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In my February newsletter, I discussed that my colleagues tried to move the $15 million away from affordable housing because they felt the CIP wasn’t focusing enough on decarbonizing transportation. I fully understand the need to work on green transportation solutions, like making it easier and safer to take transit and walk and roll around the city. But it would have been better to raise these concerns months earlier in the process, when the PCEF Committee was considering the different adjustment options and engaging with community and staff.
I’m pleased to say that my amendment to restore us to the original community-vetted and recommended PCEF package passed and was included in the final PCEF CIP amendment package.
The community recommended $15 million PCEF investment in affordable housing will:
- Create 586 additional housing units.
- House close to ~1,700 people.
- Support a pipeline of affordable multifamily projects.
Even if it’s not our intent, we need to be careful not to create the idea that the oversight mechanisms and processes that govern PCEF funds are optional. The risks are already playing out in real time. I will continue to protect the progress that’s been made in our community to build climate resilience and reduce carbon emissions.
Our George Floyd Resolution Passed
 One resolution can’t bring back the departed. And one resolution alone can’t undo centuries worth of oppression and injustice. But it can serve as a signal to where we should be going and a promise of work yet to come.
At the end of February, council unanimously voted to adopt our resolution to commemorate the life of George Floyd, close to six years after his death, and reaffirm our City’s commitment to racial justice. Thank you to Brown Hope and all the community members for their work on this resolution. I’m grateful to everyone who showed up to testify in support. I look forward to the harder conversations we clearly still need to have in our fight for real structural change.
Noticias NW 1 Year anniversary
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Noticias NW is an irreplaceable resource for our community. I’m so grateful for all of Antonio’s hard work to keep Portlanders informed – especially as we’re seeing so much fear and misinformation in immigrant communities.
Here’s to one year of Noticias NW and hopefully many more!
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Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Black history is labor history! I joined the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists for an engaging conversation with other local leaders to close out Black History Month. I spoke about what inspired me to get involved in politics, the importance of Black voices and Black leaders, and some of my accomplishments – like leading the unanimous passage of the Protect Portland Initiative. |
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Parkrose ESD Town Hall
 At council meetings and in City Hall, I sometimes hear leaders from other parts of town talk about what East Portlanders want as if there was a one-size-fits-all solution for everything. At the Parkrose Enhanced Services District (ESD) Town Hall with Historic Parkrose, our conversations reaffirmed that East Portlanders have nuances and differences of opinion – even between people who agree on the issue.
ESDs are intended to bring economic resiliency, vibrancy, and vitality to a district. Services like street cleaning, beautification, and outreach done by Cultivate Initiatives in Parkrose are examples of what an ESD might invest in.
Parkrose’s priorities for an ESD are for Parkrose to decide, based on the community’s needs. Existing ESDs in the Central City can serve as examples of what not to do.
At the town hall, small business owners spoke about public safety concerns and broken windows – but we also heard concerns from community members about the potential of adding to the over policing and criminalization of East Portland communities.
This was just one conversation in a longer engagement process, so there will be more opportunities to offer your input about the Parkrose ESD: stay tuned!
D1 City Club Forum
Thank you to City Club of Portland for organizing a wide-ranging conversation with all three East Portland councilors and our community. We talked about the future of Gateway, alternative transportation funding options, housing policy, economic development, and so much more. You can watch a full recording of the session here.
We were asked what adjective we would use to describe D1 councilors as a group, and I chose bullish – not just because it’s one of Council President’s favorite words, but because all three of us are loud and constantly fighting for East Portland’s fair share.
It’s also not lost on me what it means for our part of town to have the City Club of Portland organizing events like these, specifically for District 1 to make their voices heard. That just wasn’t the case for the majority of our City’s history. Our new form of government with three dedicated D1 representatives means East Portland will never be an afterthought again.
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Restoration of Love Gala
Even with the challenges we’re facing, I still believe in the possibility of a city where housing is a right, not a privilege. Events like the Restoration of Love Gala give me hope. The story behind PDX Saints Love is one that’s familiar to our part of town: a Portlander saw a problem in her community and decided to do something about it herself, without waiting around for someone else to step up. I’m thankful for everything Executive Director Kristle Delihanty and her team do to support our unhoused community. Their lifechanging programs — the Day Center, Workforce Development, Rapid Rehousing, Resident Services — are a crucial part of our homeless service system.
