The North Peninsula Review asked the leading Portland mayoral and city Council candidates the question below. Some responses lightly condensed for spacing.
Questian: There are more than 30 vacant business properties and storefronts on North Lombard Street between downtown St. Johns and North Interstate Avenue in Kenton. What strategies do you support to improve neighborhood business districts to fill empty business spaces?
Portland Mayoral race
Rene Gonzalez:
Portland cannot flourish without vibrant business districts. That means we must attract investments and capital across the city— including North Portland— to help address our housing needs while also keeping our streets accessible for everyone. We also need to do more to help small businesses and residents with the cost of daily life[, increasing the] value of public services they receive for taxes paid. I will work to improve partnerships within the business community in supporting police and public safety. This includes bringing back neighborhood and business watch programs which are essential to community engagement in public safety.”
Keith Wilson:
Town squares like St. Johns and Kenton are the heartbeat, the gathering place for their neighborhoods. Every vacant storefront also represents the broken dream of the businessperson. So we must ensure any program we implement, sticks. The solution isn’t complex. If we restore safety to St. Johns, we welcome an influx of investment, jobs and families. My plan to end homelessness issue will reduce the number of homeless people sleeping in front of business entrances. The savings to the city from sheltering the homeless better, will free up funds for North Portland neighborhood business districts.
(The other mayoral candidates who have qualified for city matching campaign funds, Commissioners Mingus Mapps and Carmen Rubio, and Liv Osthus, did not respond to the survey).
Portland City Council North/NE Portland District 2
Michelle DePass
Downtown St. Johns along Lombard should be eligible for Main Street USA investments.
Designate an economic opportunity zone that focuses on women and minority owned businesses. Direct Prosper Portland to use TIF funds to make storefront improvements and require the city to provide commercial affordable tenanting leases. Partner with MESO, Business Oregon, the St. Johns Center for Opportunity to lease these spaces to neighbors with business plans. Reduce the barriers for small businesses to grow. Require technical assistance in the lease documents.
Tiffani Penson
Portlanders deserve a city that works, including thriving neighborhood business districts. We should first assess current economic conditions and identify key industries and challenges. Then, on a firmly established recovery timeline, move toward making public improvements and supporting small businesses with grants and low-income loans, especially emerging, minority, women, and service-disabled, veteran-owned enterprises. We can activate vacant storefronts through incubators, pop-up shops and shared spaces for artists and musicians, and promote neighborhood revitalization through public-private partnerships with local organizations for cultural events that foster community and attract visitors.
Dan Ryan
Since 2021, I’ve led permit reform efforts to streamline the process for small businesses and entrepreneurs, reducing wait times and improving responsiveness to help new businesses set up quickly. I’ve worked with PBOT and local advocates to enhance lighting in St. John Plaza and create a safer environment. We need to further improve neighborhood safety. I helped pass the elimination of daytime camping, moving aggressive drug users off the streets and into (addiction & mental health) services. I champion policies promoting pop-up businesses, art installations, and temporary markets to activate storefronts, boost the tax base, and foster community engagement.
James Armstrong
Specific strategies in St. Johns include: ensure that the new Multnomah County day center for homeless people helps reduce homelessness. Increase funding for city Storefront Improvement grants. Street lighting is essential to people feeling safe, so fix the one-half of downtown tree lights that don’t work. Get a regular city Portland Street Response (PSR) presence and ask Multnomah County to assign its similar “Project Respond” teams to St. Johns and Kenton. Create an Enhanced Services District, similar to Lloyd Center, to steer a percentage of businesses’ property taxes, into improvements for the betterment of entire community.
Mariah Hudson
Portland’s recovery starts in our neighborhoods. From St. Johns to Hollywood, ensuring safe streets and improving public safety is crucial to curb vandalism and support businesses. I’ll advocate for targeted incentives, making Prosper Portland grants more accessible and reassessing system development fees to help small businesses thrive and attract tourism. I’ll expand the Portland Small Business Relief Fund for those affected by economic downturns and push to fully staff first responders for increased safety. I’ll promote the Main Street Program to revitalize commercial districts and support local events.
