Meet D2 City Council candidate Tiffani Penson

Tiffani Penson (center in black) at an Oregon Walks event in Peninsula Park Saturday, September 21st. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

It’s hard to exist in Portland these days and not bump into something related to November’s big city council election. With 90 or so candidates for 12 spots, and with just six weeks left in the campaigns, candidates and opportunities to meet them are everywhere.

On Saturday I only had to walk a few blocks from my house to Peninsula Park for one such opportunity. Oregon Walks was hosting their District 2 Candidate Walk and I figured it’d be a nice place to meet people. I was glad I went because I was able to meet a candidate who I’ve been meaning to connect with but haven’t talked to yet: Tiffani Penson.

Penson has lived in D2 all her life. In fact she lives in the same house she grew up in on Northeast Ainsworth. She also has a degree from nearby Concordia University. For nearly 20 years, she’s held various titles at the City of Portland — both at the Portland Building in city bureaus and at City Hall where she worked for former commissioner and mayor Sam Adams (among others). Penson is currently manager of People + Culture, a city position she helped create and that she describes as helping the city “operationalize its core values.”

“I’ve worked for the city for over 20 years, so I know the operation,” a confident Penson said, as she described her role in building the education policy team for Adams and sharing a long list of roles (including two elected terms as Portland Community College board chair) and projects she’s been involved in. From Adams, Penson said she, “Learned a lot about how you move policy.” She also counts former commissioner Randy Leonard as a big supporter and mentor.

Penson chats with a voter.

Asked what she thinks D2 needs, Penson talked about struggling renters. “When I talk about housing, I’m talking about folks that are working in rent burdened and people who are retired and on fixed-incomes,” she said. “We can keep them in [their housing]. We can we can keep them in!,” she emphasized. “It’s cheaper to keep them in, and we can do low barrier vouchers.”

When Penson mentioned her priority to “clean up streets,” I asked her if that included people living outside on them. “I’m gonna be honest with you,” she replied, “I support the camping ban because you’re only as sustainable and healthy as your people. We’re not doing a good job of taking care of those folks out there.” Penson, who’s been endorsed by city commissioners Rene Gonzalez, Mingus Mapps, and Carmen Rubio, said the “unprecedented” amount of money raised for homeless services in Portland isn’t being spent wisely and that we have to balance offering services and infrastructure for homeless Portlanders, “And then at the same time, we’ve got to say, ‘Hey, you can’t sleep out here either’.”

Penson said as a kid she’d hop on the bus from the Concordia neighborhood and ride it all the way to Catlin Gabel School in the west hills. She wants kids and older people to have that same ability to move around freely and safely. “Livability is huge. I want good public safety. I want good 911, fire, and police,” she said.

According to Penson, Portland is woefully under-staffed when it comes to police officers. “We only have 97 officers for north and northeast Portland!” With the current number of officers hovering around 900, Penson thinks a city of Portland’s size needs at least 1,000 officers. This outlook is one reason she earned an endorsement from the Portland Police Association (PPA).

Penson said she understands concerns about the Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) track record and culture, but feels it’s possible to address those and increase the size of the force at the same time. “As I said when I sat down with the police union: We have to work together and solve for the systemic issues around policing.” Penson said Portland needs to bring everyone together and work on issues like training and accountability, but at the end of the day we need more cops on the street.

“The data shows everybody wants policing,” Penson said. “Black, white, male, female, everybody wants safe, accountable, responsible policing.”

When it comes to transportation, Penson is primarily a driver unless she’s walking in her neighborhood. As for biking, she said, “I love that people do it. It’s just not my thing.” Penson used to bike and take transit as a kid, but no more. She became animated when I brought up the odd speed bumps outside her home on NE Ainsworth. She wants them to work better, but feels people don’t slow down at all. “I think the contractor mis-poured them or something,” she said.

In D2 specifically, Penson said she wants bus service to be better. “And I’ve even met with those Frog Ferry folks, and I think it’s kind of cool,” she added.

When I went back to the speed bumps to talk about the safety of bike riders on NE Ainsworth (a street the City of Portland sees as a much better bike route in the future), Penson wanted to make one thing clear: “You can’t take away parking. It’s a narrow street and parking’s already hard. The folks that live in that neighborhood, a lot of them are older, and not everybody has driveways or garages. So I’ll never advocate for that, and it’s not a wide enough street.” (Note I simply brought up cycling and didn’t suggest taking away parking or building a dedicated bike lane.)

