ADVISORY BOARD

Ron Paul, James Beard Portland Public Market

For over two decades as a chef and restaurateur, the artistry and sustainability of food defined his professional identity. While some would have argued in the late 1970s that food was not a bona fide art form, the public’s perception has now shifted to acknowledge the merits of that claim, as well as fully recognizing the role culinary artistry plays in the region’s economy and ecology.

In the public sphere, his work with the City of Portland engaged him at the intersection of politics and policy, and he convened a diverse group that began the effort to develop a year-round, food-focused Public Market that would re-connect with Portland’s long tradition of Public Markets. He also participated in shaping the city’s arts policies and funding decisions; in that role he coordinated the city’s lobbying for the creation of the Oregon Cultural Trust and now serves as chair of the Oregon Arts Commission.

In the city’s Bureau of Planning and then in the Office of Sustainable Development for three years, he continued to advocate for the Public Market as well as citywide arts and culture planning. Now as a private consultant and self-described civic entrepreneur, he continues his efforts to create a Public Market for Portland. His bias is for food systems and cultural planning to advance to the same level that other environmental planning has already achieved. He calls it “habitat for urbanity.”

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