Chris Henry — Candidate for City Council, District 4
Candidate statement:
There must be a fundamental change in how our city’s economic decisions are made for Portland to truly act on the Climate Emergency we declared in 2020. According to the Oregon Public Banking Alliance and the city’s own financial records, we currently give over $110 million/year to Wall Street Banks, just in interest. These are the world’s largest fossil fuel investors, and illustrate City Hall’s corporate corruption just as much as the backroom deals with Zenith Energy that have imperiled our safety and climate.
To structurally transform our city’s economy, I am proposing the creation of a Green Public Bank. Instead of paying interest to Wall Street, we can use our city’s $8 billion/year annual budget for investments in the infrastructure we need to phase out fossil fuels, decommission the CEI Hub, and get ready for the overdue Cascadia megaquake. By hiring locally and supporting the creation of workers’ cooperatives, we can re-invest the surpluses locally and democratize decision-making throughout our economy.
There is a tremendous opportunity for us to move towards a carbon-negative economy. Our state is the leading producer of cannabis, yet we have not invested in the infrastructure needed to process hemp and use it to manufacture green paper, textiles, construction materials, and more. By providing alternatives to deforestation products, this would be a major intervention to protect Oregon’s forests. Hemp is one of the fastest carbon-sequestering plants in the world, and Portland could become a green manufacturing hub for the whole state.
Similarly, our city government needs to operate more bioregionally. The Willamette Valley is incredibly fertile. Yet the nitrous oxide, methane, and CO2 emissions from industrial agriculture are a major source of pollution. Our Green Public Bank should invest heavily in agroecological training, community gardens throughout the city, and joint ventures with farms throughout the Willamette Valley. Through local and bioregional food resilience, we will not only become Cascadia Ready with emergency food supplies, we will sequester carbon in the soil and trees and significantly improve the health of our communities through locally-sourced organic produce.
All such efforts to localize our economy should be supported to cut down on transportation emissions. These emissions can also be reduced through creative measures that support economic justice, such as eliminating TriMet fares. I believe public transportation is a public good, and no one should be excluded from accessing it because they can’t afford a fare. Free public transit will reduce congestion, lower emissions, and most importantly, provide equitable mobility options for low-income residents. After Kansas City became the first US city to implement fare-free transit in 2020, they saw increased ridership, public health benefits, job retention, and a significant reduction of racialized transit inequity.
Ultimately, the task of rebuilding our city to be truly green and earthquake resilient presents a tremendous opportunity for revitalization. I believe there are countless more excellent policy ideas in our amazing community, and am fully committed to collaborative planning to implement the best policies.
Will you ensure the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) remains climate-focused in line with what voters intended?
Yes
