Donna Jordan testifies supporting increased taxes

It appears newly re-elected councilor Donna Jordan is testifying in support of increasing the fees of Clackamas county residents to pay for the Sellwood Bridge. Donna testified before Clackamas county commissioners this week supporting a vehicle fee (tax) increase on Clackamas county residents to pay for a Multnomah county bridge. This was despite a significant number of residents opposing any such fee (tax) increase.

This was reported in the Oregonian at:

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-city/index.ssf/2010/11/clackamas_county_sellwood_bridge_multnomah_county.html

Donna recently indicated she had heard the message of fiscal responsibility brought forward by voters in Lake Oswego during the last election when she narrowly was re-elected by 505 votes.  

Please inform all members and contacts of this information.

Bloomberg Business Week lists Lake Oswego as most expensive suburb in Oregon

Bloomberg business week released an article this week indicating that suburban communities will cost more in the future. The primary reasons were increased property taxes, fees, and transportation costs.  

The article also lists Lake Oswego as the most expensive suburb in Oregon due to these factors.  

The article can be found at:

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/nov2010/bw20101116_560939.htm?link_position=link1

Please notify all contacts and members.

COLA - LO Board member submits guest opinion to the Lake Oswego Review

To all COLA LO Members,

Board Member Gary Gispon submitted a "Guest Opinion"  article to the Lake Oswego Review last week. The focus of this article was on the new council which meets for the first time on 1/4/11 with endorsed members Mike Kehoe and Jeff Gudman being sworn in as new councilors.

 

The article is on the web at:

http://www.lakeoswegoreview.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=129003399108152700

Please inform all members and contacts.

COLA -LO Poll on Capital projects shows us what citizens value the most.

To all COLA LO members,

The quick poll on capital projects shows us what citizens value the most in terms of facilities.    The poll conducted just before the election shows strong support for new Fire/Police facilities and the Lake Grove Village Center plan.     This is consistent with the prior poll on city services which rates public safety as the highest priority.   Citizens prefer to invest in public safety rather than visionary projects that may not be completed.

Here are the results form teh city services poll.  

Police & Fire	97 (85%)
Parks & Recreation	52 (45%)
Water & Sewer	70 (61%)
City Administration	17 (14%)
Street Maintenance & Repair	57 (50%)
Library Services	56 (49%)
Municipal Courts	25 (21%)
Property Development	7 (6%)
Planning & Code Enforcement	11 (9%)
Adult & Senior Services	28 (24%)
Economic Development	35 (30%)
Mass Transit Projects	36 (31%)

Poll closed

We will conduct additional polls in 2011 on capital projects and bonding issues as they are discussed at the council level.

Please inform members and contacts.

COLA - LO Board members submit guest opinions to Lake Oswego Review

To all COLA LO Members,

Board Members began submitting "Guest Opinion"  articles to the Lake Oswego Review last week. The focus of these submissions will be on issues involving the core principles of the group and the outcomes of  the local election. The first article is on the web at:

http://www.lakeoswegoreview.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=128943600090603500

The new council meets for the first time on 1/4/11 with endorsed members Mike Kehoe and Jeff Gudman being sworn in as new councilors. 

Please inform all members and contacts.

Lake Oswego has highest voter participation rate

To all Cola LO members,

Final results for Clackamas County are now in and Lake Oswego had the highest voter participation rate of all the cities.    The results are:

City of Lake Oswego *

22,389

17,706

79.1%

	Ballots Issued	Ballots Returned	% Returned
County Totals	214,198	155,722	72.7%
City of Barlow	72	52	72.2%
City of Canby	8,106	6,165	76.1%
City of Damascus	6,538	4,961	75.9%
City of Estacada	1,364	919	67.4%
City of Gladstone	6,365	4,410	69.3%
City of Happy Valley	7,005	4,915	70.2%
City of Johnson City	256	177	69.1%
City of Lake Oswego *	22,389	17,706	79.1%
City of Milwaukie *	11,503	7,884	68.5%
City of Molalla	3,495	2,304	65.9%
City of Oregon City	16,725	11,741	70.2%
City of Portland *	474	366	77.2%
City of Rivergrove *	202	155	76.7%
City of Sandy	4,765	3,093	64.9%
City of Tualatin *	1,771	1,083	61.2%
City of West Linn	15,898	12,325	77.5%
City of Wilsonville *	8,608	6,432	74.7%
Unincorporated Areas	98,662	71,034	72.0%
* Clackamas County portion of city

COLA LO Candidates WIN!!!!

To all COLA LO Members,

COLA LO endorsed candidates Mike Kehoe and Jeff Gudman won the city council race last night. Dan Williams places a close fourth missing the council seat by less than 510 votes and with a stronger showing than all the remaining candidates.

In a very closely contested race nearly all the endorsed council candidates won the election with 7 candidates vying for 3 seats. Two of the candidates effectively split the vote pulling votes away from KGW and especially Dan Williams, giving the council seat to Donna Jordan.  

Results

Lake Oswego City Council

Won	Candidate	Votes	%
	Mike Kehoe	8,910	22
	Jeff Gudman	7,043	17
	Donna Jordan	6,335	15
	Dan Williams	5,830	14
	Roger Hennagin	5,539	13
	Lisa Shaw-Ryan	4,387	11
	David L. Jorling	3,307	8

Here are details on the clackamas county voter participation rate.

City of Lake Oswego *

22,378

12,967

57.9%

Thank you to all members, contacts, and volunteers who helped this effort be such a success.  We will be meeting in december to establish the agenda for 2011.

Volunteers for KGW candidates

To all COLA LO members,

Last night 10 volunteers call banked for the KGW candidates making over 700 calls to residents throughout Lake Oswego. This represents 5% of all the households in the city.  

Overall candidates and volunteers received a consistently positive response to the calls informing residents of the candidacy of Mike Kehoe, Jeff Gudman, and Dan Williams.  

Residents expressed concern over taxes, fees, and the priorities of current council efforts in a maturing community. These comments have been consistent throughout all efforts since the spring.  

Please notify all members and contacts that have not voted to turn in ballots.