Portland residents’ mayoral campaign is not a Schor thing:

David Schor explains his platform for PDX mayor

On the 17th of May, Portlanders will cast their vote for a new mayor.

Current Mayor Charlie Hales will not seek re-election, so for the 53rd time the city of Portland will have a new mayor. It’s unlikely many of the previous 52 assumed the office in such dynamic and turbulent times. The city’s infrastructure is in dire straights, its homeless situation has officially been declared an emergency, and rent is higher than it is for our students.

Where does Portland go from here? How can residents and officials affect positive changes in the community while addressing the housing and infrastructure issues?

If you were to ask mayoral candidate David Schor, he’d say, “Let’s have that conversation.”  He was kind enough to visit our MHCC campus to carry on this conversation with The Advocate.

Born and raised in Oregon, David Schor is an Assistant Attorney General for the Oregon Department of Justice where he “fights corporations to get the money they owe to the people of Oregon,” according to his website, www.portlandforschor.org.

He also has a background with nonprofits, having worked with both the ACLU of Oregon and the Oregon Justice Resource Center. A self-proclaimed “dark horse” in the mayor’s race, Schor was actually one of the first to enter the campaign back in October, after Hales announced he would not run for a second term.

Schor said he believes that of all the candidates in the upcoming election, he has the most intricate, well-planned vision for Portland. Asked what separates him from other candidates, including Ted Wheeler, Jules Bailey, or MHCC’s own part-time instructor, Sean Davis, he pointed to one word: “revenue.”

Take the Rose City’s current housing issues. Schor said public officials “aren’t talking about where to get revenue to deal with the affordable housing crisis…  I’ve heard their talking points and there’s no plan for revenue.” Schor’s plan includes an 8 percent tax increase on the top 1 percent of (income) earners in the city. By his estimate, that top percentile consists of individuals making more than $350,000 a year, he said.

“We have a huge amount of wealth in this community and it’s disproportionately allocated. There are… people in this town that are actually benefiting greatly from this crisis,” Schor said.

He would target this specific population of Portland with his new tax, and have all of this new revenue go towards the development of city-run, low income housing, he said. It is unclear exactly how many housing units this would create, or where they would be located, but compared to other candidates Schor thinks his is the most specific housing plan so far, he said.

Another unavoidable aspect of Schor’s campaign is his perceived tie to presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Schor “feels the Bern,” to put it mildly. He has a Sanders quote plastered across the homepage of his website and he also credited him for inspiring him to run for mayor when he did. Schor is hoping to ride the wave of Sanders supporters as they hit the polls in May to decide the Democratic nomination for president between Sanders and Hillary Clinton, former first lady and secretary of state.

When asked if he considers himself a Democratic Socialist, Schor responded quickly and emphatically, “I’m happy to wear that label.”

As perhaps the best example of that outlook, besides his proposed housing tax, Schor’s economic plan includes raising wages for all Portland city employees (whether full- or part-time) to at least $15 hour.

“I don’t expect to win,” said Schor about his first campaign. “I hope to win.”