Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dan Saltzman

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Even discounting Mr Accountable's "comment", consensus seems clear Fritzpoll (talk) 13:31, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Dan Saltzman

Although asserts significance, it is insufficiently referenced, and I'm not convinced of the notability of Portland Council members. Dloh cierekim 19:37, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Delete - Non-notable officeholder. My reading of WP:BIO and WP:POLITICIAN is that they don't stretch to every member of a city council, not even for a middle-sized city like Portland (or my own Milwaukee). --Orange Mike | Talk 19:49, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep --Mr Accountable (talk) 20:06, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Living people-related deletion discussions. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 00:02, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Oregon-related deletion discussions. —Pete (talk) 17:52, 6 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Comment: This article clearly needs some expansion and citations if it's going to pass AfD. However, since we've had several Portland City Commissioner articles go to AfD recently, I'd like to make a general point about them. There are two points that those outside Portland may not be aware of:

The Mayor of Portland is often referred to as the "second most powerful person in the state." This is mainly because Oregon has no Lieutenant Governor, concentrating the statewide executive power with the Governor. And the Portland metro area comprises about half the population of the state.
The Mayor of Portland is one of the least powerful mayor positions in the country, due to Portland's "weak mayor" form of government. City bureau assignments are distributed among all 5 members of City Council, and the mayor has only one of five votes on legislative matters.

Considering those two points, I think it stands to reason that most City Commissioners in Portland would be more notable than their counterparts in similarly-sized cities. To be clear, I'm not saying that they should be granted a "free notability pass" through something like WP:POLITICIAN, but merely that they will generally be found to have generated sufficient media coverage to pass WP:BIO. It's fine that they're being brought up for AfD, but I think that with a little research and writing that any Portland City Council member will pass the notability test. -Pete (talk) 17:59, 6 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Close the debate. The reasons given by the nominator again show a lack of understanding of why articles are to be deleted. The stated reason of "insufficiently referenced" is not a reason to delete, and there is no indication here or elsewhere in the other mass nominations that the nominator did any search for sources as is required by the deletion policy. Until that requirement is met, there should not be a debate. Instead tag with the notability tag or a references needed tag or any other clean-up tag, do not nominate for deletion. This is especially important where WP:POLITICIAN tells you that these people are likely notable: Major local political figures who have received significant press coverage.[7] Generally speaking, mayors are likely to meet this criterion, as are members of the main citywide government or council of a major metropolitan city. Aboutmovies (talk) 21:39, 6 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Close the debate Aboutmovies makes a compelling case, above. There are important steps that were bypassed here, as in other similar recent AfD's. -Pete (talk) 23:01, 6 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Strong Keep WP:POLITICIAN says: "Major local political figures who have received significant press coverage. Generally speaking, mayors are likely to meet this criterion, as are members of the main citywide government or council of a major metropolitan city." Saltzman meets these criteria with flying colors, obviously. Steven Walling (talk) 03:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.