“I don’t define people by their failings, and I hope that people don’t define me by mine.”
– Carmen Rubio
As I sat down for my interview on Wednesday with City Commissioner and mayoral candidate Carmen Rubio to talk about her shocking number of parking tickets, the latest story about her troubling record as a driver popped up on my screen.
According to The Oregonian, this past Friday Rubio hit another car with her small Nissan SUV as she pulled into a parking space. Rubio then got out of her car, glanced at the cars, and walked away. The incident was caught on video cameras installed on the car she hit (a Tesla). And despite relatively significant damage that’s clearly visible in photos shared with The Oregonian by the victim, Rubio didn’t leave a note and continued on her day.
Rubio addressed that incident and expressed deep regret for her record of parking tickets. “These are things that are mistakes in my life. And they also are things that I’ve learned from and I’ve paid dearly for,” Rubio shared in our 20-minute interview. “It was wrong, and that’s not how how I am operating right now.”
About the recent incident in the parking lot, Rubio said she didn’t think she did any damage to the other car. “I parked my car, I felt the bump, I got outside, I looked, I did not see anything,” Rubio explained. “I went into my appointment and I came back out and I had a note and I immediately called, I immediately texted, and we engaged from there.”
“I did not leave a scene. I did not. Had I known, I would have done something more, but I did not see it,” she continued. “I took accountability. I called right away, and I definitely exchanged information, and was right away trying to resolve this and take responsibility if it was something that I did.”
“I did not leave a scene. I did not. Had I known, I would have done something more, but I did not see it.”
On the issue of her long record of parking tickets, the vast majority of them were given to Rubio between 2010 and 2015 while she was executive director of the nonprofit Latino Network, whose offices were located at the Leftbank Building in the Lloyd District (where N Broadway and Weidler split). In addition to saying parking spaces around that location were known to be “heavily patrolled” and it was common for workers and visitors to receive them, Rubio said that time in her life was particularly challenging.
“During that time I was really focused on making sure that no matter what tough times I was experiencing in my family side — and I’m going to keep it at that — the priority for me was the organization and the work,” Rubio shared. “And I let my personal responsibilities on that side get put off. And that was wrong, and I regret that.”
“At that time I just made the bad choice to prioritize my work responsibilities, to the exclusion of my time that it would take to go and deal with that [the meters] immediately.”
Rubio also wanted to clarify that she received 90 tickets since 2006, not the 150 that has been reported by BikePortland and other outlets. Of those, she says she paid 50 of them, and that 20 of those were ticketed again the same day because she overstayed the parking meter.
Asked why she felt like she didn’t have to pay to park, Rubio said, “I always knew I was going to have to pay for them. At that time I just made the bad choice to prioritize my work responsibilities, to the exclusion of my time that it would take to go and deal with that [the meters] immediately.”
Rubio said back in those days when Latino Network was growing quickly, she lost focus on other responsibilities, including parking her car legally. “I now have done so much personal work and have learned about work-life balance, and I have these skills about how you need to take care of yourself first so that you can do this other stuff even more effectively. And so I learned those hard lessons.”
When asked if it was a financial problem that led to her lack of settling these tickets in a timely manner, Rubio referred to how this was a time in her life that was, “really tough” and she was experiencing private matters that strained her ability to take care of this issue.
“And I think that for most women,” she continued, “and anyone who provides or cares for family members when they’re going through rough patches probably knows the various kinds of things that are hard that I’m referring to. So there were other costs associated with that as well. I’m gonna leave it at that, because that involves other people, and that is not my story to tell.”
It’s only been in her past few years in her role as a city commissioner, Rubio said, that she’s made the connection between something as ostensibly harmless as a parking ticket or an expired registration tag, with the erosion of norms and lawless culture among many Portland drivers that has a real impact on public safety.
“I’m human and I made mistakes, and I’m taking accountability for them.”
“I did not make that connection so directly until… this role,” Rubio said. “I absolutely do in terms about the social contract we all have to uphold and and are being responsible to the system… it does have a connection to that sense of, you need to be responsible, and it is interconnected in a way that didn’t crystallize for me until this job.”
“I’m not perfect, that’s not something that I’ve ever professed to be. I’m human and I made mistakes, and I’m taking accountability for them. I took accountability years ago, and I’m taking accountability now.”
With her campaign for mayor on the ropes, Rubio hopes her past accomplishments at Latino Network and track record on City Council overshadow her mistakes.
“I don’t define people by their failings, and I hope that people don’t define me by mine,” she said.
“And hopefully balance their perspective with the good I’ve accomplished. I also believe in a world in which people can run and win elected office without being perfect. But everyone has a right to their own opinion will cast their vote accordingly, and that’s their right.”
