City Club of Portland

City Club of Portland

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City Club of Portland episodes

  • Friday Forum: Learning from the Big Ones, How Natural Disasters Affect Human Communities

    Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, and volcanoes—they all stem from the very same forces that give our planet life. It is only when these forces exceed our ability to withstand them that they become disasters. Science and engineering can be used to understand extreme events and to design our cities to be resilient, but we must overcome the psychological drive to normalization that keeps humanity from believing that we could experience anything worse than what we have already survived. As climate change increases the intensity of extreme storms and and urban population growth increases the complexity of our life-sustaining systems, we must examine the history of natural disasters to understand how we can make our society more resilient.

    Friday Forum returns with a focus on how natural disasters, from Earthquakes to Climate Change affect human communities. We'll hear Dr. Lucy "Earthquake Lady" Jones as she looks through the lenses of science and history to understand the impacts of natural disasters on people. Her lecture will cover earthquakes, as well as her increasing concerns about the impacts of climate change that we are already feeling (smoke from wildfire, flooding, etc.). She will speak about natural disasters both broadly and specifically in addition to human psychology as it relates to possible future disasters. We will follow her speech with our normal Q&A.


    About Dr. Lucy Jones

    World-renowned seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones is the 2019-20 Wayne Morse Chair for Law and Politics and will be in residence at the University of Oregon in October, co-teaching a course and offering public lectures in Eugene and Portland. With a BA from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Geophysics from MIT, Dr. Jones is a Research Associate at the Seismological Laboratory of Caltech, a post she has held since 1984. She completed 33 years of federal service with the US Geological Survey where she served most recently as the USGS Science Advisor for Risk Reduction, leading the USGS’s long-term science planning for natural hazards research. Dr. Jones is credited with creating the Great ShakeOut Drill, an earthquake preparation experiment that by 2016 included 53 million participants around the world. She is the founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, with a mission to foster the understanding and application of scientific information in the creation of more resilient communities. Working with both the public and private sectors, Dr. Jones seeks to increase communities’ ability to adapt and be resilient to the dynamic changes of the world around them. She has been a prominent public voice on the science of natural disasters, conducting thousands of media interviews and appearing on all major news broadcasts and cable news networks, as well as NPR. Her book, “The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them),” was an Amazon Best Science Book of 2018.


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  • Friday Forum: Campaign Finance Reform: How Money is Undermining Oregon's Values

    Once a national leader in environmental law, Oregon now

    consistently trails other West Coast states in protecting its
    environment. Oregon has become an outlier for another reason. Per
    capita, it’s first in the nation for corporate donations to lawmakers,
    and is one of only five states with no limits on political
    contributions. 

    Reporter Rob Davis wrote about this in the recent Oregonian series, “Polluted by Money: How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America.”

    Subsequently, Oregon legislators placed a measure on the November 2020
    ballot that will ask voters to decide whether to amend the state’s
    constitution to allow limits on campaign contributions.

    What would this ballot measure accomplish? How did Oregon

    fall so far behind in protecting its environment? What else needs to
    happen, and what are the obstacles to change? 

    Rob Davis is an investigative reporter covering the environment on the watchdog team at The Oregonian, where he’s worked since 2013. The

    Maryland native previously worked at the innovative nonprofit Voice of
    San Diego and has written for The New York Times and High Country News.
    In Oregon, he has reported extensively on the rise of oil trains,
    Portland’s toxic air problems and lead contamination in National Guard
    armories.

     



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  • Friday Forum: Campaign Finance Reform: How Money is Undermining Oregon's Values

    Once a national leader in environmental law, Oregon now

    consistently trails other West Coast states in protecting its
    environment. Oregon has become an outlier for another reason. Per
    capita, it’s first in the nation for corporate donations to lawmakers,
    and is one of only five states with no limits on political
    contributions. 

    Reporter Rob Davis wrote about this in the recent Oregonian series, “Polluted by Money: How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America.”

    Subsequently, Oregon legislators placed a measure on the November 2020
    ballot that will ask voters to decide whether to amend the state’s
    constitution to allow limits on campaign contributions.

    What would this ballot measure accomplish? How did Oregon

    fall so far behind in protecting its environment? What else needs to
    happen, and what are the obstacles to change? 

    Rob Davis is an investigative reporter covering the environment on the watchdog team at The Oregonian, where he’s worked since 2013. The

    Maryland native previously worked at the innovative nonprofit Voice of
    San Diego and has written for The New York Times and High Country News.
    In Oregon, he has reported extensively on the rise of oil trains,
    Portland’s toxic air problems and lead contamination in National Guard
    armories.

