Progressive Leadership
for
Common Sense Priorities
The First Choice
For District 3
Steve is running to make progress - for District 3 and for all Portlanders. He has a track record of getting things done, and in a second term he will continue to fight for public safety, livability, small business, and the responsible use of your tax dollars. On a polarized Council, Steve is a voice of common sense, pragmatism, and of course the occasional whimsy he is known for. If reelected by District 3 he will continue to prioritize sensible action over shortsighted policies and ideological conflicts.
A Message from Steve Novick
Because I’ve been around for a long time, most of you know what I’m about. I listen to constituents. I don't shy away from a realistic assessment of our problems. I don't overpromise. I look for cost-effective, evidence-based solutions. And I don't think that we can solve our problems with overheated, self-righteous rhetoric.
In the past two years, consistent with those values, I have taken meaningful steps to reduce gun violence, support small business, and address sex trafficking and drug dealing on 82nd Avenue. In a second term, I will continue to take the same pragmatic approach, whether the issue is homelessness, the future of our parks system, or our unacceptable rates of property crime.
Your proud District 3 Councilor,
Steve
Priorities For A Second Term
In a second term, Steve will continue to seek practical solutions to our problems – ranging from huge issues like homelessness and crime to major annoyances like the Arts Tax and the Union Pacific trains that block traffic in Inner Southeast Portland for hours on end. Here are eight of Steve’s priorities:
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One principle that guides Steve’s work is that the City needs to be responsible with your money. Steve is committed to spending public dollars the right way and on the right things. He thinks that if you believe in government, you have an obligation to make sure that government is as efficient and effective as it can be.
Examples include:
Steve has fought to cut the bloated budgets that the Council voted for its own offices - $1.45 million apiece! Steve has returned much of his money back to the city and spent some on community needs, like fixing parks bathrooms.
Steve wants to keep the Blazers, but is fighting for a fair deal, where we get as much money out of the Moda Center as we put in.
Steve voted against an increase to the Arts Tax, an incredibly inefficient tax with huge administrative costs.
Steve is working with the State to get Medicaid to reimburse the costs of Portland Street Response.
Steve is working to ensure that unarmed responders, instead of more expensive armed police, take over responses to “welfare check” calls.
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Steve will push our state and county partners, and the City, to make cost-effective evidence-based investments in fighting homelessness, which includes mental health and addiction services investments. We need more housing; two ways to address that are improving the permitting system and cleaning up the city and its image to attract more investment in housing. But we also need to reckon with a mental health and addiction crisis driven by the severe impacts of new drugs like fentanyl and all-synthetic meth. Right now, we are putting people with severe challenges into housing without support, where they engage in destructive behavior that drives other tenants away. The City isn’t in charge of mental health and addiction services – that’s the County and the State – but we can be a strong voice for rational policy
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As of last count, we were second-worst in the nation in property crime - only Memphis was worse. That’s awful in itself, and makes it hard to attract investment in our city. As we add police officers, we should prioritize adding detectives to follow through on reports and break up crime brings. And as noted above, Steve is working to move “welfare check” calls to unarmed responders, giving police officers more time to address actual crime.
Under the chronic nuisance law, the police contact the owners of private properties and call on them to take measures – such as improved lighting, installing security cameras, employee training, etc. – to abate the nuisance crimes.
Previously, to use the law, the police have to document three instances of crime at the property in 30 days. With our police force stretched thin, a heck of a lot of bad things can be happening at a property without the police actually documenting 3 instances in 30 days. His proposal lowered the threshold to 3 instances in 90 days.
Under the chronic nuisance law, the police contact the owners of private properties and call on them to take measures – such as improved lighting, installing security cameras, employee training, etc. – to abate the nuisance crimes.
Previously, to use the law, the police have to document three instances of crime at the property in 30 days. With our police force stretched thin, a heck of a lot of bad things can be happening at a property without the police actually documenting 3 instances in 30 days. His proposal lowered the threshold to 3 instances in 90 days.
