Citizen Chris Smith runs for Portland City Council
Another BlueOregon contributor has made the leap and is running for office. Chris Smith has announced his campaign for Portland City Council.
From his BlueOregon bio:
Chris Smith is a citizen activist focusing on transportation, neighborhoods and civic engagement. He is past Transportation Chair of the Northwest District Assocation, and the founder of Portland Transport, a blog on transportation policy in our region. Chris serves on the Metro Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC), representing the citizens of Multnomah County. He also chairs the Portland Streetcar Citizens Advisory Committee and serves on the board of Portland Streetcar, Inc.
His past commentaries here at BlueOregon are here. Here's the announcement video:
Over at Mercury Blogtown, some thoughts about Smith - and the context of his campaign:
Almost as if timed by a magical transit-loving deity, two reports have dropped this week that should bolster Smith’s early campaign days. As I wrote in the paper this week, Smith will be a hit among the urbanist, pro-density, alternative transportation crowd, but will probably be Public Enemy No. 1 among the pro-sprawl, pro-car, more freeways set. Like the followers of Jim Karlock, Randall O’Toole, and libertarian think tank Cato Institute, which published a paper last July called “Debunking Portland,” written by O’Toole, criticizing Portland’s planning, public transportation, and Urban Growth Boundary.A week ago, however, a group called Congress for the New Urbanism released its own report, called “Debunking Cato: Why Planning in Portland Works Better Than the Analysis of Its Chief Neo-Libertarian Critic,” disproving each of O’Toole’s arguments. It’s an enlightening, easy-to-follow read that clocks in at about 13 pages, and shows that Portland’s enormously popular planning and transportation policies (that’s part of why you moved here, right?) have put the city in a position far more preferable than average urban areas.
Read the rest. Visit CitizenSmith.us for more info. Discuss.
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Sept. 28, 2007
Posted in in the news 2007. |
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6:22 p.m.
Sep 28, '07
I am really looking forward to this race. I am hoping to see a lot of passionate people like Chris jumping into this race. New faces, new ideas, new visions and new energy is what the city of Portland needs right now.
Good Luck Chris!
Fred
Sep 28, '07
Oh joy, another one trick pony who cares nothing about schools, fixing roads, police protection, but wants to run those street cars past all the potholes and sewage dumps.
Y'know, though, this is Portland, so he'll probably win.
Sep 28, '07
Is this for a particular seat? I've been collecting VOE sigs for Charles Lewis. Even though it's for Sam Adams' seat (whom i support). I like having good choices on the ballot. In the first vote round last time i actually voted for Fish. But then had a chance to hear Sam's pitch and i tilted.
Regardless, good for you Citizen Smith!
8:26 p.m.
Sep 28, '07
STeve, don't you think that just maybe, somehow, hearing different people will force the cream to rise to the top? Is it better to have one or two predictable candidates, or six or eight that we don't all know already, to expand the conversation? Maybe there's more to Chris Smith than you or I know at this point. Give all the candidates a chance, maybe we'll all learn something.
8:27 p.m.
Sep 28, '07
He's also running for Sam Adams' seat according to his web site.
8:46 p.m.
Sep 28, '07
Oh joy, another one trick pony who cares nothing about schools, fixing roads, police protection, but wants to run those street cars past all the potholes and sewage dumps.
In fact I care very deeply about schools and fixing roads (I'm on the stakeholder group for Sam's "Safe and Sound Streets" initiative, which is about maintaining our streets and make them safer). I will admit that public safety is not an area I have a lot of deep knowledge in, but I expect that voters are going to educate me over the next 14th months :-)
And yes, Charles and I are both running for the seat Sam is vacating. I'm sure there will be many others before long. I look forward to a robust discussion!
9:15 p.m.
Sep 28, '07
My husband and I were just talking about sending our $5 contributions in to Chris' campaign! I know he will bring attention to a lot of the issues I care about.
9:40 p.m.
Sep 28, '07
Caring about schools is a given. A city commissioner can do little to fix the Portland Public School Distric so I am not going to vote for anyone that tells me they can do something about it because I refuse to support someone that lies that badly.
I am looking forward to new leaders with new approaches to Portlands problems and future.
Fred
10:00 p.m.
Sep 28, '07
Fred, you're absolutely right, the City's impact on the school district(s) [there are five of them] is minimal, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep looking for out-of-the-box thinking to find creative ways to help. The SUN schools program was one such. While I'm not making promises, I will keep looking for creative approaches.
