Letters to the Editor: Readers call on Councilwoman Nury Martinez to resign
This was a sad, sad day for the citizens of Northwest Portland. As a result of the election results, Nury Martinez, a long-serving district manager in the city’s transportation department, was voted into office. This is a serious loss for our city, our state, and our country.
First of all, let me be clear about what we’re doing. We have elected officials that we elect, by the very people who are elected to represent us, to a very important job. Our jobs are to make the public service we pay for, work, and to be accountable to you and the voters. They have a duty to represent the public, including all the people they represent, and we have a right to trust them to do this, so they represent us and do our best to do what is best for our public service and our city.
I have the utmost respect for all the many other elected officials in our community and elsewhere. I worked hard to elect them and we did have the benefit of their experience in city politics, both as candidates and as current elected officials. Let me be clear: I will continue to work for citywide representation, because it is the only way to get the job done.
To the Councilwoman here, I urge you to please reconsider your candidacy, come to your senses, and decide that you’re not going to serve the public. If you do accept the nomination, please step down during the rest of the campaign, for that’s the only way to save the city. Mayor Ted Wheeler has been very clear about the importance of having diverse views and views about city government. We are not a monolith, and while this election was not your race, it was a victory for diversity in our city.
What is now clear is that the current city council, which serves only one half of Portland, is out of touch with the other half of city government. They lack the experience to do what is best for the city and not what is best for themselves. This election should have been a choice