Allow me to break into the holiday week with the latest interview from The Shed.
On Friday, Portland City Councilor-Elect Olivia Clark came by and we had a wide-ranging conversation. Clark was the top vote-getter in District 4 (everything west of the Willamette River and a small piece of southeast including Sellwood) and has a good shot at becoming City Council president. Why? Her background is very impressive. It includes: founding of an affordable housing nonprofit in the 1980s that focused on farmworker housing; leading legislative affairs for former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber; being board chair of Providence Health Systems, then working as TriMet’s executive director of government and public affairs for over two decades. During her time at TriMet her job was to secure funding for the Orange Line MAX project and she’s credited for helping fund the Tilikum Bridge.
During our conversation we talked about how to revitalize downtown Portland, how to approach transportation funding, why Clark thinks Seattle is going to outperform Portland in transit unless we find another stable revenue source, and more.
Find the interview in the players above, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
NOTE: Today is my daughter’s birthday (she’s 22 years old) and then we’ve got that Christmas thing on Wednesday. So I’m taking a break this week and likely won’t be posting anything further until Monday, December 30th. Have a great week and I’ll see you on the other side.