Listen to the full interview in the player above or on YouTube. It should also be on our podcast feed by the end of today.
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For me it shows a complete lack of character needed to run the city. How can we expect her to be in charge of the city if she openly and frequently refuses to follow even basic traffic and parking laws? It hurts because she has been a champion of public and alternative (other than cars) means of transport, but this is a bridge too far for me.
https://www.leftbankannex.com/about
“WHAT PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS ARE NEARBY?
The Annex has a private parking lot connected to the venue. Six client spaces are included in the venue rental. Dedicated spaces for catering teams and venue staff are reserved in the lot for their use. Parking services can be contracted through the venue to accommodate more cars in the lot during events (a fee is associated with this service). Street parking, metered lot parking, and garage parking are within walking distance. Public transit stops are also within walking distance.”
The Annex venue is not the Leftbank office building. That area isn’t great to park a car for 8 or 10 hours. There aren’t city parking garages and the adjacent streets are multi lame stroads connected to on ramps, off ramps, Broadway Bridge access, etc. Basically it’s an island in car hell.
The adjacent parking lot is tempting but it’s not designated for long term parking. The parking garages are operated for events at the arenas.
The Left Bank annex is run but the same org and is literally next door. Moreover there is plentiful free on-street parking three to four blocks away (two blocks North on Williams and left on residential streets).
I’ve been through that area on foot and bike numerous times. “Three or four blocks” doesn’t well describe the situation. There are multiple lanes of traffic to cross, and two or more traffic lights to wait at.
What choice do you expect a busy person will make?
There’s also the matter of leaving a car parked beyond sight on the street, every day, for a long work day, possibly ending after dark for months of the year. I don’t feel unsafe there but I’m passing through. I’ve seen some cars get trashed in that area.
The area is difficult to park in. However I worked there as well and chose to bike or take bus. Many people I know who have worked there choose other options. She chose to drive every single day and continue to park in a place where she was going to get tickets and not take responsibility for them. That’s a choice!
X, you should have prepped Rubio for her interview with Bike Portland. You have articulated all the best excuses for why people should not be held responsible for paying their parking tickets.
Keep ’em coming!
“What choice do you expect a busy person will make?”
The legal one! Right???????? I know people disagree with laws and break laws all the time, whether intentionally or unintentionally, but most of us work really hard not to rack up lots of fines and tickets for avoidable offenses.
She gives reasons for her behavior. These are valid in the sense that we should presumptively accept people’s emotions as valid; however these reasons offer no excuse for someone who seeks to lead the City.
Honestly, I would have loved to hear something like:
“Based on the options available, and my limited time, I chose to risk the tickets in the name of efficiency. I know it doesn’t look good, but it was a calculated choice and it was worth the expense. The total cost was $xxxx and it saved me 45 minutes a day for x years. In that 4 hours of week I delivered more value than the expense of the tickets which I personally paid for. I do regret not paying them on time. It was a busy period in my life, but I should have handled them sooner”.
Something like that would have been a real answer and would help me think she’s thought this through instead of having total disregard for the rules or being a scatterbrained idiot that doesnt learn.
Juxtapose this “taking accountability” with her interview on KGW where she’s now “being exploited” after the press found out she hit a car and walked away.
Different buzzwords for different audiences. That’s very calculated, in my opinion.
As soon as I saw this I choked. She’s an ELECTED OFFICIAL running for one of the top jobs in the City of Portland. You better believe I’m going to hold her 110% accountable for anything she does (or doesn’t do).
She repeatedly and willfully broke the law. This wasn’t just 1 or 2 times. This is a pathological pattern that does DEFINE HER!
Lets play a little game.
* You get a parking ticket.
You think
dang! $60 that sucks so much $$$ for one mistake* A few Months (days, likely hours later) you get another parking ticket.
You think
OMG again?! that's $120 oh this sucks.I can’t deal with this right now. Ugh
* A few Months (days, likely hours later) you get another parking ticket.
You think
OK wtf? this is getting crazy* A few Months (days, likely hours later) you get another parking ticket.
You think
Why me !!!!!* A few Months (days, likely hours later) you get another parking ticket.
You think
I'm so cooked* A few Months (days, likely hours later) you get another parking ticket.
You think
Meh what ever its TuesdayNow do that 84 more times….. Yeah….
This might be crazy, but in 20+ years of driving, I’ve need received a speed ticket and only one parking violation for being parked the wrong direction on a neighborhood street. I’m not a driving savant, I just did what they told me to do in drivers-ed.
I can sign autographs if wanted.
I got you beat!
40+ years with ZERO parking or speeding tickets.
I don’t have any moving violations but I have been issued parking tickets, which I paid immediately. I have no problem paying for parking. Parking should be expensive. We should be charged for taking up public space.
