subordinate

WESLEY LAPOINTE

RIP CITY: The residential infi ll project allows up to six housing units on lots zoned for single-family homes.

Carrying Water

The fi ght for low-income housing has a new complication: City Commissioner Amanda Fritz’s push for expensive water meters.

BY NIGEL JAQUISS

njaquiss@wweek.com

Advocates worry that the city of Portland’s residential infill project, passed just a month ago after five years of intense debate, may already be in trouble. The Portland City Council passed the aggressive new housing policy Aug. 12 by a 3-1 vote. Its goal: to increase density and add affordable housing to many Portland neighborhoods that contain mostly single-family homes. The policy rezoned such lots to promote development of accessory dwelling units and multiplexes—up to six units of housing—on lots where previously only a single home could be built. Officials expect it will generate 24,000 new housing units over the next 20 years. But now, groups that worked in support of the policy say Commissioner Amanda Fritz, the only “no” vote on RIP, could undermine it. Fritz’s opposition to RIP has led advocates to question whether a proposal she’s advanced to require an expensive water meter on each new dwelling—so four meters on a fourplex—is an indirect way to undercut the new policy. “Amanda Fritz has been vehemently opposed to RIP for fi ve years,” says Ezra Hammer, a lobbyist for the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland. “Now she’s using the political power she has to make it less feasible for the development of middle housing and ADUs.” Fritz denies she’s trying to submarine RIP. “Win or lose, you make the best of things,” she says. “If [RIP]’s about a˜ ordable housing, let’s make sure it continues to be a˜ ordable.” The conflict highlights a characteristic of Portland’s unique form of city government, in which city commissioners both formulate and approve policy as quasi-legislators but then implement that policy in their roles overseeing city bureaus. In this case, Hammer says, Fritz is using the Portland Water Bureau, which she commands, to block RIP. It’s not just the homebuilders who are alarmed: Housing nonprofits, including Habitat for Humanity and Proud Ground and the land-use group 1000 Friends of Oregon, have all raised similar objections with the city in recent weeks.

Fritz is a longtime ally of neighborhood associations, many of which fear RIP will bring demolitions and rapid-fire growth. After voting no, she reiterated her long-standing objection that RIP would hasten gentrification and increase Portlanders’ dependence on automobiles. “Putting new homes where they never will have transit, never have sidewalks, never be close to jobs and services will mean we won’t be able to meet the climate emergency goals we all voted for a few weeks ago,” she told the council Aug. 12. (Environmentalists have sco˜ ed publicly at that idea and generally embrace RIP.) After the vote, Fritz proposed an initiative for the Water Bureau, which is in the process of updating its code. Fritz’s idea: Any new housing unit, from an ADU (one meter) to an eightplex (eight meters), should have its own water meter. Critics say that’s unnecessary and expensive: about $8,000 per meter. (Fritz agrees with that cost estimate.) Fritz says her goal is to save low-income ratepayers money. Rezoning the city to create more housing isn’t enough, she says. The city should also ensure residents can actually pay their bills. Currently, the Water Bureau, which has some of the highest rates in the country, offers discounts depending on income. (Households that earn 60% or less of median family income can receive a refund of nearly $750 a year for combined water and sewer bills.) Groups such as Self Enhancement Inc., Latino Network and the Native American Youth and Family Center that work with low-income renters have complained to the Water Bureau that without individual meters, renters cannot qualify for the discounts. “The idea is to make sure new housing is affordable ongoing and not just to build,” Fritz says. Her second argument: If residents don’t have meters, they have no way to monitor their water usage, which could lead to excessive consumption. “As the world gets hotter and hotter, saving water is increasingly important,” Fritz says. Supporters of RIP say there are better ways to grant subsidies that won’t add to the cost of development in a city where housing is already too expensive. “Sadly, this proposal is a terrible step in the wrong direction,” says Diane Linn, executive director of Proud Ground, which helps low-income Portlanders purchase homes. “We implore you to find an effective solution to provide needed discounts without driving the cost of development higher and discouraging homeownership in the process.” David Sweet, land use and transportation chair for the Cully Association of Neighbors, says Fritz’s goals can be accomplished in other ways without jacking up the cost of housing. (Notably, individual meters are not required for apartment buildings larger than eight units.) He says it’s irrational to require a developer to spend $8,000 a unit so a tenant can qualify for discounts of $750. “The exact same thing could be accomplished by sending the eligible family a cash rebate,” Sweet adds. As for Fritz’s point about conservation, Sweet notes that many landlords already use submeters to measure tenants’ consumption. Those cost about $200, a tiny fraction of city meters. Steve Messinetti, director of Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East, which helps low-income families buy homes, says the policy would punish families on the margin of being able to a˜ ord a new home. “We see this over and over: Governments create policies that have implications on people of color and create barriers to homeownership,” Messinetti says. “The consequences may be unintended, but we really need to be

AMANDA FRITZ

careful.” In a letter to the Water Bureau, Hammer the homebuilders’ lobbyist says Fritz’s proposal “fl agrantly violates state law and discourages the development of much-needed middle housing.” (He’s referring to House Bill 2001, which prohibits local jurisdictions from passing rules that would place “unreasonable costs or delay” in the path of a˜ ordable housing.) Fritz acknowledges there’s a lot of pushback to her idea. She says she’s open to other means to accomplish her goals, including the city subsidizing meters or using less expensive new technology to track consumption. Those and other ideas are likely to get an airing at a council work session on the meter issue planned for Oct. 26. “I’m not wedded to doing this,” Fritz says. “It’s an important conversation that we ought to have.”

