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Mayor Ted Wheeler sent an email July 1 to hundreds of people who had previously attended meetings to discuss Portland’s civic priorities, inviting them to a conversation about the city’s use of American Rescue Plan dollars.
Wheeler failed to blind carbon copy recipients. That was a mistake: What ensued was a public thrashing by progressive activists on the list, who said Wheeler’s focus on repairing the city’s downtown but saying little publicly about heat wave deaths was shameful.
Nat West of Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider wrote: “Why wasn’t the Bureau of Emergency Management incredibly visible throughout the city? Why did 60-plus have to die? Why is the city pointing fingers at the county, the county at the state, the state at the feds and the feds at the Republicans? Isn’t there work we can do now?”
Seemab Hussaini, vice chair of the Oregon chapter of the Council for American Islamic Relations, added: “There is nothing being done to address 45 deaths….So pardon us for caring and taking advantage of the mayor’s office in slipping up with their email distribution. And thank you to all who have shown that you see this as an inconvenience. For the rest, silence is violence.”
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
