Blogtown, PDX: Meet the Contenders - Question #4

The Portland Mercury's Blogtown, PDX site has been producing a weekly series of questions for the various candidates running in the Portland mayor and city council races. This series is a great way to meet the candidates and learn about the issues affecting the public and Portland city government. We're reproducing (with permission) Chris's responses here, while also providing links to the original Blogtown posts.

Question #4:

(Original Post from Jan. 10, 2008)

City Hall can be an exhausting, brutal and frustrating place to work, let alone thrive. What makes you “tough enough” to be a successful leader in that kind of environment?

Chris's Response:

I’m “battle-hardened”. My mantra for the last 7 years has been “30 hours a week making a living, 30 hours making a difference.” I’ve blended a technology management career (I managed a high performance team of 5 people while being a part-time telecommuter) with a second career as a citizen activist. Feel free to check out my profiles in the Tribune and Oregonian. There’s a reason the Tribune dubbed me “Citizen Smith”.

I typically have two or three “activist” projects going on at a time, and they are intense. Whether it’s helping get Voter Owned Elections adopted, spending two years trying to sort out parking in Northwest Portland (OK, I didn’t succeed on that one, but it’s not because I got worn down!), or a decade of transportation activism (including running the PortlandTransport.com blog), I already keep up a heavy duty pace. I budget my time efficiently (but am patient enough to sit through public meetings) and use technology extremely well to increase my effectiveness. And I get things done!

By electing me, the voters will get 60 hours a week of persistent, effective leadership AND I’ll thrive.