We come together...or we come apart

Portland's survival depends on collaboration instead of conflict

I’ve been rather hard on the leftist Progressive Caucus (aka Peacock) members sitting on our City Council. I think them, by and large, ignorant or smugly dismissive on matters of history and economics, arrogant in their backroom dealings, intellectually incurious, willfully destructive and mind-bogglingly incompetent when it comes to the management of, and laying out a future for, a major city. None of them—well, perhaps one; this is Portland, after all—would be in office without the three-fold expansion of council seats via a ranked-choice voting system that has proved itself to be a cynical form of government that values the dilution of an individual’s vote, diversity for diversity’s sake and a city divided; promotes a culture of extreme partisanship that discourages compromise; vilifies those who oppose its agenda; ignores or eschews proximate allies; prefers righteous preening over results-oriented policy; focuses an inordinate amount of its time on issues outside the city’s purview; and exemplifies an astonishing inability to do the hard work of creating a unifying vision for Portland replete with strategic goals and an operational plan with “critical path” items specifically called out such that they can distinguish when pragmatic action takes precedence over long-term “systemic” reform.

I wish them all a primer on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (The Civic Edition) this holiday season.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe the Peacocks are on the mark regarding some of the systemic issues they prefer to rub noses in rather than enlist allies to address them. Many of us would love to help. But one doesn’t focus upon the historical origins of fire while a house is burning down. For all the righteous anger they direct at the far right MAGA wackos (lest anyone misconstrue where I stand politically), our beloved Peacocks are similarly inclined—although not nearly as successful—in their approach. The POTUS administration has done a good job (I didn’t say admirable) identifying hot potato issues begging for redress, spewing invective to build a strong, if somewhat deplorable (ahem), base and implementing unilaterally conceived—within a “group think” environment—polices that are heartless, harsh, divisive, unconscionable, poorly-thought-through plans to achieve an end state that leaves a trail of shredded institutions, divided communities, all-time lows in across the aisle collaboration and a justified fall from worldwide prominence that is a stunning example about how fragile a democracy can be.

Peacocks take note

We don’t have to love each other to work together. Although collaboration doesn’t seem imminent in our current political climate, Portland’s survival demands it. Notwithstanding my opening salvo, maybe we can find some common ground as we head into the new year. A few shared wins might reintroduce the concepts of respect and trust in subsequent dealings. Time is running out. We can get always get back to the self-righteous gnashing of teeth, bantering and bashing going on today. I suspect that if we hammer out some bipartisan solutions that benefit ALL OF US, we might be inclined to turn down the heat in our bickering. I know I would. Let’s start with the premise that no one owns the moral high ground and that there is good intent across the aisle. Some of our major differences on the purpose and machinations of government are likely to remain, but wouldn’t it be great if we created an environment where STUFF GETS DONE?

Isn’t that the job you signed up for when you ran for office, dear Peacocks?

Let’s put down the swords (and the keyboards and snarky adjectives) and declare 2026 the year that Portland leads the nation in crafting an effective, if not perfect, solution to the homeless/houseless issue. How about we all come to the table to craft and implement something that benefits our most desperate citizens, cleans up and makes safe our streets and sidewalks, reinvigorates a damaged merchant community and makes our motto, The City That Works, less the embarrassing joke that it has become?

TOGETHER let’s begin the long effort to right this ship, allowing us, TOGETHER, to build a sense of respect and trust so that, TOGETHER, we can turn our attention to rungs higher up on Professor Maslow’s hierarchy? When I scan the rhetoric—mine, the Peacocks, other contributors to the NW Examiner on the matter, including the Letters to the Editor —Thank You, Stephen Kafoury, for planting the seed to this piece)—I get the sense that we are talking past rather than listening to each other, that we are more aligned on this issue than anyone might surmise given the bashing going on between us. Could it be that we are we so dug in in our own tidy political trenches that we don’t see a rather large area of common ground we share on this issue?

It’s a difficult task, but what’s the option? It will take significant effort to define a full scope of the problem that will satisfy all perspectives. It will require patience and compromise. It will, and should, invite constitutional scrutiny as we struggle with getting those who cannot help themselves off the streets and into care. It will be expensive, causing us to shift out budget items so that we can focus on pragmatic priorities. It will require that ideologies be mothballed and finger-pointing stopped.

It will, above all things, require LEADERSHIP and OPEN MINDEDNESS.

Mayor Wilson and City Council members, are you up to the task? There are a lot of people out here hoping that you are and willing to help.

The people on the street are depending upon you. The city of Portland is depending upon you. The rest of the nation is watching you (and us). Let’s make 2026 the year that a great city came together to fix the plague of homeless/houseless-ness.

Naïve? Yeah. You got something better?