YES!!!
“Only 90” tickets, not 150? How many times has she broken the law and not gotten caught?
It’s possible that the answer is ‘very few’.
The Left Bank building is cool but the parking is for shit. There’s a trolley stop but if you happen to live off the trolley loop what good is that? Tell the average busy Portland person to suck it up and get a two-line-and-transfer transit hobby and see how much change you get back.
It’s definitely the building’s fault for being cool but having shit parking, not her fault for failing to plan ahead knowing the free car parking situation is not abundant.
If she picked the location, maybe that was a bad call. It looks like there are parking garages everywhere but, it turns out, only on game days.
This area has defective transportation infrastructure that we’re about to spend serious money on.
Possible, but unlikely. There’s plenty of parking in that area, but you have to be willing to walk a distance. She doesn’t strike me as the type.
Not excusing, but she has had knee surgery.
But here you are excusing……
Nice interview, I wish there was more time to get into a higher level systems approach to the whole ticketing thing. Like getting tickets shouldn’t be normal, we should have systems that support people getting around the city without “needing” to risk a ticket because of speeding, parking, registration etc.
Would’ve liked to see Rubio talk about the responsibility that electeds have to set the agenda for city planners and engineers to design us systems that don’t let us all down.
The history of parking tickets isn’t great, but doesn’t bother me as much as we’re being encouraged to be outraged by them. It has a whiff of the racial animus that infected the fake outrage promoted by Rene Gonzalez’s campaign about JoAnn Hardesty’s financial struggles including her bankruptcy (which, IIRC, followed a divorce. Not uncommon for bankruptcy to follow divorce.)
What bothers me now about Rubio is her statement quoted above that, “It was wrong, and that’s not how I am operating right now.” Right now, like today? Like since she crashed into a parked car a few days ago and behaved like she was going to leave the scene? Says she didn’t leave the scene because she came back after going to her appointment? Please. Maybe she’s just a lousy driver. Some people are and I don’t think it disqualifies them from public service. But for the first time, following her “not how I’m operating right now “ remark in your interview, I’m concerned. It’s the kind of excuse I’d expect from Gonzalez.
No way would I ever vote for Gonzalez for anything. He is totally unfit for any position of public trust. I haven’t made up my mind and the fender bender last week isn’t a dealbreaker. But like I said, concerned about her for the first time.
I think that the second story (about nicking a parked car) reeks far more of a smear campaign than the first. Even saying “crashed into” feels like a step too far based on the pictures in the Oregonian article. It’s a scuff, and given that Rubio would have had no prior knowledge of the condition of that Tesla, it feels like a big load of nothing. Sure, she should have left a note but when the other party did she immediately contacted them. Like am I crazy for thinking that’s perfectly reasonable?
Honestly, I have absolutely no sympathy for the Tesla driver (from Clackamas County mind you) that feels the need to go to the Oregonian about what should be a pretty routine civil manner. I feel that they treated her extremely poorly, and lack basic sympathy for Carmen Rubio the human being who has been dragged in the media all week
Contrasting that with years of functionally ignoring parking regulations, it just doesn’t even come close. That was more than enough for me to move her down my hypothetical ranking. But still, none of this compares to threatening to rip out bike lanes for personal political gain or making up a story about being accosted on the MAX so it’s not like she moves down very far (a place, maybe two).
No, it isn’t perfectly reasonable, it is a bad move between private citizens, at the hand of public official it is atrocious.
But, you don’t think someone from Portland deserves to know if their public official and mayoral candidate hits another person’s private property because they’re from another county, so…
It’s a kind of bad move, but given that she contacted the person whose car she hit as soon as she was aware of the damage I really do not see a big issue there. Calling it atrocious to not leave a note for damage you weren’t aware of is ridiculous. Atrocious behavior would not paying for parking tickets and giving a statement about how you were just looking to secure your families financial future so you couldn’t pay them.
It’s not about who “deserves” to know or not, it’s about basic sympathy for another person. I think it’s distasteful to air an anonymous grievance about something that has presumably been settled through their insurance for (presumably) no biggie. If she had refused to contact them, or been like a huge asshole to them, sure I see the story there. But she’s clearly remorseful and asking for grace. I think it’s rude for them to not give that, no matter what her status as an elected official may be.
If it were a more serious issue, or one that wasn’t ostensible resolved, I wouldn’t feel the same way about it. And yes, I think that the driver having an expensive car and living in a suburban county where the political climate is consistently “anti-Portland” matters in the context of the Portland mayoral race. How could I not think that?
“And yes, I think that the driver having an expensive car and living in a suburban county where the political climate is consistently “anti-Portland” matters in the context of the Portland mayoral race. How could I not think that?”
