The latest mayoral candidate to hit the State of Wonder hot seat is David Schor, an assistant attorney general at the Oregon Department of Justice. For a lawyer, Schor is surprisingly artsy: he holds a degree in music from the University of Oregon and has toured the world playing upright and electric bass. We spent time grilling him about his campaign and the future of arts and culture in Portland.

0:00 On his musical background and art he has recently enjoyed

1:40 On his vision for arts and culture in Portland in the next 5 years

2:35 on the Regional Arts and Culture Council
“A lot of our minority communities are feeling that they have been somewhat underserved by the efforts of RACC, so I’d like to see us reach out into those communities more and make sure that we have a more equitable dispersion.”

4:19 On whether budget surplus money should go towards the arts
“I think we need to accept that art is a basic service, it’s a basic part of what makes living in Portland worthwhile. Even if it’s a one-time surplus that we see, it’s worthwhile to consider how we could use that to fund art that might pay dividends on a long-term basis.”

6:04 On his biggest priority: the housing affordability crisis
“We need to change how the market in Portland works at a really fundamental level. My proposal to do that is to make some of the housing in Portland community-owned, to take some of the housing essentially out of the market.”

9:07 Should we ban no-cause evictions?
“I propose that we follow the example of cities like Seattle that are trying to minimize or eliminate no-cause evictions, by creating a just-cause eviction type of system, where you can be removed from your tenancy, but only with a good reason.”

10:14 On inclusionary zoning and rent control
“I would push for us to have the preemption on inclusionary zoning lifted completely at the state level. I would like to see the city of Portland given a little bit more of a free hand to experiment and see what works…and I think the same applies to rent control.”

14:00 On the Portland Arts Tax
“The funding mechanism, relying on a $35 flat rate, is unfortunately about the most regressive tax that Portland could have created to fund the arts. I would like to see the funding level increased, but the rates changed in a way that fairly reflects the income of the people who are paying for it.”

15:57 What we can learn from the Burnside Skatepark
“That’s an example of something that was created organically by the community that the city then went on to embrace. I think that’s a good model for the kind of thing that we should be trying to do as a city: identifying when the community has already made an investment in something that’s really important, and then to support that.”

17:00 On development that doesn’t serve Portlanders well
“We see housing being built that is simply unaffordable to people in Portland…I think it’s a shame that we’re allowing developers to use our limited land resource to build housing that doesn’t serve the needs of our people.”

18:52 On how to maintain open spaces in the city
“I’d like to look at ways to designate trees as historic in order to protect them…our tree code has the potential to be a really powerful tool for shaping how development works on a broader scale.”

19:47 On what makes his campaign distinctive
“I have decided that I will not be taking any money from corporations or political action committees. I’m trying to run this as a grassroots campaign where my focus is on talking to the people of Portland about the issues that are important to them.”