Once I read City Council District 1 candidate Terrence Hayes’ recent email to supporters titled, “Portland’s War on Cars,” I knew I wanted to sit down and talk with him. In this interview, I share my concerns about that framing of our transportation system and Terrence explained why he wrote it. But that was just the start of an interesting conversation that included exchanges on everything from the future of 82nd Avenue (he supports a dedicated bus lane) to policing (he wants more boots on the ground), local politics (he says progressives in his race are flip-flopping on public safety), and more.
Among a field of nearly 100 candidates in the coming election, Hayes stands out. Not only is he the cousin of Quanice Hayes, the 17-year old who was murdered by a Portland Police Bureau officer in 2017; but Terrence served nearly 13 years in prison for shooting someone in the leg in 2003. Since then, Hayes has established a successful business and has become a community leader in gun violence prevention.
Given that past, it’s a bit surprising that he’s very proud to be endorsed by the Portland Police Association, the union that represents Portland Police Bureau officers. He also wants to add hundreds of new police officers to Portland streets as a key part of his public safety platform. That stance, and the endorsement of City Commissioner and mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez, has put Hayes in an interesting political position in traditionally progressive Portland.
Have a listen to the episode now and/or come back to this page a bit later to read a few key exchanges from the interview and maybe a highlight video if I can get it looking good (my video recording studio here in The Shed is a major work in progress). I’m still adding to this post so make sure you hit “refresh” until you no longer see this sentence.
About that “war on cars” email:
hen I’m talking to folks in East Portland, what they’re always complaining about is, like, our lack of sidewalks, our lack of paved roads and safe roads. And they really feel that the biking and all that got ahead of the other things in transportation that they would have liked to focus on, because most of them commute to work, commute to schools, commute to the grocery stores, and a lot of them was long commutes, we always want to capture folks attention, and anytime you say something like that, you’re going to capture attention
— Listen to the full episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
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.