Because it makes no sense. Are you worried that people in the suburbs who have nice cars and likely know exactly why they don’t live in Portland are going to make Portland people vote anti-Portland in the election?
“I didn’t hit that person with the car, I just scuffed them if anything!”
If she hit a person with her car, then walked away without doing anything and not a parked car with no one in it I would have an entirely different reaction
“They live in the suburbs, they deserved it!” JFC.
“It’s just a flesh wound!”
“Like am I crazy for thinking that’s perfectly reasonable?”
Yes, you are. If the other driver didn’t have one of those expensive climate change fighting cars you decry, they never would have known who did the damage. Fessing up only after you’ve been caught does not absolve you of wrongdoing, and is hardly “perfectly reasonable”. Nor is it even remotely what is required of drivers after they cause damage with their cars.
“And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for that meddling car!”
“Been caught” or “notified of the issue”? I obviously lean the latter, and it colors how I view this story. I wouldn’t even say that she “fessed up”, there was no attempt to obfuscate or otherwise dodge the issue from her (if you take her story at face value, which I do).
And I think it’s bad that Tesla’s automatically record their surroundings. It’s good for owners, sure, but I think constant security system stuff erodes public trust. I don’t want to live in a surveillance state, and I reject that recording every moment of every day improves outcomes for the public at large. This is all seriously beside the point though.
““Been caught” or “notified of the issue””
When she was notified of the fact she’d been caught. She was initially alerted to the issue by the sound of scraping metal, and choose not to perform the duties of a driver that we all know and are written into the law. By the time she’d learned she’d been caught, she had already left the scene, duties undone. She can’t retroactively fix that.
I am very concerned about surveillance, but an individual recording the environment of their parked vehicle is far, far less intrusive than government surveillance of everyone driving, which is what speed cameras, everyone on the bus or train (TriMet cameras), and a myriad of other government tracking systems do.
Given how much Rubio drives, I wish she had the social responsibility to get a Tesla or other electric vehicle instead of driving her SUV.
This is misrepresenting what happened, she did perform part of her duties by walking to look for damage. I feel like it’s reasonable that she might have missed the damage. What’s the point of just assuming she’s a guilty stupid liar about this? She’s already demonstrated that she isn’t a serious transportation candidate with her official statement after the history of her 150 parking tickets came out.
And come on, does anyone read ORS 811.700? Laws don’t govern what is reasonable for people to do in all situations. I think based on my experience as a driver and person, she acted in a 100% reasonable way. I’ll bet you’ve never crossed mid-block and had a car yield to you – that’s a traffic violation. Or what about exceeding 65 mph on an interstate? Ditto (brief aside, it’s funny that there are specific carve outs for what the speed limit is on specific roads in statute here, rather than saying follow posted limit). Or have you ever failed to stop completely at a stop sign? It’s just not useful to say if an action is legal or not when the question is ultimately moralistic. Since I think it’s reasonable she missed the damage, and since she contacted the other driver, there’s no moral issue here. It might be arguably, technically, illegal for her to not closely survey the potential damage, but who cares? It’s a parked car in a lot.
And before you go all “well it’s demonstrative of her recklessness with a vehicle” – sure, maybe a little bit, but it just is like 1% as important as the other story and in a way that is extremely common. People are bad at parking and have minor bumps in parking lots literally all the time, there’s a different social norm about it (for better or worse) than there is for parking or moving violations.
The cars both have plastic bumpers so… no, that’s not what happened.
“What’s the point of just assuming she’s a guilty stupid liar about this?”
Because the the damage in the photos was pretty dang obvious.
It’s not impossible she missed it — we’ll never know for sure — but when balancing the possibilities, it just seems unlikely to me.
You shrug it off with a “who cares?” The owner of the car certainly does. I don’t really care about the damage itself (accidents happen) but I do care about the shirking, especially when we are choosing someone to lead us into a new era.
“that’s not what happened”
Did my poetic language invalidate my point? She knew she hit the car, regardless of the material involved, and she didn’t leave a note as required.
The facts are clear. The law is clear. Her culpability is clear.
Well put. NO WAY would I vote for Gonzalez, OR Mapps. My plan was to vote for Wilson, and put Rubio #2. This series of events has really shaken my faith in Rubio but I still plan to vote for her in my 2nd choice spot – less confidently, but she’s still the second best candidate, and the best current city councillor running. She has accomplished FAR more than Gonzalez, and unlike him she didn’t smear her opponent to get into office. Her record in office is more important to me than her parking record, and the fact that she has “only” gotten about 10 tickets in the past 10 years says something. I’ve gotten 3 in the 4 years that I’ve lived here. The Tesla smudge is a red herring (and I agree with blumdrew, the Tesla owner from the suburbs calls the Oregonian? – get a life!).
