March 28, 2016 

Last night, Nick was honored to attend the Bing Kong Chinese News Year’s dinner celebration at Wong King’s Restaurant in Southeast Portland.

Nick joined many leaders in our Chinese-American community, including Stephen Ying, Raymond Wang, Steven Louie, as well as visiting dignitaries from Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle.

We are grateful for the many contributions of the Chinese-American community in our region, and we wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy New Year!

March 29, 2016

The City of Portland is committed to open, transparent and accountable government.

This week, Nick will file an Ordinance to increase transparency in decision-making at the City. His proposal would establish new disclosure and reporting requirements for “Political Consultants.” It builds on the ethics reforms adopted by the City to cover lobbyists, and is modeled after reforms adopted by the City of San Francisco. It will be heard by Council on April 13.

Political Consultants advise City elected officials and enjoy privileged, confidential access to them. Locally and nationally, they increasingly play an important role in shaping public policy. Consultants who provide advice to elected officials may also act as registered lobbyists. When a Political Consultant acts as a registered lobbyist, and lobbies her own client, she is in effect representing both the “buyer” and the “seller” in the same transaction.

Nick’s proposal would require disclosure of the relationships between City elected officials and their Political Consultants.

In developing this new policy, Nick worked with the elected City Auditor and the City Elections Officer, as well as public interest groups including the Oregon League of Women Voters of Portland, Represent Us, Common Cause Oregon, Portland Alliance for Democracy, and the ACLU of Oregon.

This Political Consultant proposal builds on a number of actions Nick and the Council have taken to bring more sunshine and accountability to the public’s business.

Nick led the creation of two new citizen oversight bodies – the Portland Utility Board, which provides community oversight of the Water Bureau (PWB) and Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), and the Portland Housing Advisory Commission, which oversees the work of the Portland Housing Bureau. He established a unique new partnership with the Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon (CUB), and directed his bureaus to place contracts of $500,000 or more on the Council’s discussion (Regular) agenda rather than the Consent agenda.

Finally, he supported the City Auditor’s proposal to waive fees for citizens challenging City decisions, worked with Commissioner Fritz to establish the independent City Budget Office, and pushed for reinstatement of the Chief Financial Officer role at the City.

Ethics Reform FAQ

Ordinance

Code

Ethics Reform FAQ

2016

Nick Fish Pitches Portland Regulations on Political Consultants

Beth Slovic in the Willamette Week

Everyone’s Waiting on Instructions for Cleaning Up the Willamette

Dirk VanderHart in the Portland Mercury

Banning dogs from environmentally sensitive area necessary and responsible (OPINION)

Mike Houck in The Oregonian

Metro government is right to ban dogs from parks: Letters to the Editor

The Oregonian

Could the Arts Get Pushed Out of Portland?

Aaron Scott in the OPB

‘Massive’ project won’t be a walk in the park

Garrett Andrews in the Daily Journal of Commerce

Sewer project will close part of Terwilliger this fall for up to a year

Anthony Macuk in the Portland Tribune

April 4, 2016

We are deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of local Native American artist Rick Bartow.

Rick was an Oregon treasure.

We are proud to have one of his works, Kestrel Stalling, on display in my office.

I’m even prouder that one of his signature works, We Were Always Here, was installed in Washington D.C.

We join with the Oregon arts community in expressing condolences to his family and friends.

A death in the family: Rick Bartow

Oregon Artswatch

April 5, 2016

April is nationally recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Sexual assault is a devastating public health, human rights, and social justice issue in our community, and around the world.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually assaulted before the age of 18.

It’s up to us to support survivors of sexual assault.

Check out the US Department of Justice’s website that’s dedicated to education and prevention of sexual violence. Learn how to talk to your children about sexual assault, how to recognize abuse, and how to help and support survivors.