Portland’s city government must work for all of us | Kate Snyder
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Kate Snyder is a former mayor of Portland and a candidate for City Council at-large.
We know today’s issues: housing, affordability, safe streets. What we don’t know is what’s around the corner. The question isn’t just where candidates stand today. It’s whether they have the qualifications, experience and temperament to make sound decisions under pressure when something unforeseen lands on the council’s agenda.
I served on the Portland School Board from 2007 to 2013. After the 2008 financial crisis, the state curtailed school funding midway through a school year, and we met the moment, reopening contracts and delivering flat and reduced budgets, always focused on students and teachers. That took our board, staff and unions working together.
I was three months into my four-year term as Portland’s mayor when COVID arrived. Together with city staff, we did something no one at City Hall could remember doing: we declared a state of emergency to keep us all safe. Then, four months later, voters created a Charter Commission to rethink how city government works. So we steered Portland through a global pandemic while the rules were under review. None of us had run for office with a plan for any of that.
We rebuilt the city’s leadership. All three positions the council hires and oversees came open during my term as mayor. I led every search, and every vote to hire was unanimous. We restored city functions that had been allowed to lapse: annual city manager reviews and regular tax revaluations to keep taxes fair.
When more than 1,200 people a night, many of them asylum seekers, filled our shelters, the city manager and I traveled often to Augusta to brief our delegation. The council added beds to the city shelter and rejected a proposal to suspend Portland’s camping ban, keeping the city focused on providing emergency shelter and other services to those in need.
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There’s much we can do about housing, affordability and safe streets. Since our 25% inclusionary zoning requirement took effect, fewer than 1 in 10 approved housing units has been built, as interest rates and construction costs climbed. We should revisit that requirement so approved homes get built. We should also invest in sidewalks, crosswalks and bike lanes, so getting around is safe for everyone. We need city leaders who work to address resident concerns and priorities in the annual budget.
Respect for differences is how durable policy gets made. But when factions dominate issues by claiming the only answer, we lose a cornerstone of our democracy. Debate and disagreement about ideas ought to be productive, not combative and riddled with gotchas. Renters and homeowners aren’t opponents, and builders aren’t villains. We can only get better together. A city of allies and enemies isn’t a community.
This is city government, and ahead of serving any ideology, party agenda or national group, a councilor’s allegiance should be to Portland and its residents. I’ll hear every side, weigh the facts and keep an open mind before I decide, and treat everyone who reaches out with respect.
For me, this isn’t politics. It’s 32 years of life here: renting, then owning a home, raising our kids, working, volunteering and being a neighbor. Since leaving office, I’ve served as a trustee of the University of New England, joined the working committee for First Light Commons, our new waterfront park, and helped raise funds for the Rising Eddy Community Pool.
My years in office made me stronger, steadier and more experienced in collaborative, responsive leadership. I’m ready to do this job now and over the next three years, and I am optimistic about Portland’s future.
I am loyal to Portland and its people. Above all, I believe in doing the work to make our city a safe, affordable, great place to live. I ask for your first-place vote for City Council at-large on Nov. 3.
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Tagged: columns, election 2026
