If you’re a Portland City Council District 3 (SE) voter, don’t fill out your ballot without hearing our latest episode of Ballot Banter. For this district, I invited none other than D3 resident Mia Birk into the Shed.
Wait! If you or a friend are in District 2 (N/NE) or District 4 (W/Sellwood), don’t miss my conversation about those districts with D2 resident Kiel Johnson and D4 resident Lisa Caballero. OK, back to D3 and Mia Birk…
Mia Birk is a pillar of Portland’s cycling story. When outgoing U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer was commissioner-in-charge of the Portland Bureau of Transportation in the mid 1990s and wanted to put us on the map as a cycling city, it was Birk he leaned on to get the job done. And she suceeded. Birk was PBOT’s bicycle coordinator until 1999 and set Portland on its course as the undeniable leader on cycling infrastructure in America. Birk then established the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI) as an adjunct professor at Portland State University and went on to become one of the principals at Alta Planning + Design and co-founder of Alta Bicycle Share. She also wrote, Joyride: Pedaling Toward a Healthier Planet, which was published in 2010. Today she’s a leader in Portland’s Jewish community and executive coach who writes the Fabulous Female Founders Substack.
The impressive and ambitious Mia Birk even found her way into election advocacy as a member of 12 for PDX, an ad hoc, grassroots group of Portlanders who came together to vet City Council candidates and produce a voters guide. That process, Birk’s 30+ years living in Portland, and her experience in government and business, give her considerable perspective on who might be a good fit to represent D3 on council.
In this episode, we go through the list of candidates and talk about who’s stood out on the campaign trail. Birk also explains the vetting process 12 for PDX went through and the rationale behind their four endorsements for D3: Rex Burkholder, Phillipe Knab, Jesse Cornett, and Steve Novick.
Other notable candidates that received airtime include: Daniel DeMelo, Angelita Morillo, Tiffany Koyama-Lane, Kezia Wanner, Jon Walker, Harrison Kass, and Ahlam Osman. I will also say I regret not talking more about Chris Flanary! I’ve been super impressed with Flanary each time I’ve talked to them. Birk liked them too, but felt it was too soon and Flanary needs more experience. Definitely check Flanary out when considering your rankings!
If you consider 12 for PDX as a guide, keep in mind Birk described the political leanings of (herself and) the group as the, “new middle.” These “middle or moderate” voters are what Birk describes as, “People who have been here a while, and we’ve bought our first homes, and we’re paying the taxes, and we’re trying to have a good life, and we’re raising kids,” Birk said. “And the way that [the word] ‘progressive’ has become doesn’t fit right anymore. It doesn’t feel like progressive is the word that we think it is anymore.”
D3 has traditionally been the bastion of lefty politics in Portland. One of the big unanswered questions leading up to election day on November 5th is how many Mia Birks are out there? And just how far to the center has southeast Portland’s electorate gone as the crisis of unsheltered homelessness and related public safety concerns have become such a dominant force in political narratives.
Watch our conversation in the video above or on YouTube, and you’ll also find it in our podcast feed.
Links for this episode:
- 12 for PDX
- MiaBirk.com
- Rose City Reform D3 Candidate Page
- D3 endorsements from The Oregonian
- D3 endorsements from The Willamette Week
- D3 endorsements from The Portland Mercury
- Small Donor Elections D3 funding and contributions database
- BikePortland 2024 Election Coverage
