There were a few notable things said by newly elected Portland City Council members at Sunday’s World Day of Remembrance event. And while I already did a story and video, I wasn’t able to really underscore these comments and share my thoughts about them previously because I wanted to keep the focus on the event itself.
“I frankly am not worried about the Big Brother aspect of putting speed cameras at every goddamn intersection in the city.”
– Steve Novick, D3 councilor-elect
So I pulled an audio highlight reel together that features four speakers. In the episode available now on our podcast feed or in the player above, I intersperse my personal commentary and thoughts after each audio clip. The speakers in this episode are: PBOT Vision Zero Coordinator Clay Veka, District 4 Councilor-elect Mitch Green and District 3 councilor-elects Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, and Steve Novick.
The reason I’m pulling these clips out and shining a light on them is because they offer important takeaways about how these new electeds will lead and govern in the coming months and years. And with PBOT’s Veka, she gave us notable clues about how the City is framing its Vision Zero work.
Have a listen to this episode and tell me if you agree that:
- It’s cool that PBOT admits they’re not meeting their goals, they are smart to spread responsibility for Vision Zero to other agencies, and we should be happy they are talking about the need for a cultural shift and the role change management will have in making progress;
- Mitch Green wants to be council’s main bike and safe streets champion, is someone who wants to focus on prevention instead of punishment and how that could create friction with more enforcement-first councilors, and that he’s done his homework when it comes to transportation policy.
- Tiffany Koyama Lane won’t soon forget what she heard at the Remembrance event and she’ll be a reliable vote for good safe streets policy on council going forward.
- Angelita Morillo will tell it like it is, wants to shake up the status quo, is a great communicator, and will be in front of the freeway fights.
- Steve Novick is sick and tired of lawless drivers and will push expansion of PBOT’s automated enforcement camera program, isn’t afraid to push bold policy ideas, could be city council president, and has the guts to propose new revenue ideas.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks for reading.
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I do think that both Green and Novick are correct simultaneously. We need enforcement but we also need self enforceable infrastructure. It’s not an either/or and I hope they don’t get lost in these disagreements and they see this as an opportunity to truly implement better safe streets policy.
The reg fee thing is certainly something that needs to happen too. I’d prefer something state wide but even just in the metro area would be helpful. It’s not only penalizing irresponsible vehicle sizes for the sake of safety but also helping pay for street maintenance, ideally. Good stuff, lets hope we see this momentum continuing when they are in those seats in January.