As many of you know a ballot measure requiring a county wide vote for all Urban Renewal Districts and changes to the districts has qualified in clackamas county. The ballot measure is being strongly opposed by county government. So much so that the county commissioners are now drafting a competing ballot measure without the full voting requirements incorporated in the citizen sponsored measure.
Many citizens in the county are asking what is this all about? According to several articles including one in Jack Bogdanskis blog its about light rail projects and bringing Portland high density development to suburban cities within the county. The ballot measures proponents are rejecting light rail projects and tax increment financing which pulls away funds from critical services like public safety. Here is the latest from Jack Bog's blog:The real story on County Urban Renewal Ballot Measure.
An earlier article showed the details of how the county was hiring highly compensated Portland based legal firms with strong ties to urban renewal to question the validity of the citizen driven ballot measure. It presents some insight into the conflicts arising over the ballot measures. County hires Portland Legal Firms to challenge Citizen Ballot Measure
All of these details provide interesting insight into the special interests involved in both light rail and urban renewal. Will these come to Lake Oswego? Maybe they already have in Streetcar & Foothills. Only time will tell but once again with these projects there is no VOTER APPROVAL.
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