City Club of Portland

Who will be Portland's first African-American Councilwoman? Join City Club and AARP-Oregon for a debate between Jo Ann Hardesty and Loretta Smith as they make their case for why they are the best person to serve the city.

Jo Ann Hardesty is most known for her 1995-2001 term as Oregon state representative (formerly Jo Ann Bowman), her weekly Thursday morning radio segment on KBOO, and her former role as NAACP Portland President. Hardesty is a community leader and activist with a long history of standing for the city’s most disadvantaged communities. She firmly believes that opportunities to thrive in Portland should not depend on someone’s zip code or background. Her campaign platform focuses on access to government, green and living wage jobs, affordable housing, and police reform.

Loretta Smith is a two-term Multnomah County Commissioner and has made working on behalf of our most vulnerable communities her priority. With three decades of experience fighting for real results, having worked for 22 years for Senator Ron Wyden and the past 7 years as a County Commissioner, Smith is committed to making Portland a city that works for everyone.

Dr. Melody Rose is the 15th president of Marylhurst University and a nationally recognized scholar of women and politics. She has served as chancellor of the Oregon University System and in many different roles at Portland State University, culminating in her service as Vice Provost for Academic Programs & Instruction and Dean of Undergraduate Studies. She is also the founder and first director of the Center for Women, Politics & Policy.

Outside of work, Dr. Rose volunteers for education, civic engagement, and women’s organizations. She was a 2013 Portland Business Journal Women of Influence honoree and she received the 2010 Governor’s Women of Achievement Award. She served as president of City Club of Portland in 2011-12 and is an active member of the International Women’s Forum.

Friday Forum—live at the Sentinel Hotel!

The grocery industry has put Measure 103 on the ballot to preempt the taxation of groceries. But are apples and bread being targeted for new taxes? And do we really need a grocery specific tax protection in the Oregon Constitution?

We'll discuss these and other questions at Friday Forum. Join us as we hear from those who disagree with Measure 103 and why they—and City Club members—think voters should vote "No" in November.

Barbara Smith Warner (D) represents Oregon House District 45, which includes Northeast Portland, the City of Maywood Park, and the Parkrose area. She is the House Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Student Success, House Co-Chair of the Ways and Means subcommittee on Education, and serves on the House Revenue and House Rules committees. 

Christina Bodamer is the Oregon Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association and a ten-year veteran in healthcare nonprofit government affairs. She says she endeavors to be a catalyst for positive change in the lives of all Oregonians. Advocating for research-based policy changes at both the state and local level, she says the American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. Previous organizations include the Oregon Dental Association and the American Lung Association.

Elisabeth Swarttouw is the Campaign Manager for the No on Measure 103 Campaign. She has years of public policy and campaign experience in Oregon. She got her start in Senator Michael Dembrow's legislative office and more recently managed Senator-Elect Shemia Fagan's successful primary campaign. Elisabeth is most passionate about working on behalf of policies that benefit working people, communities of color, and reform our criminal justice system.

Hillary Borrud covers state government and politics for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Over the last decade, Hillary covered local government in central Oregon and state government for publications including the East Oregonian, Portland Tribune and other community newspapers across the state.  

Metro's role has evolved from transportation and land-use planning to the oversight and coordination of many of the region's most important institutions—including the Oregon Zoo, the Oregon Convention Center, and Portland's Centers for the Arts. With this $652.8 million bond measure, Metro dives deep into the affordable housing crisis facing our region.

Is Metro up for the challenge? Can it equitably help all three counties—Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas—provide more safe, affordable, and comfortable housing to low-income families? And does this bond measure complement or confuse other efforts to provide affordable housing?

Join us as we debate the pros and cons of Metro's affordable housing bond measure.

Lynn Peterson has been recognized as a national expert in land use and transportation for the last 30 years. She works to find innovative ways to build safe, healthy, and equitable communities. Peterson is President-elect of the Portland region’s Metro Council and will take office in January 2019. From 2013-2016, Peterson served as the CEO (Secretary) of the Washington State Department of Transportation. Prior to her position for Governor Inslee, Peterson served for Oregon Governor Kitzhaber as his Senior Transportation and Sustainability Policy Advisor, where she oversaw transportation-energy policy, statewide transportation funding discussions, and the implementation of community priorities. Peterson previously served as the first-elected Chair of the Clackamas County Commission and on the Lake Oswego City Council.

