I think Sharon's on the right track but I'd really like her to explain why she wasn't able to fix any of this on her 8 years on the commission, and who she thinks should take over the reins from JVP.
For starters, the Multnomah County Chair has absolute control of what goes on the county commission's agenda, making it next to impossible for other commissioners to launch their own initiatives, especially if - in the case of JVP - they would embarrass the chair or run counter to her own agenda. And the process for changing that rule is . . . complicated.
Secondly, the voters keep electing people from the revolving-door social service nonprofit and government social service bureaucracy whose belief system enables homelessness and addiction ("harm reduction").
Good point - I do understand that the commission itself needs overhaul. And we need commissioners who are more open to change. Megan Moyer won't listen to experts like Richard Perkins when it comes to the value/need of civil commitments to help the homeless toward measurable progress.
Having lived in Portland for more than 15 years, I witnessed at first hand how residents of Multnomah County (including the City of Portland) consistently elected County Commissioners and City Councilors who were ill-qualified, impractical, idealistic, and economically ignorant, who went on to serve lengthy terms of office before they could be ousted. These lengthy terms added up to many many years of ongoing delays in getting county and city government policies corrected or abandoned, dragging out ad nauseam the County’s and City’s ability to address pressing problems while they were staring everyone in the face. From where I sit, the fault lies squarely with the electorate which seems ever eager to support County and City candidates who make hollow cool-sounding promises, with little or no track record of possessing the skills or experience to tackle the complex challenges facing this region. Voters in the County and City need to be far more discriminating in weeding out the BS spewing forth from so many wannabe candidates and support only those who are truly qualified to take on the critical roles of setting policy for this urban area.
I wish we would conduct "job interviews" with all elected candidates - show us your resume indicating you are qualified for the job, provide us with examples of success, let us check your references. We elect people to take positions in government for which they have no track record of success based strictly on their ideology.
I really appreciated this thoughtful and informative analysis if the County's problems. I have long felt that the City's efforts in many areas of policy and governance could not move effectively move forward without a thorough cleanup of the County. It's like trying to walk with one thoroughly damaged leg.
I look forward to reading your plan. My hope is that it is not riddled with the same campaign lingo as this article. That your plan is exactly that without cheer leading. You will hear from me. And, thank you for the homework.
It takes a lot of courage for anyone to want to govern is a city with a public emergency. Good luck if you choose to do so. I am hoping that the county gets rid of all needle distribution which means getting 10,000 to 20,000 less needles per day distributed by the combination of Multnomah County Health Department and PPOP. I am also hoping for an emphasis on realism in what mental health can offer which to my mind is short term psychiatric care in community hospitals, a civil commitment capability that will get people into the hospital and adequately detoxed and treated and then given an opportunity to begin life anew in a better mental state. The county could be progressive by getting judges to hear civil commitment cases in 12 hours from admission in local hospitals to balance their liberty interests, with community interests for safety, civility, and beauty in the public square. The way forward is to strengthen the criminal justice and mental health systems and recognize that at times they have to play nice with one another.
Just read your plan. I'm not going to read the Multnomah County Home Rule Charter. I did read your links re: IT, Zero Based Budget Turnaround Plan, and the rest. While there are some stated percentages for success in your report, I find this to be a whole lot of blue-sky language. At this level of management and policy, I need case studies of past failures - with numbers including those served (or not), and dollars and cents as a comparison with what you propose - with numbers including those projected to be served (or not), and dollars and cents. And - community impacts with your case study comparisons that support your hypothesis. Community impact is what this whole mess is about - yes? You state that JVP failed. I agree. And, I am assuming you have data to support your written piece and claim (hypothesis). Share it in your proposal. What you offer is a whole lot of language. Optimistic, sure. Optimism is not enough by a long shot at this moment in time. I want a diet of practical, digestible facts alongside the proposed remedies using comparable metrics and empirical data, and if not possible, quantify with explanation. This proposal just doesn't do it for me. Like any thesis that relies on hypothesis, or opinion / experience, I am left with "so what". In addition, I am not going to fill out your response survey. I want my opinion to be part of a public dialogue. With all of JVP failings - the most egregious in my opinion is her information with holding. This is what got us into this budget mess, and why this community is left cleaning, addressing, managing, and fighting for stability in the spaces we live. If I am misreading any of the information you provide, I want to be re-directed by the community I share space with - not someone campaigning for office. Not to offend - but there is a plethora of "What this means is...." or "What I meant by this is..." from our electeds. Please, provide comparable data. I am pretty sure this community has graduated beyond hopeful rhetoric.
