Oregon Leadership Summit
December 11, 2023
Good morning, I’m your governor, Tina Kotek.
It’s
overwhelming and exhilarating to see so many people here today. The
collective optimism and hard work of this gathering feels amazing, and
I’m so, so glad to be with you.
There’s one person who couldn’t
be here today, and that’s Dan McMillan, CEO of the Standard who you just
heard from in the video.
Dan has been my partner in marshaling
the energy of community, business and elected leaders towards solutions
for Portland that you will hear a whole lot more about today. He sends
his regrets and wants you to know the ONLY thing he would miss this for
is his daughter’s college graduation.
I want to take the opportunity
to extend a special thanks to Dan and his team at The Standard who have
been with us every step of the way, bringing positivity and always
starting from ‘yes’.
So, let’s talk about Portland – and let’s
talk about progress. Because, I think we’re having a moment. Times of
crisis can lead to a desire for drastic change, to tear down and rebuild
again, and to overlook the progress that we’ve made in favor of
something different. But when I look at this city, when I look at the
leaders before me, what I see is potential.
Momentum. A fortitude to act.
We
have come this far, and we are beginning to see what’s on the other
side of our challenges. And that is precisely the moment when you keep
going, pushing even harder. That is the moment we are in.
I know
that many Oregonians have been frustrated over the last few years,
whether you live in Portland or elsewhere in the state. I’ve been
frustrated, too. Sometimes turning on the TV, looking up at billboards
around the city, or checking out news stories feels like reading an
obituary of Portland, written by people who never truly knew it at its
best, defining it by its worst. The truth is, Portland was never
Portlandia, particularly for people living on the margins. Lack of
affordable housing, poverty, racism, violence, and substance abuse have
been issues in the city for decades, like most American cities.
However,
these issues have become more prevalent during and after the pandemic.
The human suffering has been at a scale that we cannot afford to
normalize or downplay.
Whether you are sleeping on the street,
struggling with an addiction, a nonprofit who is short staffed, or a
business owner whose employees don’t feel safe coming into work, it’s
been a tough few years. And we all deserve so much better.
Now,
let’s talk about all of Oregon for a minute. At last year’s Business
Summit, I made a promise to visit all 36 counties in my first year in
office and called it the One Oregon Listening Tour. I knew early on that
my approach to this job was to lead by listening to folks. Just last
week, we visited our 35th county of the year. We will reach our 36th
county before the year's end.
Without fail, people ask me: what
has surprised you the most about visiting all of Oregon? Well, I have
many stories from the road and have had many memorable conversations.
One thing that popped up time and time again was the shared desire for
Portland to succeed. In every part of the state, I heard consistently a
clear understanding that this city is Oregon’s economic engine. People
believe in Portland. And they have high hopes for it.
My
conversations with Oregonians have reminded me that if we allow
ourselves to be defined by our hardships, then we lose sight of who we
are and what we can become. Many of Portland’s challenges are not
unique. What sets us apart is how we are working to solve them, right
now, together. The solutions are not on the shoulders of the community,
or government, or business alone. It’s on all of us to solve things
together.
That is what we set out to prove, less than four
months ago, in partnership with Dan McMillan and the members of the task
force. And today our homework is due, to you, and to everyone who cares
about this city.
I’m like you: I raise an eyebrow at the idea
of another “task force” being part of any real solutions. But, in
August, when Dan and I convened a group charged with helping Portland’s
comeback, we took a bet that if you put people in a room from different
disciplines and life experiences to solve a shared problem, you can
leave with concrete solutions. I believe we won that bet. We came up
with 10 concrete action items focused on the next 6 months – that were
released publicly for the very first time at 10am this morning – along
with a long-term vision for Portland’s success and new partnerships to
help make change happen.
I want to thank that incredible group -
nearly 50 task force members – and the 120 people who joined in on the
committee work – and even more who participated in the listening
sessions and gave their feedback online.
Task force members, you showed up with two weeks’ notice and committed to 4 months of intensive work. Thank you.
We
did not agree on everything. We could probably spend 4 more months
getting every word right. And there was fierce debate. And that’s the
beauty of Portland. It’s a city worth fighting for and getting right.
You’ll
get to hear from a few of the task force’s leaders, here on stage, to
share a vision for Portland’s next chapter. Everyone on the task force
had to adhere to one core principle: Don’t dwell on the past, apply its
lessons to the future. That is what today is all about.
Now,
please welcome two leaders who played a pivotal role on the task force
and who are critical to the success of many of these recommendations:
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Portland Mayor Ted
Wheeler.
I’d like to thank ALL our speakers today.
I often say, solving problems isn’t just about the money. We can always use more resources in everything we do.
But
it’s about how we use the resources we have. And what that really comes
down to is people. Sometimes, while we’re trying to solve for the
“what” and the “how”, we have to elevate and remember the “who.”
As
we close this segment of today’s program, I’m moved by the care,
commitment, and knowledge that each of the people you’ve heard from on
this stage are bringing to Portland’s challenges. And I’m moved by the
hundreds, if not thousands, in this community who were not on this
stage, who are rising to the occasion to solve problems, large and
small, every single day.
I know the next thing on our schedule
is lunch, and far be it from me to keep you from that – but, I’m asking
you to take one moment to think of something you can do to make Portland
a better place.
It doesn’t have to be today, or even this week.
But I need everyone to do something to help. It could be supporting a
small business in the central city, donating to a non-profit, taking a
volunteer shift. I hear Vanessa Sturgeon is looking for volunteers to
help with trash pick up!
It can also be being an ambassador for a
new vision in Portland – when talking with friends, family, on social
media, your business networks both local and national, or wherever you
make yourself heard. I said earlier that I asked task force members to
commit to one principle: Don’t dwell on the past, apply its lessons to
the future.
Now, I’m asking the same of all of you.
Thank you so much for your attention, engagement, and enthusiasm.
Now go eat! There’s more ahead for the rest of the day!