Hi, my name is Ryan A. Farmer and I've been lurking on Daily Kos since I joined in 2017. During the 2016 election (and especially afterward), I was looking for somewhere that was at least somewhat responsive to reality. Something to make me feel less isolated and like there was a broader community of people in this country that weren't completely crazy. And I found Daily Kos, and it helped. Like all people, this site and this community are not perfect, but I find it strives to engage reality and make the world better, which has been comforting as I quietly read my way through its lens on the news.
Now, I am running for City Commissioner in Portland, OR. While we are all understandably focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot forget the rest of our lives, and especially our elections this year. From the smallest local elections to the Presidential and Senate elections, our votes matter in how we handle this pandemic, the next one, and all of our lives during and in between. The best action most of us can take to fight COVID-19 is to stay home as much as possible, and doing this gives us perhaps more time than usual to consider our votes this year. This is especially true as traditional campaigning cannot be responsibly continued, making it more important than ever for us to be proactive as voters, to learn the issues, the candidates, and the solutions presented (or not). This community is especially good at being proactively politically engaged already, but it is good to hear from time to time that, yes, it is important. And that kind political discourse with others is a good thing that should be done in polite society.
For those of you in Portland (or that are simply curious), here is my introductory video on why I'm running for City Commissioner (position 2). The transcript is below the fold. You can learn more at www.farmerforportland.com, on Twitter @RyanAFarmer1, on Instagram @ryan.a.farmer, or on my YouTube channel.
Stay home, stay safe, and stay well everyone... and vote 2020!
[transcript]Hi, my name is Ryan A. Farmer, and I am running for Portland City Commissioner.
I moved to Portland in 2008 to attend Lewis & Clark Law School, and have made this city my home ever since. Since that time, we have seen great changes come to Portland. We came out of the recession and started to grow again. Half-built construction was finished and new businesses were opened. Then new construction began. Portland became a haven for people looking for a great cultural and affordable living, and we felt proud.
And then came more new construction. Old venerable buildings were demolished and in their place rose new. Businesses were purchased, and then consolidated. Housing prices started going up, and up, and up again. Parking was lost as our roads became increasingly crowded, and our food pods began to disappeared.
Now, most rental housing costs about double what it did 10 years ago. We grew, but our infrastructure didn't. Our amazing public transit system shrank, with only about 6% of Portlanders using it. Portland is now ranked in the top 10 cities in America with the worst traffic. We were supposed to be bike friendly, but the percentage of commuters that bike is lower now than five years ago. And our homeless population has sprawled into an epidemic, with tens of thousands of homeless people within the city.
Our city has stalled. We see massive housing developments maintaining high rent, and commercial space sitting empty. We say “keep Portland weird” while our local businesses close one after another, or are driven out so their space can be sold and demolished for generic space. Portland, we can do more for ourselves.
We can do more to make renting affordable by scaling rent to income.
We can do more to make transportation not just efficient, but clean, affordable, and safe, by dedicating local roads to small personal vehicles and bringing back fareless transit.
We can do more to ease the burden of homelessness on all of us by setting up safe zones for homeless people within the city and reminding the State that it is their duty to address the root causes of homelessness, not just Portlanders.
This is why I am running for office, because I believe we can do more for ourselves than we have been doing. I'm going to work to do more, and I hope you will join me.
My name is Ryan A. Farmer, and I am running for Portland City Commissioner. Thank you, and vote 2020. [/transcript]
Sources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1apoEAj2ykLhVU8LCh8pS8bETKtF59JsVDEfOc2fY3cw/edit https://katu.com/news/local/portland-ranks-10th-worst-in-the-us-for-traffic-congestion https://katu.com/news/local/portland-is-one-of-the-worst-cities-for-commuters-in-the-us-study-finds https://www.businessinsider.com/us-cities-with-most-traffic-2019-2019-2#9-philadelphia-pa-7 https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/450083-366761-portland-traffic-up-by-2-in-2019 https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/01/22/what-bus-riders-want-we-hopped-on-the-most-used-bus-inportland-to-ask-how-it-could-be-better/
https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-state-university-metro-homeless-report-2017/