Several of the neighborhood associations to the south of us have invited us to participate in a 3-session conversation with our mayoral candidates. Immediately below is an invitation to the first session with Charlie Hales on November 16th. Please invite your friends and neighbors.
First Town Hall with a Mayoral Candidate
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 7:00 PM
Vollum Lounge, at Reed College, at 3203 SE Woodstock
Dear neighbors:
For the past several years, city hall has turned an increasingly deaf ear
to local concerns and issues. Critical topics like the increasing diesel
emissions in the midst of our neighborhoods, decreased city services, and
failing infrastructure have been given second priority to pie in the sky
expenditures that would seem to have little immediate benefit. Since our
neighborhood pays high taxes, has a very high voter participation rate by
Portland’s standards, and makes many contributions to the city in our jobs
and as volunteers, this indifference to our concerns is increasingly
puzzling.
The Sellwood Moreland, Reedway, Hosford Abernety, and Eastmoreland
neighborhoods, in conjunction with the Reed College students (one of the
largest single blocks of voters in Portland) are sponsoring town hall
sessions for the three mayoral candidates in November, December, and
February. The first town hall meeting will be at the Vollum Lounge, at
Reed College, at 3203 SE Woodstock, at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, November 16th.
This will be a town hall meeting focused on southeast Portland. We are
planning to ask hard questions about police, sewer, parks, and
transportation services. The unilateral placement of cell towers in
homeowner’s front lawns, and the dramatic increase in noise and pollution
from the Brooklyn Rail Yards.
This session will concentrate on local issues:
How will established southeast neighborhoods be protected against development
that imperils their character and livability?
Where is the long promised community center at the Washington/Monroe high
school?
What will the new mayor do to address the increasing noise and pollution
at the Union Pacific Rail Yard in Brooklyn?
What is being done on the Sellwood Bridge and the poorly designed Bybee
Light Rain station?
Will the city protect homeowners from cell tower placement in their
front yards?
How can the City better involve its neighborhoods as if faces tight
budgets and hard choices?
If we expect to live in a city where City Hall recognizes our interests
and not just those of special interests we need to speak out. This is your
chance to test the candidates commitment to inner southeast Portland.