Welcome!

Dear Friends,

This year, who we choose to be our next City Commissioner makes a real difference singulair.

Portland is wrestling with an economy that has struggled on both the national and the local levels: the cost has been felt in jobs and on families. Our schools remain at risk from a state legislature that has failed them, while a chronic student achievement gap continues. And while progress in improving city government has been made, there is much more work to be done. Of course, all candidates can describe the problems. The question is who has the demonstrated ability to solve them coumadin.

Over the last dozen years I have worked on many of the toughest problems facing Portland - as both as a public servant and as a private citizen. And when it comes to electing a City Commissioner, results matter:

· There are hundreds of jobs that either stayed in or came to Portland because I rolled up my sleeves - often as a volunteer - to get them and keep them here.

· Time and again, through every Portland school-funding crisis of the last decade, I have played a key role in preventing teacher layoffs, holding down class sizes, and maintaining a full school year.

· And for all the talk about the need to change city government, I have changed it: finding $30 million and counting in administrative savings; cutting red tape and helping resolve some of the most nagging complaints about dealing with the city.

My record of delivering for Portland is why the Oregonians recently talked about my "superb problem-solving skills" (Oregonian, 3/28/04). I am asking for your vote for City Council because I think that it is more important to make a difference than it is to just talk about being different.

But while the best way to know what a candidate will do is to see what they have actually done, this campaign is also about the future.

As you will see in this website, I am offering specific plans to, among other things, reform the City's incestuous budget process; improve the accountability and management of big-ticket projects; and revive our sagging system of citizen and neighborhood participation.

There will be more to come:

· Growing local businesses and increasing the number of family wage jobs to get more Portlanders back to work
· Improving educational achievement for every child, and protecting the funding of our local schools
· Bringing new energy and effectiveness to community policing
· Attracting more families with children back into the City
· Building more affordable housing and increasing home ownership
· Provide basic legal rights for all
· Protecting and improving Portland's unique neighborhoods, our river heritage and our natural and cultural quality of life.

I am very proud to say that the campaign has generated a tremendous positive response and support from every corner of Portland. I hope you will join us!

Come visit our incredible campaign team in our eastside headquarters at 825 NE 20th Ave. (look for us across the street from the big rooftop 'Sunshine Dairy' milk carton).

Of course, you can always stop by this website: our "virtual" campaign headquarters. Here you will find news of the campaign, issues, and ways to contribute and get involved. I will also be writing a regular "blog" providing behind-the-scenes notes from the campaign trail. This website will be updated constantly so please check back often. Thanks for checking in. I hope to hear from you!

Sam Adams

Sam Adams for City Council Campaign Headquarters:
825 NE 20th Avenue, #150
Portland, OR 97232
Phone: 503-236-2082
FAX: 503-236-2817