Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Ted Wheeler

I didn't get into politics so that I could take little bites around the edges.

I believe my role as mayor is to be out in the community and as much as possible, I want my team out in the community.

There's no question that, in nearly seven weeks of nightly demonstrations, the police have done many things right, and they've done some things wrong as well.

I am committed to ensuring that, as Portland grows, the things we love about our city grow along with us.

The porridge is either two hot or too cold. At any given moment in this city the police are being criticized for being heavy handed and intervening too quickly, or they're being criticized for being standoffish and not intervening quickly enough.

The criminal justice system is not the right place - or it shouldn't be the place of first resort to provide addiction or mental health services. It should happen elsewhere with no police and no judges and no juries and no jails.

Portland doesn't have a 'sit-lie' ordinance like Seattle or San Francisco. Our use of high pedestrian zones is significantly more limited and nuanced, but it gives authorities the flexibility they need to address specific public safety or public health threats in congested areas, by keeping our sidewalks accessible and walkable.

My residents don't know who a federal officer is or a local police officer or a county deputy or a state patroller. They don't know, and they don't care. It's all the same to them.

Too often, the very institutions that are supposed to protect and serve our community have instead failed people of color, specifically our black community.

Is Portland worse off than other cities? Is Portland really 'Tent City U.S.A.?' I want to be clear: The answer is no. While the homeless situation in Portland is significant and unacceptable, it is not unique.

I don't think what's in my pocketbook matters.

Funding to replace crumbling infrastructure has always been hard to come by.

We're going to send a unified message to the rest of this country, which is that we do not accept violence in this community. If you are thinking of coming to Portland, Oregon, to engage in acts of violence, we don't want you.

It is the mayor's job to be the glue that holds everybody together.

We can't simply dismiss the idea that autonomous vehicles are going to be a big part of our transportation system.

I'm willing to take criticism all day long from Fox News. But I'm not willing to accept criticism from Fox News of the men and women of the Portland Police Bureau.

Portland has a long history of embracing the most important of American values. Those are the rights to assembly and the rights to free speech. And we're proud of protecting those core American values.

Portland needs a mayor who is going to take on the significant issues this city is facing.

If you can't create a world-class university, why not invite one in?

I was very clear that we'd invest much more in shelter space to get people off the streets, out of doorways, out from overpasses and get them connected with services - whatever services they need, whether it's mental health whether its addiction or economic resources.

I am dedicated to ensuring that the prosperity our city is experiencing extends to everyone who lives, works and visits Portland.

If we cannot create a beachhead, an anchor of affordability in our communities, in our urban areas, we will lose the people who actually make the community what it is.

I said I wanted to lay the foundation for my governance and that included building relations with the City Council, with bureau directors, making sure we had the right leaders in place, making sure we're communicating with community groups that have an interest in of policymaking. I feel that we did that.

Peaceful demonstrations are essential to our democratic system. Unfortunately, some individuals have engaged in unlawful and dangerous activity, including arson, rioting, looting, and damaging public and private property.

There is definitely a balance that I have to strike both in terms of supporting the Police Bureau - making sure they have the tools and the resources they need to do their jobs effectively. But I also have an important role to play when it comes to oversight and accountability.

If you intend to use our beautiful city to cause mayhem, disturb the peace, create fear and commit violence, you are not welcome here.

My goal is to always be a transformational leader, and to go big. And when you go big, you don't always win. And I'm OK with that.

The police should be addressing car break-ins and burglaries and things like that. And increasingly what they're doing is providing social services. The majority of police are not trained in the provision of social services.

If people are expecting the mayor of Portland to solve the problem of homelessness they're going to be sorely disappointed and that's just the truth.

I certainly didn't see the mayor's withdrawal coming. I was looking for a highly contested mayoral campaign.

I think it is extremely inappropriate for people to be blocking traffic, to be harassing people going about their everyday business and violating the law. I do not support that kind of behavior.

I have a beautiful desk. I rarely sit behind it. That's not where my job is. My job is in the community.

Yes, Portland is governable. Yes, it's challenging.

Oregon deserves a Governor who is fully focused on the duties of state.

As mayor I don't intend to be just a voice for Portland. I intend to be a voice for urban America.

My top priority if elected mayor is matching Portland with economic opportunity.

I did not inherit a single dime from my father.

If you know me, you know I mutter quite a bit. Not one of my most redeeming qualities.

The City of Portland, our police bureau, and our employees do not cooperate with ICE.

In order to do the right thing and to provide the right long-term view for the city, it might mean you're only in politics for a little while.

When Oregon was founded as a state in 1857, its constitution explicitly banned Black people from visiting, living and owning property here.

My privilege as a white man, my privilege as the mayor and the leader of the institutions of power in this community I believe shielded me from time to time from the many difficult and uncomfortable truths about our history and about our society.

I'm ready to fight, and I'm ready to make sure progressive includes progress.

The police should be focused on policing criminal activity, and that's sort of the beginning, the middle and the end of it for me.

Homelessness is an umbrella term for a lot of different problems that need separate solutions.

Portland is an amazing and awe-inspiring city. It's a city we cherish for its beauty. A city we love for its tolerance.

I don't even recognize myself sometimes.

My fight isn't with Charlie Hales. My fight is with the problems he has failed to address as mayor.

Mike Marshman is a quality choice to fill the role of Portland Police Chief.

We have an obligation at the local level to do everything we can with the resources we have. And we do those things. But we're never going to solve homelessness - not here in Portland, not here in any major city in America - if we keep assuming that it is purely a local issue.

We have to nurture and support the idea of pluralism.

I see my role as police commissioner as providing strategic oversight, support and accountability for the bureau.

I want to be clear: We can address safety and livability issues head-on without criminalizing homelessness. After all, people living on our streets are themselves vulnerable to crime and other hazards.

Washington, D.C., has for too long ignored the reality that if we do not invest in infrastructure in urban America we are doing so at the jeopardy of the economy.

I have been humbled by my first two weeks in office.

Imagine a safe city with all the affordable housing we need, a city that uses its resources to help lift the marginalized up and into stability. This is the Portland I imagine. This is the Portland I dream about every single day.

The tactics that the Trump administration are using on the streets of Portland are abhorrent. People are being literally scooped off the street into unmarked vans, rental cars, apparently. They are being denied probable cause. And they are denied due process. They don't even know who's pulling them into the vans.

If I cannot address the issue of visible homelessness and abject poverty on the streets of this community, I will not get re-elected in four years.

I get up in the morning and by the time I've gone to bed there's three or four or five new crises that weren't there when I started the day. That's what being mayor of Portland is about.

We don't know what the trajectory of autonomous or linked vehicles will be, and we don't have a clear understanding on what that means in terms of infrastructure and policy. But we know it's coming.