I’m sorry Ms. Rubio has had tough times in her life. But that’s not an excuse for systematically flouting parking and driving laws, dozens upon dozens of times. And this behavior seems to be deeply seeded to this day. There was very obvious damage to the Tesla she scraped so her story that “she looked and didn’t see anything” doesn’t hold water either.
This is a person with serious enough character flaws that they shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the controls of government. Unless they’re showing up at the courthouse to pay their debts to society.
It’s a paint scuff and extremely minor rim damage. It looks obvious when compared to the prior condition of the car, but she wasn’t exactly privvy to that information. I can totally believe that she wouldn’t have noticed it, especially if she was in a rush.
She knew – from her own statement – that she had likely hit the Tesla. And with having ~100 vehicular-related violations on her record already, plus it being a headlining story in the news means she should have been hyper-careful in this situation.
She made a very foolish decision, on top of dozens of previous foolish decisions. She used up her margin for error a long, long time ago.
I agree that it’s foolish for her to not be more cautious, but also… she’s just a person. Cars get little scuffs all the time. The Oregonian piece reads like she committed some unimaginable crime. People are saying “oh she tried to avoid paying for it altogether” when she directly contacted the other driver immediately. If I were not trying to pay for something, I wouldn’t contact the person who I owe the money to.
This story makes no difference to me – because I don’t think an exceedingly minor parking lot collision (that has been resolved) matters nearly as much as the other story. I think that it’s a way bigger deal that she spent years not paying parking tickets and driving with a suspended license, and that’s more than enough for me to not rank her first on my mayoral ballot.
“she directly contacted the other driver immediately”
She also knew she’d been caught red-handed and probably realized this was going to be on TV. Calling the driver after the fact was purely self-serving.
There was a new mark on her car bumper and from the images I think it’s likely that there was damage to the Musk-mobile’s paint so I don’t buy your “she was in a rush” and did not notice it. Regardless, even minor damage can cost thousands of dollars to repair so this whole thing is just a really bad look no matter how you want to spin it.
There was damage to the paint and the rim and a mark on her front bumper. But it’s minor enough that I can realistically believe that it wasn’t all that noticeable in the moment, and again, she resolved this with the Tesla driver anyways. Minor damage can cost thousands of dollars to repair, but that doesn’t make it any less minor.
She knew. In the video, she looks right at the car and you can practically see the speech bubble “EFF IT. THEY’LL NEVER CATCH ME.”
If this was an isolated incident it wouldn’t be so damning, but I’m quite sure she had the same look on her face when she took parking ticket #137 and threw it in the gutter.
That’s quite an assumption. I’m inclined to give her grace on this particular incident, especially since she immediately contacted and dealt with the problem (before any media attention).
I think the parking tickets (and especially her response to it) is damning enough. This new article is a fat load of nothing
“tough times” is simply an excuse. Adults deal with “tough times” frequently.
I completely agree. Years ago I had a rough patch – serious injury, diagnosed with MS and trying to hold on to a full-time job. I got several parking tickets in a row and quickly reevaluated my transportation challenges. Decided it was probably better to take the bus, and got an accommodation from my work to adjust work hours to coordinate with bus schedules.
I live in Tigard, so I have been trying to stay out of this. But I had to stop watching this interview 5 minutes to go cancel my monthly donations to street trust.
Blaming her tickets on parking in a heavily enforced area and tough times tells me exactly what she would actually do in office. The problems were heavy enforcement and tough times (something everyone goes through), instead of a lack of alternative transportation options that worked for her. I don’t think she even seriously considers anything other than a car as actual transportation for herself. And if she doesn’t consider them for herself, I don’t think she would for anyone else.
I don’t care about parking tickets. I think there were many answers she could have given that would have been acceptable to me. However, I think her answers unintentionally showed some true colors. If this this the best candidate, then I think Street Trust should just not give any endorsements.
Don’t cancel your donations — Street Trust rescinded their endorsement of Rubio!
Just saw that! Gotta go back and start my donation again lol
Nah, take this opportunity to find a nonprofit that actually does meaningful work
Well, I accept her explanations. I know what it’s like to be in a place mentally and personally where “trivial” things that just cost money (and not so much that it’s going to ruin you), you just let them go. Like not taking a shower for too many days or being a slob, or not deal with the mail that piles up on the table, likely containing bills to get around to eventually, you just don’t spend the energy on it. For parking, I can totally see how that can be the case. Also, that she admits she made mistakes.
And none of those things you mention are against law. What she did was broke the law. If you think parking is no big deal then why don’t you try to get all parking across Portland to be free then. I’m sure that’s a much better solution.
