Finally, months after Mayor Sam Adams “laid down a marker” in his State of the City Speech (as Nick Fish put it this afternoon), the Portland City Council unanimously approved the creation of a new Office of Equity and Human Rights.
A party was planned for the lobby of city hall, immediately afterward. And applause—sustained and in defiance of usual council chamber protocol—erupted when the gavel dropped. Kind words abounded. Adams hailed the vote as a triumph for Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who endured heavy criticism as the effort to build the office nearly ran aground before her colleagues arguably stepped in this summer to help her rescue it.
“There is no more important use of taxpayers’ money than making sure that everyone has access to good jobs, that everyone has access to city services,” Fritz declared.
It was a good time. Until, that is, Commissioner Dan Saltzman decided to land at least one good shot, reminding everyone that the celebration might be a bit premature. Noting the $1.1 million office budget this year, a one-time expense, he gave a warning: No action, no funding next year.
“$1.1 million can buy a lot of swimming pool hours, a lot of mental health crisis workers. I’ll be watching very closely. If the Office of Equity and Human Rights does nothing more than brown bags and diversity dialogues… then you will not have achieved success. You need to achieve tangible practices, things city employees and city supervisors can get. I will not be supporting $1.1 million in ongoing funds if you fail. But if you succeed, and i hope you do, we will all be better off.”
There may yet be bumps. Some advocates speaking today still say the city has yet to summon the courage to tackle racial inequities. “My hope is that once the office of equity exists, it won’t take us three years to figure out how people of color are included,” said Jo Ann Hardesty, the ex-state legislator formerly known as Jo Ann Bowman.
And not everyone thinks $1.1 million is enough. Said Sharon Gary Smith, director of outreach group McKenzie River Gathering: “I want multi-millions of my money spent to ensure everyone my city has access to equality and opportunity.”
We’ll see next year if Fritz and Adams’ colleagues share that sentiment.
‘There is no more important use of taxpayers’ money than making sure that everyone has access to good jobs, that everyone has access to city services’
Well, there’s preventing people from getting shot in the streets in broad daylight, filling the potholes and a few other things the city doesn’t seem to care about.
Please explain exactly what my ‘making sure’ dollars get me.
I’m pretty sure the argument would be that if minorities (specifically in this case, black people) had access to good jobs and city services that they’d be less likely to shoot at each other every summer. It’s about the only argument for the OEHR that makes sense.
I wish Saltzman were running for Mayor.
And that argument aside from being a tad ‘raysisst’ also makes no sense.
Sharon Gary Smith has paid multi-millions in taxes? Impressive.
At the risk of giving credence to a few ‘individuals’ rants, I’d venture to guess that a concern about whether I’m a multi-million dollar taxpayer is based more on whether you’ve been influenced to believe that’s the only qualifying marker for questioning ‘the way things are’ in my city. I have a different standard for my qualifications than the current pattern of ‘doling’ out my money. I recognize that this may be a new concept, but I’m talking about access, opportunity and equity – based on a few critical facts: residency, an Oregonian – and city resident by birth and geographic choice; one who’s paid their more-than-fair share into the city and county, and state coffers (and those at the higher ends do not pay anywhere close to theirs, thank you). This “new” concept is about creating access points for all in our City – and placing the same standards of measurement on the outcomes. In fact, I’m all for “Watching Closely,” which must be relatively new for our longest-serving City Councilmember, given the number of economically-risky, unreliable ventures that he’s voted for – can you say South Waterfront, OHSU bio center, gobbled up PDC dollars at an alarming rate and is still proving unsustainable, huh?? It’s ensuring that the ability to compete fairly is based on access to quality public education, affordable housing. It’s getting the quality you pay (too much for) in healthcare and access to equal economic capital for your community. It’s knowing that your abilities, skills and educational preparation are measured fairly in competition for employment and advancement, not minimized based on historically-discriminatory markers of legacy, money, and skin privilege.
That’s what I’m talking about; incredibly different perspective, huh?! As for the specious questioning of whether the proposed/(and successfully passed Equity Office Initiative) would ‘prevent minorities, (specifically in this case, Black people) from being likely to shoot each other every summer,’ is like asking if people of European descent will stop excessive sun exposure, given the evidence that their skin cancer (melanoma) rates are stratospheric; some will, some won’t. That’s really not the point, is it?
Finally, for the record, I’m not affiliated with an organizing organization; I’m the director of a progressive foundation that provides funding to achieve a healthy, sustainable, environmentally-just, peaceful and safe Oregon for all of us.