Metro’s Authority Over REGIONAL Public Housing Policy Rejected

The Metro regional government does NOT have a REGIONAL Public Housing Policy. Its council members have refused to place a REGIONAL Public Housing Policy on their agenda for public comment and a vote.

So I asked a large sample of elected officials under Metro’s Public Housing Policy authority*1 the following question, Have you publicly challenged Metro’s failure to have a REGIONAL Public Housing Policy and its failure to adopt one?

Governor Tina Kotek - NO (Really? Ignoring, indeed, blithely accepting Oregon’s largest government to fail its obligation to REGIONAL Public Housing Policy does not enhance Kotek’s credibility with regard to her signature pledge to improve Public Housing in our state.)

Clackamas county commissioners

Paul Savas - NO

Martha Schrader - NO

Mark Shull - NO

Tootie Smith - NO

Ben West - NO

Multnomah county commissioners

Julia Brim-Edwards - NO

Susheela Jayapal - NO

Sharon Meieran - NO

Lori Stegmann - NO

Jessica Vega Pederson - NO

Washington county commissioners

Nafisa Fai - NO

Kathryn Harrington - NO

Roy Rogers - NO

Pam Treece - NO

Jerry Willey - NO

Portland city commissioners

Rene Gonzalez - NO

Mingus Mapps - NO

Carmen Rubio - NO

Dan Ryan - NO

Ted Wheeler - NO

Gresham city commissioners

Dina DiNucci - NO

Janine Gladfelter - NO

Jerry Hinton - NO

Vincent Jones-Dixon - NO

Eddy Morales - NO

Sue Piazza - NO

Travis Stovall - NO

Hillsboro city commissioners

Olivia Alcaire - NO

Steve Callaway - NO

Anthony Martin - NO

Beach Pace - NO

Gina Roletto - NO

Kipperlyn Sinclair - NO

Rick Van Beveren - NO

Beaverton city commissioners

Lacey Beaty - NO

John Dugger - NO

Ashley Hartmeier-Prigg - NO

Nadia Hasan - NO

Edward Kimmi - NO

Kevin Teater - NO

Allison Tivnon - NO

Lake Oswego city commissioners

Ali Afghan - NO

Joe Buck - NO

Trudy Corrigan - NO

Massene Mboup - NO

Aaron Rapf - NO

Rachel Verdick - NO

John Wendland - NO

Oregon City city commissioners

Adam Marl - NO

Denyse McGriff - NO

Michael Mitchell - NO

Frank O'Donnell - NO

Rocky Smith - NO

What Does This Mean?

A clean sweep, 53 of 53 elected public officials serving within Metro’s borders agree that the current Metro councilors, Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Duncan Hwang, Christine Lewis, Mary Nolan, Lynn Peterson, Gerritt Rosenthal and Ashton Simpson demonstrated insufficient competency to warrant our recognition of their authority over REGIONAL Public Housing Policy. Metro Auditor, Brian Evans, failed to expose blatant, fraudulent, misappropriation of taxpayer funds. Metro councilors’ group hubris easily defeated what little self-awareness existed of their ignorance of how to establish, execute and enforce a REGIONAL Public Housing Policy in a public jurisdiction encompassing three counties. They were completely unprepared for the consequences of their dramatic overreach which was destined for and achieved failure.

Voters, who in good faith gave Metro their tax dollars, were deceived into expecting that their money would be used to establish, execute and enforce a REGIONAL Public Housing Policy.

WHAT’S TO BE DONE?

1.Tell the Metro councilors to use the remaining undistributed taxpayer money for what voters intended i.e. to establish, execute and enforce a REGIONAL Public Housing Policy.

2. Demand that future candidates for Metro and all other county and city commissioners within Metro’s catchment pledge to require that Metro establish, execute and enforce a REGIONAL Public Housing Policy.

3. Local jurisdictions must stop accepting any more of Metro’s ill gotten gains. To accept this money now would be an admission of complicity in Metro’s fraud after the fact.

4. Immediately demand that Metro AID public jurisdictions within its purview to relocate homeless individuals camping on public property in compliance with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling requiring alternative space to reside before removing campers from public property.

Richard Ellmyer

Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last twenty-one years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.

Project Champion and Data Wrangler - Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps https://www.goodgrowthnw.org/m...

GIS for Activism conference, May 23, 2022, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

RichardEllmyer - How I, A Citizen Activist, Used GIS To Effectively Tell A Necessary Yet Unavailable Truth About Public Housing

30 minute Video https://media.pdx.edu/media/t/...

LET KNOWLEDGE SERVE THE CITY

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*1 FYI - Neighborhoods In Metro - goodgrowthnw.org/maps