Vadim Mozyrsky & Alisa Pyszka - Candidate Meetup

The Portland Party was able to host a candidate meeting with Vadim Mozyrsky running for Portland City Council Seat #3 and Alisa Pyszka running for Metro President. Here are some takeaways from the event!

Vadim Mozyrsky for City Council

Vadim is currently viewed as the main opponent against incumbent Jo Ann Hardesty for City Council Seat #3. Rene Gonzalez is also very close in the race with regards to support and fundraising efforts as well. www.votevadim.com

1. Our dysfunctional government has caused the current crises we see in Portland right now - we can do better for both housed and houseless

2. 60% of small businesses burglarized or vandalized in last 6 months

3. Change form of government via Charter Commission - let a professional manage the large bureaus and let the commissioners lead the needs of the residents who they represent

4. Don’t let anyone tell you there’s not enough money to fix these problems

5. City, county, metro, nonprofits - all have different policies

   1. Need to bring them together to ensure we have effective solutions

6. Recent Oregonian article found that 66% of homeless individuals had not been contacted by service providers and 75% of those who had first contact never heard back from them again

   1. People are trying to help but we are not able to reach them where they are at - we need them centralized to provide them services & outreach

7. Portland / Multnomah County - general homelessness we are doing well in - down 3% - people in between permanent living situations

   1. Rent vouchers, etc.

8. Chronic homelessness - individuals living in tents for over a year - went up 58% between 2017 - 2019 and still going up

9. Policies - what are we doing for chronically homeless?

   1. Mental health and drug addiction issues

   2. We’re not doing what other cities are doing that are proving to be successful

10. Need to enforce our laws and provide people the help they need - we can do both

    1. Fire department instructed not to stop outdoor fires / fire hazards

    2. PBOT instructed not to enforce parking laws

11. Experience

    1. National policy for federal governement

    2. Labor employment laws / unions

    3. Managed two federal offices for federal government, overseeing large staff and budget

    4. Giving up wonderful job that pays more than council seat but wants to clean up the city and help fix things

12. How are you different from Rene? See recent City Club Debate

    1. Seen as farther to the right candidate

    2. Cheerleader for police & cleaning up the streets but doesn’t understand the need for an experienced and nuanced approach to appease all parties

    3. Vadim has served on various city committees for many years speaking to hundreds of people from multiple communities and understands the pushback and how to form partnerships to navigate issues - experience matters

Alisa Pyszka for Metro President

Alisa Pyszka is seen as the top contender against incumbent Lynn Peterson. Metro oversees a lot of money we voted to give them to fix things, much of which is still unspent. www.alisaformetro.com. Measures passed by Portland Voters:

• Two large Housing Bond Measures passed in 2016 & 2018

• The (now made controversial by People for Portland) 2020 Homeless Services Measure

• 2019 Parks & Nature Measure

1. Incumbent Lynn Peterson

   1. Part of the (MultCo) Jessica Vega Pederson / (PDX) Jo Ann Hardesty trio of lack of urgent response

   2. Transportation Bond Measure 2020 failed and ruined progress for our region

      1. Alienated businesses by offering zero government funds

2. Led Regional Economic Development Strategy

   1. Nobody seemed worried about losing businesses and what that means for the region

3. Experience in land use planning and transportation

   1. Consulting firm helping communities align these projects with equity and sustainability goals in mind

4. Peterson is Housing First absolutist

   1. Until election season started, nobody has been talking about mental health and drug addiction issues tied to houslessness

   2. Portland has no staff with boots on the ground like Gresham

      1. 50 residents along Springwater that have a special phone number to call and report

      2. METRO’S JOB IS TO CONVENE ALL PARTIES AND RESOLVE ISSUES - what’s working in one place should be implemented elsewhere

5. Metro is ineffective

   1. Basic information - challenge staff / ask questions

   2. Not meeting metrics? Why are we funding?

6. People for Portland ballot measure shows that we have a breakdown of regional government - we should not be ruling by ballot measure

   1. People support this because we don’t trust Metro

   2. Private sector and government are not talking to each other; talk to people who know how to get it done and want to help

   3. Oversight Committee - some members have conflicted interest as their organizations are funded by the bond measure

      1. People for Portland wants to change this structure

      2. Metro President can appoint new committee members

7. We need 48,000 units added in the region and Metro is funding the construction of 3,900 affordable housing units with a $650 million bond

   1. It is impossible to build enough publicly subsidized affordable housing

   2. We must increase the overall supply, otherwise housing prices will only continue to increase

      1. Do we need to talk about expanding the Urban Growth Boundary?

8. Data Resource Center was dissolved

   1. This was supposed to be a tool to give voters accountability