Sylvia Evans, fighting eviction from public housing in 2008.
  • Sylvia Evans, fighting eviction from public housing in 2008.
North Portland community organizer Sylvia Evans filed for candidacy today in the race for City Commissioner Nick Fish's seat. She joins student Jason Barbour in challenging the incumbent. Evans brings a unique background to the race—Fish is housing commissioner and Evans herself lives in public housing. She has been a fiesty community voice for years in North Portland and is one of the cast of regulars at meetings about issues affecting her neighborhood. Until recently, she was a city outreach worker for the N/NE Coalition of Neighborhoods.

As a tenants-rights organizer at her North Portland public housing complex, Evans battled unfair eviction. Through her work as a community outreach worker, Evans has been equally pugnacious progressive advocate for a number of ambitious ideas, including that new highway projects should pay into a health care fund and speaking out against the Columbia River Crossing.

At the least, her presence will make the campaign debates interesting.