WW Fall 2024 Endorsements: Mayor of Portland

Keith Wilson

Portland is entering new territory with this election, and one of the biggest changes is in the role of the mayor.

Starting in January, when the next mayor takes office, the position will entail fewer responsibilities and a significantly reduced scope of work. The next mayor of this city will no longer receive a vote in the city council and will no longer distribute office supervisory tasks such as party gifts. Instead, the mayor will have two responsibilities: hiring and firing the city manager, who will oversee the day-to-day operations of city services from police to drinking water; and providing the public image that City Hall displays to the citizens of Portland and the world. In other words, the mayor will be an agenda setter and an ambassador. When voters decide who should fill this role, they should look for the person who can best fulfill these narrow tasks.

We still have reservations about this revision. But perhaps it's a blessing that the mayor's job will be reduced, given the quality of candidates voters will have to choose from.

Revelations about the past actions and character of the contest's two front-runners, incumbent City Commissioners Carmen Rubio and Rene Gonzalez, have caused many voters to raise their hands and ask: Isn't there another choice?

There are. It is Keith Wilson.

Wilson, 60, runs Titan Freight Systems, a trucking company with 70 employees. He champions green energy not just in rhetoric, but in action: Titan is the first trucking company in Oregon with a completely green fleet. He runs a rigorous business at Titan, generating about $10 million in sales annually.

Wilson's campaign is based on his ambitious plan to end homelessness within a year of taking office by establishing 20 to 25 overnight shelters in businesses, churches and community centers throughout the city. We know that this is likely an impossible goal, and even if it were not the case, it would be difficult for Wilson to get a majority of the 12-member City Council and Multnomah County to support the plan.

But at least it's a plan. None of Wilson's primary opponents have articulated a homelessness strategy we can stomach. Gonzalez would jail people who violate the city's camping ban and remove resources from the streets; We fear that Rubio would take a backseat to the failed leadership in Multnomah County. They offer voters the familiar, binary choice between cruelty and inaction.

Wilson's plan is refreshingly based on what other cities are doing. For the past three years, he has traveled to cities across the country to research best practices for housing the homeless.

Critics call his research selective, and policy consultants, homeless service providers and local elected officials scoff that his plan does not take into account the complexities of homelessness, particularly when it is coupled with mental illness and addiction. Maybe they're right. But look up and down your block: How have local experts succeeded in alleviating Portland's misery and misery? This city has suffered immeasurably because two warring factions – corporations and nonprofits – have refused to accept their approaches as inadequate. Wilson offers a starting point for reframing the conversation.

His enthusiasm for solving the problem remains undiminished; Maybe this is something we shouldn't scoff at and instead demand more from our elected officials.

We recommend a ranking Carmen Rubio Second on your ballot.

Rubio, 50, worked for several local elected officials, including Mayor Tom Potter, before spending 10 years growing the Latino Network into an $18 million nonprofit. At City Hall, she passed significant legislation such as reallocating revenue from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to close city government budget gaps, consolidating the city's permitting functions under one agency, and establishing new tax increment financing districts, a historically successful economic development tool the city uses.

But two things worry us: First, she was unable to articulate a vision for the city. Second, she has demonstrated a blatant pattern of disregard for traffic rules for years. In some ways, these two problems are the same thing: the inability to act in the face of a crisis. She gave us no reason to believe that she would be the standard-bearer Portland needs to restore the trust of its residents.

Our third choice, René GonzalezHe doesn't shy away from a fight. But we suspect it would cause as many crises as it would solve.

The 50-year-old Gonzalez is determined to restore law and order to the city. He is full of bravery, but has made few significant policy decisions in his two years on the city council. Instead, he has angered his colleagues by introducing slapdash laws and has become increasingly paranoid that progressive activists and nonprofits in this city are trying to take down all moderate politicians. At times his bumbling demeanor veers into self-pity, suggesting he believes Portland residents should be asking what they can do for their officers, rather than the other way around.

We recognize the value of having a mayor who is clear-eyed and candid about the city's needs. So we'll put Gonzalez at third.

The Mingus Mapps from three years ago, today could have been our mayoral election. But Mapps, 54, a former political science professor, has shown little ability to make a measurable difference at City Hall and has actually been unable to implement some of his larger policy ideas, such as enacting an alternative charter. Reform measure when he was dissatisfied with the measure approved by the Charter Commission for 2022. We have no doubts about Mapp's commitment to this city or his intelligence. He just doesn't do much.

We praise Liv Osthusbest known as a dancer at Mary's Club, for bringing some levity to a mayoral campaign that seems dimmer than a broken lightbulb. Her campaign message is simple: hope. Unfortunately, she hasn't demonstrated a quick grasp of how city government works, and she hasn't articulated a vision for the city other than bringing the arts scene back into vacant buildings.

After discussions with the remaining candidates, we do not see a viable sixth option.

This newsroom has often warned against throwing away what we know — a lackluster politician or a dysfunctional form of government or politics — in the hope that something shinier, untested, will do a slightly better job.

Yet here we are, taking a big chance on Wilson because he offers a third way and an energy that is missing in city politics. Portland has decided to start over. Voters should elect a mayor who offers a clear break from a decade of low expectations. It's Wilson.

What Wilson was known for in high school: He was the worst player on the varsity basketball team.