Awww, c'mon Sharon. Stop being coy and just say you're running. And while you're at it, please tell us how you'll get the votes from machine hacks on the council to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Not to mention the unfirable bureaucrats (all good union dues-payers) who will quietly tell you to peddle your papers somewhere else.
You'll need allies--think any of the players watching their real estate portfolios evaporate will dig into their bank accounts to finance a serious campaign.
Let us know how you'll dig into the opaque 500 (!!!) NGOs feasting on the homeless crisis--that's a lot of Form 990s to parse (and they won't really tell you anything beyond how much their CEOs are making). It'll be entertaining when the 501-c-3s start putting their logos on mailers opposing you.
Then ask yourself how you'll convince the Oregonian and WillyWeek to get off their bums and actually report this stuff when they're much more interested in riding inflatable frogs and ICE to clicks. There's going to be a Big Story about what it'll cost us to keep the Blazers losing in town; that and the latest Trump-hating temper tantrums will suck the oxygen out of your campaign.
Citizen journalists (aka Pirate Media) are getting more powerful, but they're not big enough to overcome the votes (some legitimate!) that will be stuffed into drop-boxes by the status quo gang.
I waited to post this because I was interested in what other’s had to say. First, let me say that I have great affection for Sharon, her intellect, her experience on the front line and her tenacity. I supported her in her campaign against JVP for chair. I met with behavioral health and housing staff in our the Behavioral Health Task Force’s four years of testimony during the construction and implementation of the Behavioral Health Resource Center under Kafoury and JVP. This coincided with the Pandemic and construction of the now infamous Ritz Carlton and the introduction of Fentanyl to Portland. Many of downtown’s hotels and some restaurants and shops and theaters were active in the Task Force. Sharon and Julia Brimm Edwards were the only Commissioners who listened. We kept asking staff for collection of data, treatment, coordination, outreach. We demanded and received contracts between the County and not for profits they were hiring to run the BHRC when it opened. We tried negotiating a Good Neighbor Agreement.
The BHRC was created by the County under Kafoury as a day center for those with behavioral health with no community outreach. It cost over $1,200 a square foot to renovate. It was within a three block radius of 11 hotels, if you include the Ritz, which was under construction. It opened in December 2022 and was an unequivocal safety and livability disaster. All of the hotels are now in receivership or will be. There never was a GNA. County staff and elected officials have no understanding of business or economics and many see businesses as a necessary evil to produce revenue at best. At worst the attitude in “not my problem”. Safety and livability is the responsibility of the City. The relationship was and continues to be, hostile between City and County despite efforts by the new Mayor and his staff.
During our time testifying and meeting with County staff may senior staff left to fill key positions at the State in health and behavioral health. When Measure 110 was reworked by the legislature the same people who promoted it in the first place were and still are in charge of determining who gets the marijuana tax dollars. Mostly for harm reduction and to support those whose vision is still decriminalizing drugs. Groups like PCCEP and LPSCC are still alive and kicking at the City and County respectively with a similar vision.
Sharon lost to JVP in the last election largely because of huge support by Public Employee unions. Now the County has voted to use rank choice voting to select the new Chair, who will continue to act as CEO, meaning virtually all staff reports to the CEO and owe their job accordingly.
In this context I will be supporting Sharon again, but her chances of winning may be slimmer than before. I see the best solution as Partnership for Progress’s proposal to merge the City and County is our best hope and get Sharon into a meaningful role at the state level. The obstacles against actually solving homelessness and behavioral health in Oregon are firmly entrenched.
Thank you, Sharon, for sharing your insights as well as your optimism that the problems facing the county are fixable with the right leadership.
I think Sharon's on the right track but I'd really like her to explain why she wasn't able to fix any of this on her 8 years on the commission, and who she thinks should take over the reins from JVP.
