PORTLAND, Ore. — November's general election will be an historic one in Portland for a myriad reasons. There's the sheer number of people running for office, an expanded set of elected positions, a new system for electing them and even a new system of government they'll be participating in once elected.
There are 19 people running for Portland mayor and 98 others looking to win one of the 12 city council seats available when 2025 rolls around.
But the novelty of it all introduces new concerns, particularly in terms of misinformation or simple lack of information. Some interest groups have been thinking of ways to get their perspectives to candidates and the public alike, so they don't have to rely on things they may see on social media or hear through the grapevine.
One method of dissemination is through candidate forums, where organizations invite all the candidates and ask them how they would approach issues, while at the same timing sharing information about what is really happening in the district.
RELATED: Portland to use ranked choice voting to decide mayor, city council election. Here's how it works
Among the largest efforts is coming from a group called "United for Portland." Recently, they held such a forum in the offices of a company called Sport Oregon, located across the street from Providence Park. Dozens of candidates for Portland City Council gathered to learn how the current state and reputation of Portland is impacting the ability to bring sporting and other events to the city.
"Tourism, the hospitality industry is incredibly important for Portland," said Greg Astley, director of government affairs for the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association. "Pre-COVID we were one of the hot spots for people when it came to the culinary world. That has changed at little bit, as you might imagine."
This meeting was the fourth in a series of candidate forums, and a previous one focused on Portland's economy. Attendance is mandatory for any candidate hoping to win the endorsement of United for Portland.
Terrance Hayes, a candidate for city council in District 1, East Portland, said he finds the briefings valuable.
"I think its been twofold. It's building relationships with the other candidates and then getting the sense of what's important to community members," he said.
Doug Moore, who turned the Oregon League of Conservation Voters into a political powerhouse before moving on, is now the executive director of United for Portland. Moore said the idea behind these events is to help train candidates on the city's issues, using nonpartisan experts.
"Well, we have candidates who, you know, have never run before. We have former elected officials. We have candidates who are activists, small business owners, you know, teachers," Moore said. "They come from all over the city, and they're doing it because they really care about our community and they just need the information to do this. And so, providing that levels the playing field for all the candidates and gives them the same kind of grounding that they need to have that elected officials already have. So, somebody like Dan Ryan, who's already in office, has access to all this information, but somebody who hasn't run before just doesn't have that. And we we want to level that playing field."
"And then they can lay their political bent over the top of it, but at least you've got the same facts," The Story's Pat Dooris offered.
"That's right. We can argue exactly what the best approach is, for example, to solve homelessness in the city," Moore said. "But let's identify where the real problems are so that we're all starting from the same start point, you know ... that we're all starting from, like, 'This is a problem. Here are the facts.' Then we can figure out solutions."
Eyes on Portland's image
Before the meeting began, Dooris stopped candidates at random to ask how these forums have gone so far.
"I think they're good. I think we need more," said Olivia Clark, a city council candidate for District 4, which includes West Portland and a small slice of Southeast.
Clark and several others mentioned a common impression from earlier sessions.
"One of the biggest takeaways for me is what we're going to have to do to attract capital back into making investments in Portland," Clark said. "That it's really important that we change our image right now — we're kind of suffering from that. And capital, the big investments, the pension funds and so forth, they have a lot of places to go that are easier to invest in. We already had a reputation for being difficult to work with … "
Timur Ender, another candidate for District 1, had a similar takeaway.
"One of the things that really stood out to me is we were at a session related to private sector investment in market rate housing," Ender said. "And really, my takeaway is how important the city's reputation is in terms of getting investments into Portland ... So that's just one piece — that's not the only way to build housing, obviously there are different ways. But in terms of that section, that was a great takeaway."
Others had a broader perspective on the value of these sessions. Rex Burkholder is running in District 3, which is primarily inner Southeast Portland.
"You get to learn in depth what the issues are in the city — both inside the city, what are the budget issues, that sort of stuff — then also the concerns that various groups in the community have. Whether it's a business group or community group, they get the time to share that with you and you learn," said Burkholder.
The CEO of Sport Oregon, Jim Etzel, had a captive audience in this session to talk about the fraught process of working with city government his business has experienced.
"Our team's been working on another major event that would commit to here for three years in July, a high point of need," Etzel said. "And just to get the permitting and the routing — and this event would drive 15,000 room nights, which is bigger than a citywide convention — and every conversation starts with 'no.'"
John Toran is another candidate running in District 4. He said seeing the numbers related to tourism losses for the city in the recent past leaves a stark impression.
"I'm a downtown resident, and I've been down here for 49 years so I've seen the evolution of Portland from warehouse town to a tourist center," Toran said. "And we haven't been taking care of our tourists very well over the last five or six years."
That's the message the presenters at this forum hope will stay with the candidates if they are elected — that the city needs help.
"Some of you may be missing one of your favorite restaurants that closed during the pandemic or after — and I know we're going to talk more about that as we get into some of these questions — but we are not out of the woods, either on the lodging side or the restaurant side," said Astley, the restaurant and hospitality industry rep. "It's still very, very difficult for independent restaurants, for hotels to make it, but they're trying."