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The challenges facing District 4 are interconnected.

They include protecting green spaces and riverfronts, revitalizing downtown and Chinatown, supporting small businesses, and ensuring that growth benefits both longtime residents and newcomers.

Strong, thoughtful leadership is needed to meet this moment and build a more resilient Portland for everyone.

 
Save Energy Costs: Moratorium on Data Center

In the short term, Jeremy supports a moratorium on new data centers.

Data centers require enormous amounts of electricity. Even when they pay for the infrastructure built specifically for them, adding massive new demand to a constrained electrical system can require more generation, transmission, and grid expansion.

The numbers are already staggering: Portland General Electric has incurred approximately $210 million in local transmission upgrades to serve data center load, costs that have historically been shared across customers. Between 2019 and 2024, data center growth on PGE’s system was equivalent to adding 162,400 customers, while the residential customer base grew by only 24,300 households.

Oregon’s new POWER Act is an important step toward making large energy users pay their fair share. But shifting infrastructure costs to data centers doesn’t eliminate the underlying demand they’re placing on our regional energy system.

That’s why Jeremy supports a moratorium on new data centers while we determine how much additional demand our electrical system can sustainably support—and how to ensure Portland residents aren’t left competing with some of the world’s largest corporations for affordable power.

Our first responsibility should be keeping electricity reliable and affordable for the people who live here.

Read the Power Act

The long term solution for rising energy costs is to explore a publicly owned power grid.

Right now, much of Portland’s electricity is provided by investor-owned utilities. That means our electric bills don’t just support the power grid—they also support a business that must generate returns for its investors.

Jeremy supports studying whether Portland could transition toward a publicly owned electric utility governed by a democratically elected board.

Public ownership could give Portlanders more control over where our energy comes from, how rates are set, and how we invest in the grid. Public ownership also creates opportunities for long-term workforce development and climate resilience. This work can be supported through broader public infrastructure initiatives inspired by New Deal-era civilian conservation programs that invest directly in sustainability, grid modernization, ecological restoration, and living-wage job creation.

Instead of maximizing private returns, we could invest in local renewable energy, neighborhood resilience, grid modernization, and good-paying jobs—all while making affordable, reliable electricity the priority.

The goal is simple: Portland’s energy system should work for Portlanders.

Every summer, the Ross Island Lagoon develops toxic algae blooms that make parts of the Willamette River unsafe for swimming and dangerous for wildlife and pets. These blooms threaten Sellwood docks, beaches downstream, and public access to one of Portland’s most important natural resources. These conditions are preventable.

By placing the Ross Islands into the care of Portland Parks & Recreation as a protected ecological reserve — similar to the management model used at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge — Portland can address two crises at once: restoring river health and preventing the spread of toxic algae blooms throughout the river corridor.

This proposal would establish the Ross Island Ecological Park as a world-class public ecological reserve in the center of the city while preventing private industrial interests from continuing to use the lagoon as a dumping site for contaminated material connected to the Portland Harbor Superfund area. The plan calls for transitioning ownership of Ross Island from Ross Island Sand & Gravel into public stewardship in order to prioritize ecological restoration, habitat protection, and safe public river access over industrial dumping practices. This effort could also become part of a broader public land strategy that reinvests in underutilized land and expands access to parks, riverfronts, and ecological spaces for Portland residents.

Read about Oregon State University’s channel study and proposed interventions to reduce annual toxic algae blooms here.

Preventing Algae Blooms

Portlanders have repeatedly funded programs intended to address houselessness, addiction, and mental health crises. Yet residents, workers, and small businesses, particularly in Old Town Chinatown and downtown, are still asking a fair question:

Where is the money going, and why aren’t we seeing better results?

Portland Street Response (PSR) offers an alternative to sending armed police to behavioral health and non-emergency crisis calls. I support fully funding PSR and expanding its staffing, transportation capacity, hours, and partnerships with treatment and recovery providers.

But crisis response can’t end on the sidewalk. PSR is a voluntary service and cannot compel someone to accept transportation, shelter, treatment, or other services. Portland needs a stronger continuum of care so that when someone is ready to accept help, responders have somewhere appropriate to take them.

I support creating direct pathways from crisis response to shelters, stabilization centers, treatment providers, and recovery-focused facilities, as well as establishing a dedicated crisis care hub in Old Town Chinatown. Working with organizations already serving the neighborhood could provide more consistent access to care while improving public safety and supporting local businesses.

Long-term solutions must also address what happens before someone reaches a crisis. That means expanding addiction recovery resources, upstream mental health care, preschool access, and support for families.

Portlanders deserve a system that is compassionate and accountable, one that responds to a crisis today while creating a real pathway out of it tomorrow.

In neighborhoods like Chinatown, businesses are increasingly forced to hire private security to protect customers, employees, and storefronts from the visible impacts of untreated addiction and behavioral health crises. Portlanders want solutions that are compassionate, effective, and accountable.

Portland Street Response has already proven to be one of the city’s most effective tools for reducing unnecessary police involvement while connecting people in crisis to care. I support fully funding and expanding Portland Street Response so they have the staffing, transportation capacity, and treatment partnerships necessary to respond effectively across the city.

Portland Street Response should be able to transport individuals directly to designated shelters, stabilization centers, treatment providers, and recovery-focused facilities where people can receive immediate support instead of cycling endlessly between the street, emergency rooms, and jail.

I also support establishing a dedicated safehouse and crisis care hub in Old Town Chinatown to provide consistent access to services for people experiencing houselessness and addiction. Meeting people where they are, in partnership with organizations already serving the community, would help stabilize the neighborhood while supporting long-term recovery, public safety, and economic revitalization.

Portland Street Response

Portlanders deserve to get where they need to be, when they need to be there. A robust transportation system is vital for a healthy city and we need to invest in mass transit, cyclist, and pedestrian infrastructure. We can increase safety on bus and MAX lines through investments in programs like the successful Portland Streetcar Ambassador Program.

Affordable Housing: Create a Renters’ Bill of Rights

Renters need relief immediately. I will fight to ban rent hikes when Code Violations Exist, require 6 months notice for rent increases, protect children and educators from evictions during the school year, prevent evictions during extreme weather events, establish a right to counsel in Eviction Court and demand that local rent control be allowed throughout Oregon. Read the full Renters’ Bill of Rights below.

Renters' Bill of Rights

Working Portlanders deserve more. A job is how people support their families and build stability in their lives. When workers can be fired without explanation, that stability disappears overnight. Just Cause protections recognize that employment is not disposable. I will fight for workplace protections so Portlanders can lead secure, sustainable, and happy lives.

Portlanders deserve a say in how their tax funds are spent. Participatory Budgeting empowers historically marginalized Portlanders to decide what projects get funded. When more Portlanders are invited to participate in the Democratic Process, we come up with better ideas that benefit all of us.

From Portland to Palestine I will fight against Human Rights Violations carried out by the Federal Government. Whether it is ICE terrorizing Portlanders or US military interventions across the globe, these acts of violence always come at the expense of our schools, infrastructure, and healthcare. I will cut ties with our sister city in Israel, ensure our Sanctuary City laws are enforced, and look for ways to divest the city budget from the US military.

Let's build the future of Portland together.

I am a husband, a parent, and a Project Manager at Portland State University. I believe city government should prepare Portland for 2050 by investing in a strong social safety net while being a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars. 

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