SHE’S NOT TED Portland voters are fed up with Ted Wheeler. But are they ready for Sarah Iannarone?

BY NIGEL JAQUISS

njaquiss@wweek.com

A little more than four years ago, Sarah Iannarone, an unknown Portland State University bureaucrat, launched a long-shot bid for mayor, preaching the value of sustainability and smarter transportation and land-use policies.

She finished third, behind Ted Wheeler and former Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey.

This year, Iannarone, 47, is back—and running a far more aggressive campaign, pounding Wheeler and the Portland Police Bureau on social media.

“Goddamn tired of watching reporters, medics, legal observers, peaceful protesters, and, yes, vandals getting targeted, arrested & assaulted by Portland Police,” Iannarone tweeted July 2. “F*ck you, Ted Wheeler, seriously.”

In this season of COVID -19, economic devastation and fire, it’s protest that has come to define Portland in the eyes of the nation—and it’s also come to define Iannarone’s campaign.

Few have latched onto the energy of protest more than Iannarone, who has been on the front lines dozens of times, refers to herself as an “everyday anti-fascist,” and has declared, “I am Antifa.”

Iannarone—a neighborhood activist, policy wonk and longtime student of what makes cities succeed—hopes to defeat Wheeler, 58, who in turn hopes to become the city’s first two-term mayor since the late Vera Katz.

Buoyed by his aggressive response to COVID -19, Wheeler nearly won reelection outright in the May primary, getting 49% of the vote. Iannarone finished second in a 19-candidate field with 24%.

But less than a week later, on May 25, Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. That changed everything.

After three straight months of protests, some civil rights leaders have asked Wheeler to resign because his police are too aggressive. At the same time, businesspeople have criticized him for not keeping downtown orderly.

The beneficiary of those conflicting views: Iannarone, whose chance of victory has risen as Wheeler’s popularity has plummeted.

A recent poll showed two-thirds of voters disapprove of Wheeler’s performance.

“This race is a toss-up,” says Felisa Hagins, political director of Service Employees International Union Local 49, whose members endorsed Wheeler.

If Portlanders are fed up with Wheeler, Iannarone has a simple pitch for them: She hated Ted before it was cool. She’s relentlessly opposed him for four years. And she offers Portland a clean break from the string of white men who have run the city since Katz left office 15 years ago.

“The city deserves better than Ted Wheeler,” Iannarone says. “I have a real vision for Portland, and the reason I’ve pulled these policies together is because that’s what I see as our pathway out of this mess.”

Yet Iannarone is still unknown to many Portlanders. To oust Wheeler, voters will need to decide what they think of Iannarone. Are they exhausted enough after a string of mayors with conventional résumés that they’re willing to bet on someone who spent her life outside the halls of power?

Here are seven things to know about her:

1. IANNARONE IS AN OUTSIDER WITHOUT THE TYPICAL RÉSUMÉ. Katz served three terms as speaker of the Oregon House before becoming mayor in 1993. Her successor, Tom Potter, served as chief of the Portland Police Bureau (a job history that these days would make him unelectable). Sam Adams was Katz’s chief of staff and a city commissioner before becoming mayor. Charlie Hales served two terms on the Portland City Council before he became mayor.

Wheeler’s political résumé includes stints as Oregon state treasurer and Multnomah County chair.

Iannerone is seeking the top job in Portland having never served in any elected office or worked in city government.

She is instead an e-bike-riding mom from upstate New York who loves to sew, rummage through thrift stores, and stroll with her rescue mutt, Sir Francis Bacon. She pedals in the Naked Bike Ride. She has struggled financially, failing to pay state income taxes from 2010 to 2013. She didn’t graduate from college until she was 32 and is still grinding away at her Ph.D.

Iannarone was born in Fulton, N.Y., a fading industrial town that was the birthplace of the Nestlé Crunch bar. Her father worked as a union electrician at Nestlé. (Iannarone won’t eat Nestlé chocolate because of the company’s environmental record.)

Iannarone bounced around during her early years: a bit of college in a culinary arts program in Providence, R.I., short stints in Charleston, S.C., and New Orleans, even a job as a private chef for the country singer Mel Tillis in Branson, Mo.

She married Nick Iannarone, a Baltimore native, in Las Vegas in 1998. The couple moved to Portland, where they had their only child, a daughter, the following year. (The Iannarones divorced in 2019 after a long separation.)

While her daughter was a toddler, Iannarone returned to college at Portland State, graduating in 2005, the same year her husband opened the Arleta Library Cafe, which closed in 2018. She contributed the recipe for the cafe’s signature sweet potato biscuits.

