BY NISHANT BHAJARIA

Mayor Ted Wheeler recently had a message for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was visiting Portland recently. "In Portland, we do not merely tolerate diversity, we celebrate it."

While President Trump has been horrible for race-relations in America, as a brown-skinned naturalized American, the racism I have suffered in Portland has come from "progressives" like Mayor Ted Wheeler, Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and their mostly white liberal supporters.

Earlier this year, Wheeler and Eudaly rushed through an ordinance that would require landlords to pay relocation costs if they did not renew leases for their tenants or increased rents by more than 10 percent. As someone who has lived in a socialist economy, I was and remain opposed to this ordinance.

In keeping with American tradition, I wrote an op-ed in The Oregonian opposing this power grab. I also spoke out against Eudaly for falling behind in paying her own taxes several times and for refusing to provide proof she's paid taxes owed by her bookstore.

On Eudaly's official Facebook page, I asked for evidence that rent control really worked. I pointed out that a landlord is not obligated to renew a lease once it ends. If a tenant has to move as a result, it is because of the impermanent nature of renting. Landlords, therefore, shouldn't be responsible for relocation costs for tenants who did not save well and early in life so as to afford their own home.

I argued that landlords, unlike renters, have to commit to decades-long mortgage and maintenance costs. They're also subject to spikes in property taxes, which unlike what Eudaly and her allies claim, often rise significantly due to bond measures. In short, this ordinance gives Eudaly's supporters all the stability of homeownership without any of its responsibilities and risks.

Eudaly deleted my posts and banned me from her public Facebook page without explanation. I was denied access to this public resource even as the city's social media policy did not allow such a ban, and I had not violated any rules laid out in the policy.

Around the same time, Eudaly and Wheeler allowed Portland Tenants United to lobby the city even when the group's members were not registered as lobbyists. The group, led by mostly white liberals, was allowed a seat at the table in almost every discussion around housing policy in Portland. Wheeler's advisor Nathan Howard even used his Twitter account to boost Portland Tenants United's recruitment drive.

By contrast, besides being banned by Eudaly, emails I wrote to Wheeler and Eudaly on the housing ordinance were either given misleading or incomplete answers or were responded to weeks later. They probably figured that since I am a brown-skinned immigrant, they could ignore me and not give me a seat at the policy table. For them, it seemed, I was a second class citizen who would back down.

Instead, I wrote the city's Human Resources Director Anna Kanwit, who provided a few seemingly contradictory responses before agreeing it was wrong I'd been blocked. I wrote ombudswoman Margie Sollinger, who pleaded helplessness. Finally, an email to the city attorney threatening a lawsuit got me unblocked

So, a group led by white liberals gets to drive the bus in the Wheeler-Eudaly city council. An immigrant who has worked hard, paid his taxes and played by the rules does not even get a seat in the back.

Nishant Bhajaria owns two rental units in Portland. He is a Southwest Portland resident and is currently on assignment out of Oregon.

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