[September 27, 2024; Updated September 29 to add Joe Alfone and John Toran to the list of candidates at the event]
Over 200 people showed up to meet City Council District 4 candidates at the Hillsdale Food Park on a Monday in late September. While the number of attendees made for crowded conditions, it also reflected a high level of interest in the upcoming election here in SW Portland.
Eighteen of the 30 registered candidates for District 4 came to meet voters and talk about their plans for the new city council:
Joe Alfone
Kelly Doyle
Another candidate, Mitch Green, sent a message earlier in the day that he wouldn’t be able to attend because of a medical issue.
While details about the upcoming election and the changes to our city government have gotten a lot of press already, the changes are huge so the basics bear repeating: In November, Portland voters will elect an entirely new city council made up of 12 members. The city has been divided into four districts, each of which will be represented by three elected councilors. Multi-winner ranked choice voting will be used to determine the winners. The mayor will be elected using a single-winner ranked choice voting system. Your ballot will look very different this year, with spaces to rank six of the 30 District 4 candidates and 19 mayoral hopefuls by order of preference.
No doubt the enormity of the changes, and maybe the free ice cream, attracted voters in such great numbers. Despite the crowded chaos of the informal meet-and-greet format, voters and candidates soon got into the spirit of conversation about goals, values, and priorities. While the voters and candidates mingled, Joe Hertzberg from the city’s Government Transition Advisory Committee explained ranked choice voting to those looking for enlightenment on that topic.
The shoulder-to-shoulder event was described variously as “a good mess” demonstrating democracy in action; as having a “cocktail party feel” where it was easy to move from one candidate to another and engage in conversation; and as a welcome throwback to the public-square democracy of the American revolution or even ancient Rome.
Hillsdale News followed up with a few of the people there to talk about what they learned that will help them make their selections come ballot time.
Perspectives on the candidates
Leila Ortega serves on the board of the Hillsdale Community Foundation. She volunteered to help out at the event handing out free ice cream, and once the treats were gone she had about an hour to circulate and meet a few of the candidates. At 35, Ortega is younger than most Hillsdale homeowners. She works for the Oregon Health Authority in a unit that develops housing for people in recovery from substance abuse.
“I had a good conversation with Ben Hufford. He educated me about some of the zoning issues downtown,” she said. Another candidate, John Toran, made a good impression, and while she was excited to see young people of color like her on the ballot (Chloe Mason and Ciatta Thompson) she felt they lacked experience and clarity on the issues. She said that there wasn’t time to go deep enough with the candidates to make her final choices. “I think it would be a good idea to have candidates who like each other, will work well with each other and have alignment on the issues.”
Focus on Specific Issues
Liz Safran, an associate professor of geological science at Lewis and Clark college, researches natural disasters and emergency preparedness. She is a member of both the Multnomah and Hillsdale Neighborhood Emergency Teams. She said she appreciates the prioritization of public safety and homelessness among city council hopefuls, but she’s also very interested in what they have to say about community and environmental resilience, particularly regarding a major Cascadia earthquake event.
“There’s a lot to do to make the city resilient to the effects of severe heat events, wildfires, ice storms, in addition to these other essential crises,” she said.
Many of the candidates she talked to were aware of the serious earthquake risks posed by the CEI Hub, a six-mile stretch in far NW Portland between Highway 30 and the Columbia River where 90% of Oregon’s fuel supply is stored on unstable soil. “It’s a good start that candidates are aware,” she said, “but I didn’t hear any developed ideas about what to do.”
She felt Tuesday’s event was a useful starting point: “I got some good ideas and now I can narrow my research to a handful of people.”
Andrew Jansky, a Hillsdale resident and small business owner, found the event to be an authentic opportunity to gauge candidates’ leadership qualities. He paid attention to how well they articulated their policies on addressing safety for all Portlanders as well as accountability and stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
As advocacy director of Northwest Trail Alliance, he was also “very encouraged to hear several candidates familiar with and supportive of the Off-Road Cycling Master Plan and soft surface trail connections between neighborhoods, which can quickly and economically be implemented as Safe Routes To School. The lack of routes, infrastructure and access in southwest Portland is important to our nearly 5,000 members.”
Homelessness, Drugs, and Bringing Downtown Back to Life
Lyla and Sophie Balthazaar, sisters in their twenties who grew up in Hillsdale and now live here, said the event gave them a good start on getting ready to vote.
Sophie, appreciated being able to get a lot of information in one place, but said she has more research to do. Lyla found ranked-choice voting confusing: “I’m curious to see how it will all work out. At least now when we get our voter’s pamphlet it won’t be a complete shock.”
Sophie, 26, is a registered nurse at OHSU and has seen a lot of patients who come in because of homelessness and drug use. “We need more support for mental health and a better plan to deal with homelessness and drug use. What we’re doing at the moment is not enough.” She lived downtown in 2020 while she was a student at PSU and wants to see downtown come back to life.
Lyla, 23, is likewise looking for candidates with good ideas on dealing with homelessness and drug abuse. She’s concerned about the funding for Portland Street Response and would like to see more support for this type of response, like she saw in Eugene with the CAHOOTS program.
Sophie said, “I would like to see the candidates’ plan to make downtown Portland a safer, more inviting place to go. I want to see Portland become more lively,” “—and weird again,” Lyla finished for her. Sophie wants to know, “What’s their plan to support local businesses and helping them build Portland back up again?”
Resources, More Voter Events for Voters
Southwest Hills Residential League and the League of Women Voters are hosting a Ranked Choice Voting education event and Ice Cream Social on Saturday, September 28 at 1pm at the St. Thomas More Parish Hall. More info here.
Multnomah County Democrats are holding a District 4 “Speed Dating” event on October 16 at Riversgate Church in Multnomah Village. More info here.
The Oregonian has published an interactive map and candidate questionnaire responses:
For more information on ranked choice voting, watch a video explaining the details and then try this Ice Cream Mock Election.
—Valeurie Friedman
Are you ready to vote? Or how will you learn more about the candidates? Let us know.
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