Asked about the I-5 Rose Quarter project, Penson didn’t say if she supports the freeway expansion. Like nearly everyone else, she is excited about the Albina Vision and capping the existing freeway with lids, but when I pushed her on whether she supports widening the freeway to get those things, she said, “We’re just going to see how that plays out. I’m glad we have people like [Albina Vision Trust Executive Director] Winta Johannes and [former board member] Rukaiyah [Adams] at the table. I trust them 100%.”

Before we went our separate ways, Penson wanted me to know she believes Portland needs, “A good, multimodal transportation system,” and that it, “has to serve everyone.”

She also got in a swipe at North Williams Avenue. “That street is so nerve-wracking to me. There’s so much happening on that street,” she said, as I nodded in agreement. “I know a lot of older Black people who don’t even drive up that street no more, because it’s too stressful. You got bikes, you got pedestrians, you got busses. It’s just a lot on the street, so a lot of them don’t even come up the street.”

That was sad to hear, given how much effort went into the Williams Avenue redesign just over 10 years ago. But maybe it’s time for another look at how it’s working. If Penson is one of the three D2 reps elected in November, that just might happen.


I also met another new-to-me candidate at this Oregon Walks event, Bob Simril, and I’ll share thoughts from my chat with him in a separate post.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a paying subscriber.

Thanks for reading.

BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.

Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

31 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
John V
John V
11 days ago

The more I sit with the new speedbumps on Ainsworth, which at first I thought “eh, better than nothing”, the more angry I am. They are nothing. Small cars, like a Honda Fit, can straddle them. Even if you didn’t you can drive over them at 25-30mph no problem, but since you can straddle them you literally don’t even feel them at any speed. They make me angry because they are pure wasted money. Not ineffectively spent money, they are just money down the drain.

The best that you could even hypothetically say about them, is they encourage drivers to straddle them which makes them move all the way left. I.e. maybe not where a bike rider is? Maybe. But there are cars parked on a lot of the road, so the bikers are going to be in the travel lane if there at all. So this amounts to nothing at all. Maybe it encourages cars to not hit parked cars. Nothing about safety.

Whoever did that should have to fix it, and whoever gave it the stamp of approval after the fact should be fired.

Fred
Fred
10 days ago
Reply to  John V

Welcome to Performative Portland! Most of the so-called speed bumps in Portland are designed to look like they are slowing traffic when in fact they do nothing of the kind. Anyone walking or cycling knows this.

But that’s what you get from city gov’t: the whole idea is to *look* like you’re doing something (“Look progressive, everyone!”), while in fact doing nothing to alter the status quo.

John V
John V
11 days ago

Thanks for doing this interview! (sorry for double posting, I wanted to say something of more substance than my peeve with the speed bumps)

“Black, white, male, female, everybody wants safe, accountable, responsible policing.”

Sorry, we’re all out of that. Will you settle for policing?

My takeaways:

  • Thinks Frog Ferry is kind of cool
  • Thinks Williams is too confusing (because of the bike lane)
  • Takes removing parking off the table
  • No stance on I-5 project

What is to like?
I guess she’ll probably get elected on our lurch rightward of more policing and camping ban. Certainly won’t get my vote on those bullet points though. Sigh.

John V
John V
11 days ago

That’s generous. Maybe you’re right. But what about the design, do you think? Like, that the lane is on the left? Other than that it seems like a completely normal street. A very nice “main street” type of street. I’ve driven on it as well as regularly bike it, at rush hour or at peak dining times. I just don’t understand the confusion. It seems (literally) straight forward.

Maybe this has come up, or it was discussed during decision making, but I wonder what difference it would make if they just had the bike lane on the right side. Seems like the same amount of parking has to be “lost”. Maybe it’s something obvious I’m just forgetting right now.

John V
John V
11 days ago

I’m not saying the confusion isn’t real, I’m saying I don’t understand it. Thanks for highlighting some issues. The conflict for sure – drivers coming into the bike lane – is a problem (a result of being on the left side). I suppose a nice tweak might be put the bike lane on the other side. Maybe part of the reasoning for having it on the left was to be out of conflict with busses, but I don’t know if it was worth it (or if there were other reasons).

