An exotic dancer, 49, is throwing her hat in the ring to be the city’s mayor as she aims to tackle Portland’s crime, homelessness and drug problems to continue her “journey as an artist.”

An exotic dancer running to become mayor of Portland believes she has what it takes to revive the city’s downtown.

Liv Osthus is a well-known stripper, but she wants to go into politics to solve the crime, homelessness and drug problems plaguing the area.

She moved to Portland in 1996 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from William’s College and began exotic dancing under the name Viva Las Vegas.

But Osthus wants to take on the challenge of leading the city and told him KGW8: ‘For me, it’s not about me dedicating myself to politics; This is me continuing my journey as an artist.

According to the data, there were 6,300 homeless people on Portland streets last year and 527 overdoses.

Osthus understands that people will be skeptical about his desire to govern Portland despite having no political experience.

But he wants to address downtown’s problems by converting disused offices, left by departing companies, into studios for artists.

‘The artists will make this a hub of the community. They will do art shows, they will do musical shows; People will start coming to see them,” he said.

‘In two weeks, there will be a cafeteria, and in a month, a place to have lunch, there we will have good dinners again. The energy will flow downwards again.’

He admitted to having no experience in politics or management and added: ‘The mayor doesn’t need to know everything. Nobody could know everything.

Osthus hopes to be a leader who can guide the city by relying on the 12 seats on the city council.

“What I want in a mayor is someone who listens, someone who connects and someone who inspires,” he said.

‘I think now is the time in Portland. We’ve seen mayors do everything they can to affect what happens downtown, and it hasn’t worked.

“I think it’s time to send a message of optimism: Portland is flourishing.”

He is running against three current city commissioners for Portland mayor, including his mentor Mingus Mapps.

Osthus decided to get into exotic dancing because she wanted to see if sex work could be empowering.

“We were studying brothels in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and how that was a way for women to get out of very strict paratracheal structures and have money,” she said.

‘Money is power in capitalism and it all clicked in my mind: “This was empowerment.”‘

DailyMail.com has contacted Osthus for comment.

Oregon leaders declared a 90-day state of emergency in Portland in January to combat the city’s debilitating fentanyl crisis, three years after decriminalizing possession of all drugs.

Gov. Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County President Jessica Vega Pederson made the statement and are directing their agencies to work with first responders to connect people addicted to the synthetic opioid with resources. including drug treatment programs and to crack down on drug sales.

Fentanyl addicts who interact with first responders in downtown Portland in the next 90 days will be evaluated by this new command center.

Staff can connect people with various resources, from a bed at a drug treatment center to meeting with a behavioral health clinician to help them sign up for food stamps.

“Our country and our state have never seen a drug so deadly addictive, and we are all debating how to respond,” Kotek said.