Mayor Keith Wilson, a trucking company entrepreneur turned politician, sat down with the City Cast Portland podcast to discuss his first five months in office.
Wilson is a political novice and, because of charter reform, arguably less powerful than previous mayors. But he has successfully led the city conversation on homelessness, balancing a budget with a $93 million gap while still setting aside more funding for shelters — his policy priority.
In recent weeks, Wilson has spoken out against a City Council plan to redirect $1.9 million in new police funding from his proposed budget to instead pay for parks maintenance. (The interview below has been edited for length.)
What will be the impact if police don’t get the $1.9 million in funding?
“ It's gonna reduce our ability to run missions for human trafficking, street racing, gun violence reduction, stolen vehicle operations, retail theft. Our city will be less safe if we don't fund the police. For instance, human trafficking is gonna be decreased 50%. You see, these are tradeoffs.”
There’s now an amendment to restore the $2 million?
“[The police bureau] went from an overspend when I first started here in January. Through Chief Day’s efforts, his team's efforts, he's been able to really create more of an underspend opportunity. So we have about a three and a half million dollar underspend in our police right now. So I'm gonna take $2 million of that. I've offered it to council. [Let’s] carry it over to the new fiscal year to backfill that $2 million.”
Are you going to be able to fulfill your plan of solving unsheltered homelessness by the end of the year?
“ Anybody who needs a bed will be provided life-saving care when they are ready. There are still some people that are gonna be on the street, but right now, when they have that moment of clarity and there's a fentanyl addiction or behavioral health, our community right now is turning to them and say, ‘We'll have a reservation available for you in four weeks or six weeks.’ On Dec. 1, we're gonna be ready. When you're ready for life-saving care or a bed, we're gonna be ready for you as well.”
Listen here for more with Mayor Wilson, including his top policy priorities and his reaction to the $8.5 million settlement for families displaced from Albina.
