cityclub.jpg

Four candidates for Portland mayor -- Ted Wheeler, Sarah Iannarone, Sean Davis and Jules Bailey -- at the City Club of Portland debate April 22, 2016.

(Brad Schmidt/The Oregonian)

Portland mayoral candidates took aim at the city's proliferation of tent camping - and a new lawsuit challenging lax enforcement - during a debate Friday hosted by the City Club of Portland.

Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler, who has emerged as the frontrunner in the race, offered the most stinging rebuke of Mayor Charlie Hales' camping policy. A coalition of business and neighborhood groups, including the Portland Business Alliance, sued the city and Hales this week hoping to see greater enforcement of anti-camping rules.

"I do not think the current policy around tent camps is working," Wheeler told the City Club crowd. "It's unfair to people who live on streets, it's unfair to neighborhoods and it's unfair to local business owners and operators."

Wheeler's top opponent, Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey, shared a similar stance while saying the city needs more shelter, housing and mental-health services to reduce homelessness.

"I don't believe that tent camping is the answer," Bailey said.

Housing and homelessness were the driving themes of Friday's lunchtime forum in a ballroom of the Sentinel hotel in downtown Portland. But the debate lacked the buzz of years past, such as the 2012 debate featuring three high-profile candidates hoping to replace then-Mayor Sam Adams.

This year, the City Club extended invitations to four of 15 candidates vying to supplant Hales. Beyond Bailey and Wheeler, the club invited Sarah Iannarone, a restaurant owner and assistant director of First Stop Portland, and Sean Davis, a community college professor and Army veteran.

Instead of two- to three-candidates standing on stage, behind podiums, this year's crop of contenders sat on stools next to tables in a more relaxed setting. They fielded nine questions from the moderator, former state Rep. Ben Cannon, in an event that lacked the humor and audience interaction of past forums.

On the issue of tent camping, Iannarone said she'd make it a priority to secure shelter space and housing - and called on the city to borrow money to build new units that would be repaid with property taxes.

Homeless Portlanders need compassion, she added, not litigation.

"I don't like this lawsuit," she said. "It's not how we do things here in Portland."

Davis, dressed in blue jeans, talked of his own childhood growing up in a trailer and said officials need to consider all options for shelter, including the unused Wapato Jail.

But for the most part, the candidates offered little distinction in their answers on the need for more money for affordable housing, the need to increase density in single-family neighborhoods and the need to invest in a variety of transportation projects that make Portland safer.

Each candidate also said they support ending a rule that allows police officers to wait 48 hours before being interviewed about officer-involved shootings. And they spoke about the need to increase community policing, coupled with education and employment opportunities for teens, to curb growing gang violence.

Wheeler, Bailey and Iannarone each said they support a proposed gas tax, which will appear on the May 17 ballot along with the mayoral race. Davis said he didn't support the tax, however, because not enough money will be dedicated to paving and it will be expensive for low-income Portlanders.

The debate closed with Iannarone urging voters to elect her because she'll make equity the cornerstone of her mayoral platform.

Bailey said he wants to be a mayor for all of Portland. Wheeler said he has the most leadership experience.

And Davis said voters should pick him because he's a regular guy.

"We need somebody in city hall who has the same perspective," he said, "and shares the same problems that people are going through."

-- Brad Schmidt

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch