Frequently Asked Questions and Topics You Might Be Curious About

Moda Center: Should Portland put public money into renovating it?

The Moda Center is a City-owned public asset, and the City has a responsibility to maintain it. But maintaining a public asset and writing a blank check are two very different things.

Any deal should clearly define and cap the City’s contribution, protect taxpayers from cost overruns, maximize state, county and other funding, and secure a meaningful long-term commitment from the Trail Blazers.

And if Portland is making a generational investment in the arena, I want a generational partnership in return. That should include measurable community benefits, including opportunities for investment in neighborhood parks, basketball courts, youth recreation and programming.

Protect the public asset, protect taxpayers, keep the team here, and get a measurable community return on Portland’s investment.

New taxes and fees: Raise new revenue or hold the line?

We don’t need new taxes and fees right now; we need to grow Portland’s tax base instead.

Portland needs more businesses succeeding, more jobs, more housing and more private investment. That’s how we generate additional revenue without automatically increasing tax rates.

One practical step is creating a Business Navigation Team. It’s about making City government accountable for helping small businesses and entrepreneurs navigate City government. We need to take the guesswork out of the process of starting your business.

A business opening, expanding or investing in Portland should have a clear point of contact who can coordinate across bureaus, identify conflicting requirements, flag unnecessary delays and help get problems to the people who can actually resolve them.

The navigator doesn’t waive rules or guarantee approval. The job is to make sure businesses get clear answers, know what is required and don’t spend months being passed from one City office to another.

And measure whether it’s working: How long does it take to open or expand a business? Where are projects getting stuck? How many problems are being resolved? Are businesses choosing to stay and invest here?

I wouldn’t say I would never consider new revenue, but the bar should be high: What problem are we solving? Have we exhausted existing resources? What will the money deliver? And what will it mean for residents, small businesses, employers and Portland’s competitiveness?

My priority is to grow the tax base, not simply increase tax rates. Make it easier to invest here, and make City government responsible for helping legitimate projects get to an answer.

Clearing camps: Keep funding camp removals?

Yes.

Portland should maintain its capacity to address camps that create health, safety and accessibility problems. But moving someone from one block to another isn’t a sustainable solution.

It’s not progressive or compassionate to simply step over and around people living in unsafe conditions without offering a path forward. It’s not who we are as a community. We must do what we can to bring our neighbors indoors and provide pathways to stable housing and wraparound services.

I want the City, Multnomah County, Metro and the State to clearly define responsibilities, reduce duplication and coordinate camp interventions with shelter, behavioral-health services, outreach and pathways to housing.

And measure the outcome: Are people entering shelter? Are they connecting with services and housing? Are the same locations repeatedly becoming camps? Are public spaces staying safe and accessible after an intervention?

Address unsafe camps while using every intervention to move people toward a more sustainable solution.

Data centers: Restrict new AI data centers?

We should restrict massive data centers and develop policies that protect our neighborhoods, preserve our water, and give Portlanders the transparency they deserve.

My test is simple: How much power and water will the facility use? Who pays for the infrastructure? How many permanent jobs will it create? What tax revenue will Portland actually receive? And what does it mean for residents and small businesses already paying utility bills here?

Large corporations shouldn’t get a better deal at the expense of Portland’s small businesses. If a company creates enormous infrastructure demands, it should pay those costs.

These deals should also happen in public. Portlanders should know what we’re giving, what we’re getting and what the long-term costs are.

Growth should pay its own way. If we’re going to use scarce land, power, water or public resources, Portland should receive a clear and measurable benefit in return.

Portland Street Response: Expand it to 24/7?

Yes, I support moving Portland Street Response toward 24/7 service. But expanding the hours isn’t enough.

Street Response should be part of a system that actually gets people somewhere. When someone is experiencing a behavioral-health crisis, the goal can’t simply be to resolve the immediate call and leave them in the same situation.

PSR should respond to appropriate nonviolent behavioral-health crises and other calls where police aren’t necessary. Its job should be to respond, stabilize, connect and follow up. It isn’t a replacement for police, shelter, housing or long-term behavioral-health treatment.

I want stronger connections between PSR, Multnomah County behavioral health, treatment providers, shelter and housing so responders have somewhere to refer people after a crisis.

We also need to match the funding to the work. The City should fund the core public-safety response, while pursuing Medicaid reimbursement and county, state and federal behavioral-health dollars for eligible services. Those funding sources won’t pay for everything PSR does, but City General Fund dollars shouldn’t pay for eligible services another system can help fund.

Then measure outcomes: Are people getting connected to services? Are repeat crisis calls declining? And is PSR freeing police and firefighters for the work only they can do?

The right responder for the right call, with a clear handoff to what comes next.

Street repair fee: Keep the monthly fee?

I would keep it for now, but Portlanders should be able to see exactly what they’re getting for it.

I don’t like adding another fee to people’s utility bills, particularly when families and small businesses already feel the cost of living and doing business in Portland is too high. But continually deferring basic street maintenance ultimately makes repairs more expensive.

If Portlanders are paying specifically to repair streets, publicly report where the money went, how much pavement was repaired, what neighborhoods received the work and whether we’re reducing the maintenance backlog.

I also want utilities and others who damage our streets contributing appropriately to restoring them.

If government asks people to pay more, government has an obligation to show them the result.

Water rates: Raise bills for Bull Run filtration and system repairs?

We have to finish the Bull Run filtration plant and maintain Portland’s water system, but ratepayers shouldn’t be treated like a blank check.

The filtration project is already underway, and Portland has an obligation to provide safe, reliable drinking water. We also can’t defer essential repairs until infrastructure fails and becomes even more expensive to replace.

But every additional rate increase deserves scrutiny. I want aggressive cost control, independent oversight, transparent reporting on budget and schedule, and continued pursuit of federal financing and other outside resources that reduce costs for ratepayers.

We should also protect affordability for lower-income Portlanders and pay attention to what rising utility bills mean for small businesses.

Essential infrastructure has to be paid for, but raising the bill should be the last step in the analysis, not the first.