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From the PCC Picket Line
Deciding to strike isn’t an easy choice. What I saw on the picket line at Portland Community College SE was workers willing to put their livelihoods on the line for their students. The PCC educators and staff I spoke with told me that they want to get back to their jobs. But they all understood they can’t serve students without a fair contract, and I was proud to stand in solidarity with PCC workers with seven of my council colleagues. The conversations I had reminded me of my time as an educator at Portland State University and as a member of PSU-AAUP. Back then, our union was on the verge of a strike when negotiations were getting tough with PSU administration. It was stressful, but I felt supported knowing my union and my students had my back.
I’m grateful that both the PCC classified staff union and the faculty union have reached tentative agreements with PCC administration and students can return to their classes. Notably, the faculty tentative agreement gives department chairs more power over class schedules – one of the issues I heard was students being turned away because there weren’t enough offerings of in-demand classes.
The PCC strike is an example of how everyone benefits when workers have a seat at the table.
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D1 Town Hall Q&A
At the D1 Joint Town Hall hosted at Friend Share Community Space, your District 1 councilors had a thoughtful discussion with East Portlanders on the key issues affecting our part of town. Walking around our district, it’s not hard to spot the issues. While we can all agree on challenges like infrastructure, homelessness, housing affordability, and struggling business corridors, the perspectives on solutions are as diverse as our district.
What stands out is our shared willingness to listen and engage as neighbors, even when things feel personal. I might bring different priorities than my colleagues (that’s the beauty of multimember districts), but it’s clear to me that we’re all committed to putting East Portland first. Thank you to everyone who participated!
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Refugee & Immigrant Girls World Cup Soccer Tournament
 It started with one East Portlander, one idea: what if we held a soccer tournament for refugee and immigrant girls? Som Subedi, the organizer behind Bottles to Soccer, began asking around. 31 different organizations spanning industry to government, volunteers, and community members responded to the call for help.
On a cold Sunday morning, we saw Som’s vision come to life in a soccer tournament full of joy, community, and belonging. There was dancing led by DJ Prashant. There was an opening ceremony with the usual speeches, but also a scarf presentation to the referees and a local family impacted by ICE enforcement.
For the girls on the pitch, their families, and so many other East Portlanders, it’s hard not to feel the weight of the moment we’re living through — the fear that ICE could show up at their door, at their bus stop, or at their workplace. But on Sunday morning, kids got to be kids. That’s the power of our community at work. That’s East Portland.
New Committees Are Here!
ICYMI: City Council started our new committee schedule in April! I will continue to chair the Housing Committee (which will now be known as the Housing and Permitting Committee) and will also sit on the new City Life committee. All councilors sit on the Committee of the Whole.
The first meeting of the Committee of the Whole was April 2, from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm. The Committee of the Whole meets the first, second, and fourth Thursday of each month at 9:30 a.m. and the third Wednesday of each month at 2:00 p.m.
The first meeting of the Housing and Permitting Committee is on April 7, from 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm. The Housing and Permitting Committee meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 2:00 p.m.
The first meeting of the City Life Committee is April 14, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm. The City Life Committee meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The agenda is published by 9:00 a.m. Friday before the meeting.
Click the links above to learn more about the subjects each committee covers. As always, full council meetings will continue to be on Wednesdays.
Joint Work Session on Homelessness to Housing Continuum
On March 17, City Council met with our counterparts at Multnomah County to talk about our roles and responsibilities within the Homelessness to Housing Continuum. If that term sounds familiar, it might be because I’ve led conversations on the same topic as Chair of the Homelessness and Housing Committee. Here’s a handy graphic for reference:
 As I said during that meeting, we have seen the City move into areas that haven’t historically been our responsibility over the years – like shelter operation. In part, this is because the scale of the homelessness crisis put pressure on City officials to act and because our old form of government led to a lack of long-term planning and a siloed approach to policy.
While that scattered approach wasn’t as much of an issue when we had plenty of resources flowing in from Metro, state, and federal sources, recent cuts and funding shortfalls mean we have to fundamentally realign our priorities.
The good news is that this work is already underway with the Unified Housing Strategy – a policy I led with my Housing Vice Chair Dunphy. When I look at the homelessness to housing continuum, I see that the City's strongest role is on the front and the back ends. That looks like preventing people from entering homelessness in the first place and ensuring that there is enough housing for people to exit into. That means eviction prevention, rent assistance, housing stabilization on the front end, and housing production, especially permanently affordable, social, municipal, supportive housing on the back end. The County should continue to lead on services and public health programs.
