Sho Dozono—downtown business owner and longtime civic
activist—stopped by Portland City Hall on Monday morning, January
7, to pick up 2,000 public campaign finance forms. If he can convince
1,500 Portland voters to pony up $5 and their signature on those forms,
he’ll qualify for $200,000 of public funds in a bid for
mayor—making Dozono the most serious challenger to date for
frontrunner Sam Adams. There’s just one hitch: He’s got 25 days, total,
to get those forms properly filled out.

To put that into perspective: It took City Commissioner Erik Sten
two months to collect 1,000 contributions and signatures in 2006, and
city council candidate Amanda Fritz has collected 1,000 twice—but
needed a little over two and a half months each time.

“It’s a test of my ability to inspire the citizens of Portland to
invest their $5 in democracy,” Dozono says. “I do believe I have the
qualifications to win the race and become the mayor of Portland. I’m
not entering this race to lose. I’m in the race to win.” As for
experience, he points to his “30 years plus of civic engagement and
support for issues that are important to me and to Portland,” like
public education and the strength of Portland’s small business
community.

And if he doesn’t succeed in collecting 1,500 contributions by the
January 31 deadline, he says he’ll bow out of the race. (Speaking of
races! Sten announced his impending resignation last week. See In Other
News, pg. 9 for more details.)

While Dozono was busy collecting signatures—as of Tuesday
afternoon, he says he’s already got 200—Adams was holding a press
conference at the Multnomah County Bridge Shop to pitch his Safe,
Sound, and Green Streets transportation funding package.

The $812.9 million package, which heads to the city council for a
public hearing on Wednesday, January 9, would help pay for things like
replacing Multnomah County’s crumbling Sellwood Bridge and building
bike boulevards. (If it passes the city council later this month,
expect to see a new fee on your water bill to pay for the
infrastructure improvements.)

But the Oregon Petroleum Association (OPA) is poised to refer the
transportation package to the ballot (they’d need to collect 18,135
signatures from registered voters in 30 days). Danelle Romain of the
OPA says the group represents convenience stores and gas
stations—businesses she says will be hit unfairly hard by the
fees, which are calculated based on the number of trips a business
generates. Second, “proposing a tax when [the city has] all this money
and they overspent on the tram is just absurd,” Romain says.