And perception may matter, but dog whistles are a thing even if not intentional. “Just adding confusion” is one of the talking points against almost every bike lane it seems. Her perception is valid, and obviously politically we have to do things that don’t upset too many people.

I know it’s just something that came up in conversation, not like a thing she was running on. Hopefully some tweaks can be made to Williams for the better.

Rufio
Rufio
10 days ago
Reply to  John V

When I hear people are confused about road designs, I have a theory that it might be confusing if driving at or above the speed limit. If folks drove below that speed limit–because there’s lots going on, including bikes, peds, buses, and turning movements–then it would be much easier to navigate. That’s the price you pay for a thriving streetscape: slower driving. I’ll take that tradeoff in a heartbeat.

Micah Prange
Micah Prange
10 days ago
Reply to  John V

The conflict for sure – drivers coming into the bike lane – is a problem (a result of being on the left side). I suppose a nice tweak might be put the bike lane on the other side.

If the bike lane was on the other side (a reasonable suggestion), there would be the same type of conflict with right-turning traffic and cars parking on the right side of the street. I think there is some room to improve Williams by tweaking the bike lane configuration, but I think the street is working reasonably well now given all the different needs we expect it to meet.

A quote from the candidate:

“I know a lot of older Black people who don’t even drive up that street no more, because it’s too stressful. You got bikes, you got pedestrians, you got busses. It’s just a lot on the street, so a lot of them don’t even come up the street.”

This strikes me not so much as a transportation related comment as the airing of general cultural grievance (what we would have called anti gentrification rhetoric in earlier times). I would love to engage Ms. Penson on what changes she thinks would help “older Black people” resonate more with the Williams scene (shame on me for missing this opportunity). My fear is that this type of discontent finds an easy expression in opposition to bike improvements, often using on street parking as the fulcrum of the argument against improvements.

John V
John V
10 days ago
Reply to  Micah Prange

Well you explained it a lot better than I did, you covered the idea I was trying to get across.

I was also just trying to talk out loud about what improvements could be made on Williams. But yeah, I actually think there are some good aspects of having the bike lane on the left. It requires drivers to actually merge into the bike lane, treating us as traffic instead of just ignoring us.

Her thing about the street having cars, pedestrians, bikes and busses – yeah, sounds like a street! They all should have that, that’s what a street is!

mperham
11 days ago
Reply to  John V

Couldn’t agree more. She has no particular policy expertise in any area and every opinion was conservative. Hard pass.

Marikah N.
Marikah N.
10 days ago
Reply to  mperham

Is she “conservative” or just not the typical far left Portland progressive we’ve seen the last 5 years or so?

I mean Andrea Veldarrama enodrsed her. She’s about as far left as one can go without joining the Socialist Party. Oh and our local left of center city council member (and parking scofflaw) Carmen Rubio endorsed her too….

This is from her campagin website of individuals who endorsed her:
Robert Wagner, Oregon State Senate President
Lew Frederick, Oregon State Senator
Robert Boyer, Former Oregon State Senator
Margaret Carter, Former Oregon State Senator
Avel Gordly, Former Oregon State Senator
Randy Leonard, Former Oregon State Senator, Oregon State Representative, & Portland City Commissioner
 Travis Nelson, Oregon State Representative
Andrea Valderrama, Oregon State Representative
Tom Potter, Former Portland Mayor
Rene Gonzalez, Portland City Commissioner
Mingus Mapps, Portland City Commissioner
Carmen Rubio, Portland City Commissioner
Julia Brim-Edwards, Multnomah County Commissioner & Board Member,
Portland Public Schools
Loretta Smith, Former Multnomah County Commissioner
Vince Jones-Dixon, Multnomah County Commissioner-elect &
Gresham City Councilor
Mary Nolan, Metro Councilor, former State Representative & former
Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon
Nafisa Fai, Washington County Commissioner
Kristi Wilson, Board Chair, Portland Community College
Mari Watanabe, Board Vice Chair, Portland Community College
Greg McKelvey, Board Director, Portland Community College
Dan Saltzman, Board Director, Portland Community College & Former Portland City Commissioner and Multnomah County Commissioner
Kien Truong, Board Director, Portland Community College
Laurie Cremona Wagner, Board Director, Portland Community College
Mohamed Alyajouri, Former Board Member, Portland Community College
Denise Frisbee, Former Board Director, Portland Community College
Gary Hollands, Board Chair, Portland Public Schools
Herman Green, Board Vice Chair, Portland Public Schools

Micah Prange
Micah Prange
11 days ago

Thanks so much for the informative article, Jonathan!