At the end of the day, for me, success in this system looks like:
- Fewer people falling into homelessness in the first place, and
- The people who do end up experiencing homelessness quickly moved into permanent housing, with all the services they need to thrive.
That requires that both sides of the system are working together — strong prevention and abundant supportive housing.
Housing and Homelessness Committee
In the Housing and Homelessness Committee, we got a progress check-in about the Social Housing Study (which kicked off last year after Council unanimously passed the resolution I led with Councilors Green, Kanal, and Koyama Lane). We are currently in Stage 3 of the study: Research, Analyses, Education, & Engagement. The timeline for the final study has been extended to August 31, 2026 (originally was due at the end of May) so PHB staff have enough time to prepare a comprehensive study.
Engagement and educational resources to know: First, check out the Social Housing Study website! PHB recently held their first webinar on land banking and have two more planned in the upcoming months. You can watch the recording here. You can also revisit my Hey Portland! column on my Vienna study trip to learn more about my thoughts on social housing.
I invited three panelists with firsthand alternative housing model experience to share what we need to think about to make social housing projects a reality in Portland. Some points:
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Consider acquiring properties to convert to social housing models, since there are properties available at a discount.
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Expand “patient, mission-driven" capital (funding) to create long-term affordability, resident stability, social cohesion, and other positive housing outcomes. Current affordable housing development is significantly financed through private investors, who are looking out for their bottom line (and not low-income tenants).
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Land banking for permanent affordable housing, creating more developable land, and multi-lot permitting are several areas where the City could make a difference.
At our last meeting of the Homelessness and Housing Committee, we heard the five-month progress report on the temporary System Development Charge (SDC) exemption.
In short: it’s too soon to say the SDC exemption is successful at creating more housing development.
After the first five months of the project:
- There were about 34% units enrolled toward the total 5,000 housing unit goal.
- That's counting all units in the pipeline, but they sit at different stages in the development process, and most haven’t begun construction.
- If all the units in the pipeline qualified for the SDC waiver, it would represent $32,773,500 in forgone infrastructure funding.
The "value" in forgone SDC funding is something I am going to bring up again and again, because this is important for East Portland. After we voted for the SDC exemption, I actually got outreach from East Portlanders who were pretty upset with me. They understand the need to use all the tools we have to address the housing crisis. But East Portlanders are also still waiting for their fair share of resources and investment from the city - in our basic infrastructure and parks.
Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee
In our February 26 Climate meeting, we heard a briefing on the Planning Commission and Sustainability and Climate Commission. The Planning Commission was established all the way back in 1918. It’s responsible for land use policy recommendations and focuses on long-range planning, through the development, maintenance and updating of the city's Comprehensive Plan and the zoning code.
The land use legislative process is long: it often takes 1–3 years due to technical analysis, iterative drafting, and extensive public engagement at each stage.
Some big, upcoming Long-Range Planning projects that are at the Planning Commission:
A previous combined Planning and Sustainability Commission (established in 2010 and envisioned to bring more sustainability into land use decisions) was split in 2023 to allow the Planning Commission to focus more on land use and the Sustainability and Climate Commission (established in 2025) to spend more energy on climate action.
Specifically, the Sustainability and Climate Commission advances and develops climate action and outcomes across the City, focuses on environmental justice and accountability, and creates and evaluates the City’s Climate Action Plan.
Some interesting projects they’re working on include:
- Youth Framework for the next Climate Action Plan.
- The Earth in Motion event at Parkrose Middle School (more information in the East Portland Stories and Happenings section!).
- Development of the next Climate Action Plan, which will likely be adopted in 2028.
One point of concern for me is the fact that our Sustainability and Climate Commission, along with our Chief Sustainability Officer and the Office of Sustainability are vastly under resourced – especially since climate change is the biggest crisis we’re facing globally. I plan on finding resources for the CSO in our next budget, and I hope my colleagues will support that effort as well. As a recent audit found, we need a more unified and cohesive strategy for climate action across the City and that starts with empowering our CSO.
In March, I also helped lead the passage of the Inner Eastside for All resolution with Councilors Morillo and Green. As a founding board member of Portland: Neighbors Welcome, I’ve been part of conversations for many years about how Portland’s zoning rules shape where and how housing can be built. I’m grateful to the many advocates and community members who have pushed for years to move this work forward.