Jaywalking is against the law, and so are a myriad of other things. It’s also not clear to me that she broke the law here. The Oregonian mentions that “Under Oregon law, if a collision results in $2,500 of damage or more, a report must be filed with DMV within 72 hours”, and that Rubio will file with the DMV if it comes out to that.
The prior parking violations are a big deal, and should be taken seriously, and are part of why I don’t think I’ll support her (not that I ever was huge on her). But this is a nothingburger of a story framed to make her look as bad as possible, and should be treated as such.
Gonzalez claiming that bike and transit users are being unfairly subsidized by car drivers is much more problematic and damaging than parking tickets.
I would never vote for Gonzalez but I also would never vote for someone who pretended to be a climate champion while secretly (and likely illegally) negotiating the approval of new fossil fuel facilities with Zenith.
The Zenith issue is much more of a consequential issue and concern. But the Oregonian would rather salivate over a caricature than policy, and obviously they want one of the good old boys- Rene. The entire council is culpable for failing on Zenith.
When did he say that?
https://bikeportland.org/2023/09/26/pbot-paints-bleak-picture-as-council-considers-budget-crisis-fix-379737
Is he “claiming” or stating a fact? I don’t see him use the word “unfairly” anywhere.
This line of questioning has no follow-up in the linked article, so it’s hard to say what the intent was. I can’t tell what he was getting at here, but I understand the reflexive reaction to any questioning of the status quo in Portland.
So in this scenario, we’re going to vote for the person who drives downtown 100% of the time and has racked up 160 citations over the person who cycles or takes public transit 90% of the time, but dares to question our funding mechanisms?
I guess I’m confused.
Keep Portland weird!
This is not a serious interpretation. Should have known.
Jonathan this is a fantastic interview. The questions were open-ended and allowed her to answer however she wanted. I would encourage people to watch this and then Mapps interview to get an idea of how different they approach answering questions. I can’t imagine Gonzalez would even consent to having an interview on bikeportland (but I would like to see it). Street safety is clearly not even on his radar.
In this political climate where answering basic questions, particularly difficult ones, is often easily sidestepped via various logical fallacies, it is pretty damn refreshing to hear someone to be direct and honest about her mistakes. Of those three candidates, with respect to street safety, she is clearly the least worst.
Agree, great interview, Jonathan. And great question – have you tried to interview either Mapps or Gonzalez? How have the responded?
If I am being honest I don’t care that much about parking tickets that don’t involve parking in a bike lane, and I realllllllllllly don’t care about if somebody damages a daggone Tesla.
The amount of car-brained lawlessness here is pretty disappointing but on the other hand Rene Gonzalez is quite loathsome, reportedly does stuff like “not even read the briefing ahead of a meeting and then waste everyone’s time with questions that were answered in the briefing,” his core set of policies around homeless demonstrably do not actually do anything to solve the problem of homeless (but are very cruel to homeless people), and he has had a number of instances where he seems to be skirting the law around campaign finance (e.g. the campaign finance violation a judge threw out because they felt the city didn’t do enough to demonstrate that a $250/mo commercial rent was below market rate, which is a judgment that I still cannot believe someone was able to make, and also the use of city funds to clean his wikepedia page to omit his ties to white supremacist and other far right figures!)
I also don’t like that the Oregonian, which is a dues-paying member of whatever the PBA is calling itself these days, has been running a series of hit pieces on Rene Gonzalez’ major opponent while the PBA is also financing a PAC to support him. Not good vibes!
This is a very under-talked about piece of Gonzalez’s thing in my opinion. His policies are bad, but he’s also just not an effective politician. He has no idea how to work through processes, and he constantly manages to undermine his own bad policy.
Granted, I prefer the politicians I don’t like to be inept, but it’s just sort of baffling. Surely someone who was a practicing lawyer should have a better grasp on navigating procedural matters.
When people leave their prior careers to seek elected office, one has to wonder if they were too incompetent to be successful in their prior careers.
“I realllllllllllly don’t care about if somebody damages a daggone Tesla.”
It’s not about damaging a Tesla, it’s about Rubio not taking responsibility for her actions (after she was already in trouble for not taking responsibility for her actions), and what that says about her. This was not a one time ethical lapse. This was the continuation of a long and sustained pattern that she could not break, even knowing she was under heightened scrutiny.
It’s also not about Gonzalez. There are other candidates in the race, at least one of whom is quite good.
“I always knew I was going to have to pay for them. At that time I just made the bad choice to prioritize my work responsibilities, to the exclusion of my time that it would take to go and deal with that [the meters] immediately.”