For starters, the Multnomah County Chair has absolute control of what goes on the county commission's agenda, making it next to impossible for other commissioners to launch their own initiatives, especially if - in the case of JVP - they would embarrass the chair or run counter to her own agenda. And the process for changing that rule is . . . complicated.
Secondly, the voters keep electing people from the revolving-door social service nonprofit and government social service bureaucracy whose belief system enables homelessness and addiction ("harm reduction").
Good point - I do understand that the commission itself needs overhaul. And we need commissioners who are more open to change. Megan Moyer won't listen to experts like Richard Perkins when it comes to the value/need of civil commitments to help the homeless toward measurable progress.
Qui Bono
12,000 non profits Portland
125,000 employees
$20billion in Annual Revenues
Having lived in Portland for more than 15 years, I witnessed at first hand how residents of Multnomah County (including the City of Portland) consistently elected County Commissioners and City Councilors who were ill-qualified, impractical, idealistic, and economically ignorant, who went on to serve lengthy terms of office before they could be ousted. These lengthy terms added up to many many years of ongoing delays in getting county and city government policies corrected or abandoned, dragging out ad nauseam the County’s and City’s ability to address pressing problems while they were staring everyone in the face. From where I sit, the fault lies squarely with the electorate which seems ever eager to support County and City candidates who make hollow cool-sounding promises, with little or no track record of possessing the skills or experience to tackle the complex challenges facing this region. Voters in the County and City need to be far more discriminating in weeding out the BS spewing forth from so many wannabe candidates and support only those who are truly qualified to take on the critical roles of setting policy for this urban area.
I wish we would conduct "job interviews" with all elected candidates - show us your resume indicating you are qualified for the job, provide us with examples of success, let us check your references. We elect people to take positions in government for which they have no track record of success based strictly on their ideology.
I really appreciated this thoughtful and informative analysis if the County's problems. I have long felt that the City's efforts in many areas of policy and governance could not move effectively move forward without a thorough cleanup of the County. It's like trying to walk with one thoroughly damaged leg.
I look forward to reading your plan. My hope is that it is not riddled with the same campaign lingo as this article. That your plan is exactly that without cheer leading. You will hear from me. And, thank you for the homework.
It takes a lot of courage for anyone to want to govern is a city with a public emergency. Good luck if you choose to do so. I am hoping that the county gets rid of all needle distribution which means getting 10,000 to 20,000 less needles per day distributed by the combination of Multnomah County Health Department and PPOP. I am also hoping for an emphasis on realism in what mental health can offer which to my mind is short term psychiatric care in community hospitals, a civil commitment capability that will get people into the hospital and adequately detoxed and treated and then given an opportunity to begin life anew in a better mental state. The county could be progressive by getting judges to hear civil commitment cases in 12 hours from admission in local hospitals to balance their liberty interests, with community interests for safety, civility, and beauty in the public square. The way forward is to strengthen the criminal justice and mental health systems and recognize that at times they have to play nice with one another.
Just read your plan. I'm not going to read the Multnomah County Home Rule Charter. I did read your links re: IT, Zero Based Budget Turnaround Plan, and the rest. While there are some stated percentages for success in your report, I find this to be a whole lot of blue-sky language. At this level of management and policy, I need case studies of past failures - with numbers including those served (or not), and dollars and cents as a comparison with what you propose - with numbers including those projected to be served (or not), and dollars and cents. And - community impacts with your case study comparisons that support your hypothesis. Community impact is what this whole mess is about - yes? You state that JVP failed. I agree. And, I am assuming you have data to support your written piece and claim (hypothesis). Share it in your proposal. What you offer is a whole lot of language. Optimistic, sure. Optimism is not enough by a long shot at this moment in time. I want a diet of practical, digestible facts alongside the proposed remedies using comparable metrics and empirical data, and if not possible, quantify with explanation. This proposal just doesn't do it for me. Like any thesis that relies on hypothesis, or opinion / experience, I am left with "so what". In addition, I am not going to fill out your response survey. I want my opinion to be part of a public dialogue. With all of JVP failings - the most egregious in my opinion is her information with holding. This is what got us into this budget mess, and why this community is left cleaning, addressing, managing, and fighting for stability in the spaces we live. If I am misreading any of the information you provide, I want to be re-directed by the community I share space with - not someone campaigning for office. Not to offend - but there is a plethora of "What this means is...." or "What I meant by this is..." from our electeds. Please, provide comparable data. I am pretty sure this community has graduated beyond hopeful rhetoric.
