It’s too easy to write off local elections as less important than the “big” ones. Yet local elections often make a more immediate impact on our pocketbooks and daily lives. We have some important local issues and candidates in this upcoming election, and I hope that we will all read everything we can about who is running and what the Charter amendment 2-159, will or won’t – or we don’t know – accomplish.
Charter Amendment
Poorly conceived, as it has no information about how the new divisions will be decided, and more to the point, who will do the deciding. The amendment has two parts, and each is a big change and if not handled correctly, and with a great deal of citizen input, could cause a loss of representation for parts of the city. We’ve been seeing these “redistricting” measures going on in cities and states nationwide, in some cases with unhelpful consequences. We must be sure that there is an acceptable and fair plan in place BEFORE we vote on making these sweeping changes. The last redistricting plan had a sentence about “working with existing Neighborhood groups.” 2-159 is missing this sentence.
Please find out as much as possible about the candidates as you can before voting
The League of Women Voters has 5-minute interviews with candidates on YouTube. Make sure the candidate you vote for represents your beliefs and goals for the city. There is a wide choice, and we are lucky to have an opportunity to make choices that can, we hope, represent the wide beliefs of our citizens.
Concerning in Ward 1
Normally a city council candidate spends, maybe, a few hundred, to maybe a couple of thousand dollars – this makes it possible for regular citizens to run and represent the “rest of us.” One candidate, Steve Clark has donations totaling over $22,000 – the figures from public documents available via Secretary of State office. Why? In a small city, in a small state, what is prompting these huge donations to one candidate. 5 years ago this would have been concerning: after Elon Musk and friends have poured millions into races like governors of Wisconsin and Colorado – you gotta wonder why?
Mr. Clark has been chairman of two committees to put in place $200,000,000 changes to downtown. The proposed campus, which is city offices and police department offices, won’t generate any property taxes or fees for enlarging city services. The other candidate, Bre Irish, works directly in our streets and fields, with the homeless. She also has two years of experience working for Senator Wyden. She could make a real difference for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers. And yet that issue isn’t being addressed in this election.
Finally
If you are offended by the plight of the middle eastern refugees, how about the ones we see daily on our own streets. How about seeing human beings in a civilized city pushing all their belongings in the world on a flimsy bike, without shelter, hygiene, a place to sit – I see women in their 50s sitting on cement curbs waiting for a shelter to open – bad enough in the sun, what about the rain and cold on the way?
The county buys good tents for shelter – entities like the County and ODOT and Train companies take them away to the dump. Over a decade ago, the City Counsel told the City Manager, in writing, to be in charge of the homeless population. “We’re building this, we’re building that,” we hear. But year after year people are living like the refugees we are appalled by. The constitution guarantees protection from cruel and unusual punishment – for crime. For poverty, we have no such limits.
If this offends you, I confess it does me, then find out which candidates will make alleviating abuse of these human beings a priority. Fancy offices are what you build during times of prosperity. Help for those who are suffering is the priority as times are bad – and getting worse. Make sure you know WHO you are voting for and what they stand for.
Terry Weiss is a community activist and frequent commenter at Corvallis City Council meetings.
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