Activist Liv Osthus on mayoral campaign to restore Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Her stage name is "Viva Las Vegas" and the stage is Mary's Club, one of Portland's most iconic strip clubs. It's helped make Liv Osthus famous, along with being a published author, musician, actor, documentary subject and public speaker.

So why is this professional stripper running for Portland mayor? Osthus got the opportunity to answer these questions on this week's Eye on Northwest Politics.

"I care deeply about Portland," she said. "I've seen it through many ups and downs and I think my lived experience here, engaging in many different communities, is right for the mayor at this time."

According to her campaign materials, her top priority is protecting Mother Earth.

"I want to see our river protected, I want to see us prepared for climate emergencies, the heat and the cold, equitable shade throughout Portland. I really believe that now is the time to reimagine how and what we can expect from politicians in terms of climate protection."

After moving from Minnesota to Portland in 1996 to pursue music and writing, Osthus has immersed herself in a number of mediums within the arts community. As mayor, she also wants to emphasize the importance of the arts to the city of Portland.

"Arts bring hope, arts bring beauty, arts bring energy," she stressed. "And in terms of money and economy, it is a huge driver of our local economy. And oftentimes, we don't remember how important the arts are. Oregon has the last investment in terms of arts funding."

She continued, "I think we can do better and I know we can do better."

Another area of improvement for Osthus revolves around the need for more compassion and resources for the homeless population, as well as reframe the narrative around the current discourse.

"I think our new mayor should be a cheerleader for Portland and should use their pulpit to express more optimistic narratives about the houseless and just in doing that, hopefully drive a different interaction, a different expectation from Portlanders."

She added, "I would agitate as mayor for empathy and then for coordination throughout all of these services, ideally from the top down, from the state down."

Regarding the new form of city government - with 12 city commissioners and a city administrator running the bureaus - Osthus sees this as an exciting opportunity to change the mayor's role as we know it.

"The mayor is separate. It is a weak mayor," she noted. "I think that the mayor's role could be more of a visionary. This can allow for a different type of mayor that can speak to the best parts of Portland."

She also has thoughts on all of the empty office space in Downtown Portland, which are now at more than 30% vacancy.

"Have the musicians take over, have the artists take over, have them be rented for $100 a month for a studio space and you will see energy down here overnight," she said. "With that energy, with those people, there will follow businesses, there will follow restaurants and coffee shops. And it's not going to look like it did, 10, 20 years ago."

"Let's do something different, something wonderful, something hopeful," she concluded.

Watch the full interview in the video above.