(Portland Phoenix) Portland Leaders Share Their Hopes and Dreams for the New Year

PORTLAND PHEONIX: What’s Next for Portland?

Portland Leaders Share Their Hopes and Dreams for the New Year

January 4, 2023

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Reza Jalali has been the executive director for the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center. The author and former refugee praised Portland’s cultural offerings, like the Portland Museum of Art, the symphony and the food scene, as elements that make a small city feel large. He hopes that Portland can expand its capacity for care in the coming year.

“I hope Portland, the city built by immigrants of the past, continues to welcome today’s refugees and the world’s displaced people. Portland has a heart. My hope: the heart expands! My Portland cares, respects, and accepts those different, never mind the differences. I am glad it is hip, but I hope it does not become too trendy to make you feel uncomfortable wearing shorts and an old t-shirt in late January! I am worried it is becoming too expensive for the artists, the waitstaff, the musicians — the very same people who made Portland what it is to live here. Less political division will be cool. We have been a progressive and lefty community. Why change?”