City Council Entrance Interview: Loretta Smith

Seeks to represent: District 1 (East Portland)

Age: 60

Pronouns: She/her

Job: Principal and founder of Dream Big Communications LLC

Fun fact: She’s a huge sports fan.

Loretta Smith is no newcomer to politics. She moved to Portland 25 years ago after graduating from Oregon State University and has been involved with state, county and city government ever since.

She was a senior policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) for 14 years, and then became a Multnomah County commissioner representing District 2 from 2011 to 2018. In 2019 she founded her government relations business, Dream Big Communications LLC, where she’s still the principal. Since founding the firm, she has also briefly served as a special assistant to Wyden and made unsuccessful bids for City Council in 2020 and Congress in 2022. Now she’s running for City Council again to represent District 1.

“For the first time, people in East Portland are going to have the representation they deserve to be able to fight for the policies and the resources we need out here,” she says. “That is the thing that got me excited.”

Smith’s campaign has raised $77,000, which qualifies her for $40,000 in public financing. She’s been endorsed by the Portland Fire Fighters’ Association, the Portland Police Association, East County Rising and Joint Council of Teamsters No. 37. She’s also been endorsed by four city commissioners: Rene Gonzalez, Mingus Mapps, Carmen Rubio and Dan Ryan.

We spoke to Smith about her campaign. The conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

WW: What are your top three priorities if elected?

Loretta Smith: My top three priorities have to be public safety, pedestrian safety and fighting for a stronger East Portland economy. We don’t have very many traded sector businesses here in East Portland compared to other parts of the city. We need to create opportunities to make sure small businesses have an ecosystem where they can thrive.

Do we need more or fewer police officers than we currently have?

It takes about 18 months to take [an officer] candidate, from beginning to end, to actually getting on the force. You have to always be ahead of the curve in terms of being able to meet or match the force’s needs with the retirement of officers. We need an opportunity to create a space where we add community police officers and invest in police and fire and the 911 system so that people can feel safe.

How would you foster economic growth in Portland?

Our economy will be based on how well we can get our downtown together. We should be offering resources at the city level to help small businesses learn about the opportunities we have in our contracting department. I work with the little guy to help them identify resources. That is a passion of mine—being able to share information in a meaningful way.

I will also be trying to identify opportunities to get small businesses COBID [Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity] certified. That’s the state designation for small businesses, for women and minority-owned businesses, because if you can get COBID certified, you can get a preference in terms of getting city, local, state and federal contracts.

Do you support the city’s camping ban, and do you think the Multnomah County Sheriff should be booking people arrested for violating the ban?

I do support the ban, and I think we need to be administering the ban to the letter of the law, and that includes the sheriff doing their part.

Which current city commissioner do you and your policies most align with?

Every single sitting city commissioner is endorsing me. I don’t have a particular commissioner I align with. I align my values and vision with the people and what they want, and I always have. That is the reason why I think I would be a good addition to the City Council.

Do you support Carmen Rubio shifting some Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars to city bureaus?

I didn’t have a problem with that.

What is the first piece of policy or legislation you would bring to the City Council?

My initial focus will be on how to keep Portland safe, specifically dealing with unsanctioned homeless camps and RV parking to ensure public safety. My family is directly impacted by these issues. My son, his wife and my grandkids live next door in a duplex I bought about 13 years ago. My granddaughters, who are six and ten, attend Margaret Scott School and have to walk past unsanctioned camps to get there.

Public safety is going to be my main focus from a policy standpoint. We need to strengthen and improve the existing policies to address issues like unsanctioned homelessness and camping. It’s frustrating because we are well-resourced—more so than when I was in office in 2018. We could even consider buying multiplexes to house people and manage inflation costs.

See the other Portland City Council Candidates here!