Hold onto those ballots! Especially if you live in City Council District 4. Because I’ve just uploaded a new podcast episode where Lisa Caballero and I dish and debate the D4 race.
Barring any changes in plans, I’m done with individual candidate interviews as we are in the final few weeks before ballots are due. Now I want to focus on more general analysis of each district and the mayor’s race. So I asked Lisa to join me in the Shed yesterday because she’s lived in D4 for over twenty years and just as obsessed with this election as I am. Lisa has also done neighborhood-level activism in those years and she’s hosted and attended a bunch election-related events in recent months.
In this episode, we talked about what we think are the 12-13 most viable candidates in the field. Since Olivia Clark, Eric Zimmerman, and Eli Arnold nabbed endorsements from the two biggest media outlets in town (The Oregonian and Willamette Week), we talked about them the most. “I think it’s hard to ignore those endorsements,” Lisa said about how those three candidates have emerged this week. “If I were another District 4 candidate, I would be feeling a little down right now.” We also shared our thoughts on other front-of-the-pack candidates like Mitch Green, Chad Lykins, Lisa Freeman, Bob Weinstein, Stan Penkin, Moses Ross, Ben Hufford, Sarah Silkie, and Tony Morse.
How are they on transportation issues? It’s a mixed bag and we didn’t share all their positions. I used a question The Oregonian asked every candidate as a jumping-off point: “Which would you prioritize: Creation of more protected bike lanes and priority bus lanes or improved surfacing of existing degraded driving lanes?” I realize that’s an annoying binary that doesn’t appreciate the reality of funding, but it was fun to see how the candidates answered.
In Lisa’s mind, what’s important isn’t whether or not a candidate nails a bike-related question. She wants someone with experience and the political moxie to make progress — and most importantly someone who can work with others so the sum of council is greater than it’s individual parts. “We have a lot of candidates with experience, and especially Eric and Olivia, they’ve got more experience than anybody running for mayor,” Lisa said. “We don’t have someone who can design a bike lane… So I have a fantasy of Olivia Clark having a weekly breakfast with (D1 candidate) Steph Routh… Likewise, I think it would be really cool if Eric Zimmerman and (D1 candidate) Timur Ender had coffee every once in a while.”
A red flag for Lisa is anyone she feels is too dogmatic. “I don’t want people with purity tests. I want someone who can talk to someone who doesn’t see eye-to-eye, listen to them, perhaps learn from them and persuade them.”
No matter how things turn out once all the votes are tallied, Lisa is sanguine about the new form of government and the influence on ranked choice voting. Beyond the three who win seats, Lisa says, “We’ve got another nine who are going to be very well-informed about the district. And what a wonderful process this has been! It has created nine people who are not going to be on City Council, who are going to be able to advocate, and who have spent a lot of volunteer time really getting to know this area. That’s a win-win for everybody.”
Listen to the full episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
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I disagree with Lisa on Zimmerman; he has stated that ALL his focus during his 2 years will be on the homeless, apparently mostly Downtown. That means 2 years of nothing else in the district getting his attention – long time to let things lie fallow. Even on homelessness, does he tell Eli that Sellwood can lump it with the campers in Oaks Bottom, because Downtown?
I suppose if he is elected, the other two can tell him ‘tag; yer it’ on the issue and let him deal with it alone while they tend to the ret of the district and city… Politicians love a good fall guy.
I do agree with her that D4 has a good crop of candidates, and many are aware of local transpo issues and take them seriously, and not just as a campaign promise. No-one offered ‘a bike lane in every pot!’