Issues
On Early Childhood
Goal: Improve Early Childhood Education
Effective services need to begin as early as possible. Successful programs involve the whole family, including the parents, the child, and caregivers.
If we target the 6.7% of children who enter kindergarten lacking the social and emotional skills necessary to learn successfully, we will have made a tremendous investment in their future, and in ours.
I will work to make a successful system that links services for at-risk children, including; preventative health care, behavioral health care, child and parent mental health, parenting training, affordable housing, child care and early education.
Economy
Now that the housing bubble has burst, the average working family in Oregon may struggle just to pay their mortgage, not to mention paying more for health care, gas, home heating, and food.
Multnomah County will see demand for its services to the most vulnerable increase, but we will also see our tax revenues flatten or decrease. The Board of Commissioners must set a standard of core values and of fiscal discipline to deal with a structural deficit.
I will:
Environment
Public Safety
The Criminal Justice System is a complex layering of multiple agencies in multiple governmental jurisdictions with different budget and policy priorities. We need to continue our efforts to coordinate, plan, and work together. My priorities include
Public Safety is a much broader mission than the criminal justice system, and includes pre-natal health care, early childhood programs, gang intervention, the Sun Schools, drug and alcohol treatment programs, safe sidewalks for pedestrians, safe routes for bicycles, and safe bridges.
On Transportation
The formula for the state gas tax distribution sends 54 cents of every gas tax dollar out of the Portland region.
We are tired of sitting in traffic and we want our roads and bridges repaired and maintained. The last gas tax increase was in 1993 and that increase has long ago been eaten up by inflation.
I will work with the state legislature to create fair and equitable distribution of existing taxes so that taxes raised in Multnomah County will stay in Multnomah County to repair our bridges and maintain our roads.
On Treatment
A majority—of the people in Multnomah County jails have a drug and/or alcohol addiction when they are arrested.
Today in Multnomah County, inmates are eligible to be released from jail into residential treatment. They stay in jail because there are no treatment beds available. They take up jail space while dangerous offenders are released because of overcrowding. Their sentences are served to completion and they are returned into our community, still addicted. Since the most likely cause of their criminal behavior is the untreated addiction, they re-offend, re-victimize us in the community, and recycle through the court system--gobbling up valuable public resources.
I will work to increase treatment services to interrupt this cycle of addiction, crime, and victimization give people the opportunity to become productive members of our community.
Goal: Improve Early Childhood Education
Effective services need to begin as early as possible. Successful programs involve the whole family, including the parents, the child, and caregivers.
If we target the 6.7% of children who enter kindergarten lacking the social and emotional skills necessary to learn successfully, we will have made a tremendous investment in their future, and in ours.
I will work to make a successful system that links services for at-risk children, including; preventative health care, behavioral health care, child and parent mental health, parenting training, affordable housing, child care and early education.
Economy
Now that the housing bubble has burst, the average working family in Oregon may struggle just to pay their mortgage, not to mention paying more for health care, gas, home heating, and food.
Multnomah County will see demand for its services to the most vulnerable increase, but we will also see our tax revenues flatten or decrease. The Board of Commissioners must set a standard of core values and of fiscal discipline to deal with a structural deficit.
I will:
- Work to grow our economy by addressing infrastructure needs through public/private financial partnerships;
- Work with the Legislature and with our Congressional Delegation to maximize state and federal resources for County programs;
- Find ways to increase local options to pay for the programs that we need in a growing and diverse urban community.
Environment
During my three terms as a State Representative I voted consistently to protect and enhance the environment. As a County Commissioner, my values will include:
- Protecting the Columbia Gorge—a cultural, historic, scenic and geological treasure right in our own backyard;
- Reducing our dependence on limited fossil fuel by
- Maximizing use of the LIEAP, which provides access to better energy efficiency insulation, weather-proofing, and more efficient home heating;
- Increasing safety of MAX for East Portland residents, and cooperate with City of Portland and METRO to increase bicycling and walking to work and school;
- Supporting Multnomah County’s leadership in solar energy; and
- Partnering with schools to provide Outdoor Education and increased participation of our children in urban gardens and local agriculture,
- Fostering awareness and stewardship for the parks, trails and natural areas that make Multnomah County such a treasure.
Public Safety
The Criminal Justice System is a complex layering of multiple agencies in multiple governmental jurisdictions with different budget and policy priorities. We need to continue our efforts to coordinate, plan, and work together. My priorities include
- Improve our information analysis, so we can increase service levels in programs that work and eliminate those that don’t;
- Divert the mentally ill out of jail and into appropriate treatment;
- Increase our ability to treat alcohol and drug addiction,
- Work to eliminate racial disparities from the criminal justice system, and
- Reduce the rate of jail and prison returns through effective re-entry planning.
Public Safety is a much broader mission than the criminal justice system, and includes pre-natal health care, early childhood programs, gang intervention, the Sun Schools, drug and alcohol treatment programs, safe sidewalks for pedestrians, safe routes for bicycles, and safe bridges.
On Transportation
The formula for the state gas tax distribution sends 54 cents of every gas tax dollar out of the Portland region.
We are tired of sitting in traffic and we want our roads and bridges repaired and maintained. The last gas tax increase was in 1993 and that increase has long ago been eaten up by inflation.
I will work with the state legislature to create fair and equitable distribution of existing taxes so that taxes raised in Multnomah County will stay in Multnomah County to repair our bridges and maintain our roads.
On Treatment
A majority—of the people in Multnomah County jails have a drug and/or alcohol addiction when they are arrested.
Today in Multnomah County, inmates are eligible to be released from jail into residential treatment. They stay in jail because there are no treatment beds available. They take up jail space while dangerous offenders are released because of overcrowding. Their sentences are served to completion and they are returned into our community, still addicted. Since the most likely cause of their criminal behavior is the untreated addiction, they re-offend, re-victimize us in the community, and recycle through the court system--gobbling up valuable public resources.
I will work to increase treatment services to interrupt this cycle of addiction, crime, and victimization give people the opportunity to become productive members of our community.