Rene Gonzalez & Terri Preeg Riggsby Candidate Meetup

The Portland Party was able to host a candidate meeting with Rene Gonzalez running for Portland City Council Seat #3 and Terri Preeg Riggsby running for Metro Council District #6. Here are some takeaways from the event!

Rene Gonzalez for City Council

Rene is considered the ‘further right’ Democratic candidate in this non-partisan race for council seat against incumbent Jo Ann Hardesty. He has raised the most money and hit the maximum amount for the donor matching election funds program already, and has recently won endorsements from The Oregonian and PPB. www.reneforportland.com

1. School reopening - objective data, bipartisan, no emotions - mentioned in The Oregonian endorsement

2. Portland facing historic crisis in livability - many people asking, “is this where I want my kids to grow up?”

3. Addiction & mental health illness are #1 & #2 issues found in homelessness data

   1. Mental health - what can the city do?

      1. County & state issue - we need to be advocates / be LOUD

   2. Addiction - what can city do?

      1. Measure 110 dollars moving way too slowly through the system

         • Poorly constructed and implemented - addiction services providers were against it

         • Unintended consequences

           • Sent the message it is OK to do drugs in Portland

           • No punishment for crime

4. Housing First philosophy

   1. Build permanent shelter first then do services after - needs to be simultaneous

   2. Emergency shelter / parking at the top of to-do list

      1. More humane than current state

      2. Enforce existing laws - environmental catastrophes occurring also

5. Addiction - we are a compassionate city but it has become enabling

   1. 1/3 of people came here homeless w/ no place to land upon arrival

   2. Attracting addiction to city of Portland

   3. Doesn’t mean we will stop offering services to current people on the street

6. Fund the police - city has grown exponentially

   1. There is more than one cause of crime

   2. Stop demonizing police - that doesn’t mean stop accountability or oversight

7. Portlanders wondering what city will be coming out of the pandemic

   1. Make space for those who want to live here and work remote; make Portland an attraction to those who can invest in our city instead of Bend, for example

8. How do we create deterrent to outsiders & stop the migration?

   1. Why do Portland taxpayers have to pay for those migrating here?

9. Homeless defined as permanent victim even if they commit crimes

   1. Jail beds limited in Multnomah County

   2. DAs & prosecutors are low in number, too

Terri Preeg Riggsby for Metro District 6

Terri is running against short-term incumbent Duncan Hwang for Metro Council Seat in District 6. District 6 includes areas of Portland between the south of I-84 between the Willamette River and roughly 112th Avenue, areas of South and Southwest Portland between US 26 and I-5, and a small portion of Washington County in the West Hills. www.terriformetro.com

1. Experience as a gov’t performance auditor, reviewing contracts w/ 2.5 million people; $3.5 billion

2. Not accountable to anyone but the voters

   1. Services we voted for need to be delivered!

3. Environmental leader - West Multnomah Soil & Water District Director

   1. Worked with agricultural industry throughout the state

   2. Knows our economy via agriculture

4. Metro - large claims on how to address carbon emissions

   1. Methods & data - how are you going to do that?

5. Metro - regional planning agency

   1. Recently moved into housing

   2. Building supplemental housing & wraparound services

   3. Metro needs to be accountable - local implementation plans

6. Full name count - who is on the street and what do they need?

   1. Domestic violence victims need certain types of care

   2. Some just need rent help

   3. Mental health & drug issues - what % of folks need this help so we know how many service providers are truly required?

   4. Metro needs to take a leadership role

7. Multi-million dollar budget

   1. Create programs that will work with data based in science

8. Metro not necessarily rooted in best practices

   1. Need to be innovative in responses

9. Metro policy advisory committee member

   1. Not working with jurisdictional partners they way that they could be

   2. Not taking advantage of knowledge or sharing information w/ cities affected

   3. Not listening to what’s working

      1. Stopped picking up trash in public areas during pandemic

      2. Ramp up services & get trash off of the streets

   4. Metro can fix the issue of who it belongs to - city / county / ODOT

10. 2023 updating regional transportation plan

    1. TriMet responsible for implementing but Metro is the funding

    2. We need to bring federal funding to the region

    3. Able vs disabled bodies using current system

       1. Isn’t working for everyone right now

       2. Terri has experience & network w/ disabled community advocates to update access to natural areas & parks regardless of age or ability

11. Opponent works for a nonprofit receiving Metro funding and sees no issue with this

12. Terri is GM of a nonprofit for refugees and ensures no Metro money goes towards it - there are other funding sources