Shannon Singleton is the Executive Director at JOIN, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon that provides street outreach and housing placement support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness in its many forms. Before coming to Portland, she worked to help people in Philadelphia, Taos, New Mexico, and in Los Angeles. Here in Portland, Singleton has served as the Director at Salvation Army Female Emergency Shelter, Program Manager at Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, and Program Coordinator at the Portland Housing Bureau. She has also served on the Welcome Home Coalition Steering Committee, Portland Housing Advisory Commission, the Home for Everyone Coordinating Board, and the Executive Committee that passed the historic Yes for Affordable Homes measure in 2016. She is also an instructor in the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University. 

Andy Duyck has been a Washington County commissioner for 24 years and County Chair for the last eight. In this position he also serves as Chair of the Washington County housing board. In 1983, he founded a manufacturing business, Duyck Machine Inc., which produces metal and plastic components that are marketed throughout the country.

Dr. Gerard Mildner is an Associate Professor of Real Estate Finance at Portland State University, with a PhD in economics from New York University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago. He founded the Master of Real Estate Development program at PSU and has written several articles and books about housing policy and growth management.

Karol Collymore is the senior manager of community impact at Nike, secretary of the Cascade AIDS Project board of directors, and the former executive director of the Equity Foundation

Join us for a conversation with U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley as City Club launches its midterm election coverage.

On September 7, Senator Merkley will share his perspective on the national mood leading up to the elections. We'll ask him about whether Democrats can build a coalition to gain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and what's being done at the national level to protect election integrity, including Oregon's vote-by-mail system. 

This Friday Forum promises to be a fascinating look at how one of our country's top Democrats is viewing the election ahead. Bring your questions!

The son of a millwright, Jeff Merkley was born in a small town in Southern Oregon, and his family moved with the timber economy while he was growing up.

Jeff began his career in public service as an intern with Oregon’s former Republican Senator Mark Hatfield.

After working in Washington D.C. in both the Pentagon and at the Congressional Budget Office, Jeff came back to Oregon to work with families to build homes as the head of Portland’s Habitat for Humanity. 

He later was the President of the Oregon World Affairs Council and was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1998. In 2007, he became Speaker of the Oregon House and held that post until his election to the U.S. Senate. In 2009, he was sworn into the same senate seat once held by Mark Hatfield. 

In the nine years he’s been in office, Jeff has been relentlessly focused on getting our nation back on track and making our country work for ‘We the People’ once more. Making the ‘American Dream’ a reality for others is what got Jeff involved in public life and is what keeps him fighting for America’s working families.

Marissa Madrigal is the former Interim Chair for Multnomah County. She 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.

Everyone knows that Portland is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. But as a recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition found, affordability is an issue throughout the state, with the average Oregon renter no longer able to afford a one-bedroom apartment. 

Some blame the NIMBY ("Not in my Backyard") mindset, saying that zoning restrictions and neighborhood backlash often cause housing development projects to scale back or retreat. In response to the NIMBYs, a "YIMBY" ("Yes in My Backyard") movement has emerged and joined with community organizations that have long called for greater density and multi-family housing options for people at all income levels. While some fear the impacts of continued population growth on infrastructure and quality of life, others feel it's time to make room and accept some compromises to accommodate a growing region.

These conversations take place with the backdrop of generations of de facto and de jure discrimination in the housing market that has systematically prevented many Oregonians from securing housing and fostered residential segregation in our city and many others.

Are the YIMBYs being naive? Are property owners putting their personal preferences ahead of the public good? How do we consider equity in planning the housing of the future? Are there points of common ground where comprehensive planning can begin? 

Fifty years after the Fair Housing Act, we are still searching for answers on housing in America, still debating what it means to create neighborhoods that are livable and equitable for all. Join us as we speak with housing experts, community organizers, and others to begin answering these complex, but critical questions.