Hard “no” on Ms. Penson from this D2 voter.

SD
SD
10 days ago

I am so tired of people running for office that base all of their transportation positions on how they feel and some people they supposedly talked to. People think that they spend a few years on committees and they are ready to make policy.

The plural of anecdote is misinformation.

shannon
shannon
10 days ago

Thanks for this interview and highlighting the Rene G and PPB endorsements. Hard no from this D2 voter.

Angus Peters
Angus Peters
10 days ago
Reply to  shannon

But she also is endorsed by a far left unions and nonprofits such as the PAT, APANO and NAYA. What do you make of them apples?

Lisa Caballero (Assistant Editor)
Editor

Those mayoral endorsements of city council candidates can best be understood as pissing on the fire-hydrants. It’s free advertising on the web-pages — and possibly in the voter guide entries! — of the popular city council candidates. Everybody wants a piece of my #1 D4 candidate, and I’m pretty sure all the mayoral candidates have endorsed her. It’s the rare city council candidate who will refuse that.

Fred
Fred
10 days ago

The people at the community college (PCC) whom I have talked to are NOT impressed with Ms. Penson’s work on the board of directors.

I talked with one staff member who put in a lot of time to create testimony for the board and was essentially snubbed by Ms. Penson, who didn’t seem to really listen.

If you want to know what someone might be like on City Council, it would be a good idea to find out how they behaved on boards they’ve served on.

Angus Peters
Angus Peters
10 days ago

1) The good:
-More police. Although we are understaffed by significantly more than 100
– A carrots AND sticks approach to unsanctioned camping
2) The bad:
-Does not seem like she’s very engaged or knowledgeable on transportation issues
-Works for a “fluff” agency in Portland. Tiffani’s position is the type that we need less of so we can provide essential municipal services.
-Lots of tickets (but not even close to Rubio) 🙂

Jonathan you seemed to go easy on her. Your article reminded me of how you frequently treated Joanne Hardesty—-with kid’s gloves”
Was this intentional?
Here’s her citation list:
HA00492639 09/14/2007 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Pre-Adjudication Parking
HA00891266 08/16/2005 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
N237073 08/03/2001 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
N475172 03/04/2002 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
N95599 03/05/2001 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
PRL064739 10/04/2006 Offense Violation Closed MUL Criminal
HA00115944 02/15/2005 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
HA12103574 09/13/2013 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
18VI157543 09/01/2018 Offense Violation Closed MUL Criminal
20PK33968 03/05/2020 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
20VI33706 03/06/2020 Offense Violation Closed MUL Criminal
89S699276-D 11/01/1989 Small Claims Contract Closed MUL Small Claims
EV0059426 11/29/2007 Offense Violation Closed MUL Criminal
HA00169692 10/20/2005 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
HA00721840 10/22/2003 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
HA01109545 03/24/2006 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
HA01165280 11/30/2007 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
HA08392747 08/22/2011 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
HA08925379 08/13/2008 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
HA08928828 02/03/2009 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
HA09221651 11/02/2010 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
N596653 08/06/2002 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
N627704 08/15/2002 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
N650057 08/15/2002 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
N864212 03/06/2003 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
N946590 06/16/2003 Municipal Parking Closed MUL Parking
W9273363-D 12/01/1992 Offense Infraction Closed Washington
Z670695 09/21/1999 Offense Infraction Closed MUL Criminal
Z291840-D 06/16/1995 Offense Infraction Closed MUL Criminal
Z278531-D 02/23/1995 Offense Infraction Closed MUL Criminal
Z190479-D 12/27/1993 Offense Infraction Closed MUL Criminal

Jay Cee
Jay Cee
10 days ago
Reply to  Angus Peters

That explains her hard stance on not taking away parking spots

John V
John V
10 days ago
Reply to  Angus Peters

I’m a district 2 voter who won’t be ranking her, but this wall of text is a stretch of a critique. Reaching back to the Reagan administration? Three (paid) parking tickets within the last decade. Bringing up this parking nonsense is just silly.

There’s plenty to critique about, you don’t have to bring up non-issues like this.

