“When you have more people living in a place, it has this huge lift. The small businesses downtown are struggling. It is so hard. And a lot of it is a perception issue. If you go to the Park Blocks District and it is empty except for six people who all look like they are probably suffering from addiction and probably don’t have a place to live. Now you think this is a city under distress. If those same six people are there, but also 600 people are gathered there for Art in the Park, then you see a thriving city. The same problem is there, same need to be addressed, but the perception is very different.”
– Chad Lykins
Kip and Tim welcome Chad Lykins to the podcast, our first District 4 candidate.
Chad Lykins is big into chess – he’s the Founder of Rose City Chess, President of Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation, and Oregon’s Scholastic Coordinator and State Delegate to the United States Chess Federation. He also has a PhD in Leadership and Policy Studies from Vanderbilt University, so he knows a thing or two about how city government works. In this episode, Chad talks about being the “evidence-based candidate” and how arts and culture pay back big on small investments.
Please listen and share.
You can find more about Chad Lykins at their website (https://www.lykinsforportland.com/)
