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Candidate Nolan calls for efficiency, better public services

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Former Oregon State Rep. Mary Nolan, D-Portland, is running against incumbent Amanda Fritz for Portland City Council, Position Number 1.
COURTESY MARY NOLAN
Mary Nolan says that, given the chance, she can bring the skills that gave her a successful career in the Oregon House of Representatives to the Portland City Council.

To do so, she is challenging incumbent Amanda Fritz for Position 1. Fritz, elected through the defunct Voter Owned Elections process, says she is running a shoestring campaign. Nolan, in contrast, has assembled a much larger campaign chest, as well as endorsements by the Portland Tribune, other newspapers and fellow politicians as a “can-do” leader. Critics, including Fritz's supporters, say receiving support from large donors will make Nolan beholden to them.

Asked what bureaus she would like to administer if she won and had her pick, Nolan told the Memo, “Transportation, Water and Development Services. These are the ones that have the most effect on livability, and where I can offer the most value.” She added, “I'd also like to have the Portland Development Commission, but I'm not aware of a single mayor who hasn't directed that personally.”

What would she do differently if she had these bureaus? Of Development Services, which includes the permit center and administration of the zoning code, Nolan says, “I would continue moving toward better customer service. We should help projects that meet city goals be more realistic for people proposing major development. We have wandered a little in our commitment to making development peaceful, and not surprising neighborhoods when making changes. It's a good thing when an abandoned building or a neglected lot is converted into productive use, but it can be traumatic.” She is committed to providing “storefronts and neighborhood-scale commercial services,” as well as “protecting streams, farmlands and ecological values.”

With transportation, she says, “We've wandered off; we've been too willing to neglect basic elements. We need to preserve and maintain the infrastructure we've got, [including bridges over Johnson Creek and the Columbia Slough].” At the same time, she says, “We need to complete our surface transportation system, where the city has grown out into areas originally developed as country space. It's a matter of equity, neighborhood livability and vitality. If there's not adequate infrastructure for customers to come, it makes it harder for businesses to succeed. It also pushes traffic into other neighborhoods that can't handle it.”

Nolan was less sure about changes to the Water Bureau. She did say, “I would push back on new state and federal requirements if not supported by health and science.”

Overall, she says, “I have a view of stewardship responsibility that's different than some have. I want a more coordinated approach, with a board of directors rather than five silos. That dynamic has seen voting blocks evolve, and it has been a disaster. I might agree with (Commissioner Dan) Saltzman on A and B, but disagree on C. I'm able to separate depersonalized policy from personality. If I received the Water Bureau it would not be my fiefdom to reign, but to administer for common goals.”

What of the new Office of Equity, which Fritz has championed and been criticized for? The decision to better serve a diverse population “is legitimate,” Nolan says. “I wouldn't have structured it this way, but I support the objectives. I would insist on an outcome-based approach; we don't need to keep studying this.”

If the city budget has to be cut in the future - a likely prospect - where would Nolan begin the cutting? Administrative services, she says. “The city is stuck in a nineteen-eighties mode of control,” she says. “We should not have layers of managers and supervisors. There should be well-trained and directed staff doing their job. There should be an emphasis on measures that affect outcomes.” Eliminating unnecessary management “means you can have more people at the permit counter.”

In addition, what services would she try to protect at any cost? Nolan says it depends on the depth of the cuts, but in general she would protect “public safety and health” services. The latter includes recreational opportunities for children, which she says are “really important.” Another priority is public information dissemination - “That doesn't necessarily mean a public information officer, but the function is important in a democracy.”

What was Nolan's best day in public life? “I was lucky to have several,” she says, but she settles on the day in 2009 when, after several attempts, she helped enact the state Healthy Kids Plan, which provides access to affordable care for 120,000 children not otherwise covered by health plans. The worst? The day in 2005 when then-House Speaker Karen Minnis used administrative procedures to scuttle a Civil Unions Bill that would have provided benefits to gay partners and had been approved by the senate. Not only was important legislation killed, Nolan said, but also “She [Minnis] prevented 34 House members from even voting on this.”

What would Nolan do differently if she could? She recalls a 2009 Transportation bill that she opposed. “I don't regret opposing it - it had too much pork and was much more expensive than it had to be - but I would have worked harder to change it,” she says. There are other things she has done that she would do differently now, and she is not ashamed of this. “I would expect people to want me to learn,” she says.

What has she done to help east Portland businesses? “I've reached out to understand east Portland businesses,” Nolan says. “I've spent a lot of time there by invitation, and also on my own initiative. I have spent time in Parkrose, Gateway, Lents, 82nd Avenue and Foster-Powell. I'm told that business capacity is limited by lack of a trained work force.” She says she has helped provide funding for Mount Hood and Portland community colleges, and for small businesses.

In recent years, Portland office holders and candidates have been the subject of embarrassing revelations. If this happened to Nolan, how would she handle it?

“I would like to think I'm pretty candid,” she says. “I've acknowledged mistakes in the past. We live in 2012, and little is hidden. If I make a mistake, I have a track record of acknowledging it, apologizing and asking for forgiveness. I've responded to people who wanted to bite my head off, and remained accessible and humble.” However, she adds, “For 35 years I've defended the right to personal privacy. If someone asked me a question about my personal life that doesn't affect public affairs, I wouldn't answer it.”
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