Sep 29, '07
The City of Portland could do a great deal to help out the public schools, even though the City does not exercise control over them. Unquestionably, it would involve the city taking on a role (supporting public education) If a candidate for City Council wants to help Portland's public school districts, I'll listen to his/her ideas and judge them on merit.
Ultimately, Portland's economic future is linked to a first-rate system of public education, so the City has every reason to get more involved. A candidate who says he can do something for the schools isn't necessarily a liar; he might be smart and creative with some great outside-the-box ideas.
2:07 a.m.
Sep 29, '07
djk,
I would love to hear some ideas from you, Chris or anyone else as to how a City Commissioner of the City of Portland can fix our schools. In the mean time, I hope to see the candidates focus their time on educating the public about how their leadership will be applied to things they can affect. The services they can improve and the people they can empower.
Fred
Sep 29, '07
"STeve, don't you think that just maybe, somehow, hearing different people will force the cream to rise to the top?"
Not if he bascially parrots what Sam Adams says. Charles Lewis strikes me as someone who careas about something else beisdes running streetcars past developers pet projects. I mean look at their announcements, Mr Smith steps off a street car as the solution for everything and Charles Lewis points out that we have some real infrastructure problems.
10:23 a.m.
Sep 29, '07
I've been collecting VOE sigs for Charles Lewis.
Presumably, you've also been collecting $5 checks too. VOE is about $5 contributions, not signatures.
10:24 a.m.
Sep 29, '07
Thanks, Chris, for piping in here. I'm looking forward to this campaign -- I expect some 12-15 candidates when it's all said and done, including 5-6 financed with VOE.
Sep 29, '07
Presumably, you've also been collecting $5 checks too. VOE is about $5 contributions, not signatures.
Why yes, oh great one... :)
(But the money's no good without the signatures!)
Sep 29, '07
Go Chris Go!
The sooner Portland completely collapses, the sooner we can get some sanity back into the political culture. Chris is just the guy to push the pedal to the metal on our race off the edge of the cliff.
Please send your $5 now!
11:40 a.m.
Sep 29, '07
I wish Chris best of luck. Had the chance to speak with Charles Lewis this past Thursday, and his background is a good one which will bring some good perspective in approaching policy. That Lewis has been an employer at a non-profit with 50 employees gives him a perspective that often gets short-shrift by 80% of most elected officials who have not been in the position of an employer.
11:42 a.m.
Sep 29, '07
ROFLMAO... meanwhile, back in reality:
(scroll)
11:22 a.m.
Sep 30, '07
I think this will be an interesting race too, and with a likely crowded field, I'd like to see issue-specific debates and forums rather than generic round-up type formats. I think a debate exclusively on transportation, for example, would give voters a better look at how each addresses issues and thinks through problems.
Chris brings a long history of advocacy on transportation issues, and Charles Lewis's first media hit was to stake out a no-new-taxes position for local infrastructure (three weeks before the I-35 bridge collapse). There are substantive differences between the two candidates, and if others jump into the race, all the better for the debate.
Sep 30, '07
"anyone else as to how a City Commissioner of the City of Portland can fix our schools."
My only counter is that we can rebuild a basball stadium and theaters and maybe a convention center hotel, help developers by running streetcars in front of their projects, Mr Adams can ask Mr Blumenhauer to get dedicated money for streetcars and yet we have NO creative ideas to help schools, fill potholes, fix Sellwood bridge besides more taxes. At least Mr Lewis is willing to think outside the box about real problems (no, he is NOT my brother-in-law.)
When someone in city council gives me the its not our problem - it is your problem if you want a vibrant city. That's like driving past a car accidnet because your are from Oregon and the wreck is in Washington.
I'll give Erik Sten credit at least he is thinking of ways. As far as the rest of city council, its a lot of lip service or just dont care. So we get Mr Smith who thinks transportation is the only solution to all of our problems.
Does anybody in govt have any creative thoughts?
Sep 30, '07
I also wish Chris the best, but his candidacy reminds me of why I don't like the commissioner/bureau system--he has specialized in and will run on his work on transportation, but could just as well be appointed head of water, or parks, or etc. There is a disconnect between what candidates run on and what they run.
It also reminds me why we need a) a larger council and b) districts. For all of his positive attributes, and he has a lot of them, Chris doesn't really diversify the Council one bit.
We really, really, really need districts and a larger council.
9:54 p.m.
Sep 30, '07