Iannarone says her life experience and work in the community are great training for City Hall. She notes that

AARON WESSLING

“I HAVE LIVED A LIFE IN THREE DIMENSIONS IN

THIS CITY —THAT’S WHAT MAKES ME

QUALIFIED TO BE THE MAYOR RIGHT NOW.”

white men with strong political pedigrees have not done very well as Portland’s mayors lately.

“They get a free pass when they fail,” she says. “I have lived a life in three dimensions in this city —that’s what makes me qualified to be the mayor right now.”

2.

AN OUTSIDER HAS BEATEN AN INCUMBENT PORTLAND MAYOR BEFORE.

It’s been 36 years since a candidate with no previous political or executive experience beat an incumbent in a Portland mayor’s race.

In that instance, Bud Clark, owner of the Goose Hollow Inn, stunned Mayor Frank Ivancie in the 1984 primary.

Ivancie was the last conservative mayor to run Portland: His strong support for the Portland Police Bureau defined him. Clark, by contrast, was a jovial publican with a world-class beard. He pulled pints of beer, punted a raft down the Willamette River, and ended his pronouncements with a loopy catchphrase: “Whoop! Whoop!” He was a living embodiment of Portland’s values.

Chuck Duffy, a Clark aide, says the Goose’s prominence and Clark’s flamboyance gave him a higher profile than Iannarone enjoys.

“I don’t think she has the cache Bud had,” Duffy says.

But nobody in the political establishment thought Clark had a chance, either. The city had shifted left under Ivancie—he was just the last to notice.

Duffy and others say the same fate could await Wheeler if voter are sufficiently dissatisfied. “It would really come down to a sheer protest vote,” Duffy says.

3.

IANNARONE MAY NOT HAVE ANY POLITICAL EXPERIENCE, BUT SHE HAS A LOT OF IDEAS.

In 2006, Iannarone began pursuing a Ph.D. in urban studies at PSU.

Adam Davis, a founder of DHM Research, who now heads the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center, advised Iannarone on research techniques for her graduate work. “She’s smart and very passionate about issues,” says Davis. “She can be laser-focused and she’s a hard worker.”

In 2008, she co-founded a new nonprofit at PSU called First Stop Portland.

First Stop provided tours of the city for foreign delegations curious about Portland’s approaches to architecture, land use, sustainability, transit and other endeavors. The tours showcased Portland’s leading thinkers and most innovative businesses.

“It was a terrific program for knowledge building, relationship building and business development,” says Davis, who served on First Stop’s advisory board.

Iannarone’s boss at First Stop was Nancy Hales, wife of Portland’s then-mayor, Charlie Hales.

Iannarone credits her time at PSU with giving her an immersion in smart cities and the kinds of policies that would fuel her first mayoral campaign.

Her top priority: ensuring Portland is carbon neutral by 2030.

“If you don’t aim for things, you won’t accomplish them,” Iannarone says. “And even if you fall short, you’ve achieved more than you would have otherwise.”

She has other plans, which include undoing the constitutional ban on real estate transfer taxes to finance new housing. She’d also expand the Portland Clean Energy Fund; take the city’s money out of commercial banks to create a city-owned bank; and establish a municipal highspeed internet service.

Iannarone is comfortable discussing details as granular as how to create a renter bailout fund: She’d double the tax on AirBnb from 2% to 4%.

She wants to legalize all sex work and let anybody—not just citizens—vote in city elections. “While federal law prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, states and cities are free to make their own decisions,” her platform says.

If elected, Iannarone says, she’d draw an immediate contrast to Wheeler by granting Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s wish to command the Police Bureau and teaming up with Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt to investigate police violence during the protests. She’d figure out a way to keep right-wing extremists from fighting in Portland’s streets.

Her campaign appeals to supporters such as Cameron Whitten, founder of the Black Resilience Fund. “Her vision is exactly the direction her city needs to go in,” Whitten says. “She has a chance to help us heal and work on a policy that works for everyone.”

Stephen Green, who is active in Portland’s startup community, likes Iannarone’s focus on small business. Green says she is a “master communicator.”

“She meets people where they are and really listens,” Green says. “Whether it’s a person who has flown in from Japan and speaks a different language or a person who’s houseless, she has a real ability to be present.”

4.

SHE CAN TAKE CREDIT FOR A SIGNATURE ACCOMPLISHMENT: THE ARLETA TRIANGLE.

In 2005, Iannarone decided to help clean up her Southeast neighborhood, Mount Scott-Arleta, which is bounded on the north by Foster Road, the west by 60th Avenue, the east by 82nd Avenue, and the south by Duke Street.

She and other volunteers set out to revive a trashstrewn, triangle-shaped Portland Bureau of Transportation property at Southeast 72nd Avenue and Woodstock Boulevard.

Mark Lakeman, executive director of the City Repair Project, which organizes such community undertakings, cautioned her against expecting cooperation from city officials.

“PBOT hadn’t been able to be make that kind of project happen before, fixing a derelict space,” Lakeman says. “But she was so well prepared and so persuasive she got PBOT to go along.”

Iannarone and her allies raised money and created a community amenity, with seating areas, public art and