Rex Burkholder, former Metro councilor, enters Portland City Council’s District 3 race

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) – Rex Burkholder is a familiar name to people who have followed Portland politics over the years. Now he is running for Portland City Council in the new District 3.

The district will represent inner-Southeast Portland along with several Northeast neighborhoods. It has about 120,000 voters — more than any other district.

Over his career, he served 12 years as a Metro councilor (through 2012) and worked on regional transportation and climate-related issues. He is also co-founder of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance — now called The Street Trust and The Coalition for a Livable Future — and a partner in the Oxalis Group, a strategy group for nonprofits, political candidates and government agencies.

Burkholder joined KOIN 6 on Eye on Northwest Politics this week to discuss his candidacy and plans for District 3 — including how Portland should deal with the housing crisis.

According to Burkholder, “Living on the street is both cruel to the people who live there, but it’s also cruel to the people and businesses who have to deal with the repercussions of that.”

“We’ve got to address how we build housing and more affordable housing,” he said. “Changes in styles, getting home sharing set up which is a nonprofit program that matches homeowners who have extra space with compatible people to be their roommates. There’s some regulatory hurdles for that, that need to be changed so people can do that.”

Burkholder also shared his thoughts on the new make-up of Portland City Council as he and other potential councilors take on a completely new system of government.

“I have hope that as we make this transition and have a new City Council and have a City Council that’s more focused on policy, that we can start thinking about more collaboration,” he said. “We need to be present at every table.”

He continued to share that he thinks the shift will be a positive change for the city, adding that the role of these newly-elected city councilors should be to be a direct point of contact for issues that residents face in their lives.

“I strongly believe that the councilors — the elected officials — are the first line that citizens have to talk to,” he said. “We work for them directly, and then the people in the agencies work for that council.”

Watch the video player above to see the full interview.

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