Skip to main contentSocial news site Reddit (ranked the 58th most popular site in the U.S. on Alexa) has a popular section called Ask Me Anything, where (theoretically) interesting people volunteer to answer any and all questions fired at them by the site's users.
Today, mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith submitted himself to questioning (devised by one of his staffers volunteers) on the forum. Portland is the 7th largest city on Reddit, and the site attracts a mostly young, male audience.
In addition to answering actual political questions, Smith shared:
His favorite beer:
My new friend Nikos Ridge (we sit on a board together) co-runs Ninkasi -- the fastest growing craft brewery in the country, and located in Oregon (alas, Eugene). And I'm excited about Migration. I tend to root for underdog brew pubs and craft breweries that are on the up -- and my tastes tend to follow my loyalties. (My tastes aren't very refined otherwise...in some respects, I'm kind of a rube.)
How he would have handled Occupy Portland:
First, I would have engaged with the non-organizer organizers. I walked the camps; as mayor I would have engaged more. I would have worked to build a tether of trust, or at least communication. Second, I would have worked closely with our nonprofits to provide services to those that were in the camps not because of the protest. And third, I would have worked nonprofiteers and folks with greater credibility than I help pivot the energy to one or more positive, sustainable outcomes -- whether a plan to move our money, to provide additional housing units, to stem some foreclosures, to reform our campaigns, to form a Saturday Market for nonprofits, or "99 Actions for the 99%" that were crowd-sourced with the people.
His thoughts on TV show The Wire:
I believe it might be the greatest artistic expression of the past 50 years.
And how the Blazers will fare without Brandon Roy:
Without a healthy Brandon Roy, the Blazers seem not to have a championship trajectory barring a miracle recovery for Greg Oden. The loss of Brandon Roy is a bummer. After the Oden drafting, I had suggested that Brandon Roy would lead us to a title, and that he would go down as perhaps the greatest Blazer of all time -- certainly in the top 3 alongside Drexler and Walton. Crap. Luckily, his family is set for life (many folks -- even with athletic talent -- aren't so lucky).
Smith has promised to return to the thread later today to answer more questions.
WWeek 2015