Youthful mayor for Portland
Mayoral candidate Robert Ted Hinds, 36, wants to “inject a bit of youth into government.” He says the baby boomers have been running the country long enough.
Hinds is jumping into a race of big contenders, namely Tom Potter and Jim Francesconi, all of whom, he pointed out, graduated college a long time ago. He feels he has the talent, the ideas, the experience and the youth to be Portland’s new mayor.
Currently at Freightliner, Hinds boasts experience as a financial analyst and an economist. He wants to put his knowledge to use by helping to alleviate Portland’s budget issues. Specifically, he mentions addressing the aftermath of Measure 30 and figuring out how to “eliminate the waste in city government.”
“The city of Portland is a very old business type of entity,” he said, “that needs to be reengineered. There’s a lot of savings to be had.”
Once he finds those savings, Hinds proposes using the money to prop up education and to maintain programs such as the Oregon Heath Plan, rather than issuing tax refunds.
“The voters are concerned about government waste and it’s time to stop that,” he said.
Hinds is also concerned about the increasing traffic congestion in Portland and warns against the “trap of urban sprawl.” He wants to work on an express lane option, much like what currently exists in Seattle. He also proposes conducting a study to determine “where we have the heaviest traffic and how to alleviate that.”
For students, Hinds noted that when he attended University of Oregon, the student I.D. card also acted as a local bus pass. He supports the development of something similar at Portland State.
Additionally, Hinds wants to look at “how [PSU] can serve the community.”
He mentioned that PSU is unique compared to other Oregon universities because it truly offers an urban campus setting. However, he noted that the programs are still set up more traditionally.
He would like to see the Portland mayor “lobby for much more autonomy for Portland State.” This,” Hinds said, would allow for “more independence to develop its pedagogy.”
On a broader spectrum, Hinds also noted that he is “proudly the antiwar candidate.” He is deeply concerned about the impact of the Patriot Act and any sort of new draft.
To find out more about Hinds’ campaign, visit www.hinds4mayor.com.
