Published on finance.yahoo.com
CPP has successfully topped off the Clackamas County Courthouse Replacement Project, adhering to the schedule. Under the leadership of Fengate Asset Management, the project remains on track for completion in May 2025.
Content credit to finance.yahoo.com
Plans are underway to toll the essential freeways we rely on every day in Clackamas County for our transportation needs, but we can stop it!
Some people might not know this, but the Portland metropolitan area is already under study for tolling on both I-5 and I-205. If implemented, this would be the largest tax increase in the history of Oregon.
Our commission teamed up with the Clackamas County Department of Transportation and Development to draft a 36-page technical letter outlining the deficiencies with the I-205 Toll Project Environmental Assessment. Ultimately, our technical letter led to the governor declaring a two-year pause on tolling. That’s a good start. However, we now need everyone to do their part and sign IP-4, a constitutional amendment that will require a regional vote before any new toll is imposed. We stopped it but they are still full steam ahead to force tolling on us.
Signatures are being gathered right now for IP-4 (Initiative Petition 4). IP-4 is a constitutional amendment, meaning it can only be changed by another vote of the people. This will keep politicians from deciding to change this policy without our permission.
There are many reasons why permanently stopping tolling is important. Any toll would act as a regressive tax on working people who are simply trying to commute to their jobs to support their families. Tolls would limit mobility and regulate the movements of private citizens. Some low-income residents would undoubtedly be forced onto public transit. Because most of Clackamas County is rural, that’s just not practical. Tolls will adversely affect the daily lives and pocketbooks of vulnerable citizens.
Our local residential areas will also feel the effects. Traffic patterns of side and residential roads will be forever altered, and none of them are prepared to handle that.
But perhaps worst of all is that there are no guarantees that any revenues raised through tolls will ever go towards improving roads or adding capacity. There will be no accountability whatsoever for how that money will be spent.
For years, bureaucrats have been treating tolling as a predetermined outcome, but we are not giving up. We can stop tolling with IP-4 but we need your help.
In order to get IP-4 on the ballot, we need to gather 200,000 signatures by June 2024.
For more information, and to download a petition, go to www.NoTolling.com.
It’s well past time to admit the obvious: Measure 110, which decriminalized extremely dangerous drugs, has been a disaster.
Presented to voters as the “Drug Addiction and Recovery Act,” this ill-conceived measure is actively destroying the quality of life for all Oregonians. It has enabled people to destroy themselves with deadly and dangerous drugs. Let’s face the facts—Oregonians were sold a bill of goods when Measure 110 was put before them in the November 2020 general election.
Treatment programs that were promised three years ago still don’t exist. Multnomah County, for example, has huge amounts of money intended for services to addicts, but no clue or direction on how to spend it and no clear vision or sense of urgency. The best idea they’ve come up with so far involved providing drug paraphernalia to users, until the press caught wind and public outrage brought that program to a grinding halt.
Clackamas County decided to take the lead on pushing back against Measure 110 and other counties are following suit.
I’m proud to say that in June, our board of county commissioners voted to ask voters if they wanted to repeal Measure 110 in the May 2024 primary election. We’ve urging other counties to do the same in the hopes that the Legislature will take action to modify the measure.
So far, twelve counties including Marion, Polk and Douglas counties have gotten on board in some form and so has the city of Medford. Other municipalities throughout the state are expected to start doing the same.
The legislature did not take the time to fix Measure 110’s issues during its regular 2023 session, and now ballot measures are being introduced to fix the mess under Measure 110. One group preparing ballot measures the Coalition to Fix and Amend Measure 110. It is preparing a series of ballot measures for voters in the November 2024 general election. One measure would make minor drug possession a misdemeanor once again. Others would recriminalize fentanyl, meth, and heroin, give offenders a choice between mandatory treatment or jail, and make it illegal to use drugs in public statewide.
Measure 110 has had terrible consequences for our residents, and as a commission, we are committed to repealing it as quickly as possible.
It’s time to end this failed experiment. And if the Legislature won’t do it, we the people will do it ourselves.
Enough is enough.
Published on KATU ABC 2
A petition is putting the decision about tolling on Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 in the hands of Oregon voters. Backed by local officials, the initiative aims to address concerns and ensure public input in transportation planning.
Content credit to KATU ABC 2
Published on Clackamas.us
Clackamas County marks Suicide Prevention Month with a hopeful event and unveils a new plan to save lives. Chair Tootie Smith celebrates progress in reducing suicides and urges continued community support.
Content credit to Clackamas.us
Published in Willamette Week
Clackamas County Commissioners are deliberating on potentially overturning Oregon’s drug decriminalization law amidst concerns over a surge in drug overdoses. Measure 110, which reduced penalties for drug possession, is under scrutiny as officials weigh its impact on public health and safety.
Content credit to Willamette Week
Published on Koin.com
Tootie Smith leads calls for transparency in the audit of ClackCo Sheriff’s Office budget following allegations of fund misuse. Smith’s advocacy highlights the importance of accountability in public expenditure, ensuring taxpayer trust and effective governance.