Debbie Kitchin
Our small local businesses are the heart and soul of Portland…including St. Johns, Kenton, Soul District, and culturally specific groups such as Hacienda, NAYA, APANO and the Black Business Association of Oregon.We can lean into Bricks Need Mortar which partners this year with Powell’s Books and Travel Portland. We can activate spaces with artists and performers such as Music Portland City Sessions or Tacoma Artscapes. Fundamentally, we need to support our businesses through investments to prevent vandalism, theft and break-ins. We need to make permitting easier and more streamlined. Prosper Portland and other city agencies need to be more user-friendly.
Mike Marshall
As a former retail business manager, I’m very cognizant of the adverse impact that empty storefronts have on surrounding businesses and neighborhoods. My understanding of city code is that landlords have an obligation attached to their building permits to maintain “active ground floor use” or face a significant fine. It’s also my understanding that the city does not enforce this requirement. I’ll work to increase enforcement while also linking landlords with potential tenants, especially artists and non-profits.
Jennifer Park
We should explore what revitalization could be tackled with a (TIF) district or districts in North Portland. That may be in certain Lombard corridors or Fessenden. I’d also like to explore options around taxing vacancies that carefully targets the pervasive vacancies that deteriorate neighborhoods, whether these targets commercial and/or residential. In both cases, the exact strategy Council uses to implement the policies will be critical in ensuring we’re using policies and funds to scaffold local- and community-based development.
Elana Pirtle-Guiney
St. Johns is a Prosper Portland Neighborhood Prosperity Network district and this entire length of Lombard is in a TIF District. Our standard tools are clearly not working. I’d guess there are a few reasons these storefronts are empty, which all require different solutions. I’d start with incentivizing property owners to upgrade buildings, reforming our public safety system so police have time to close cases, and creating an expectation that cases are closed to deter property crime. And bringing more foot traffic to our business districts through year-round neighborhood events that get people into their communities.
Bob Simril
I will advocate the city council will consider several policies, including incentives like grants or loans for property improvements; tax breaks for landlords who lease to local businesses or make space available for pop up retail or community use; promote collaboration with CBOs to fill spaces for events and activities. It’s desirable to use and occupy these spaces, rather than have them become persistently vacant to help revitalize activity and community participation.
Laura Strieb
We need to do three things in tandem: Mental health & housing supports. Consistent community policing to deter the all too often break-ins & vandalism of small businesses, including some of favorites recently hit. Incentivize and/or have a vacancy tax for landlords to activate their spaces for small businesses, nonprofits, or pop-ups to revitalize our downtown sectors. The St Johns community repeatedly surveys asking folks what businesses are wanted and the answer is always evening activation. There’s a current push for a bowling alley or an arcade.
Jonathan Tasini
We should adopt a commercial vacancy tax. We tax what we want less of, and we certainly don’t want vacant properties. St Johns would benefit from landlords quickly recognizing that their property isn’t worth as much as it used to be, and, therefore, lower rents to keep it occupied, would aid filling of empty spaces. San Francisco just enacted such a tax, Vancouver BC has had one for several years and Paris also embraced the idea. It would reduce speculation and spur offering of those spaces at affordable rents.
Nat West
Using my history as a lifelong small business owner, I’ll streamline the permitting process, work on tax incentives, and provide grants to help small businesses start up, particularly those owned by marginalized groups. Zoning changes for increased density will attract more businesses and foot traffic. Improving road safety, including better transit, protected bike lanes, and pedestrian-friendly streets will make areas attractive to businesses and customers, ultimately boosting the city’s tax base.
Nabil Zaghloul
Create a Small Business Growth Fund through partnerships with philanthropic organizations, grants, and public funds to support the growth and startup of small, locally owned businesses, particularly those owned by minorities and women. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and raising them up helps the entire economic ecosystem. Also partner with philanthropic interests to utilize some of the vacant business properties or storefronts for galleries or studios that support the arts. A thriving arts community inspires those around it to dream and grow.