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Seeks to represent: District 3 (Southeast and Northeast Portland)
Age: 32
Pronouns: He/him
Job: Full-time candidate
Fun fact: For 14 years, he’s organized matches of quadball, formerly known as quidditch.
This is Luke Zak’s first run for office, but not his first time door-knocking. As a young volunteer, he campaigned to beat back a same-sex marriage ban in his home state of Minnesota, and canvassed for Raphael Warnock in the 2021 U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia. Zak earned an MBA from the University of Oregon, and worked for the tourism boards of Salem and the Tualatin Valley. A full-time candidate, he qualified for matching public funds. Here’s what he’d do in office.
Why are you running for office?
The new city government structure was the catalyst for my consideration in running for office. Having an expanded council that we elect through multiwinner ranked-choice voting presented a once-in-a-century opportunity for Portlanders to elect a diverse and representational council that will set the course for the city’s next chapter. To me, that meant the chance for a first-time candidate with transferable skills like myself to get elected and add value to the city without establishment political experience or backing.
What are your top three priorities if elected?
Housing, community safety, and transportation. These issues are all intrinsically connected. We must take immediate action to get folks housed and access to treatment, working toward a system with a full continuum of care available as needed with walk-up shelter and addiction services in place. In District 3, traffic safety is also an incredible concern. I would work proactively with the council on traffic-calmed streets, bicycle and pedestrian safety infrastructure, and an improved transit experience with increased speed, frequency, reliability, and reach and reduced barriers to use such as safety concerns, cost, and inconvenience.
How would you foster economic growth in Portland?
To foster economic growth in Portland, we need to make sure that our city is an affordable, vibrant, and overall desirable place to live, to work, to play, and to visit. That means amplifying our housing production dramatically, which includes zoning reform and public-private partnership that will attract outside capital investment in the city. That means continued placemaking and activating communal spaces across the city, from waterfront festivals to Sunday Parkways. That means providing financial and regulatory support for small businesses, helping local shops thrive and injecting new life into vacant and underutilized storefronts. The possibilities go on and on.
The city of Portland is facing budget cuts next year. Where would you cut money from the current city budget? Please point to a specific program, bureau or place.
For clarity, the new City Council will be inheriting the 2024-25 budget that has already been approved. In preparation for the new form of government, the city has realigned the bureaus and offices into six core service areas to operate more efficiently and effectively. Instead of making pre-emptive cuts to program areas, I would recommend that the city take a data-driven approach to evaluating the recent organizational realignment to identify target areas that can be further consolidated or streamlined when budgeting for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Where is the city currently wasting money, or is using money in a way you think is inefficient or unnecessary? Where is the bloat?
Our old commission system was rife with redundancies. The move to house all of the permitting under one roof is a prime example of reducing those inefficiencies in a way that provides a tangible positive impact on the city. Pulling the bureaus away from the councilors, hiring a professional city administrator, and organizing the operations into the six service areas will further enable streamlining of systems and improve operational efficiency where overlapping roles and responsibilities can be consolidated.
What is the Joint Office of Homeless Services doing wrong, and what do you see as things that can right the ship?
Despite detractors often having the loudest voice in the room, the Joint Office of Homeless Services has demonstrated success recently, including rehousing over 5,000 people in the last fiscal year. Looking forward, as the sitting council evaluates its agreement with the county, there needs to be increased clarity around jurisdictional roles and responsibilities so that we can be nimble and adjust course when goals are not being met.
Is the tax rate in Multnomah County (with Portland Clean Energy Fund, Preschool for All and supportive housing services taxes) too high, or at an appropriate level? If too high, what do you suggest be done about it?
I do not believe that the tax rate in Multnomah County is too high. It is worth bearing in mind that the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund is a corporate tax that Portlanders do not pay into. Additionally, Preschool for All is a county tax and supportive housing services is a Metro tax, both of which are progressive marginal taxes that only affect high-income earners. The revenues from these taxes provide the funding for extremely important initiatives that address childhood education, our homelessness crisis, and climate justice.
What is the first piece of policy you would bring to the City Council?
As a new council, we need to rise up and meet the moment of our houselessness and addiction crises. We must aggressively flex up shelter capacity and variety, including expanding temporary alternative shelter sites and Safe Rest Villages, to meet the needs of our unsheltered neighbors and match the scale of the emergency. We also need a database of real-time beds available throughout the network of city, county, and nonprofit shelters. Additionally, as the deflection center opens, we need to make sure that it is prepared to provide treatment and that we expedite the return of our around-the-clock sobering center.
Beyond policing, what measures would you take to improve public safety in Portland neighborhoods, and where would you get the money for it?
To improve public safety, we must optimize our entire emergency response network. We need to reduce 911 call response times, which starts with having our dispatchers fully staffed. We must also ensure that our nonviolent behavioral and medical health response teams, the Portland Street Response and Community Health Assess & Treat programs, have the ongoing funding to operate citywide and around the clock. The expanded 24/7 service would not only siphon low-acuity calls from armed law enforcement officers so that they can be dispatched where they are most needed, but it would also open up additional Medicaid revenue streams.
What experience can you point to that you believe would make you a prudent policymaker on the City Council?
Over the last three years, I have worked in destination management organizations where I coordinated with local government, small business, nonprofits, and community organizations to promote the region. Prior to that, I worked for five years in environmental regulatory compliance with a focus on EPA and HUD safety regulations. I also received my MBA from the University of Oregon. With my professional and educational background, I am prepared to be a strategic and collaborative leader on council that understands policy work, complex budgeting, navigating regulations, and working toward solutions together.