In her Aug. 30 letter, Melanie Stevens presents mayoral candidate Spencer Thibodeau as a champion of affordable housing on the Portland City Council, but the facts argue otherwise.
Councilor Thibodeau’s donors include “several prominent real estate developers and companies” (“Portland mayoral candidates reveal donors, expenses,” July 17), and the Press Herald story provides a list of names from this group. Also in a City Council meeting (June 18, 2018) at which the councilors considered increasing the share of affordable housing required by developers from 10 percent to 18 percent of a proposed project, Thibodeau voted against this improvement.
It was revealed at that meeting that two affordable units have been built in the city since 2015. Obviously this policy is not meeting the needs of the residents of Portland, and needs revision.
Mayor Ethan Strimling strongly supported and voted for the increase in the percentage of affordable housing. He is a far better advocate for affordable housing than Councilor Thibodeau.
Cristina Malcolmson
Portland
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