Sam Adams (Oregon politician)

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For other persons named Sam Adams, see Sam Adams (disambiguation).

Sam Adams is an elected official in Portland, Oregon in the United States. In 2004 he was elected to the Portland City Council, defeating attorney Nick Fish. He is a candidate for Mayor of Portland in the May 2008 election.^[1]

1 Election history
2 City Council responsibilities
3 Community outreach
4 Personal life
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Election history

Adams won significantly fewer votes than rival Nick Fish in the 2004 primary election, but after changing his campaign staff and strategy, defeated Fish in the general election. Following the primary, Adams shifted campaign managers and tactics from a focus on traditional fundraising to grassroots outreach, which took advantage of his personal energy and charisma. Adams appeared in the news by standing on street corners waving at citizens with a sign that read, "Honk for the Wonk." The sign was a response to Mr. Fish, who dismissed Adams as a "wonk" who knew too much about local government.

Before being elected, Adams was Chief of Staff to Mayor Vera Katz. He took office on December 31 2004 and his term will expire in 2008.

[edit] City Council responsibilities

Adams is Portland's Commissioner of Public Utilities; he runs the Portland Office of Transportation (commonly abbreviated as "PDOT") and the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES). He also serves as Portland City Council's liaison to the Arts and Culture and Small Business communities. As part of managing PDOT, he inherited the responsibility to oversee development of the Portland Aerial Tram, one of the world's few urban aerial trams. It links the South Waterfront district to the upper campus of Oregon Health & Science University. During its development, the project was plagued with controversy due to poor cost estimates. When Adams assumed responsibility for PDOT and, consequently, control of the project, he replaced the external consultants responsible for the poor cost estimates with in-house expertise. The project was completed on time and revised budget, and is fully operational. It opened to the public on January 27 2007.

[edit] Community outreach

Adams and his staff maintain a blog highlighting their activities in the community, especially pertaining to Adams' priorities such as arts & culture, livability & environment, and transportation.^[2]