PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Olivia Clark easily won the top spot in Portland City Council District 4 in the city’s first ranked-choice election.
Come January, the retired policy director for TriMet will be one of three city councilors in the district, encompassing Portland’s west side – including downtown and Old Town – then crosses the Willamette River into the Eastmoreland and Sellwood neighborhoods.
A former legislative director for then-governor John Kitzhaber, Clark also co-founded CASA , the Community and Shelter Assistance program, which helps farmworkers and marginalized communities.
District Four has some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Portland, but it also has some of the biggest problems, especially with homelessness and drug use downtown. As a result, Clark said her priorities are broadly in the areas of public safety and affordable housing.
“Public Safety means not just more police on the streets, but it really means making sure that the response time is improved, that if you dial 911, somebody actually answers the phone and somebody gets there within a reasonable amount of time,” she stated. “The homeless issue is a part of public safety. It’s not safe for people to be living on the streets, and it’s not good for the rest of us either. And housing development, we need more affordable housing. We need to streamline our permitting process. I know the current city council has worked on that, but it’s up to us to implement that.”