoods, especially in East Portland. The next committee meeting is on Oct. 9, 9:30 am – 11:30 am.

Finance Committee

In the Sept 22^nd Finance Committee, we started with a review and discussion of the FY 2025–26 budget calendar with Chief Financial Officer Biery. The main takeaways from conversations with councilors is that budget talks with council and community need to start earlier, the proposed budget needs to be delivered earlier than May 5^th, the preliminary budget document needs a re-work, the budget 101 materials need improvement, and there needs to be a plan for future budget advisory committees.

There were a lot of common themes that came up in discussion, but I wanted to put a finer point on some of what was said.  I think that delivery and framing of any budget information needs to have a more strategic comms and political lens. What happened last year is that the budget that dropped was framed as neutral, and that made it difficult to communicate our suggested changes with constituents and the public. I think the community needs to be involved earlier in budget discussions so we can get feedback. And councilors absolutely need to have all the same information that the mayor is receiving, because there were times where it felt like we were deferring to the mayor when that’s not how this new form of government should work. Last year was unique because we started a whole new form of government with a brand-new council and mayor. I’m going to continue to make sure next year’s budget cycle is done the right way.

Committee also advanced ordinances vacating City-owned properties, and a proposed ordinance to establish a new fee, administered via the water/sewer bill, for flood safety system maintenance. Approving the fee would add an estimated $1.20 monthly to the typical single-family residential water, sewer, and stormwater bill. We also advanced an ordinance that will help PBOT make safety improvements along 122^nd Ave! The next committee meeting is on Oct. 20, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm.

Upcoming Meetings

City Council holds regular meetings at 9:30 a.m. on the first, second, fourth and fifth Wednesday and 6:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. If we don’t get to everything on Wednesday, additional meetings are held the following Thursday at 2:00 p.m.

East Portland Stories and Happenings

• Friends of Trees and Urban Forestry are launching a new, PCEF-funded, $1.8 million partnership to plant and care for 750 trees across Portland’s most heat-vulnerable neighborhoods. Visit the website to see if your address is in the planting areas and sign up for a free tree!
  • March 7, 2026 plantings - Centennial, Glenfair, Hazelwood, Mill Park, Montavilla, Powellhurst-Gilbert
  • March 21, 2026 plantings - Argay Terrace, Parkrose, Parkrose Heights, Russell, Wilkes

• I was the first guest of Transit Talks, a new series from 1000 Friends of Oregon on all things transit and traffic safety! I took Cassie on the FX2, my go-to bus line.
• I was excited to read how Shantae Johnson and Arthur Shavers, a couple that operates a food pantry and a community garden in East Portland, were partnering with Multnomah County to reduce hunger and offer support and jobs for farmers from communities of color!
• Join the Office of Small Business for October's Show Up for Small Business, an ongoing collaboration with Better Portland, PIE, Latino Founders, Portland Metro Chamber and Built Oregon. On October 15th they are headed out to the Array Food Hall in the Gateway district where you can support Cascadia Taphouse, Thai Carnation, and Poke Delight!

In solidarity,

Candace Avalos