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Steve believes that climate change is not only the predominant issue of our lifetime, but of human existence. That’s why Portlanders approved the Portland Clean Energy and Community Benefits Fund. Steve supports greater PCEF investment in the largest contributor to climate change - transportation. That should include investments in improving and preserving public transportation. Another possible investment that would benefit all Portlanders would be to use PCEF to help offset water rate increases by paying part of the cost of the water filtration plant, which is designed to address wildfire risks that have increased with climate change.
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Steve promised when campaigning for the Parks Levy to do everything possible to make our beloved parks system sustainable without asking voters for another tax increase - a decision that would come back to council at the end of a second term. This will require both making tough choices and an emphasis on developing public-private partnerships. He is also pursuing ways to get rid of the Arts Tax without reducing critical support for arts programming, possibly by folding it into the Children’s Levy.
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The City doesn’t have direct power over the railroad – but the railroad is trying to push a big merger through, which would make the problem worse. It’s an opportunity to call on the Federal government to force Union Pacific to fix the problem as a condition of approving the merger. We should insist on an overcrossing.
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Eliminating the requirement for a special permit to put out a simple sandwich board was just a start! Steve is also on the verge of eliminating a nearly century-old requirement for special permits for pinball machines and pool tables. He also supports the Portland Environmental Management Office which tackles neighborhood problems that hit small businesses the hardest.
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In a second term, Steve also plans to continue his efforts to enlist other cities to join Portland in using our market power to promote the development of “smart guns,” which can only be physically fired by the lawful owner. If a lot of cities announced that they want to buy smart guns for their police forces, the gun manufacturers would have a guaranteed market and will start making them. And, if smart guns became a dominant type of gun in homes, it would drastically reduce youth suicides since 800 American children a year shoot themselves with a parent’s gun.
Delivering Results For District 3
From 82nd Avenue to the Central Eastside, Steve shows up for District 3.
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Steve’s ordinance strengthened the City’s “chronic nuisance” law to make it easier for the City to hold property owners accountable for allowing their property to be used as a base for criminal activity like sex trafficking and drug dealing. He heard from families around McDaniel High School that their teenagers walk to school through a gauntlet of sex trafficking, in part because some hotels turn a blind eye to the activity. Under the "chronic nuisance" law, the City can require property owners to take reasonable steps to stop crime. But the old law had limitations that made it incredibly hard to use. Steve's improvements will make it a much more useful tool to stop crime.
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Steve succeeded in pushing the Police Bureau to dramatically increase their use of the “red flag law” to take guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others. He learned that the Portland Police were using the law far less often than other cities in Oregon and across the country, and concluded that the Bureau simply had never prioritized training about the law. Steve brought in outside experts who highlighted how often, and how effectively, other cities have used the law. Since then the Bureau has dramatically expanded training in and use of the law - which will save lives.
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Steve successfully led the fight against a proposal from some colleagues to slash funding for cleanup and removal of the most hazardous homeless camps. Steve does not support indiscriminate “sweeps,” but certain camps pose a hazard to their residents and need to be addressed. Steve stands behind the work of Portland Solutions, which includes street outreach, shelter programs, and the Portland Environmental Management Office which assists neighborhoods with things like street lighting and activating public spaces for everyone.
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Steve, alongside Councilor Morillo, worked to establish a city data office to set policy for all the bureaus on data gathering, maintenance, retention and protection, to help keep Portlanders’ personal data from falling into the wrong hands – whether the hands of ICE or of private companies using the data for private gain.
This is a proposal that came up through the grass roots of city employees who work with data, who said that leaving it up to each bureau to figure out how to deal with such data was problematic in a variety of ways. One thing the data office would do is work with bureaus to ensure that contracts with outside vendors who have access to Portlanders’ personal data have strong provisions to prevent that data from being misused – sold to ICE, or used otherwise for private profit.
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Steve worked to establish a city data office to set policy for all the bureaus on data gathering, maintenance, retention and protection, to help keep Portlanders’ personal data from falling into the wrong hands – whether the hands of ICE or of private companies using the data for private gain.This is a proposal that came up through the grass roots of city employees who work with data, who said that leaving it up to each bureau to figure out how to deal with such data was problematic in a variety of ways.
Hear It Straight From Steve
Steve is known for putting a unique spin on the topic of the day through both obscure pop culture references and thought provoking analysis. Get that and more straight to your inbox by signing up for his mailing list.
