I grew up in Parkrose and have memories of East County becoming part of Portland. We heard a lot of promises then, of services on par with the rest of the city. I’m running for City Council to make sure the city keeps its promises, that government is accountable to the people of East Portland, and that all of our neighbors can build a life of belonging and purpose here.

As someone with 20 years of community organizing experience, one skill that I bring to this moment in our city’s history is that of coalition building. I filed an intent to run for Portland City Council early because I believe we have a rare chance to build more collaboration into Portland city government, and I believe that in order to be successful, that work needs to start on the campaign trail. I want to advance policies that allow my neighbors and me a future of self-determination and dignity.

East Portlanders have approximately 10 years lower life expectancy than Portlanders residing west of I-205. This is due to greater rates of gun violence, traffic crashes, historic underinvestment, and a lack of political representation. Given the new political boundaries, I am running because I want to be accountable for reducing health disparities and extending life expectancies in East Portland.
For many working families, it is not feasible to spend 15 months running for public office. For our family, we felt that it was something we could do and running for office was an important way of serving our community.
Finally, a lot of perspectives have been missing from local government: first generation immigrants, former public sector union members, families who speak a language other than English at home, transit-dependent families, and parents of young kids. I’m proud to bring these perspectives to my campaign and public policy.

It’s no secret that the challenges facing Portland are many and complex. And yet, Portland has the biggest opportunity in more than a century to transform how we lead our city into the future. In 2025 when we implement voter-approved changes to how we govern, increase democratic representation, and deliver services, we will finally give voice to East Portlanders who have long been left behind by our city.
After many years as an active civic leader in Portland’s politics, I am inspired to run for Council to bring my policy expertise combined with my community minded leadership to City Hall. I’m consistent, dedicated, and I know what it takes to get things done with a track record of succeeding despite unbelievable odds. I care about my community, and I care about bringing good governance to city hall, and this is what has primarily driven me to run this race at this time.

I’ve seen Portland’s decline firsthand, both as someone who lives here and through my work with the Water Bureau. It’s really tough to watch. The past Councils haven’t paid much attention to East Portland. They love to say they care about helping low-income neighborhoods and improving lives, but when it’s time to put money where their mouth is, East Portland always seems to get left behind. It’s super frustrating, and I’m eager to change that.

I love Portland. I believe that this is the greatest community I could choose to raise my daughter in. But Portland is broken right now, and no one is coming to save us. We have to save us.

I have been watching the Charter Reform process from the beginning, and while I firmly believe that this new system will be better than the existing form of government, I feel like the committee in charge took a list of good ideas and did all of them. It’s an experiment that I’m hopeful will pay off, but I have deep concerns about the transition, and the experience of candidates who are running. Almost all of the candidates that I have met are passionate civic-minded individuals with experience on their school boards or neighborhood associations, but lack the real deep experience necessary for actually running a city. The next City Council won’t have the luxury of learning on the job. If we accidentally elect 12 of the wrong City Council members who don’t know the difference between an ordinance and a resolution or how to read a budget document, Portland will fall on her face, and we will enter a death spiral that few Cities have been able to recover from.

I have been in public service in Portland for more than 20 years, including five years working at the highest levels in Portland City Government as a Senior Policy Director for Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish. I have no interest in becoming a career politician. But I believe I can uniquely help with this next great chapter. I’m ready to use my 20+ years of experience getting results in this community to help with the messy transition to the new form of government and ensure that the City Council can hit the ground running on day one.

The upcoming change to city council means deeper representation of Portland communities that have traditionally been underserved and underrepresented in local government. As a life-long public servant, I am prepared to leverage my experiences and represent Portlanders in my district. As a city councilor for District 1 I plan to have an office in the community that will be accessible to all members. I want to hear from my constituents during local office hours and I will fight to represent the community, from within the community.
In the new charter we are responsible for ensuring the economy is moving forward and growing stronger for everyone in Portland, and that includes my constituents. We have significant infrastructure funding coming online from the federal government over the next 10 years and I will work to ensure a large portion of that money is earmarked for the communities in East Portland.

I’m running because I want to make sure that the voice of the average citizen of District One is heard. The people of the east side have been ignored and underrepresented by our local government for far too long. That has led to people losing faith in the city. But, now that the people have voted to reorganize the city council, we have to represent ourselves. I want to make sure that people out here are aware of that, that they are able to make their voices heard. I want to elevate the voices of those disenfranchised by the very government that was supposed to serve them. But, more importantly, I just want people to vote, even if it’s not for me.