If we want Portland to be a city that is welcoming to all, we need to make it more affordable. The lack of affordable housing and good-paying jobs, combined with rising taxes, fees and red tape, make neighboring cities more attractive to residents and businesses. The outflow of taxpayers and businesses leaving the city and county means that we have less money for the services we rely on. We need leaders who are committed to increasing housing production, attracting businesses that bring good jobs, and reducing fees and taxes for taxpayers and businesses.

If we want Portland to thrive, everyone needs to feel safe to enjoy our parks and plazas, libraries, sidewalks, restaurants and bars, and public spaces — regardless of their neighborhood, income, age, or background. A grandmother waiting for the bus, a kid walking home from school, a server closing up a restaurant at midnight — all of them deserve to feel protected, not just lucky. Safe streets allow small businesses to succeed, creating jobs and funding social programs. We need leaders who understand safety and compassion aren't in tension — they’re both an important part of our social compact.

If we want to fund our progressive vision, we have to stop being hostile to businesses that create jobs and give people opportunity and security. Thriving local businesses strengthen neighborhoods and create the tax base that pays for the public services we all rely on. And Portland’s independent shops, restaurants, artists, makers, and entrepreneurs are part of what makes this city unlike anywhere else. The people who took the risk to open a shop here, who show up every day and make payroll, deserve a city that has their back — not one that treats them as an ATM. We need leaders who understand that supporting workers and supporting a healthy business community are not competing priorities. We want leaders who will fight to keep existing businesses in Portland and work tirelessly to attract businesses to move here.

If we want Portland to be the amazing city we love, we need to prioritize Portland’s issues over a national agenda. That means demonstrating progressive values can actually deliver results here at home. This is our city — our streets, our schools, our neighbors — and the people elected to run it should answer to us, not to a national movement. Portland can help lead the country by showing what progressive government looks like when it works. We’re looking for leaders who will focus their energy on the problems we have the power — and the responsibility — to solve.

If we want to solve our biggest challenges and make Portland a model of progressive governance, we need to elect leaders who know how to collaborate, compromise, and solve real problems. We need civic leaders who govern for the whole city rather than rallying their base with divisive rhetoric and an extreme ideological agenda that does not move Portland forward. Councilors who can build a majority with colleagues they disagree with, and stay at the table through the tedious part, because the cost of a deadlocked council never lands on the people making the speeches. It lands on everyone else.