     



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  • Portland City Club: The Current September 11 2019

    The Current features community leaders, elected officials, leading scholars, and engaging personalities to discuss the big issues in our community. One Wednesday night each month we'll enjoy hors d'oeuvres and cocktails before diving into the conversations that matter right now in and around Portland.


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  • The Student Success Act: An Historic Investment in Oregon's Children

    Location: The Ecotrust Building, 721 NW 9th Ave. 

    For information on parking, please visit Ecotrust's website. 

    Our first Friday Forum of the 2019-2020 season will focus on the Oregon
    Student Success Act. We'll hear from education leaders from across the
    state about the specific provisions that they think will make a big
    difference for low income and underserved children in Oregon.

    Panel 

    Parasa Chanramy Parasa is the Policy &

    Implementation Director at Stand for Children in Oregon. In her role,
    she manages the Oregon affiliate’s
    legislative work and collaborates with many different stakeholders to
    ensure that Measure 98 (AKA “High School Success”) and the Student
    Success Act are implemented well.

    She’s a proud Cambodian American and Oregonian with nearly a decade of
    experience in education policy in Oregon, Washington and Minnesota.
    Before working in education policy, she was a kindergarten teacher in
    north Minneapolis. Her students and their stories continue to motivate
    her and her commitment to education equity.  

    Parasa joined the Stand family in late 2012. She holds a B.A. in International Affairs from Lewis & Clark College.
     

    Mark Witty has
    served in education for the past 34 years as a teacher, coach, guidance
    counselor, athletic director, principal and superintendent. He has a
    Master’s Degree in Education from Oregon State University and completed
    his Administrative Licensor through the University of Oregon. Mark is a
    recognized leader in Oregon serving as the President of the Secondary
    Schools Association in 2005-06 and is currently serving as the
    President-Elect for Oregon Association of School Executives.

    He is in his 5th year serving as the Superintendent of Baker School
    District which supports 1,700 brick and mortar students, 2,500 students
    statewide through Baker Web Academy and Baker Early College. Baker
    School District has also created Baker Technical Institute (BTI) which
    is a non-profit entity that provides technical training for k-12
    students as well as adult learners throughout the Pacific Northwest.

    Mark has been nominated for Superintendent of the year in 2012, won the
    President’s Award from COSA in 2017 and serves on numerous state &
    local committees/boards. He has organized multiple regional Educational
    Summits in Eastern Oregon to create dialogue between educational
    organizations and our elected officials. Recently, he was nominated and
    accepted as an inaugural member of the Future’s Institute along with 49
    other superintendents representing 25 states. This organization will act
    as a “Think Tank” to determine how education can best serve workforce
    development in a dynamic economic environment.


    Miriam Calderon is the Early Learning System Director overseeing the Early Learning Division in Oregon. Before coming to Oregon, Miriam served
    as the Senior Director of Early Learning at the Bainum Family
    Foundation, where she shaped a new $10 million dollar investment in a
    birth to three system for the District of Columbia. She also was a
    senior fellow with the BUILD Initiative, leading BUILD's work related to
    dual language learners, and serving as a faculty member for BUILD’s
    Equity Leaders Action Network.

    Previously, Calderon served as a political appointee in the Obama
    Administration, advising on early learning policy at the Domestic Policy
    Council at the White House and at the Department of Health and Human
    Services. She also served as the Director of Early Childhood Education
    at DC Public Schools, where she oversaw Head Start and pre-kindergarten
    programs, including helping to implement universal pre-kindergarten in
    DC. Calderon was also Associate Director of Education Policy at the
    National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization. There
    she focused specifically on early education policy for Hispanic and
    dual language learner children. She began her career in early childhood
    working as a mental health consultant in Head Start programs in
    Portland, Oregon. She has published several reports on early childhood
    education. Calderon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from
    the University of Delaware and a Master of Social Work degree from
    Portland State University.

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  • The Green New Deal: Energy Sector Solutions

    The Green New Deal is a non-binding resolution put forward by members

    of the U.S. Congress to shift the nation to 100 percent zero-emission
    energy sources over the next 10 years. This ambitious policy outline is
    both an environmental plan and an economic one, calling for increased
    investment in education, high-quality jobs, healthcare, and housing.

    At Friday Forum, we'll zero in on the environmental goals and discuss
    the role the energy sector will play in reducing U.S. carbon pollution.
    What will it take to make steep reductions to greenhouse gas emissions?
    What's underway right now and what investments need to be made soon to
    continue cutting emissions?

    Join us to hear from our panel of energy experts and to ask your questions.

