Pdx City Council Candidates: Family-Friendly? You Decide.

You might recall that in the past month or so we were all busy having coffee with a bunch of candidates for city council seats 1 and 2.  Telling them what matters to us in case they get elected, and finding out whether they earn the family-friendly vote.  We're not endorsing a soul.  But we did ask all of the candidates we met with to tell us why Portland parents should vote for them - in 200 words or less.  My attention span is that short.

Since we first met with council seat 1 candidates way back on 2.28.08, we'll start there.  We talked with John Branam, Chris Smith, Jeff Bissonette, and, several weeks later, Charles Lewis.  A big thanks to all four for taking the time to discuss how the city council can and should make Portland more family-friendly.  And a special thanks to John Branam for kickstarting this effort by contacting us out of the blue - good thinkin', John, we mamas do like to be heard.  In their own words, then, each says why we parents should cast our ballots for him:

• John Branam: John Branam is committed to helping Portland families. As development director at Portland Public Schools, John has helped raise millions of dollars on behalf of children. He believes that improving the quality of education in the city will keep families here and encourage others to enroll their children in the public school system. Also, by advocating for affordable housing options, John is making sure that the cost of living will not outpace income to the point that families cannot afford to live here. This will keep neighborhoods vibrant and diverse, so our children will inherit healthy communities.  Portland is a great city, and John wants to keep it that way by working hard on behalf of all its residents.

• Chris Smith:  The greatest gift we can give our children is to leave the planet in better shape than it was handed down to us, which is why I'm focusing my campaign on making Portland sustainable. Building a city that is resilient against uncertain energy costs, and which contributes to heading off the worst impacts of global warming, is my top priority. But a lot of the steps on the way to sustainability will make Portland more family-friendly. Indeed, keeping families in the city is a key indicator for how sustainable the city is. 

Re-arranging land use patterns so that we can meet our daily needs with shorter trips means putting child care facilities closer to home or work, and negotiating with developers for space for those facilities – along with parks and other amenities – becomes part of what's expected for basic neighborhood infrastructure.  Reducing auto reliance will require making our streets much safer for cyclists and pedestrians – of all ages! Urban mamas will have more places to park their bikes, including trailers for the little ones. And as transit service of all flavors expands, families will have more and more convenient choices for how they move around the city.

• Jeff Bissonette: Working to be a Better Village - Families and children are vital to the health and growth of a city.  Currently only twenty percent of households in Portland have children.  As a city we must work together to create a family-friendly environment so that parents can support each other and their kids.  A city commissioner must raise awareness about the needs of children and highlight where gaps exist in ensuring families' well-being.  A commissioner must also provide leadership to enact solutions.  There are solutions in place.  For example, the Portland Children's Investment Fund is is making vital investments in community-based programs like after-school programs to drug prevention programs to early childhood education with impressive results.  I support another 5-year funding cycle.

As I am talking with parents, some of the key issues on their minds are: Safe, reliable, affordable childcare; Affordable housing within the city; healthy, pesticide-free parks,   Community centers free of "junk" food; and safe routes to school that are not car-dependent.  I will work with existing networks to identify needs, develop solutions and create the support base to have the solutions adopted by appropriate entities.    I hosted a town hall meeting on these issues and others facing families.

• Charles Lewis:  I have spent the last 10 years starting and running Ethos Music Center in order to bring music education back to Portland’s under-served youth. I’m running for City Council to make sure there is someone in City Hall who is looking out for the little guy.  For the first time in modern history, we have a mass migration of families moving out of Portland because they can’t afford to live here anymore.  In the past 10 years, this migration of families has cost Portland schools 11,000 students and $60 million in revenue leading to “under-crowded” schools.  At the same time, City Council is subsidizing million dollar condos in the South Waterfront.  We need to restore a sense of balance to City Council and to make sure that city hall is looking out for everyone – not just the wealthy elite.

When I’m on City Council, I’m going to be focusing on affordable housing, job creation through small businesses, and fixing our aging infrastructure.  As an expectant father (baby girl due June 20, 2008), I’m very concerned about the cost and availability of child care, living wage jobs, and family friendly affordable housing.  Please find out more online at www.CharlesLewis.com.

Comments

[anon]

Uh, "not endorsing a soul" but everytime I click on Activistas in the past couple of days the first thing I see is Bissonnette's face.

[LTF]

His campaign paid to sponsor us, as could any other candiate or event. You can read all about it here: http://www.urbanmamas.com//activistas/sponsor-activistas-help-u.html
Perhaps we could make that clearer, thanks for pointing that out. Perhaps next time you could communicate your suggestion in a more productive tone. People tend to respond better that way to the ideas and opinions of others, in my experience.

[anon]

Wow. I'm not quite sure how to respond to what I imagine you think to be a really helpful suggestion to me. I've heard/read you suggest similarly to others before and thought it was rather condescending then but didn't really experience the full insult until it was directed at me. I'll try to write my thoughts the way you'd prefer next time, although it may just be awhile before I do.

Yes, please do clarify that Mr. Bissionnette has paid to be so visible on this site. I'm quite certain it would be more helpful to people. Is that better?

[LTF]

Honestly, I appreciate the feedback. I tend to be a little obsessed with all-happy-talk (perhaps b/c I disagree on just about everything with my nuclear family and conversations can get heated and unpleasant - esp. if there's wine involved). I do think it can be easier to discuss hot-button issues that way, but then that's just me so I'll try to just let it flow going forward. So,to try my hand at this, I won't answer whether or not that's better b/c it's all good :-)