Angus Peters
Angus Peters
9 days ago
Reply to  John V

Yeah I agree although there’s a lot of tickets most are pretty old—not really a negative. It is interesting to see though just how many tickets some people get isn’t it? I rather like her opinion on homelessness and police so I’ll probably rank her but after stronger candidates such as Mariah Hudson, Bob Simril, James Armstrong and Dan Ryan.

One
One
10 days ago

I live in district 2. Of all the districts, I think that we have some of the strongest candidates.

I’m sorry, Tiffany, I can’t vote for anyone who is endorsed by Renee Gonzalez. I have too many incredible options already.

Marikah N.
Marikah N.
10 days ago
Reply to  One

One,
I’ve also heard people say they won’t vote for anyone endorsed by PAT due to their concerns they are anti-Semetic (PAT endorsed Ms. Penson). What are we going to do with the rigid approaches to voting? Maybe vote for the person (not their endrosements and not their party)?

Will the last bike commuter turn off their lights
Will the last bike commuter turn off their lights
10 days ago
Reply to  One

I think that we have some of the strongest candidates.

Hard disagree.

There isn’t a single candidate I’m interested in voting for in district 2 but there are multiple candidates in other districts that I’d vote for. There is even a candidate I’d enthusiastically vote for in district 4 (Mitch Green) so it’s really disappointing that district 2 is entirely devoid of candidates on the left end of the political spectrum.

Jay Cee
Jay Cee
10 days ago

“Penson is currently manager of People + Culture, a city position she helped create”
wow….

Mary S
Mary S
9 days ago
Reply to  Jay Cee

If you’re like me and ever get frustrated that the city doesn’t bother sweeping the bike lanes, here’s why: unnecessary job positions, like a department for “People + Culture,” that are mostly just for show. The city has an $8 BILLION budget! There’s definitely enough money to cover basic services, but the people we elected aren’t prioritizing cutting non-essential departments or focusing on the core stuff cities are supposed to do

Tiffani Penson
10 days ago

I had fun at the Oregon Walks event at Peninsula Park and was glad to have the chance to talk with a lot of people about their concerns with how things are going in Portland. I’d like to offer some clarifications and corrections to this post. 

–              I’m proud to be endorsed by all three city commissioners running for mayor – Carmen Rubio, Mingus Mapps and Rene Gonzalez. These endorsements demonstrate my ability to work with people who have different leadership styles and priorities.

–              I don’t live on Ainsworth, but I do see how the parking on that street — because many homes don’t have driveways – could make it challenging for people on bikes. Having worked for Sam Adams as mayor when we made many needed investments in Portland’s biking infrastructure, I’m aware improvements to our multi-modal transportation system are still needed. 

–              Revitalizing Albina represents a generational opportunity to heal historic harm while building a brighter future for all of Portland. It is exciting that the largest restorative redevelopment effort in the United States is unfolding right here in our backyard in District 2. ODOT’s I-5 Rose Quarter Plan provides the opportunity to reconnect the neighborhood through the installation of buildable highway covers, which is critical for rebuilding Albina. The project also represents important economic development opportunities for the entire state of Oregon. The Portland City Council should play a proactive and collaborative role in both projects to ensure that promises made are promises kept. There are important questions about air quality, safety and long-term solutions for equitably funding our transportation infrastructure that the council must actively lean into as policymakers and champions of multi-modal solutions that serve us all. Having started grade school at Boise Eliot, I’m glad that people are seeing the air quality issues that the Black community has seen and experienced for decades.
 
At the Walk, I visited with a couple who have a baby and who live on Minnesota. They expressed concern with the numerous encampments on their street that are unsanitary and unsafe for those who live in them and that impact safety and livability on their street. Yes, we have to do a better job of taking care of those living on our streets, making sure services and all types of housing are available to them because encampments are inhumane places for people to live. And we have to make our neighborhoods safe and livable. Doing both will be my priority on the city council.

Micah
Micah
9 days ago
Reply to  Tiffani Penson

Hi Tiffani,

Thanks for engaging! I appreciate your statement.

Mary S
Mary S
9 days ago
Reply to  Tiffani Penson

Thanks so much for jumping in, Tiffani! It’s awesome that you’re putting yourself out there and really trying to make Portland cleaner and safer for everyone. I’m totally behind your approach which makes so much sense. Don’t let the anti-police or “unsanctioned camping is compassionate” people get to you. Keep speaking your truth—we need bold changes to get Portland back on track, and you’re helping make that happen. Keep going!