Bob Stacey jumps into race for Metro President

T.A. Barnhart

Bob Stacey, former Executive Director 1000 Friends of Oregon, kicked off his campaign for Metro President at the Holocene on SE Morrison last night. With former Gov Barbara Roberts standing (and beaming) in the front row, former state Rep Greg Macpherson, uber-activist Steve Novick and a full house on hand, Stacey promised to give the voters of Metro a choice between wasteful, sprawl-ridden, developer-friendly policies; and leadership that fulfills Metro’s promise of keeping the area “the Greatest Place”.

BlueOregon contributor Leslie Carlson spoke first, telling why she believes Stacey is the best choice for Metro’s future:

It seemed like every leader was afraid to speak the truth about the Columbia River Crossing. Nobody wanted to stand up and say, We don’t just need to solve congestion; we need to solve gloal warming. We need to solve kids with asthma; we need a solution to congestion that includes solutions to all those other problems, not just building our way out of congestion. Bob was one of the first civic leaders, and now the first candidate, to actually say that.

Following Carlson was 1000 Friends of Oregon board member and winemaker Eric Lemelson. Of Stacey, Lemelson said

Bob Stacey has been an advocate, a policy expert, and above all, a behind-the-scenes visionary toiling in the fields of government, the private sector and the non-profit world for more than 3 decades. Bob’s vision for our region is a product of many years of persistent work, of an open-mindedness to new ideas and new approaches, of education, of deep thought, and above all, his love of and commitment to Portland and Oregon.

Stacey began by thanking a friend for his support, a friend whose farm and home are outside of Metro. What is important to his friend, he said, is that if his land is outside of Metro, then the Urban Growth Boundary will be continuing to protect rural lands such as his. Speaking of Metro’s plans for the future — Metro calls the overall plan “Building the Greatest Place” — Stacey stated that we already live in the greatest place that “our job … is to keep it that way and to make it better”. He spoke of growth and development being not a destructive but creative force. Of the expected 1 million new residents who’ll be moving into the region in the coming decades, he said “This is an opportunity … if we make the righ decisions, the right choices.”

Do we think it improves the quality of life to have community-supported agriculture, farmers markets on the weekends all around the region, and restaurants serving great local food and beverages? Then we have a choice. We can allow new development to pave over those farm fields that we rely on to grow that food, or we can permanently protect this close-in agricultural land.

Other choices include commercial developments are local, mixed-use and allow people easy walking access to shops and other amenities; affordable housing for first-time home buyers and seniors (as opposed to leaving the choice to developers who, as he noted, were only doing their job by making houses “just barely affordable”); mass transit that goes beyond light rail by including dedicated high-speed bus lanes that would connect more parts of the region for a “fraction of the cost of light rail”; and economic development that upgrades existing areas so that employers and jobs can grow where housing and mass transit already exist.

Do we think it would worsen our quality of life to see a 50% increase in driving across the Columbia River on I5, threatening North and Northeast Portland neighborhoods with massive increases in cut-through traffic, threatening the region with more on-wheel-dependent, low-density sprawl and threatening the planet with global warming pollution? Then we have a choice. We can continue to pretend that the emperor has $4.2 billion; we can just let the Depts of Transportation continue to spend tens of millions of dollars each year to reward justification for a 12-lane bridge; or we can say no to the Columbia River Crossing and restart the process of identifying cheaper, better alternatives that won’t build our way into even more congestion.

Steve Novick concluded the event by making a pitch for volunteers and contributions, appealing not so much for people to support Stacey as to prevent his own bodily demise at the hands of Liz Kaufman in the event of an inadequate response. After making a serious appeal (based on his reckoning that only 237 people in the area had ever heard of Metro, and most of them were in the room at that time), he concluded by not merely quoting Spinal Tap but by becoming the first one-man ST cover band: “You know what I want / You know what I need / Or maybe you don’t/ Do I have tell you everything? / Give me some money!”

Stacey faces current Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder for the position. Endorsing Stacey are Gov Barbara Roberts, Gov John Kitzhaber, AG John Kroger, Novick, former state Rep Greg Macpherson and Stacey’s farmer friend who lives outside of Metro so cannot vote for him anyway. (I should have checked earlier: Kroger has not endorsed anyone in this race. My apologies to him, Bob Stacey, Rex Burkholder and anyone else involved.)

The election will be in May 2010. You can learn more at BobStacey.com

By T.A. Barnhart Oct. 08, 2009