    Panel

    Angus Duncan

    was the founding president of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation,
    which supports renewable energy development and watershed restoration in
    the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Duncan has worked in private sector
    renewable energy project development, in state and local government, as a
    member and chair of the Northwest Power Planning Council, and as
    director of energy policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

    In 2004, Mr. Duncan chaired the drafting committee that wrote Oregon’s
    greenhouse gas reduction goals and climate strategy, since adopted by
    the Governor and Legislature. He serves as chair of Oregon’s Global
    Warming Commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Kulongoski in
    2008. Since 2007, he has consulted with NRDC, a national environmental
    advocacy organization on utility energy, transportation, and climate
    policies in the Pacific Northwest states.

    Jack Kerfoot
    is a scientist, energy expert and author, who has been interviewed on
    numerous radio and television stations across America. He started his
    professional career as a geophysicist in the 1970s, when America was
    first faced with an energy crisis. He is the principal of JL Kerfoot
    Energy Services and is an outspoken advocate for renewable energy.
     
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    Maria Pope
    is president and CEO of Portland General Electric, Oregon’s largest
    electric provider. Maria works with customers, communities, and
    government leaders to meet the changing needs of PGE customers and lead
    Oregon to a clean energy future. 

    Maria joined PGE in 2009 as CFO and treasurer. She also served as senior
    vice president of Power Supply, Operations and Resource Strategy,
    overseeing the company’s power generation facilities, wholesale power
    marketing and long-term resource strategy. From 2006 to 2008, she served
    as a member of PGE’s Board of Directors. 

    Before she joined PGE, Maria was CFO of Mentor Graphics Corporation and
    served in senior operating and finance positions within the forest
    products and consumer products industries. She began her career in
    banking with Morgan Stanley & Co.

    Maria serves on the Oregon Global Warming Commission and the boards of
    Umpqua Holdings Corporation and the Oregon Business Council. She
    previously served as board chair of Oregon Health & Science
    University and served on several other U.S. and Canadian boards. 

    Maria is an alumna of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

    Moderator

    Silvia Tanner

    joined Renewable Northwest in November 2015. She holds a B.A. in
    economics from Portland State University and a J.D. from the
    Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College. She brings to
    the organization her background in utility regulation and data analysis,
    as well as her experience researching national and international energy
    issues. Silvia calls the Pacific Northwest home and dedicates a lot of
    her time to this community. As a student, she assisted low-income
    clients in areas like landlord tenant and business law. She is now a
    volunteer attorney with the Small Business Legal Clinic’s Pro-bono
    Program, and serves on the Oregon Women Lawyers’ Working Parents
    Committee and on the board of the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association.
    Silvia is also a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters. In her spare
    time, she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, and running.



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  • The Aftermath: Speaker Kotek Reflects on the 2019 Legislative Session

    This

    year's legislative session was chaotic, alarming, but also surprisingly
    productive. Join us to hear directly from Oregon's House Speaker, Tina
    Kotek, about how we got here, what happened … and how we move forward
    from here.

    Kotek will dive into the policies and politics that influenced major
    fiscal initiatives, including the creation of a $1B annual business tax
    to help fund education and the effort she led to refinance the statewide
    PERS deficit and contain costs for public employers. 

    She will also discuss several policies that passed in the last 48 hours
    of session—some after more than a dozen years of advocacy: legalizing
    driver's licenses for undocumented Oregonians, creating a statewide
    allowance for “missing middle” housing, establishing a state Paid Family
    Leave program, paying for ballot postage for all Oregonians, and new
    requirements to limit diesel emissions in populated areas. We'll also
    talk about the partisan brinksmanship that killed three Democratic
    priorities along the way (cap and invest, gun control, and vaccine
    requirements) and what it will take to repair the culture of the
    legislature after this bruising session.

    Speaker Kotek will field questions from six policy experts from
    different communities around Oregon. We'll then open up the conversation
    to audience questions.
     

    About Speaker Tina Kotek

    Tina Kotek began her

    public service career as a policy advocate for the Oregon Food Bank,
    working to eliminate hunger for every Oregonian. She went on to serve as
    the policy director for Children First for Oregon before being elected
    to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2006.

    In her first term in the House, Tina Kotek championed a redesign of the
    state's welfare program, led the fight to establish statewide nutrition
    standards for food sold in schools, and helped pass landmark legislation
    that ended discrimination based on sexual orientation and created
    domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.

    In 2013, Tina became the first openly lesbian speaker of any state house
    in the nation. In the 2015 legislative session, Speaker Kotek
    championed the successful efforts to expand earned sick leave,
    strengthen retirement security, and ban racial profiling. The 2016
    session built upon those wins for working families with the passage of
    trailblazing legislation to raise Oregon's minimum wage. 