What I don’t like with this is that it gives no indication that she understands that she was affecting other people. A main reason for parking fees and time limits is to make the spaces available for other people. The idea isn’t that if you pay the fine if you get caught, then everything’s OK. You still took that space from someone else who had a right to use it.
It’s the same reason it’s not OK to keep a library book as long as you’re willing to pay the overdue fines, or drive as fast as you want as long as you’re willing to pay the speeding tickets, or cheat at cards or sports as long as you’re willing to accept the consequences if you get caught.
Also, areas where enforcement is active tend to be areas where parking demand is heavy. It doesn’t just mean you’re more likely to get a ticket for not paying, it means you’re especially likely to be taking that space from others who need it as much as you do.
Then there’s the fact that even in heavily patrolled areas, for every time you’re caught, there are likely several times you probably got away with illegally taking the space from someone else.
So “I always knew I was going to have to pay for them”” really shortchanges the problem.
I am not persuaded. I don’t think she has the credibility to manage a city.
I have no idea how you can ignore 90 parking tickets and a suspended license. Makes me wonder if she was driving without a license or without insurance.
I have no idea why she would not have seen the damage to the car she it. I’ve tapped a car in a parking lot, didn’t see damage, but took a picture with my phone and left a note just in case something got knocked loose. That is what you do.
This wasn’t some indiscretion from decades ago, this is up until July of 2024. She was making a 6 figure salary and couldn’t be bothered to pay her fines. Neglected to register her vehicle, such that she got fined twice for that in 2022 and 2023.
I worked with a woman in customer service at OHSU who was fired after racking up more than $1,000 in parking tickets. She was a single mom, with another on the way, and had a hard time managing her childcare responsibilities in the morning with her need to commute across town to clock into work on time. She would park at OHSU’s main campus and hope she could get back to move her car at lunch before getting caught. She was highly competent at her job, but when she was fired all of us understood it was justified even though we knew the context. She landed on her feet and found a new job closer to her home.
I’m sure Rubio will land on her feet after she loses this election.
This makes OHSU look bad? They scrap an otherwise competent employee because they haven’t solved “parking at OHSU”?? Is Pill Hill HR presently in the condition of being an AI or what?
“… understood it was justified…?” That’s a tough room.
OHSU’s transportation program is very well run and thought out. They have “solved” parking at OHSU by prioritizing free parking for patients, making car parking expensive for employees to discourage hundreds of people from driving up the hill, and making it super easy to commute there by bike and transit.
I bike there everyday and leave my bike at the bike valet by the aerial tram after dropping my kids off at school. OHSU pays me to do this! You can park there as needed for like $15 a day on the hill, but you need to allow yourself time to walk to work across campus.
OHSU does not “pay” you. They take advantage of a tax break that is available to every employer but the vast majority avoid incentivizing active transportation like a car-centric plague.
Zero accountability around a pattern of behavior.
Tosses out a few buzzwords as an excuse.
Her most recent Tesla incident highlights that this is just lip service.
Zero substance around a pattern of comments.
Tosses out buzzwords as an argument.
This is me finishing a flip flop on Carmen Rubio. I was hung up on the moving violations but:
Any cop will tell you they can watch a driver for a minute and write a ticket, and
Carmen Rubio is driving around being a brown woman (in a car with likely a bunch of liberal suspect bumper stickers) so
One sight of her record convinces the officer to pile on so at the first foot fault, and voila
Carmen Rubio gets another ticket.
——-
The strictly average way that a Portland driver deals with a stop sign is a moving violation.
I’m reverting to my original notion: All things being unequal, vote a woman of color into office any chance you get. We’re not electing a driver, we’re electing, hopefully, an efficient executive. Rubio has a record in office and that’s fair to talk about.
The Oregonian is a damn tabloid. Literally AND figuratively.
Ah yes, it was the racist and fascist meter patrol workers who targeted her for having brown skin and being a progressive woman. And I’m sure they were all white men. And even if they weren’t, they must have been captive to the white-supremicist patriarchy, just ready to pounce on any brown-skinned drivers who overstay the parking meter. You are a genius and in no way racist for thinking like this. And the fact that Rubio has brown skin and is a woman should top all other considerations about her decisionmaking, ethics, and ability to serve as mayor. Brilliant stuff. A+ *pile of poo* emoji.
The parking tickets obviously had nothing to do with who owned the car.
My parents never felt the need to give me “the talk” about traffic stops but it’s a thing. I don’t believe that all police officers are racist, that would be crazy. But, too much stuff has happened to just forget it.
Yeah, until our government looks like the people, voting for brown people is fair. It’s also a lot cheaper than reparations.
So you’re voting for her because her skin is slightly browner than the other Latino running?
