News Column

Sten shows ‘affordable’ is relative

Sources Say

The Portland Tribune, Sep 11, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (22 Reader comments)

City Commissioner Erik Sten knows he can expect a few “affordable housing” jokes, so let them fly. In March, the champion of housing for the poor purchased with his wife a 5,000-square-foot home in Southwest Portland – complete with swimming pool – to the tune of $1.285 million.

But, Sten is quick to note, it’s not like the money came from nowhere; anyone owning land in Portland over the past few years has made a bunch of cash from appreciation.

Back in the early ’90s he’d bought a small house for his mother, who is disabled, for about $40,000, and it recently sold for a lot more.

And his father died two years ago, leaving Sten a condo free and clear. Rather than become landlords, Sten and his wife decided to consolidate into one “very nice, quiet home” where they could raise their 3-year-old son, Sten told Sources Say.

However, they soon might be reselling the new house for a variety of reasons, he said. Regardless, he laughed, “it won’t quell my passion for affordable housing.”

Potter kept cards close to the vest

If there’s one area in which Mayor Tom Potter completely and unquestionably succeeded during his first term as mayor, it was keeping people guessing right up until the end as to whether he’ll show up for an encore.

Going into Friday, people who work around him in City Hall continued to have little idea of what he’d do, with people there giving odds ranging from 50 percent to 99 percent that he would leave politics.

Now we know, of course, Potter is calling it quits after one term.

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