Content credit to Koin.com
Despite what people may think and what they read and hear in the press, we’ve actually had a huge reduction in homelessness in Clackamas County over the last year. And we have the data to prove it.
According to the most recent point in time count, the number of people defined as homeless in the county dropped from 597 the same time in 2022 to 410. That’s a reduction of over 30 percent. Persons defined as unsheltered went from 327 to 178, almost half.
To help the county board of commissioners get a better sense of the needs out there, a housing inventory was also conducted.
The assessor’s office has counted over 142,000 dwelling units in Clackamas County. That includes houses, duplexes, triplexes and mobile homes, but not apartments. But a housing needs assessment conducted in 2017 by EcoNorthwest showed a total of 163,650 units.
Out of all those dwelling units, the county owns, subsidizes or provides vouchers for nearly 7300. The various programs help over 7800 low-income and high-needs residents get into apartments, hotel and motel rooms and assists them with making rent payments.
Overall, the county has over 4600 regulated affordable housing units. The Housing Authority of Clackamas County provides over 1800 housing vouchers and there are nearly 500 Regional Long-Term Rental Assistance Supported Housing Services vouchers issued to county residents.
There are almost 50 emergency shelter beds for adults only, over 60 for adults with children and over 25 for youth. Another 44 residents are served through transitional housing programs, 37 through joint transitional and rapid rehousing programs and another 161 through rapid rehousing programs.
As leaders, it’s important that we use the best available data to make our decisions. What this data shows is that what we’re doing is working. It also shows that county staff is doing an excellent job of obtaining positive results with existing programs and resources.
It shows that with the right approach, the right locations and with proper public input, you can reduce your homeless population.
What we’re doing is working.
Governor Kotek has directed the Oregon Department of Transportation to put a stop to those plans until 2026.
At one point, it was considered inevitable. We were told it was a foregone conclusion.
But those of us who were against it mobilized to express our opposition. We put pressure on elected officials at the local, state and federal levels to join us in taking a stand.
We fought back. And I can proudly say that we’ve won.
Make no mistake—some of these officials had every intention of forcing this on us all, whether we wanted it or not.
What they weren’t expecting was the backlash that followed.
Every chance we got, we stood up and said no. We told them about how this would hurt working families during already difficult economic times. We told them there would be environmental impacts that they weren’t even considering. We took it one step further and voted politicians who supported tolling out of office.
The pressure became so great that they actually listened this time.
But just because plans for tolling have temporarily been paused doesn’t mean they’re going away forever. We can all fully expect this issue to return.
As the chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners, I remain committed to fighting against any tolling schemes. And when this comes up in a couple of years, I will continue to put our citizens first and make sure your voices are heard loudly and clearly.
It worked this time and it will work again.
By Tootie Smith
Chair, Clackamas County Commission
We all agree communities face the monumental task of addressing homelessness, drug addiction, and mental health across Oregon. While we did not create this crisis, as elected leaders it is our responsibility to try to solve the problem and do the work to get results.
I changed my vote on Project Turnkey after listening to the growing opposition, not only from the businesses and residents who live in the Quality Inn area but also those opposing the proposed model as well. Our residents have witnessed the failed attempts in housing and shelter experiments of our Portland neighbors while also watching the homeless population continue to grow.
While other counties have opened many Turnkey operations, most all of those are inside larger cities with larger homeless populations. The difference with Clackamas County is, we have 16 smaller cities scattered throughout the county. All cities turned down offers to locate Turnkey in their area, leaving the county to bear the brunt of the responsibility. The only hotels available were in unincorporated Clackamas County. Residents tend to be very protective of these rural urbanized areas as they have no representative form of government except for the county commission. In the end, resident and business opposition to Project Turnkey outweighed the support.
Additionally, Clackamas County voters turned down Metro’s Supportive Housing Services Measure 26-10 in 2020, yet because of the affirmative vote by Washington and Multnomah Counties, our residents were taxed against their will. Added on top of an unwanted tax is Governor Tina Kotek’s emergency declaration on homeless creating another layer of unnecessary compliance and burden on precious staff time.
It’s time we look at the cause of homelessness and structure programs that lead to recovery while holding people accountable along their path. My decision was not about one hotel, but about seeking solutions that will benefit our county and all its residents.
As Commissioners, we will start a discussion around my proposed three-point plan, which is not limited to the following points but will include a universal discussion considering all our commissioners’ opinions.
1. The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners will hold a series of Homelessness, Causation and Accountability Summits focusing on the cause and solutions for the problems we face. The business community, faith leaders, nonprofit safety net providers, local elected officials, community volunteers and members of the public will be included.
2. The board of County Commissioners will convene a Blue-Ribbon Committee of thought-provoking leaders at the national, state, and local level to bring best practices and solutions to the table to resolve and treat homelessness issues at the community level.
3. With the approval of BCC, we will bring a referral to the voters on the question of whether the legislature should overturn Measure 110, which legalized drugs and is a major factor in the growing scourge of homelessness and addiction users.
While some believe Project Turnkey would have addressed many of these issues, I believe its acceptance in our community was premature. Now, the public can weigh in on these matters and participate in the decision-making process.