    During the 2017 legislative session, Tina led the way to an historic
    investment in the state's transportation infrastructure. She also
    defended access to affordable health care for the thousands of people
    who rely on Medicaid, expanded reproductive health care for all
    Oregonians, fought to preserve and increase affordable housing,
    advocated for a fairer rental market, and supported the strongest equal
    pay law in the nation and the nation's first fair work week law.



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  • Higher Priorities: How Post-Secondary Education Lost Ground in 2019

    Oregon's Student Success Act promises a big increase in education

    funding over the next two years. However, higher education was not
    included in that bill and many college students will face another
    tuition hike this fall. At a time when a post-secondary education is
    required for a vast majority of jobs, why is Oregon investing so little
    in our future workforce?

    Join us as we examine higher education policy in Oregon and consider the
    opportunities for a stronger higher education system in the future.

    Speakers

    Ben

    Cannon is the executive director of the Higher Education Coordinating
    Commission. In this position, Cannon oversees state funding allocations,
    policy-setting, and coordination for Oregon’s higher education system,
    including community colleges and public universities. Cannon is a former
    teacher, state representative, and education policy advisor to the
    Governor. Elected three times to the Oregon House of Representatives
    (2006-2011), he chaired House committees with jurisdiction over
    environment, energy, and water policy, and served on committees related
    to health care and education. From 2003 to 2011, he taught humanities to
    middle school students at the Arbor School of Arts and Education. He
    earned his BA from Washington University, St. Louis, and attended Oxford
    University, England, on a Rhodes Scholarship, earning graduate degrees
    in comparative and international education and philosophy, politics, and
    economics.  

    Mark Mitsui
    is the president of Portland Community College. Previously, President
    Mitsui served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges
    within the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education for the U.S.
    Department of Education. In Washington he worked to advance President
    Obama’s community college agenda through partnerships with numerous
    federal agencies and national stakeholders. In this capacity he co-led
    the My Brother’s Keeper Postsecondary Completion interagency team
    working to improve college access and completion for the nation’s young
    men of color.

    Before serving in the Obama administration, he was president of North
    Seattle College in Washington state from 2010 to 2013. In 2013, he was
    honored with the Rhonda Quash Coates Award for contributions to the
    Multicultural Student Services Directors Council of Washington state.

    President Mitsui holds a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from
    Western Washington University, and completed a master’s degree and
    doctoral studies in Education at the University of Washington.



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  • Let’s Get Connected: Improving Digital Access in the Portland Region

    At work, in your community, even getting together with family and

    friends—so much of what we do depends on fast, reliable internet
    service. Right now we're at a crossroads. City of Portland and Multnomah
    County leaders are choosing different paths that will determine how our
    devices connect to the world. Is 5G the future? What about municipal
    broadband? Are both possible?

    Join us at Friday Forum to learn more about municipal broadband and 5G
    technology from local experts. They'll share their perspectives on the
    benefits of each approach to internet access and what we can do to
    ensure net neutrality and privacy protections. 

    These decisions about our digital future are being made right now by our
    local governments. You don't want to miss this opportunity to have your
    voice heard.

    Speakers
    Michael Hanna
    is a data engineer, alchemist, post-carbon economy trailblazer, and
    dreamer.  He has worked with digital networks, natural networks, and
    human networks for his entire adult career in both the private and
    public sector, and has been working with local governments and
    community-based organizations to improve the lives of the human
    residents and other living beings of the Portland Metro area since 2000.
    When not being a data / natural world / political geek, he spends his
    time out in wild places and in uncharted territory as much as possible.

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    Elisabeth Perez
    is Mayor Wheeler’s operations director and serves as the lead on
    innovation and technology. She earned her Master of Science in disaster
    resilience from Tulane University and applies the principles of
    emergency management and community resilience in her daily work. She has
    been instrumental in the development of City policy increasing
    protections for information/data privacy and security and facilitating a
    partnership with PSU and PGE to develop the PREPHub pilot, a first of
    its kind disaster resilience node composed of technological services.
    She continues to lead the Mayor’s office in the regulation of 5G to best
    serve to all those who live, work, and play in Portland.
    Moderator
    Marissa Madrigal
    grew up in Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Ridgefield, Washington. She
    earned credits from Clark College while still in high school and entered
    the University of Washington at 18 holding junior status. After
    graduating with a degree in zoology, she began writing and publishing a
    local magazine. Marissa holds a master’s in security studies from the
    Naval Postgraduate School and brings deep knowledge in finance,
    operations, and personnel management. She is active across the community
    and a frequent Friday Forum moderator.


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