I’m glad you finally managed to distill the argument that you’ve been waging for Rubio across multiple posts down to what it actually is. To no ones surprise its simply something as crude as skin color. Welcome to 2024 portland progressiveness. If you had started with that rather than trying to rationalize her actions you would have saved a whole lot of energy.
The parking video probably sunk her campaign, but dang I still like her a lot. She seems like someone actually capable of reflecting, learning, & updating her thinking based on new info. That’s so rare! She’s still the only good city council member and she still has my respect
“Rubio is someone actually capable of reflecting, learning”
What do you think she learned from her first 100 tickets?
I’m more talking about her record in office & my impression from interacting with her, the tickets are (like Hardesty’s “gambling” and credit card debt) an only-somewhat-relevant personal shortcoming that doesn’t really affect my opinion of her as a public figure. it’s a little gossipy if you ask me. and it’s sad the extent to which ppl talk about it relative to her actual record, which is pretty good
I wonder how many people would have voted for Hardesty if her gambling problems had been known before her election? I know I wouldn’t have.
I, for one, was pretty disappointed to hear basically no discussion about the topics that earned Rubio the endorsement of the street trust in the first place. No mention of the completion of the 2030 bike plan. No questions about the importance of daylighting intersections or how the candidate would go about accomplishing it. Yes, I think it’s important to hold her accountable to her appalling ticket history, and I’m glad she was given space to speak to that issue. But what about bicycle related topics? What about traffic safety policies? I got nothing to answer the questions that I would have posed. Did we need to go in circles on the tickets for 20 minutes? Did we have to go back and reanswer the same questions repeatedly?
Rubio did mention high crash corridors and disproportionate impacts on communities of color. But not because Jonathan steered the conversation in that direction. That was her offering that as a response that was unbidden.
I feel like Jonathan focused too much on accountability and hot button issues and not enough on the core purpose that this blog serves, of informing the community about active transportation and cycling. This was a real missed opportunity, because no other news outlet is going to ask those questions or come at this election with that specific lens.
I had 15 minutes and needed to find out more about the issue at hand that was what got me the interview in the first place. Thanks for the feedback.
It’s going to be a lot harder to do ranked choice voting now that I no longer have faith in a single candidate.
Was she irresponsible? Yes. Are the types of parking violations she got a traffic safety problem? Maybe some. Could she have missed a scuff? Yup.
I find it way more disqualifying that Rene Gonzalez gets in bed with alt-right extremists and any amount of parking tickets Rubio may have received. That’s a bigger ethical concern in my book.
https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2024/07/24/47318454/how-rene-gonzalez-found-common-ground-with-a-right-wing-provocateur
He also spent public funds to update his Wikipedia page. He took away tents and tarps just as it was getting cold instead when it was getting warm so people could be prepared. He tried to shut down Portland Street Response. These are all bigger moral, ethical, and policy problems than any number of parking tickets.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2024/09/exceedingly-close-call-of-illegality-in-gonzalezs-wikipedia-edits-portland-auditor-says-calls-for-state-investigation.html
He claimed to be “accosted” on a MAX train when a person literally brushed up against him while walking through a moving train. He then went public about not being willing to ride public transit. Is that the example from as public official that we want? Again, I’m way more offended by this than any number of parking tickets.
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2024/07/portland-commissioner-rene-gonzalez-called-911-to-report-light-assault-after-encounter-on-max-train.html
Everyone has a right to value what they will! But, I definitely think we are being distracted from some really serious problems with Gonzales because of this ordeal.
Keith Wilson
I wish that one additional question had been asked: “The six times that your license was suspended, did you continue to drive without a valid license and if so did you have valid insurance while driving without a license?”
Me too Bjorn. I wish I would have done several things different in this interview. It was challenging for various reasons but yes, following up on the license issue would have been really good.
Sorry if this seemed critical Jonathan, I thought you did a great job with the interview and you did give her the opportunity to address it if she wanted to in an open ended question. Honestly I think we all know that the answer is that she did not even think about not driving any of the 6 times her license was suspended but I do hope that at some point someone will get her response on the record. As someone who was in many ways lucky to be maimed by a driver who was licensed and insured it meant that the first year of medical bills after I was hit was basically covered, although that took a lot of work by my mom to navigate the insurance system. 30 years later I’ve paid many thousands out of pocket for continuing medical complications from being hit, and so I am a bit more sensitive than many folks to how much it costs to be hit by a driver and how really bad that can be if the driver who hits you does not have insurance.
Wow, all the “but Rene Gonzalez!”
You people do realize that politicians are not mutually exclusive in that they can both suck right?
This Gonzalez or Rubio dynamic is a reflection of the corporate fascist duopoly that dominates electoral politics in this society: you either support the red team (Gonzalez) or you support the blue team (Rubio).