Pamplin Media Group – Housing, tolling, safety key topics of Clackamas County town hall

Residents remark and inquire on future direction for commissioners for the duration of April 6 party

Clackamas County’s initially digital town hall function of 2022 questioned group customers, “Where by are we headed as a county, and why?” This elicited many issues and feedback for elected commissioners on the county’s reaction to ongoing traits in housing, transportation, public basic safety and health.

A notable subject of problem dealt with by numerous attendees of the Wednesday, April 6, dialogue was the region’s increasing populace of unhoused and at-chance people amid ongoing world wide pandemic, rising housing expenses and rental support delays.

Paul Edgar from Oregon Metropolis expressed problem in excess of a absence of transitional housing shelters and amenities for complete treatment for contributing aspects to chronic homelessness, like psychological health problems and drug habit.

He proposed “cluster housing” models that let housing insecure citizens with stable shelter in a managed setting when incorporating expert services available at present area shelters these types of as the Veteran’s Village, which includes “showers, foods provider, garments closets, but most importantly, mental wellness.”

Yet another county resident named Terry emailed the Board of County Commissioners to say that extra land-use exploration must be performed to weigh selections for making transitional sheltering close to local hospitals, additionally suggesting a neighborhood kitchen and proposing that “choosing the homeless to construct those residences and clean up their community could be an incentive.”

A lot of citizens expressed a want for Clackamas County not to mirror Multnomah County and the city of Portland in conditions of the volume of unhoused persons camping in public areas, this kind of as parks and spots adjacent to roadways these types of as off-ramps and beneath overpasses.

Transportation fears among the town-hall attendees centered about tolling that the Oregon Office of Transportation is dedicated to employing on stretches of I-205 which includes the Abernethy Bridge in the future five many years, irrespective of continued pushback from elected officials and residents countywide.

Hannah Berkowitz from West Linn explained she crosses the Abernethy Bridge 95% of the time she leaves her house to vacation to Oregon Metropolis, introducing that a lot of in her local community count on the bridge to get to do the job, go grocery procuring and obtain other simple demands.

“It would just be absurd if I experienced to shell out a toll, and I am not the only 1,” she stated, including that there is no choice and the targeted traffic pattern is “horrible” by now. “It truly is not a answer, and if that occurred, regrettably more mature now, I will never be going wherever.”

ODOT is in the course of action of getting regional acceptance from transportation subcommittees to carry out even more investigation regarding the impacts of tolling on community arterial roads as effectively as the local weather, which numerous residents explained will be highly essential prior to implementations start off.

“This tolling proposal disproportionately hurts Clackamas County in a manner that will hurt the economic climate, harm home values, eliminate careers, and it is just wrong,” Paul Edgar additional, suggesting the county search into options for taking legal action.

Assist for health, local climate motion

Firmly opposed to tolling, county residents in the course of Wednesday’s town corridor largely expressed guidance for challenges related to growing community wellness and safety, like environmental conservation and weather motion.

Several responses and inquiries regarded the county’s Local weather Motion Plan, to be adopted by 2023 with the objective of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, with a resident named Cassie emailing in to inquire for “no further delays” in the plan staying “completed, adopted and carried out.”

“It is not going to matter how pleasant any other accomplishments are if we don’t have a livable local weather,” wrote an Oak Grove resident by e-mail, with one more resident requesting that the county lessen fossil-gas emissions, which he claimed are the root result in of his bladder most cancers analysis and hurt regional communities and environments in spite of their industrial utilities.

A different reviewed factor of community protection was policing, which numerous people expressed their assist for funding, even though some instructed ways to improve the community’s romance and rely on in regulation enforcement as very well as bettering the means accessible to police endorsing officer retention and morale.

“We as a local community really feel a bit in the darkish and unaware of the staffing and provider ranges of our nearby sheriff’s workplace,” explained a resident named Jodie, citing soaring criminal offense in the location and expressing worry that Clackamas County will be seeing a decrease in law enforcement staffing similarly to studies from Multnomah County departments.

Kathy Selvaggio, a West Linn resident who runs a police-reform advocacy team, asked the county board to deal with programs of accountability and transparency within county law enforcement departments following reviews of misconduct she has investigated in current yrs.

A resident named Malcolm proposed raising schooling all over citizen legal rights when interacting with police, expressing his support for legislation enforcement as an institution but pointing out that he has recognized an difficulty may be that residents are not adequately aware of the most effective measures to take when they occur in get in touch with with officers.

Other typically elevated topics bundled inhabitants expressing guidance for Ridwell’s disposal providers for really hard-to-dispose waste goods these as family batteries, digital squander, gentle bulbs and far more for a regular membership price, which officials deemed out of compliance with existing county codes in January.

Many inhabitants who expressed wish for greater homeless providers also said they didn’t like how substantially housing is getting developed in open green house in Clackamas County, which a lot of inhabitants say accounts for 1 of the area’s defining traits.

Residents also voiced help for additional providers for Clackamas County seniors, such as transportation selections connecting urban and rural regions as effectively as funding community care facilities for aged populations.