The mayor of Portland, along with several city councilors, have come out against the five referendum that appear on the city’s November ballot.
If passed, the questions would introduce rent control, increase the minimum wage, ban facial recognition technology, implement strict environmental standards for building projects that receive city money and restrict short-term rentals. Mayor Kate Snyder says these are important issues, but they need to be dealt with in a deliberative way, with expert input rather than by a simple yes-or-no vote.