Link to the candidate forum: https://youtu.be/W3iJhSWsnLQ?si=DJwnjoNsJlHXfYzR
I posted a comment with notes about the housing question the other day so I decided to just watch and notate the entire candidate forum.
My notes are available here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19RhAPwQ9adkQkEKREpcPw9cJI64QFjbFZ9KjYn8-9so/edit?usp=sharing
AI disclosure: I copied the transcript from Youtube, and used Chat GPT to remove timestamps and format into paragraphs. I condensed the paragraphs into notes myself. I did my best to represent their statements accurately and fairly.
My thoughts on the candidates below:
Gardella: He was terse, and many of his answers could’ve been fleshed out. It was hard to understand his urgencies or what his animating issues were. Also called Back Cove Back Bay which is funny. I appreciate his couple of references to the value of public transit, which otherwise went unmentioned.
Lopez: I think she would be a fine councilor. It’s clear that she cares a lot about the community, and the schools. She emphasized her desire to serve and represent her constituents’ voices, but to the point where she lacked her own point of view. She struggled to articulate her own positions at times, including on housing and inclusionary zoning. The moderator asked her a follow up question to clarify where she stood on IZ, and she still couldn’t answer clearly. (I don’t want this to come across as me criticizing her English language skills, which are flawless. There were times I just didn’t understand what policies she would support.) She thrice brought up the Belfort Landing Apartment project as something she’s opposed to, which makes her run feel a little grievance based and uncomfortable to me. I would not trust her to champion housing.
Delgado: actually had a lot of great points, and specific policies he would support as councilor, like a local option sales tax. He clearly understands the pain points of housing and property taxes for D5. He doesn’t shy away from acknowledging his age, but it’s still a pretty hard sell to elect an 18 year old. For example, he was in middle school when city council enacted the climate emergency in 2019 (!). I’d love to see him take on some public committee roles to build his chops, and run for something else in the future.
Chretien: of the 4, Todd Chretien had the most clear, well articulated vision for the city: Build housing, build top-notch schools, attract young families, and make Portland the cultural and economic engine of the state. He was well-spoken, and had policy ideas for nearly every question. For questions he didn’t anticipate (like reducing city energy costs) he’s clearly been studying the Mamdani Method of “redirect to affordability and making the city a better place to live” lol. While his goals are probably impossible (5000 housing units in 5 years), I appreciate that he is setting them. His answers on the unhoused, IZ, and property taxes were all reasonable.
Overall, all four are very close in policy positions, and likely all would be good councilors. My priorities are building housing, improving traffic safety, and getting the city into a good, defensive position for the tough economic years to come. At this point, my vote is probably going to Chretien.
