Tiffany Koyama Lane — Candidate for City Council, District 3
Endorsed: Full 350PDX Climate Justice Platform 2024 (Zenith, CEI Hub, Portland Harbor, PCEF, Shade Equity, No Freeway Widening, Building Emissions, Transit, Walking & Rolling, Climate Governance, and Divest from Fossil Fuels)
Candidate statement:
During the heat dome of 2021 I was struck by the fact that most Portlanders who died were housed, many in subsidized housing that was not climate resilient. I also saw that mutual aid groups and community groups were stepping up to fill the holes left by our city government. Our City and County have learned from these disasters, but we need so much more coordination between our local governments, and a lot more forethought as we consider about what people are going to need during climate emergencies.
Climate solutions need to be proactive and they need to center our most vulnerable residents. We need to take a neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach, targeting heat islands within our city, which are often in low-income and majority-BIPOC areas, and making sure those neighborhoods are first in line to have trees planted to create a shade canopy, and that residents have rapid and easy access to the programs that provide free air conditioning and air filters, as well as home improvements that make dwellings more resilient to extreme heat, cold, and high-pollution events like wildfires.
The Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub in North Portland is a disaster waiting to happen in the event of earthquake, train derailment, or fire. Our industrial zones have already created highly inequitable health and safety impacts for the people who live nearby. It’s time to invoke Risk Bonding, demand repairs and stabilization, and ultimately move away from a model that relies on fossil fuels.
We know that vibrant cities are walkable, transit-forward cities where kids can bike to school and people don’t feel like they need a car to survive. We also know that our climate goals depend on shifting more trips toward sustainable modes. Part of this will mean changing the funding mechanism for our roads and transit. Many of our roads are a mess, and our system has pitted cyclists, transit riders, and drivers against each other, even though many people in Portland do all three. We shouldn’t have to choose between great public transit, safe bike routes, and repairing potholes. In an EV world, it’s time to work with the state and rethink the gas tax as a primary funding source. Other cities have instituted heavy vehicle licensing to improve street quality and funding for road and transportation networks. We need similar non-regressive, common-sense approaches.
Finally, I support municipalization of our public utilities. Oregon has a large number of public utilities and it’s time for Portland residents to benefit from this form of public power as well. Research from other states shows that cooperatively owned utilities result in lower rates for consumers, a better continuity of service during severe weather events, and better environmental outcomes. In this climate emergency, we cannot rely on for-profit companies who are determined to continue burning fossil fuels.
Will you ensure the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) remains climate-focused in line with what voters intended?
Yes