Duncan Hwang (he/him/his) is the Associate Director at the APANO Communities Fund where he has the privilege of advocating for Asian and Pacific Islander communities statewide. He also leads the organization's placed-based initiatives including the Jade District, which works to build neighborhood power, improve health outcomes, and prevent involuntary displacement for the nearly 15,000 residents of the neighborhood. Duncan recently served on the Stakeholder Advisory Committees for the Portland and Metro affordable housing bonds and is a current member of the City of Portland's Vision Zero Task Force. 

Duncan has a BA from the University of Michigan and received his JD from Lewis & Clark Law School. Prior to joining APANO, he worked for an international law firm based in Asia working on cross-border merger and acquisitions and in supporting the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. 

Bandana Shrestha is the Director of Community Engagement for AARP Oregon and leads AARP’s livability work in the state including growing and supporting the Network of Age-friendly Communities, advocating for policies and program that enhance affordable and accessible housing options, and expanding transportation and mobility options for all. Before joining AARP, Bandana served as Director of Model Programs and Partnerships for the Points of Light Foundation where she developed and led programs to engage and serve diverse under-served populations, including the Family Strengthening & Neighborhood Transformation Campaign and the Asset Building & Economic Security Initiative. Bandana spent her early career in Nepal working on empowerment-based sustainable development programs. She has a BA from Linfield College and a MFA from University of Oregon. She serves on the boards of Asian Pacific Islander Network of Oregon (APANO) and 211Info.

Mike Kingsella is the Executive Director of Up for Growth National Coalition, a diverse coalition of affordable housing and social justice advocates, environmental organizations, housing producers, major employers, urbanists and transit associations who have joined forces to address our nationwide housing shortage. Mike leads all elements of Up for Growth National Coalition’s operations, including policy research and development, strategic communications, stakeholder outreach, and federal, state and local advocacy efforts. 

Outside of his role with Up for Growth National Coalition, Mike leads the Public Policy and Government Affairs arm of Holland Partner Group, a vertically-integrated commercial real estate investment, development, construction and property management organization, active throughout the Western U.S. 

Mike is a published author and speaker on urban development and housing policy, and has over 15 years of experience in housing policy, commercial real estate investment, capital markets and asset management. He has a Bachelor of Science in Community Development and Real Estate Development, cum laude, from the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

Madeline Kovacs is the coordinator of Portland for Everyone at 1000 Friends of Oregon. Portland for Everyone is a local coalition of affordable housing providers, community based and environmental organizations, neighborhoods, and local businesses that advocates together for land use decisions that can deliver more abundant, diverse, and affordable housing options for Portlanders. 

Prior to coordinating Portland for Everyone, Madeline worked for a decade in the international youth climate movement. This advocacy work included organizing on college campuses, national movement-building and communications, and at the 2009 and 2011 United Nations Climate Negotiations. For three years she helped found and co-directed Project Survival Media, a global youth journalism network, covering direct actions and producing online media to amplify under-represented voices in the climate conversation. Madeline also worked for Orange Splot LLC, a small housing development company and general contractor, and interned for two years at the City of Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainability. She earned her BA in Political Science with a minor in Environmental Studies from Macalester College. Madeline currently serves on the Board of Directors of Proud Ground Community Land Trust. 

Rachel Monahan is a news reporter at Willamette Week

• This year, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down important decisions on cell phone privacy, travel restrictions, and labor rights. By any measure, the 2018 term was historical, but Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement announcement at the end of June has intensified the focus on the current Court.
  
  Join us as we discuss how the drama in America's highest court affects Oregon. How will travel bans affect people coming to Oregon? Are labor unions in Oregon at risk of losing clout—with employers and in Salem? And will gerrymandering intensify in 2020? Join us as we ask these and other timely questions. 

  Panelists Matthew Kalmanson is a partner in the appellate department of Hart Wagner LLP.  He has been lead appellate counsel in numerous cases before state and federal appellate courts in the Pacific Northwest. He is a graduate of Yale Law School, and a former law clerk for a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the New Jersey Supreme Court. Matt is the president of the Executive Committee of the Constitutional Law Section of the Oregon State Bar, and for years has helped organize and moderate the section’s annual conference on developments in state and federal constitutional law. 
  
