The Burnside Blog

Posted By Mike Thelin on 04/16/2008

The third Portland Spaces Bright Lights Discussion Series hosted by Randy Gragg showcased Portland’s pair of mayoral candidates, City Commissioner Sam Adams and PDX Businessman Sho Dozono.

The debate presented two very different men: both very much well-connected Portland insiders and both citizens who clearly love their city. Sam Adams is definitely the guy on the ground. At some points in the debate, I felt like Sho had no idea what he was talking about. Then again, Sam at one point admitted being a policy wonk. Sho, on the other hand, is a CEO with a track-record for executive-style centralized leadership. That’s not always a bad thing, but it can be dangerous in Portland because of Portland’s City Council style of government. Having good vision but lacking clarity on detail is dangerous when Randy Leonard is in the room. It should also be noted that Sho Dozono was wearing two different shoes, one Nike and one Adidas. So either he’s really brilliant to recognize two of Portland’s most influential companies, or he doesn’t know how to dress himself. You decide.

Answering Randy’s first question, Sam Adams said that Portland ought to look to Amsterdam and Vancouver, BC for inspiration. For Sho, Portland should imitate Chicago and New York. While I like to praise Sho for thinking big, one must compare apples to apples. Amsterdam is a great model for Portland. Beside its renowned acceptance of vice, Amsterdam and Vancouver are cities with growth limited by man-made and natural boundaries. Amsterdam is also the biking capital of Europe.

I was also concerned by Sho’s response to Randy’s question of how the city should plan for the estimated one million new residents that will move to the area in the next two decades. Sam laid out a series of goals to accommodate the growth, ranging from alternative energy plans to the development of transportation corridors. Meanwhile, Sho seemed out-to-lunch, and his response seemed to question whether Portland would grow at all. What’s more, after he had clearly stated that any comprehensive plan for Portland would need to be regional and include the input of neighbors like Vancouver, Gresham and Beaverton, Sho stated five minutes later that his only concern with population growth is with Portland’s population growth. Wha?

At the same time, Sam Adam’s positions weren’t without criticism. Randy’s question were considerably much harder on Adams than Dozono. That’s probably because Sam, like a senator running for the presidency, has a record to defend. Sho does not.

Sam had to defend his stance on two high-profile projects, the Burnside Couch Couplet, and the Sauvie Island pedestrian bridge. The $80 million Couplet would change downtown forever by making Burnside and Couch streets one-way traffic corridors, and Burnside would get a streetcar line from 24th Place to the river. The pedestrian bridge would recycle the old Sauvie Island span as a pedestrian and bike bridge over Interstate 405 at Flanders street. It’s estimated to cost $5.5 million.

Sam stood by his guns, likening his pet projects to some of Portland’s most renowned success stories, like Tom McCall Waterfront Park and Pioneer Courthouse Square. Sam Adams could be right in the end, or his projects could be horribly misguided. Time will tell, and voters must decide. It is often said jokingly that “Sam Adams has never met an idea that he doesn’t like.” Fair to say it’s easy to criticize someone who has ideas. Regarding design, Sho didn’t appear to have well-defined plans for how Portland should look and behave. Portland already has a mayor completely out-of-touch with its so-called creative class at a time when Portland is a Mecca for artists, architects and designers. If Sho is going to win, he’s going to need to do a far better job proving that he knows what’s happening on the ground.

Adams, on the other hand, must prove how his ideas and projects will pay for themselves. We all love civic amenities and public space, but Portland is a city in need of vision and in need of jobs.

This crux of this conversation was Portland design, and Sam Adams clearly had the upper hand. I’m interested to see how the election progresses.