PORTLAND, Ore. — After a candidate for Portland City Council District 1 was hit by a drunk driver early Sunday evening, he's using the incident to highlight what he would try to do in order to change traffic safety if elected.
Just before 5 p.m. Sunday, Noah Ernst's car was hit on Southwest 16th Avenue and Burnside Street. He was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The person who hit him was also taken to the hospital and cited for driving under the influence.
Ernst’s emerald-green car, which was totaled, was sitting in a tow yard Tuesday morning.
"This speaks to two things that I think are really important to why I’m running for city council," he said inside a Radio Cab conference room, where he currently works as the superintendent and in-house counsel.
Ernst talked about addressing staff shortages at the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and increasing traffic safety, including street infrastructure — issues he's prioritized throughout his campaign and ones he believes were factors in Sunday's crash.
"I don't know if it's ironic. It's certainly apropos. It's incredibly frustrating. But at the same time, at least I can use myself as an example to say look how badly things are going, look how we need to make changes. We need to make the city of Portland a better place, a safer place," Ernst said.
KGW reached out to all 15 candidates running for District 1 in East Portland. A handful got back to KGW.
"Noah's a good guy and I hate hearing that news. I wish him the best," said Doug Clove. "As for traffic safety, not sure where this happened, but in our district, being East Portland, traffic is dangerous, and we need infrastructure improvements. Not sure what you can do about random drunk drivers except increase traffic enforcement. PPB is understaffed, and we need more cops to increase enforcement."
"Traffic safety and drunk driving are serious issues on the East Side that I know whoever wins in District 1 will make every effort to continue to reduce. I wish Noah a speedy recovery," said Thomas Shervey.
"This is terrible news. I hope Noah is OK," said Cayle Tern. "I don't think one should be in an accident to know that traffic safety should be a priority. Although we need to hold drunk drivers accountable, it is not enough. Incarcerating and penalizing the drunk driver does not undo the damage that was done. ... We need more proactive solutions that get to the root of the problem. Increased street-side parking, traffic, poor lighting has contributed to making our streets more dangerous by reducing the visibility for pedestrians and drivers at intersections and crosswalks in East Portland. ... We need to figure out how we can close the budget gap for PBOT so they have the means to address traffic safety. Street visibility impacts alert drivers and impacts impaired drivers even more."
A spokesperson for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) responded to the incident, saying in part: "We need everyone to take steps today to make our streets safer. Avoid driving under the influence, look out for people biking and walking, and understand that we need more enforcement."
While Sunday’s crash happened in Southwest Portland, Ernst points to his district in East Portland as a dangerous place to drive and one that gets fewer resources than the inner city.
"It’s time for that to change," Ernst said. "We have to have a city council that actually listens to the people of East Portland and treat them with the respect that they’re entitled to and that they deserve."
A PPB spokesperson told KGW that Chief Bob Day has echoed the call for more officers, and in addition, their traffic division is working to keep roads safe by conducting routine missions. Their most recent mission was this past weekend, resulting in hundreds of traffic stops and citations.