  Jim Huffman is a retired law professor and Dean Emeritus of Lewis & Clark Law School. Jim taught constitutional law for nearly four decades and has written numerous articles on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court.ModeratorMarissa Madrigal is the chief operating officer for Multnomah County, a role she’s held since 2013, after serving 10 months as Interim Chair at the County. She 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.

We've seen many legal and policy wins for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Americans over the past six years. But for LGBTQ people of faith, it has been much harder to win acceptance in their religious communities.

Join City Club for a conversation with LGBTQ faith leaders on the experiences of LGBTQ Oregonians in faith communities and the national effort to advance inclusion in churches, synagogues, and mosques across the country.

Rev. Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell serves as the LGBTQ+ advocacy coordinator for the United Methodist Church Oregon-Idaho Conference and the organizing pastor at Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship. Brett is one of only two openly gay Presbyterian pastors in Oregon and the author of 10 books on a range of subjects including Christian spirituality and growth, pilgrimages, and what it means to be a gay parent. Prior to joining the Oregon-Idaho Conference, Brett was on the faculty at Duke Divinity School and North Carolina Central University. 

Rabbi Debra Kolodny is the spiritual leader of Portland’s UnShul and a consultant helping to build advocacy coalitions, teaching workshops on interrupting hate in public spaces, and supporting labor-management partnerships. Debra has decades of experience in interfaith social justice organizing as a leader of a national retreat and advocacy organization for LGBTQ Jews. Debra is also the editor of the first anthology by bisexual people of faith and a facilitator of the National Religious Leadership Roundtable at the LGBTQ Taskforce. 

Karol Collymore is the senior manager of community impact at Nike, secretary of the Cascade AIDS Project board of directors, and the former executive director of the Equity Foundation.

The Oregon State Treasury manages Oregon's investment funds, issues state bonds, and protect's deposits. It also administers the Oregon 529 Savings Network and Oregon Retirement Savings Plan. Meet Tobias Read, the person overseeing this important work. He'll explain how his office works and share insights into some of the financial issues facing the state. Join us to better understand where your money goes!

Going into the 2018 legislative session, the chatter around Salem was

Date: June 1, 2018
Time: 12:00-1:15 PM
Location: Sentinel Hotel

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum probably wasn’t hoping to spend much of her second term dealing with Donald Trump—but she does seem to be embracing her role as a Trump spoiler. Under her leadership, the Oregon Department of Justice (in concert with other states) has filed ten major lawsuits against the Trump Administration. The portfolio of suits is wide ranging and includes topics such as DACA, net neutrality, the Trump proposal to add a “citizenship” question to the Census, the Clean Power Plan, the travel ban, the Affordable Care Act, and Scott Pruitt’s attempt to stop regulation of methane leaks from new oil and gas operations.  

On June 1, Attorney General Rosenblum will update us on where those lawsuits stand. She will also discuss the work the Justice Department does to protect Oregonians against scams, reduce student debt, and protect privacy rights.

A former federal prosecutor and state trial and appellate judge, Ellen Rosenblum was first elected to a four-year term as Oregon's 17th Attorney General in November, 2012 and was re-elected to a second term November 8, 2016. She is the first woman to serve as Oregon Attorney General. Her priorities include consumer protection and civil rights—advocating for and protecting Oregon's children, seniors, immigrants and crime victims, and those saddled with education-related debt. She is committed to assisting district attorneys and local law enforcement in prosecuting elder abuse and complex crimes and has made crimes against children as well as consumer internet privacy high priorities.

Attorney General Rosenblum has been active in local and national organizations of lawyers, judges and attorneys general. She has served on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General and she is the immediate past Chair of the Conference of Western Attorneys General. She has served as Secretary of the American Bar Association and is the Chair of the ABA Section of State & Local Government Law. She co-founded the section’s Attorneys General and Department of Justice Issues Committee (AGDJ).