I made a promise to someone that I wouldn't tell her story until I see it through her eyes, but I can tell you that our current system is beyond broken. This isn't a problem Portlanders have shown that they know how to fix. We need accountability, transparency, and experts to come in and review our current system before we make additional changes.
In the meantime, don't make our neighbors without permanent addresses go unseen. Every Portlander deserves to be visible, and a smile or wave can go a long way.
The missing piece in pretty much the entirety of Portland's current struggles with its budget-funded programs, public resources, and elected officials is accountability, and the information that is out there on current accountability policies often isn't easy for the layperson to find nor understand. This needs to change.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting different results. If we have retooled a policy multiple times and it has resulted in same or similar results, we need to bring in outside experts who have resolved issues in or heavily improved a same or similar program.
Portland is and should remain a small business city, but decisions continue to be made that put local shops, restaurants, and service providers at risk of closing their doors. Yes, policies and restrictions are important, but not at the loss of the most vital parts of what makes Portland so unique and what is truly our economic backbone.
When looking at current policies, we need to rethink the increased costs for parking downtown, recently implemented and proposed Tax Increment Funding districts, and the continued strain the high cost of living is having on not just the local but national economy as a whole.
I don't think I need to explain why, but we need to ensure that all of our neighbors are safe. This means no new ICE facilities, enforcing current restrictions and imposing new ones as appropriate, holding ICE personnel legally responsible for their actions, and ensuring that Portland remains a sanctuary city.
Police response times are too long, and crisis intervention trainings need to focus more on mental health and neurodivergent conditions, assisting victims in domestic disputes, and additional and culturally or identity specific de-escalation techniques, especially for people of color and unhoused individuals. While we do need additional armed officers, we also need additional specialists who can support and respond to non-criminal calls, and the budget needs to be fully unveiled for the public free of jargon and with a cost-benefit analysis attached.
I will say from personal experience that I have met more compassionate and ethical police officers here than in any other town or city in this country, but we all know that the bar still needs to be raised.
We live in Portland. Sustainability should be at the forefront of the majority of our decisions. When you review AQI reports, Portland consistently makes it into the top 50 cleanest cities in the world. I say we aim to keep moving up that list, especially considering how fragile our environments, internally, locally, and worldwide, are.
This includes a focus on how to maintain or increase public and low emission transit options, decrease our carbon footprint, and improve our recycling and composting procedures.
We're living in unprecedented times right now where most of the country, Portland included, is one missed paycheck away from an eviction, foreclosure, repossession, you name it. Our city council, the mayor, and other local government officials need to be cognizant of this in how we approach problems and spend the city's budget.
This includes ensuring that each city councilor's personal office budget is in line with national standards and that, at the end of each financial or calendar year as appropriate, any remaining moneys are returned to the city for use elsewhere.
When it comes to investing in our city, we need to not only consider the money we're allocating to certain places, but we need to look at the money, community, and buy-in we're getting back. If we're not willing to invest in the places, people, and properties in Portland that make this city what it is today and what Portlanders want it to be in the future, what are we investing in?
I'm going to be as succinct as possible here; a lack of accessible mental health treatment and easily gained education is the root cause of or one of the largest contributing factors in many issues our country, state, counties, and city face. The statistics speak for themselves, and efforts to resolve these issues have yielded fewer results than we should be seeing for the investments made.
A person in an unstopped mental health crisis creates a much larger drain on our system. As city councilor, it would be my job to help allocate funding to programs that are shown to consistently produce net positive results and to put accountability measures in place for all public services and nonprofits that receive funding related to mental health from the city.
Contact me at kimberlyforpdx.d3@gmail.com
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