Awww, c'mon Sharon. Stop being coy and just say you're running. And while you're at it, please tell us how you'll get the votes from machine hacks on the council to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Not to mention the unfirable bureaucrats (all good union dues-payers) who will quietly tell you to peddle your papers somewhere else.
You'll need allies--think any of the players watching their real estate portfolios evaporate will dig into their bank accounts to finance a serious campaign.
Let us know how you'll dig into the opaque 500 (!!!) NGOs feasting on the homeless crisis--that's a lot of Form 990s to parse (and they won't really tell you anything beyond how much their CEOs are making). It'll be entertaining when the 501-c-3s start putting their logos on mailers opposing you.
Then ask yourself how you'll convince the Oregonian and WillyWeek to get off their bums and actually report this stuff when they're much more interested in riding inflatable frogs and ICE to clicks. There's going to be a Big Story about what it'll cost us to keep the Blazers losing in town; that and the latest Trump-hating temper tantrums will suck the oxygen out of your campaign.
Citizen journalists (aka Pirate Media) are getting more powerful, but they're not big enough to overcome the votes (some legitimate!) that will be stuffed into drop-boxes by the status quo gang.
Good luck.
SPOT ON.
Jessica Vega Pederson's Approval Rating 11%
Donald Trump's Approval Rating 34%
If you want to know how that's possible, re-read this article.
PS: Alan Claussen and The NW Examiner prove once again they are at the top of the journalistic food chain.
I waited to post this because I was interested in what other’s had to say. First, let me say that I have great affection for Sharon, her intellect, her experience on the front line and her tenacity. I supported her in her campaign against JVP for chair. I met with behavioral health and housing staff in our the Behavioral Health Task Force’s four years of testimony during the construction and implementation of the Behavioral Health Resource Center under Kafoury and JVP. This coincided with the Pandemic and construction of the now infamous Ritz Carlton and the introduction of Fentanyl to Portland. Many of downtown’s hotels and some restaurants and shops and theaters were active in the Task Force. Sharon and Julia Brimm Edwards were the only Commissioners who listened. We kept asking staff for collection of data, treatment, coordination, outreach. We demanded and received contracts between the County and not for profits they were hiring to run the BHRC when it opened. We tried negotiating a Good Neighbor Agreement.
The BHRC was created by the County under Kafoury as a day center for those with behavioral health with no community outreach. It cost over $1,200 a square foot to renovate. It was within a three block radius of 11 hotels, if you include the Ritz, which was under construction. It opened in December 2022 and was an unequivocal safety and livability disaster. All of the hotels are now in receivership or will be. There never was a GNA. County staff and elected officials have no understanding of business or economics and many see businesses as a necessary evil to produce revenue at best. At worst the attitude in “not my problem”. Safety and livability is the responsibility of the City. The relationship was and continues to be, hostile between City and County despite efforts by the new Mayor and his staff.
During our time testifying and meeting with County staff may senior staff left to fill key positions at the State in health and behavioral health. When Measure 110 was reworked by the legislature the same people who promoted it in the first place were and still are in charge of determining who gets the marijuana tax dollars. Mostly for harm reduction and to support those whose vision is still decriminalizing drugs. Groups like PCCEP and LPSCC are still alive and kicking at the City and County respectively with a similar vision.
Sharon lost to JVP in the last election largely because of huge support by Public Employee unions. Now the County has voted to use rank choice voting to select the new Chair, who will continue to act as CEO, meaning virtually all staff reports to the CEO and owe their job accordingly.
In this context I will be supporting Sharon again, but her chances of winning may be slimmer than before. I see the best solution as Partnership for Progress’s proposal to merge the City and County is our best hope and get Sharon into a meaningful role at the state level. The obstacles against actually solving homelessness and behavioral health in Oregon are firmly entrenched.
More on this later.