Priorities
Centering Community
Housing & Homelessness
Every night in Portland, over 1,500 of our neighbors navigate housing insecurity. They attempt to find safety and comfort in a patchwork of shelters, tents, vehicles, and on couches or floors of friends. As a society, we are failing each other. As Chair of the Health & Human Services & Public Safety Committee, Councilor Bullett continues to spin plates, ensuring resources are put toward long-term solutions, and toward warm, safe, and dry places for the unhoused to rest each night (and day). In 2026, city staff helped almost 1,000 unhoused individuals move into permanent housing, yet the crisis continues as more people fall into homelessness, come to Portland seeking support, or struggle to avoid eviction.
Portland needs more affordable housing, especially for families, for very low-income individuals, and those requiring therapeutic environments with onsite support staff. Councilor Bullett has worked hard over her term to ensure there are tax incentives for developers who commit to building affordable housing. She maintains strong relationships with leaders from trusted non-profit organizations like Portland Housing Authority and Preble Street and private companies like Redfern Properties and Developers Collaborative.
With the critical help of Greater Portland Council of Governments, city leadership is working to expand joint efforts with neighboring towns and state leaders. It is important to ensure all Maine municipalities take part in solutions to end homelessness. With state support, communities can build capacity to help their residents stay local. Many Mainers come to Portland to seek services out of necessity but would much prefer to stay in their hometowns near friends and family. Sheltering and new affordable housing development efforts are needed in all regions of Maine.
Racial Equity
Threats of violence and hate speech perpetrated by white supremacist domestic terrorists continues nationally and locally. Councilor Bullett believes that city leaders and community members must be actively anti-racist to protect the safety, wellness, livelihood, and future of our Black, brown, Indigenous, Asian American, and Pacific Islander neighbors and work to ensure to respect and safety of those who practice all religions, especially those who practice the teaching of Islam, and those who are of Jewish faith. When we protect and uplift our neighbors, we protect and uplift ourselves.
Equity-promoting practices are central to Councilor Bullett’s professional and personal life. To right the wrongs of history and fill the generational wealth and access gaps that racist laws created, equity and anti-racism inform every conversation and policy decision Councilor Bullett makes.
Childcare
Childcare is infrastructure. When parents work, society functions. Working parents are in helping professions; nurses, cooks, meat processors, first responders, maintenance workers, teachers, ALL THE HELPERS, are critical members of society. If working parents do not have affordable, accessible, quality childcare, our collective self-sufficiency as a city is at risk. Parenthood and caregiving should be protected, respected, and supported.
Councilor Bullett was the first councilor to provide childcare at an annual District meeting. Professional rec staff now provide childcare at all district meetings.
In addition to establishing the State of Maine’s first Paid Family and Medical Leave Program, Governor Mills’ 2024 budget, passed in July of 2023, increased income eligibility for the state childcare subsidy for working families, increases the state-funded childcare worker stipend, and makes community college free for 2024-2025 high school graduates. This is all great news. However, a waitlist for the subsidy remains to this day. To meet the local demand, and to ensure childcare centers can afford rent and staff, Portland goes even further. During her first term, Councilor Bullett has advocated for, and secured funds for childcare scholarships for Portland families to bridge the gap until they can secure the state childcare subsidy. Additionally, during the Re-Code process that revised Portland’s Land Use Code for the first time in 50 years, Councilor Bullett ensured changes that made it easier for home daycare operators to obtain licensure. Led by Councilor Ben Grant, in 2025, Councilor Bullett supported funding to expand the City Parks & Recreation Department before and after the bell, and summer camp slots in Portland’s elementary schools and city parks.
Transportation Infrastructure
Portland is a city with much to offer to residents and visitors alike. For those of who live and work here, transportation is an essential factor in the ability to enjoy and thrive in the city. We must ensure roads are safe for all modes of transportation, with clearly defined lanes, consistent traffic enforcement for bikes and cars, sidewalks accessible for all who walk, run, or roll.
Councilor Bullett serves on the board of Greater Portland METRO when she works to improve access, routes, and ridership. As a member of the Sustainability & Transportation Committee, Councilor Bullett has been vocal in prioritizing pedestrians, including children and the elderly and means of travel beyond personal vehicles. She was a strong advocate for Vision Zero and was honored to bring it to the full council with Councilor Regina Phillips, where it was approved by unanimous vote. Major transportation infrastructure improvements she looks forward to seeing through in her second term include the Franklin Street Reclamation project, the conversion of State & High to two-way with bike and pedestrian facilities, the launch of bus rapid transit (hoping Washington Ave can be a contender for expansion if successful!), and multiple trail projects, including Pathways to Bridge the Gap, Union Branch Connector, and others.
Climate Action
For the planet’s eight billion humans and trillions of its plants and animals, managing the consequences of climate collapse is an ever-present reality. Portland is uniquely equipped to take necessary economic and social actions to mitigate the consequences of climate collapse, improving the environment now and for the future. Portland has made progress already, including the establishment of Portland’s first ever Climate Action Fund, which Councilor Anna Bullett amended to ensure ongoing investment in projects and maintaining an office of Sustainability.
It is an important time to be involved in planning Portland’s future. Fully enacting the One Climate Future Climate Action Plan which touches everything from transit and zoning, to the electrical grid and construction, to conservation and composting – is not just possible, it is critical. Through Re-Code, Councilor Bullett was able to play an active role in incorporating climate resilience into land use code. Flood-overlay zones, elimination of parking minimums, and the development of transit oriented development zones, all of which are designed to increase Portland’s climate change preparedness.
An active member of the Sustainability & Transportation Committee, Councilor Bullett strongly supports creative, grassroots efforts to boost community resiliency through the Sustainable Neighborhoods Program and supports largescale city investments in alternative energy such as solar arrays, she supported the piloting of an electric trash trucks, and continues to work with private and public stakeholders to strengthen the Portland power grid in ways that lessen the burden on consumers and the earth’s natural resources.
Fiscal Accountability
Fair taxes improve the lives of Portland residents today AND tomorrow. Infrastructure investments now means we have roads on which residents can safely walk, bike, roll, and drive, day in and day out, in all types of weather. Providing the next generation with a world class education ensures Portland graduates can lead the future and eventually take care of today’s adults when they retire. Councilor Bullett takes very seriously the need to keep taxes affordable and seeks every possible budget balancing solution. When negotiating with the City’s many labor unions, making decisions about leases and litigation, reviewing enterprise funds, and helping the staff set program fees, Councilor Bullett works diligently to ensure fair wages, fair fees, and fair taxes.
