culture

Where Portland's Candidates Stand On The Arts

By Aaron Scott (OPB), April Baer (OPB) and Rene Bermudez (OPB)
May 12, 2016 10:45 p.m.
The Portland skyline in July of 2014 as seen from the OHSU Waterfront campus.

The Portland skyline in July of 2014 as seen from the OHSU Waterfront campus.

Rebecca Galloway / OPB

Strap in, because the upcoming elections could potentially swap out half of our city council, including the mayor. In their appearances around town, the candidates are focusing a lot on the issues of gentrification, inequality, taxes and homelessness.

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We want to know where they come down on supporting the arts and creative communities, so we've invited all the candidates to talk with us.

Click the hyperlink in each candidate's name for a link to their full interviews.

For Mayor

Jules Bailey

Jules Bailey

John Strieder / OPB

a href="http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/stateofwonder/segment/portland-mayoral-and-council-candidates-debate-arts-and-culture/" target="_blank">Jules Bailey, outgoing Multnomah County commissioner and a former state representative, has declared that he wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 and follow Pittsburgh’s “Roadmap for Inclusive Innovation” model in a bid to keep Portland affordable. He has also pledged to prioritize art by bringing back the position of mayor’s arts and culture liaison (nixed by current Portland mayor Charlie Hales) and increase funding for the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC).

"There is a real nexus between jobs we create, arts and how we create those jobs, and how we ask for the support. I would be a mayor who would build those bridges. I sat on this stage two years ago and made a commitment to increase funding to RACC, and I’m proud to say that in our first budget we nearly doubled the amount of money going in to Multnomah County. "

Sean Davis

Sean Davis

First-time candidate

Sean Davis

, an Iraq War veteran, is a writer and an adjunct English professor at community colleges around Portland. He has spoken about the need for more arts grants for minorities and has stated that as mayor he would take arts and culture into his portfolio.

Click here for his full interview.

"When you have art, and character, and camaraderie, that creates community. Portland is a series of these communities. The big thing that I would try to change is that our leaders, when they see the issues that we are facing, they see spreadsheets instead of neighborhoods."

Bim Ditson

Bim Ditson

Todd Walberg 

Bim Ditson, drummer for local rock band And And And, is also a craftsman who sells handmade chain mail jewelry. He is committed to bringing back the arts liaison position that Hales did away with, retaining the Arts Tax, and re-thinking the relationship between grants and the arts.

“I think we need to move a little bit away from our conversations being about grant systems and move a little bit towards it being about more broad approaches to supporting artists, the places they live and the places they perform.”

Ted Wheeler

Ted Wheeler

John Strieder / OPB

Current Oregon State treasurer and former Multnomah County commission chair

Ted Wheeler

is riding a wave of high-profile endorsements, including three former Portland mayors: Vera Katz, Tom Potter and Sam Adams. Known as a pragmatist and reformer, Wheeler declined to commit to specifics around funding for RACC at the Jan. 30 forum, but he did say that he, too, would bring back the mayor's arts and culture liaison position.

On enforcing the collection of the Arts Tax: "What we need to say to voters is that we will deliver on a commitment that honors what you voted for. Voters stepped up and said that they support arts and culture and are willing to pay for it."

For City Commissioner Position 4

Stuart Emmons

Stuart Emmons

John Strieder / OPB

a href="http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/stateofwonder/segment/portland-mayoral-and-council-candidates-debate-arts-and-culture/" target="_blank">Stuart Emmons, an architect and preservation activist who fought to save Veterans Memorial Coliseum in 2009, is a first-time candidate. Emmons prioritizes affordable housing and spoke at the Candidates Forum on the Arts about supporting arts organizations by helping them buy their buildings or spaces through public/private partnerships.

"I’m not a politician. I’ve been on the other side designing, making projects happen with the city, and I’ve been through the housing bureau and planning and PDC [Portland and Development Commission]. "

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Chloe Eudaly

Chloe Eudaly

Courtesy Chloe Eudaly

a href="https://soundcloud.com/opb-state-of-wonder/chloe-eudaly-candidate-for-pos-4" target="_blank">Chloe Eudaly, owner of local bookshop Reading Frenzy and co-founder of the Independent Publishing Resource Center, has become a vocal advocate for affordable housing and renters' rights in Portland. She has served on the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition and co-founded the Special Education PTA of Portland.
 Follow the link to

hear her interview

.

“If we don't have affordable housing for our low-income residents, for our workforce, for our artists and creatives, we are not going to have a vibrant cultural landscape left.”

Candidate Jim Lee says he thinks the city is overlooking revenue possibilities at Memorial Coliseum.

Candidate Jim Lee says he thinks the city is overlooking revenue possibilities at Memorial Coliseum.

Courtesy of Jim Lee.

Jim Lee is well-known to city council regulars. He's appeared many times before council, encouraging city leaders to invest in performing arts venues, which Lee says are inadequate and outdated.

His full comments can be found at this link.

"It's partly because of the mess-up we've done with the Coliseum, we do not have enough operating funds for other artistic facilities."

Steve Novick

Steve Novick

John Strieder / OPB

a href="http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/stateofwonder/segment/portland-mayoral-and-council-candidates-debate-arts-and-culture/" target="_blank">

Steve Novick

, the Council Position 4 incumbent with a famously wonky if aggressive style, links the affordability crisis in Portland directly to the national wage gap. He said at the Candidates Forum on the Arts that he would like to look at whether zoning changes could make affordable housing for artists a reality.

"All of the issues we struggle with are issues the federal government should be doing more on. In terms of arts, we don’t invest enough at the state, city or federal levels."

Sue Stahl is a long-time civil rights activist best known in Portland for her advocacy work for people with disabilities. She is the vice-chair of the Portland Commission on Disability and chair of the Accessibility in the Built Environment subcommittee at  the Office of Equity and Human Rights, working towards making sure the city includes all its citizens and communities. Listen to her interview here.

"I would like to see the city support more nonprofits that have missions and goals to go into schools, teach the kids music," said Stahl. "I do think music needs to be added back into our schooling. Most importantly, elementary schools, because that's when the kids are most impressionable."

Fred Stewart

Fred Stewart

Courtesy Fred Stewart

a href="https://soundcloud.com/opb-state-of-wonder/fred-stewart-candidate-for-portland-pos-4" target="_blank">Fred Stewart is a real estate agent and long-time Portlander who was spurred to run for City Council by Steve Novick and Charlie Hales’ unpopular street fee campaign in 2014.  Stewart has committed himself to a focus on making Portland inclusive for blacks, women, Native Americans and other underserved communities.

On to the interview

!

“Our city no longer plans with our values in mind. We say we are for diversity, but we are not very diverse in any area of our life, including art. I think art would help with that.”

For City Commissioner Position 1

Amanda Fritz

Amanda Fritz

Lauria Isola / OPB

a href="http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/stateofwonder/segment/portland-mayoral-and-council-candidates-debate-arts-and-culture/" target="_blank">

Amanda Fritz

, the incumbent Position 1 commissioner, is notably passionate about infrastructure maintenance. She pushed the arts tax and believes that more state resources should be brought in to support major arts organizations in Portland. She is running unopposed.

"We need to stop people dying on our streets because of lack of infrastructure and to take care of arts and culture. It's not either/or, it's 'these are the most pressing concerns that we need to prioritize.'"

Ann Sanderson is well-known as an advocate against a proposed Portland street tax. She's a small business owner, proprietor of Odango! Hair Salon on Woodstock.

“I was feeling really disconnected from my city for a while…But campaigning I fell in love with Portland again. If I get elected, I’m just going to keep knocking on doors.”

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