The Northwest Enterprise

SOCIALS

MY JOB
By Dorothy McCulloch Lee

IN MY JOB anything can happen and usually does. As mayor of Portland it is my duty to see that all the functions of city government are properly carried out.

To do this, the mayor assigns various departments and bureaus to the other city commissioners who then act as the administrative heads of those departments or bureaus, and the mayor also serves as the actual administrator of the bureaus kept in the department which the mayor retains and has not assigned to other commissioners. As mayor I must also preside at meetings of the city council when it performs its legislative functions. So, you can see what I mean when I say anything can happen.

MY JOB is a most interesting job. One of the most satisfying parts of the job is my detail on what has been jokingly called the "Tommy Tucker" circuit. There are innumerable occasions which I attend to extend a greeting, make a speech, cut a ribbon, throw a switch or the like. Sometimes I am fed, sometimes it is not a mealtime occasion. But the real feast is my opportunity to make contact with people—real people—interesting people of all kinds. I often wish that I had a great deal more time available for this part of the job.

The mail addressed to the mayor is tremendous in volume and varied in detail—suggestions for solutions of traffic problems, reports of mosquito bites, requests for street lights, requests from Florida for information about Oregon's laws, requests for favorite recipes for cook book compilation, and so on. Then there are the inevitable complaints covering a wide range of subjects, often outside the jurisdiction of the mayor or even the city government.

In some ways, it is a job where many "road blocks" to accomplishment are encountered, because realizing your objectives depend not only on your own efforts, but also on the co-operation of many other people. And that co-operation may or may not be forthcoming.

It is a job that is naturally very demanding on your time and energy, because there are many people to be served in a great variety of ways. It necessitates working from early morn until late at night. And even then, you feel that you have had to handle many things hastily that you would like to have really studied more thoroughly. What you really need in my job is a "day stretcher." But it is a job that is very satisfying. Because in spite of the criticism and the animosity of some, you realize that somehow, if you hew to the line in your efforts to realize your objectives, you will help your people as a whole, and will make it possible for your city to progress. And you will feel, too, that the great army of the good, average, sound citizens of your city, though unorganized and perhaps unknown to you, are with you in your efforts.

Public officials get into deep water when they become so confused that they believe power is inherent in individuals instead of knowing that the individual is merely the agency through whom the power is applied by the people—the only true source of power in a democracy. I am hopeful that through my job as mayor I can encourage and stimulate more of the people to take an active and continuous part in their government. This is definitely necessary for the preservation of our American way.