Editor's note: The 2012 elections are a watershed moment in city politics. For the first time in decades, with the mayor declining to run for re-election, Randy Leonard retiring from his council seat, and incumbent commissioner Amanda Fritz facing a serious challenge, there will be at least two, if not three new faces at City council. Veteran beat reporter Lee Perlman interviewed the major mayoral and city council candidates. In this issue, mayoral candidate Eileen Brady is interviewed.

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Mayoral candidate Eileen Brady makes her first run for political office.

Eileen Brady is running for an open position - every challenger's dream. Mayor Sam Adams has declined to run for a third term. However, she is up against, among other opponents, Charlie Hales, who has served on the City Council previously and is touting his record; and Mid-County legislator Jefferson Smith. Brady has never held political office; what are her qualifications for this post?

Although she has not been a politician up to now, she is not new to politics, Brady told the Memo. “I grew up outside Chicago in a very Democratic family. I was a precinct captain at 12. I worked for a nationally-known housing advocate, and for political candidates.”

Since coming to Portland, she says, she has worked on a variety of boards and commissions. “In 2004 Commissioner Dan Saltzman appointed me to the Mount Tabor Reservoir Review Committee. There were 13 of us, and we recommended that the city overturn a decision to cover the reservoir. In 2007, Governor Kulongoski appointed me to the Oregon Health Policy Board. I'm very proud of that. In 2009 we were to bring together stakeholders to pass the Healthy Kids Initiative; as a result, 95 percent of kids in Oregon now have health insurance.” She has also served on the board of the Oregon Business Association, which she calls a “progressive, balanced” organization. State Senator Steve March, among others, urged her to run, she says.

“It's true I'm not a career politician,” Brady says, “but the great thing about that is that I don't have favors I owe people. There's some freedom in that.”

Mid-Multnomah County lags behind most of the city as a whole in basic resources such as paved streets, sidewalks and park facilities. How would Brady, if elected, correct this imbalance at a time when city government is struggling to maintain the services it already has?

Brady is a “big fan” of Hazelwood Neighborhood Association's Arlene Kimura (chair of the city's largest NA for more than twenty years), she says, and Kimura has given her the following marching orders: “' 'Don't over-promise, don't promise resources that aren't there, and don't tell us how to redo our neighborhoods.' We can pave roads and build sidewalks, but it will take a long time. I know it's not politically exciting to say, 'We have a ten-year plan,' but I'm committed to incremental change. There's definitely dollars for that in the [Bureau] Transportation budget.” In doing this, she says, the city could be flexible in the kind of facilities it builds, particularly with regard to roads and sidewalks. “We can use performance-based standards,” she says. “We don't have to have the same high expectations everywhere. Neighborhoods would prefer that we do the basics rather than doing nothing.”

The Gateway Regional Center Urban Renewal Area has experienced a conundrum. Such districts assign revenue from increased property taxes to a special tax increment fund to pay for improvements in the district; when the district expires, all taxes go back into the regular taxing districts. In Gateway, however, there has been little economic development or property value increase, and experts from consultants such as Parametrix and elsewhere say there is not likely to be much until developers see basic infrastructure such as roads in place. Yet, without Tax Increment Financing funds, how are such amenities to be paid for?

Brady initially says, “I don't know right now.” However, she offers some things to build on.

“There are 70 foreign languages that the students of David Douglas speak at home, and that's the future of Portland. We should focus on schools as a family-oriented place.” Another project, mentioned in the East Portland Action Plan, is a proposed international market place on 82nd Avenue. “In other cities we manage ethnic diversity rather than celebrating it. It could be a draw.” Another potential draw, she says, is the proposed Gateway Green park project that “could be an (economic) accelerator.” She is also interested in the proposed Gateway Eco District. “I come from the sustainability side of the equation, and I met Gateway leaders through that,” she says. “I'm listening to folks in Gateway and Lents and learning about what's worked and what hasn't worked. I'm an entrepreneur, and what we do is experiment until we find success. You create an innovative solution, and if it doesn't work you try something else.”

A complicating factor with urban renewal districts has been the diversion of their funds by politicians to pet projects which, critics say, have little to do with the core mission of the district. A case in point in Gateway was expenditure of $1 million in its first year's budget for the Children's Receiving Center (now defunct, the building now houses the Gateway Center for Domestic Violence Services), using a prime potential development site for a social service facility likely to generate little walk-in activity and zero tax dollars. At the time this interview occurred, the Oregonian was criticizing the use of Water Bureau funds for projects such as the Gateway Hydro-Park. Brady's take on this?

“The city has used special funding sources as a political cookie jar,” she agrees. “There have been too many pet projects, or iconic projects that don't add up to a lot. We need to look at our priorities.”

To address the lack of a grid street pattern in Gateway, the city has devised a Master Street Plan that calls on property owners to dedicate land for streets as they re-develop and subdivide property. However, some developers say the plan is too onerous and could retard development.

“I would need to look at that,” Brady says.

Long-range city budgets call for extensive new bike paths in east Portland. For some, this is a much-needed and overdue improvement. For others, a frivolous waste of transportation funds needed for higher priorities with more public support. How does Brady feel about this?

“It will take a community consensus, and people will need to make some compromises,” she says. For instance, a bike lane on Southeast Holgate Boulevard crossing the I-205 Freeway is, “from one angle, ridiculous. Another way to look at it is as part of a whole grand plan. We need to take a step back.”

Often, when Portland politicians refer to “the schools,” they mean the Portland School District. However, it is just one of six public school districts in the city. Would Brady seek to include David Douglas, Parkrose and the rest?

“I'm a big supporter of the Portland Schools Foundation's Cradle to Career program, and the All Hands Raised program, which was created just for this reason: we want our reach to be broader than just Portland Public Schools. It's an attempt to bring together the city, the business community, and all school districts. I'm very much a supporter of that effort.”

Brady says she draws inspiration from the Civic Ecology Program, and from famed community organizer Saul Alinsky, author of “Reveille for Radicals.” “One of the best things we can do is nurture civic leadership,” she says. “We need to accumulate economic, environmental and social capital; social capital is where we fall down right now. We need to listen to the neighborhoods, and create a community consensus.”

One of the interesting aspects of this interview is what Brady did not say. Aside from passing reference to herself as an entrepreneur, there was no reference to herself as co-founder and part owner of the New Seasons health food and grocery chain. In past interviews, this was a prominent part of her resume, as Brady claimed partial credit for New Seasons' record of neighborhood economic development, sustainability, and progressive employee policies. Critics had questioned how much of this Brady could legitimately claim credit.