An interview with the city councilor-elect Victoria Pelletier
Every month PelotonLabs co-founder Liz Trice interviews a local community member. For the December edition, Liz caught up with Tori Pelletier, who just got elected to the Portland City Council.
Why did you want to be on the council?
Being on the council was not my plan, but people started asking me when the seat opened, and I started thinking about it. A lot of the work I do is getting people involved in local politics and understanding that they have a role to play. Our city is changing a lot and I want to be part of the conversation.
What are your top priorities for your time on the council?
We’re at a crossroads in Portland. We’re starting to be a real city, and we need to decide what we want to become. Are we going to be inclusive and affordable? Are we prioritizing building affordable homes or luxury condos? I want to look out for working class, under-resourced, and lower income people. I don’t think it’s going to be as hard as it would have been a few years ago, because so much of the council cares about these issues. I’m also interested in the shelter issue and hiring the new city manager.
What are your ideas around affordable housing?
We don’t have enough housing in Portland. Personally, I’m always worried about how much longer I’ll be able to live here – my rent keeps going up. I already live in one of the most affordable areas of Parkside – a place that is primarily black and brown and lower income. I don’t think a $1,500 per month rent is affordable.
We need to look at the zoning laws, single family housing, and Airbnb. I know from canvassing that there are blocks and blocks of homes that are now just Airbnb. We need to make sure that we have enough staff to enforce the current rules, and I’d like to ban non-owner occupied Airbnb’s. This was the most common concern when I was canvassing door to door – people are worried about Airbnb’s and getting priced out of their neighborhood.
I would love to do a comprehensive review and get rid of single-family housing zoning – we can’t say we’re welcoming people to Portland if we’re not making room for people to put down roots and start families and be among their neighbors. Exclusionary zoning laws also add to the segregation already happening in Portland.
What are your thoughts on the shelter referendum?
I work with others that are working to find long-term homes for people, and a 200-bed shelter doesn’t feel like the city is investing in people. The smaller shelters referendum question was supported by a lot of people who work directly with unhoused people, including the People’s Housing Coalition, who were against Option C. I think we should talk about smaller shelters. It’s a privilege to be able to talk about this and go to our own homes at night. There’s going to be a lot of discussion now that Option C passed to talk about privacy, safety, and location.
It was hard to see different groups of advocates for unhoused people on opposite sides during the referendum. How can we have a better process?
Public conversations are always messy and emotional. I’m looking forward to working with the council to make it a place where everyone’s voices are heard. It’s going to be a rocky road, but we can do it. We still live in an area where the loudest voices are people with the most privilege and resources. So when there are two sides clashing, it’s really important to make space for the less privileged voices. We still have issues with systemic oppression, racism and classism. So it’s important to hear what people have to say. We need to make sure we’re bringing people who are unhoused to the conversations.
Sometimes the conflict isn’t even the issue at hand; it’s that we’re coming from two different places of privilege. Many of us have roofs over our heads. How do we make sure we’re making space for people who don’t? I really value the People’s Housing Coalition, because they’re run by young people and people who have been unhoused.
What’s your background?
I grew up in Brunswick and did the “boomerang” thing – I left to go to Albany, New York and then came back – I loved Albany, but my parents are still here… As I get older I want to be around my family, so Portland was perfect – I get to be close to my family and have some city. I got involved in community advocacy work both on my own and through my position at the GPCOG. Last summer when George Floyd was murdered a lot of us black organizers were able to organize together in a new way.
You left your job at GPCOG before the election. What were you doing there and what’s next for you?
The Greater Portland Council of Governments serves over thirty cities and towns, and my work was around racial equity and economic development. We worked with town managers and elected officials to advance racial equity. In Falmouth, for example, the town manager got really involved, and they hired a person [Dustin Ward, a racial equity and reconciliation advocate] to work long-term with the town. As a result, the entire front-line staff completed equity and system racism training. The trainer did ride-alongs with police officers and had conversations with them, and he’s still working with the town. It’s a great model.
I also managed our Community Development Block Grant program, which gave forgivable grants to low to moderate income businesses to help them get through the pandemic. I think I was the first black person GPCOG ever hired.
Now I’m contracted with Integrative Inquiries to do equity training with organizations and companies that hire us. The conversations are around racial equity, but also about how can we tackle issues when it comes to class and race, but also fair wages, harassment… How can we dismantle these dynamics that exist, and make sure that we’re looking at everything through an equity lens? A lot of people want their businesses to be more equitable and inclusive and aren’t sure how to do it.
How can people connect with you?
I look forward to having conversations – on the stoop, at a coffee shop, on Zoom. The city council works for the people of Portland – we are lowest on the totem pole, and we need to be available. This is not Tori’s District 2, this is everyone’s District 2. It should be fun!
Connect with city councilor-elect Tori Pelletier at https://www.vote2victoria.org
PelotonLabs is a coworking space in the West End of Portland, Maine with a mission to connect and encourage people working on their own to manifest their visions without fear.
