Seeks to represent: District 4 (west side and parts of the southeast)

Age: 60

Pronouns: he/him

Job: Self-employed as a driver

Fun fact: His grandfather wrote speeches for President Dwight Eisenhower.

Of all the City Council candidates running this cycle, Chris Henry is the most familiar with seeking elected office. He has done it more than a dozen times, for federal, state and local offices. Henry works as an Uber driver, but gained support to qualify for matching funds from small donors. Henry is a member of the Green Party and focuses primarily on clean energy and climate infrastructure, particularly emphasizing the need for the city to prepare for the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Henry has served on several boards of progressive nonprofit organizations, including the Oregon Voting Rights Coalition and Honest Elections Oregon. This is what I would do in office.

Why are you running for office?

I am running for public office to give workers a voice and ensure that long-neglected issues, such as earthquake preparedness, are given the attention they need. For more than a decade, I have worked with Honest Elections Oregon to reduce corporate influence in politics through campaign finance reform for Portland, Multnomah County, and Oregon. Now that our work has secured matching funds for the city council elections, we have the potential to seize this political opportunity and enact the progressive policies that the majority of Portland supports. The next steps should be to clean up corruption in City Hall and democratize our economy.

What are your top three priorities if elected?

My top priority is helping Portland get Cascadia ready! If you think the housing crisis is bad now, wait until the biggest one comes. Oregon’s top scientists reported in 2018 that hundreds of thousands of people will be displaced due to the destruction of countless homes. We need a systemic review to prepare. My second priority is to make PGE a utility district so we can decentralize the grid at the neighborhood level and build systemic resilience. Third, we need to restructure our finances. I support the establishment of a Green Public Bank to invest in critical projects.

How would you foster economic growth in Portland?

With a Green Public Bank, we will have the institutional vehicle we need to invest in consistent green economic growth in Portland. By taking our money back from Wall Street, we can invest in a Green Jobs program, urban agroforestry, expanded public transportation, green manufacturing, and post-earthquake retrofits for homeowners, apartment buildings, and major infrastructure. All of this can be funded through small business loans and nonprofit grants. Combined with policies that support economic justice, like a $25 per hour minimum wage, we can stimulate economic activity and provide an attractive future for working families in Portland.

The city of Portland will face budget cuts next year. Where would you cut money from the city’s current budget? Please point to a specific program, office or location.

It’s appalling that Portland is currently paying over $100 million a year to Wall Street, plus interest on loans! This is a huge corporate handout that must be stopped immediately. With a Green Public Bank as our financial vehicle, we would free up all of these resources to invest in Portland and, in return, benefit Portland. It would also attempt to greatly reduce the budget for planned waste on water purification, which has needlessly quadrupled to $2 billion over the past five years. Decentralized water purification could be cheaper and would be more resistant to earthquakes.

Where is the city currently wasting money, or is it using money in a way that you consider inefficient or unnecessary? Where is the swelling?

At a recent candidate forum, I spoke with a whistleblower who worked for nearly fifteen years at Portland Parks & Recreation. He told me that the excuse of budget cuts was used to lay off many park workers involved in essential maintenance, while upper management protected their grossly inflated salaries at the expense of the workers and the parks. It would seek to conduct a comprehensive review of all city departments to identify and correct any instances of inflation, while also improving pay equity and strengthening protections for essential workers.

What is the Joint Office of Homeless Services doing wrong and what things do you think can right the ship?

Although the Joint Office of Homeless Services has made tremendous progress recently in helping our homeless residents obtain rehousing and access needed services, there are still significant challenges facing the department. One of the biggest problems is the shortage of legal support, especially in defense against eviction. Many people who need the Office’s services do not receive the legal representation they need to access them. As City Councilman, I will seek to increase the resources available to public defenders and remove unnecessary legal obstacles that prevent our residents from accessing essential services. Housing must be enshrined as a human right.

Is the tax rate in Multnomah County (with PCEF, Preschool for All, and Supportive Housing Services taxes) too high or at an appropriate level? If it is too high, what do you suggest be done about it?

The “hidden” taxes that concern me most are the exorbitant rental costs and utility rate increases that the city currently allows due to a lack of regulation. To eliminate these hidden taxes we should establish rent control and make PGE a public utility district. This would facilitate our transition to a decentralized renewable grid with greater neighborhood autonomy, lower prices, and resilience for when the megaearthquake hits. I also support reducing income taxes by 99% to provide relief to workers.

What is the first policy you would bring to the City Council?

I would immediately take steps to revoke Zenith Energy’s Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS). City Hall should never have allowed it in the first place, and the City Auditor’s recent finding that City Hall allowed Zenith to illegally lobby them behind closed doors is appalling. Multnomah County’s own investigation showed in 2020 that CEI Hub’s fossil fuel tanks pose an enormous risk to the health and safety of our community. Keeping so much fuel on the banks of the Willamette in seismic liquefaction soil is crazy. Zenith is the biggest culprit here and must be stopped.

Beyond policing, what steps would you take to improve public safety in Portland neighborhoods and where would you get the money to do it?

First, we need to fully fund non-police community response, like Portland Street Response. Second, we should invest in green streets to revitalize and beautify our most neglected neighborhoods, especially the city center. Many studies show that simply having more trees and flowers around improves people’s mental health and can help reduce conflict. Third, we must address the root causes of crime and poverty to ensure public safety. This will require stronger job training programs, especially for youth, and meeting residents’ basic needs, such as health care and housing. We can secure the money needed for this with a Green Public Bank!

What experience can you point to that you think would make you a wise policymaker on the City Council?

What’s more prudent than earthquake preparation? My working-class background includes pouring concrete on the Northridge bridges after the Los Angeles earthquake of 1994. I know what it takes to repair our infrastructure, and that includes political infrastructure, too. My experience, spanning two decades of grassroots campaign finance advocacy, has been aimed at combating the corrupting influence of corporate donations that consistently hinder prudent political decisions. Today, corporate interests like Zenith Energy would rather you pay with your life than them with their money to prepare Portland for the Cascadia megaearthquake.