The Tom and Randy Show
Mayor Tom Potter hasn’t yet replied to my letter of last week. In my experience over 15 years of communicating with City staff, the delay isn’t unusual – especially from a Mayor’s office, which even under the current Commission form of government has a huge workload. The good news comes from East Portland neighbors, who have secured promises from both Mayor Potter and Commissioner Randy Leonard to participate in a forum on the Charter change ballot measures. It will be on
It’s not a debate, rather shared opportunities to state the case for and against the changes, with time for audience questions, moderated by community stalwart David Ashton. I’m very happy the Mayor agreed to participate, and that Commissioner Leonard eagerly accepted the invitation.
A note on my post title, of “Tom and Randy” rather than “Mayor Potter and Commissioner Leonard”: When I was newly appointed to the Planning Commission in 1996, the SW Connection community newspaper (may still have been the Hillsdale Connection back then) ran an article about me. Shortly afterward, I received a phone call from Geraldine and David Newhall, inviting me to tea. I had not heard of these venerable retired community leaders at the time. David was a professor at PSU; Gerry served on many boards and committees, including Friends of the Turning Point housing for victims of domestic violence, and the committee charged with advising Council on siting the SW Community Center. They simply wanted to talk about Portland, and why my new role on the Planning Commission was important. It was one of the acts of random kindness given to me that I will remember all my life. One particular comment stood out then, and still does. I was yattering on about “Charlie appointed me….” – and Gerry looked at David and they both nodded. “See that?”, she said. “You said ‘Charlie’, not ‘Commissioner Hales’. Here in Portland, we know our politicians by their first names. We think of them by their first names. It’s a small town feel, and that’s special.”
I also remember a City Council hearing when a citizen at the microphone referred to Gretchen Kafoury as “Kafoury”. It was at the height of the “difficult” relationship between Mayor Katz and Commissioner Kafoury – yet it was Vera who interrupted the testifier and said frostily, “Commissioner Kafoury, please.” We can use a first name only, but we don’t use last names alone – except in the media. That always strikes me as incongruent, whenever I read or hear about “Potter”, “Leonard”, or even “Fritz” in the newspapers or on TV. I think of those people as Tom (or “the Mayor”, the office being already so powerful), Randy, and Amanda, and most people I know do, too.
Portland is a town where we can get to know our elected officials. The Tom and Randy Show at Parkrose on April 16 should be a great opportunity to do just that, and to gain more understanding of the pros and cons of the Charter changes being proposed.