“Tenacious.” “Dedicated.” “A bulldog.” Those were the words floating
around city hall last week, as people passed out tissues and
remembered their dearly departed colleague, City Commissioner Erik
Sten.
“I met him when he was first a staffer in [Commissioner] Gretchen
[Kafoury]’s office, and his hair was down to his shoulders and he
looked like he was 12,” recounts Bob Durston, who later served
as Sten’s chief of staff. “The one thing that always amazed me was
there was never any fight that was too big to undertake; from taking on
Enron to announcing a citywide goal of eliminating homelessness. Erik
is a unique politician, in that his heart is as big as his
brain.”
Mayor Tom Potter declared April 2 an official Day of Remem… er,
Appreciation for Commissioner Erik Sten: “Erik Sten leaves a
legacy that will not easily be forgotten by his colleagues on city
council, city staff, and members of the community,” the mayor said,
citing his work on issues like housing, homelessness, the
environment, voter-owned elections, and “more equitably distribut[ing]
the city’s financial resources.” The mayor’s proclamation “serves as a
reminder of some—but not all—of [Sten’s] great work on
behalf of the city.”
(Before you throw yourself off a bridge in grief, Sten’s not
actually all that dead. But Friday, April 4, is the day he’ll turn
in his official badge, the one that lets him enter Portland City Hall
on the secure SW 5th side. Sten resigned midterm, after over 11 years
on city council and a few before that working for Kafoury; he’s headed
for a year-long fellowship with community development nonprofit Living
Cities. We mourn the passing of his city hall career, while his
colleagues will raise a glass to the man himself on Friday
night.)
Meanwhile, in honor of his friend and colleague, Commissioner Randy
Leonard plans to “be the point person” for any of Sten’s unfinished
business. “That’s a testament to him. I wouldn’t do that for
just anybody,” says Leonard.
The two both grew up in the same inner Northeast Portland
neighborhood, Leonard explained, where “you had to use your mouth to
survive. I recognized the trait. He and I both shared this with each
other.”
Sam Adams’ fondest Sten memory? “He and I ended up at a conference
of some sort in Austin, Texas. We went out after the day’s conference
was over, on 6th Street,” Adams says. “He’s going to hate that I said
this… but the entire evening all the gay guys were hitting on
him, and all the women were hitting on me. We were all laughing.”
On a more serious note, Adams says the thing he’ll miss most about Sten
is “his zeal for trying new ways. A lot of people talk about new ideas,
he’s actually willing to set forth and try them out.”
With Sten, as Durston says, “not only is anything possible, but it’s
always possible tomorrow.”