Too often, the places with the best access to transit, jobs, schools, and services are also the places where it has historically been hardest to add new housing. If we are serious about addressing our housing shortage, we have to be willing to examine whether our zoning rules are unintentionally holding us back.
This effort also has value beyond the Inner Eastside itself. By examining how we can move zoning updates more efficiently here, we can learn lessons that help inform similar work in other parts of the city, including Districts 1 and 2.
Ultimately, this resolution is about making sure the City is moving at the pace that the housing crisis demands. I appreciate the partnership with my colleagues on this work and look forward to continuing the conversation as this effort moves forward.
Finance Committee
In the last meeting of the Finance Committee we moved legislation that would raise the threshold for the Business License Tax gross receipts exemption.
Updating the BLT exemption threshold that hasn’t changed since 2007 and aligning with the County may provide some relief and simplification for small businesses. But I also was concerned that we are in a structural General Fund shortfall, and this policy will reduce the dollars the City brings in.
I heard at committee that the overall general fund impact of this policy is minimal. I also heard that the overall financial benefit to small businesses is pretty small – something to the order of $200 to $500 a year that folks were going to be able to save. That’s helpful (especially for businesses with tight margins), but I’m certainly going to push us to do more for small businesses from my role on City Life.
We also moved a proposal that would allow the City Attorney to take on the costs of defending City employees who may be prosecuted by a hostile federal government for carrying out Sanctuary City laws.
I helped pass the legal defense legislation out of committee. If we expect our staff to carry out our laws and stand firm in moments like this, then we also need to stand behind them. That’s about fairness, stability, and making sure our workforce knows they won’t be left on their own for doing their jobs in good faith.
However, I do think there are still some important implementation details to work through, particularly around how we define “official duties” in practice and how we ensure clarity for employees across the organization. I also think it’s important that we build in clear accountability. As we discussed, there should be a path to revisit or revoke coverage if new information comes to light, and I’d like to see that clearly addressed in the policy.
East Portland Stories and Happenings
- Parents: Multnomah County’s Preschool for All application is now open! To be eligible, a child must be 3 or 4 by September 1st of the preschool year and have a parent or legal guardian living in Multnomah County.
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A new PCEF-funded e-bike rebate program is accepting applications starting April 6! You could receive:
- Up to $1,600 for a Standard e-bike.
- Up to $2,350 for a Cargo e-bike.
- Up to $8,500 for an Adaptive e-bike.
- Plus up to $300 for accessories.
- Find out more about the application requirements and participating retailers by visiting the website linked here. Many East Portlanders should qualify under the program’s definition of priority populations (groups that are under-resourced by sustainability, climate action, and clean energy programs).
- Celebrate Earth Month with the City of Portland!
- On April 11 (Earth Day) from 12-3pm, The City is hosting the Earth in Motion event at Parkrose Middle School where you’ll explore cleaner, more proactive ways to move through and live in Portland — from biking and TriMet to clean energy and the food we eat. You’ll be able to learn more about the e-bike rebate program too!
- On April 15, 5:30 – 7:30 pm, Urban Forestry will be holding a Black Earth Day Tree Talk at Midland Library. This event will consist of a presentation, Q&A, and social time (light refreshments will be provided!).
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Volunteer with Portland Parks & Rec! Help with gardening tasks like weeding, pruning, mulching, and adding new plants at beloved East Portland parks like Argay Park, Luuwit View, and Wilkes Park. Visit the link to learn more.
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Confirmed by Stumptown Savings: East Portland favorite WinCo is “the cheapest store in town, week in, week out.” I’ve met with WinCo leadership earlier this year and I was impressed with their commitment to affordability and our community.
- It’s the 20th anniversary of the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade! This year has three days of events, with the parade, Funtastic Carnival & Rides, and Car Show on April 25th and Farmer’s Market on April 26th.
- On April 25th from 10 am - 5 pm, join our East Portland community at Glenhaven Park for the free New Year in the Park celebration of the Southeast Asian New Year!
- East Portlander Som Subedi and his organization, Bottles to Soccer, were recently featured in the Oregonian for their work to help refugee, immigrant, and low-income youth by creating spaces for belonging and community through soccer.
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In solidarity,
 Candace Avalos
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