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Photo: City Councilor Dan Ryan, District 2, navigating the Willamette River in May 2025 while practicing for the city’s annual dragon boat race the following month. Photo courtesy of OPB.
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What's been on my mind this week
Representing Portland in our sister city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan
The City of Portland enjoys a robust, long-standing relationship with our sister city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Every year, we host delegates from Kaohsiung who take part in Rose Festival activities, including as official entrants in the Grand Floral Parade and the Dragon Boat Festival. A few months from now, 20 City Councilors and more than 50 high school students from Kaohsiung will be in Portland to enjoy, participate in, and perform in various Rose Festival traditions. But before all of that, I'm proud to serve as Portland's elected delegate this week on a visit to Kaohsiung and honored to have been asked by Mayor Wilson to represent the City in this capacity.
Our schedule is packed with site visits, speaking engagements, and more. I'll be meeting the Kaohsiung City Council and Madam Speaker Kang, as well as visiting the Port of Dong Kang and attending a dragon boat design workshop. I'll also be attending the Kaohsiung Lantern Festival at Love River and visiting many important economic, cultural, and heritage sites. It'll be an amazing few days, building relationships and sharing meaningful cultural exchange opportunities.
As City Commissioner, I was a past delegate to Kaohsiung, and at that time was struck by Kaohsiung's willingness to pull together and get things done for the benefit of their community members. I learned about several bold projects, including waterfront redevelopment, environmental recovery work, and the creation of vibrant public spaces for all. There's a lot we can learn from their efforts. I'm excited to see how these projects have evolved since then and for the opportunity to discover economic opportunities, gather municipal best practices, and continue building—and strengthening—our cultural bridges to Portland's sister city.
One last note on this topic: My visit to Kaohsiung is where I developed a passion for dragon boating. I watched their City Council face-off in a race against Kaohsiung's Mayor, and I came back insisting that City Hall needed its own dragon boat in Rose Festival races. It was amazing to paddle with my fellow City Councilors and staffers during the 2025 Rose Festival races, and I look forward to doing it again soon.
Can't wait to share more about the visit in early March. Stay tuned!
Considering how unspent Housing Bureau dollars could help alleviate the City's fiscal crisis
My City Council colleagues and I are still evaluating spending options for the recently discovered $106 million dollars within the Housing Investment Fund (HIF). City Administrator Lee has said that $62.1 million of that total has been identified as having restrictions on how it can be used. The remaining balance is undergoing legal review to determine the allowable uses.
At the same time, the City of Portland is experiencing an operational funding crisis—a $169 million budget deficit headed into 2026-27. If it's determined through legal review that it would be allowed, we should utilize the remaining funds to support the Housing Bureau's operational costs for upcoming fiscal years.
I'm really looking forward to discussing these strategic investments with City Councilors and City Administration at our March 5 work session devoted to this topic.
This week's Arts & Economy Committee vote on the City's Storefront Support Action Plan
A few weeks ago, I noted that the City's Storefront Support Action Plan was presented to the Council's Arts & Economy Committee. A video of that presentation is below, and as a quick recap, the Action Plan project manager Victor Sanders walked the committee through the latest plan draft and the community-informed goals outlined within it.
I sponsored the development of the Storefront Support Program in last year's budget process, in response to the needs and concerns I had been hearing for years from storefront business owners and operators. It is one of my top budget priorities to secure the resources necessary for this program's success.
As an update on this work—this week, the Arts & Economy Committee voted to approve the report draft and to send it for a vote with the full City Council on March 4. I'm committed to keeping you updated on this important work.