At the November Sunnyside Neighborhood Association’s General Meeting we hosted Oregon House Representative Rob Nosse. Rob not only won reelection but he will be the House Majority Whip in the upcoming House session. He briefly presented his thoughts about the election and expectations for legislation, then he fielded questions. Some key points in the discussion were:
- Democrats are likely to emerge with supermajorities in both the Oregon House and Senate, enabling them to pass legislation increasing services during the pandemic.
- Contrary to controversies that make news, Republicans and Democrats in the Oregon House agree 90 percent of the time. They can work together if shown mutual respect.
- The Oregon legislature is keenly aware of the concerns about forest fires and will make that problem a priority.
- Many tax increases, for example on beer or breweries, face strong headwinds.
SNA also heard from TJ Browning, Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association Safety Chair, about the camp in Laurelhurst Park and LNA’s recommendations on houselessness to the city. The LNA recommendations largely align with the Community First Strategy to Address Houselessness in Portland which can be found on the SNA website at https://sunnysideportland.org/comfirst-draft. SNA voted to endorse the Community First Strategy and to encourage SE Uplift (https://www.seuplift.org) and other Neighborhood Associations to join in that endorsement. At the risk of oversimplification, there seems to be broad agreement that the current policies are not working, that we need short, medium, and long term solutions, and that the cost of these solutions is less than the cost of inaction. Specific plans, especially in cooperation with LNA, will be discussed at SNA’s General Meeting on December 10th. Stay safe.