Ben Grant – The City needs to move faster to meet its biggest challenges
Every month, Liz Trice interviews a community member for The West End News. This month, she caught up with Ben Grant, a new At-Large City Councilor.
Congratulations on your win! Tell me a little about yourself.
I’ve lived in Portland for twenty-five years. I have two daughters – a sophomore at Portland high and a sixth grader at King – and my wife works for Greater Portland Health. I’m the general counsel for the Maine Education Association, former member of the School Board, and former Democratic Party Chair.
What made you decide to run for office?
The City needs to move faster to meet its biggest challenges – housing and homelessness. Also, the City controls the school budget, and it is vital that we continue to have the resources for a strong public education system in the city.
What issues are you prioritizing?
Housing is the number one thing. The thing that has really struck a chord with me is the overall shortage of housing in Maine – 84,000 units in the last statewide study. The Federated site has potential for hundreds of units but has been stuck. Also, Franklin Street. With redevelopment we could build hundreds of units there, and that will require political leadership. I’m also enthusiastic about the possibility of building a new high school in Portland, and that could take up a lot of my focus if we get state funding. As I said a lot during the campaign, I’m here to do big things.
What can the council do to address the housing crisis?
I don’t have a specific answer yet. I’m listening to what people say are the problems. It seems clear that the peninsula is ripe for more development. Portland can and should operate like a real city where we can provide transit and build vertically. There are a lot of jobs here and we can support more population downtown. I’d love to hear from anyone who has thoughts about what is preventing more housing to be built.
I’d also like to hear what success will look like around the homelessness issue. There’s a decades-old legacy of thinking we are going to “end” homelessness – but I don’t think that’s a useful policy goal, however aspirational. I’m more impressed with the functional zero approach, where we accept that some people will experience homelessness but where people are cycled out of homelessness pretty quickly. It seems more pragmatic and attainable.
What’s your plan for the next few months?
I’m on the finance committee and we had our first meeting recently. I’m developing relationships with councilors, understanding the workflow and how things get done. The big thing is the realization you could be working on one hundred problems every day, and I have to choose the two, three, four, maybe five things where I can really make a difference and focus on those. The next few months will likely be dominated by the budget discussion, and that’s affected by what happens in Augusta and Washington. If support is pulled back by the state or the feds, there will be tough conversations on the council.
Anyone can contact me at benjaminkgrant@gmail.com.
WEN edited this interview for clarity and brevity.
