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Lake Oswego was built on old county infrastructure designed around the automobile. Today our residents desire walkable neighborhoods, safe ways to bike and an accessible transportation system for all road users. As Mayor my colleagues and I successfully created a dedicated fund to build safe pathways connecting neighborhood to schools, parks and shopping districts. During my tenure we’ve invested more in safe pedestrian infrastructure than ever in recent history. But there’s more to do. Critical corridors and main connectors like McVey, Country Club and South Shore need upgrades to keep all road users safe and connect areas of town. I continue my regional advocacy to ensure public transportation both within LO and to and from it is enhanced to serve the needs of our residents and those who work here.

The average median home price and rent in Lake Oswego is nowhere near affordable to a family making the median income. Strong home values are important to homeowners in our community, and they’re also locking and pushing others out altogether. Many of the folks who work within Lake Oswego, make our City run, operate our local businesses and provide the quality of life we love about LO cannot afford to live here. We’re changing that. Since becoming mayor we’ve added nearly 200 units of affordable housing to the pipeline, including for-ownership affordable townhomes. These are the first new family affordable units to be built in LO. We’re now engaged in planning to diversify our housing stock, ensuring more sustainable homes, more accessible designs and options for seniors to downsize and remain in LO.

Being active stewards of our natural environment and ensuring clean air and water are second nature to us as Oswegans, and our City has long been a leader in sustainability regionwide. I pushed for the creation of our first climate action plan as a city councilor and have now overseen its implementation as mayor. By providing residents sustainable living tools, requiring high performance building standards, continuing to support EV infrastructure, promoting policies that ensure a healthy urban forest and more we’ll continue to foster a healthy environment for future generations.

Lake Oswego is fortunate to be home to people of many cultures, races, backgrounds and abilities, and it’s important everyone sees themselves represented in the community and that City services are accessible to everyone. As a city councilor I helped lay the groundwork for our first-ever City Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board. Now as Mayor I helped the City usher in a new era of programs aimed at ensuring City services are delivered equitably, our infrastructure is accessible to all and our programming is inclusive to the broad range of community members who live here.

L.O.’s business community not only provides for local job and adds tremendous value through a diversified tax base but also enhances the quality of life for every resident. Coming out of the pandemic we had to work nimbly and creatively to ensure the local shops and stores we love stayed in business. Now we’ve formed a first-ever partnership with our Chamber of Commerce to ensure our local businesses have the tools not just to survive but to thrive and grow. Through this program I aim to see more resources for new entrepreneurs and concrete efforts made to recruit businesses ranging from unique local shops to regional headquarters.

Students and youth in Lake Oswego are doing incredible work to bridge the generational divide, be stewards of our natural environment, represent peer voices locally and beyond on a host of critical issues and much more. I’m proud to have led the creation of our Youth Leadership Council, a group empowering students to engage effectively for change at all levels of government. We’ve added two student members to our advisory boards and now have more youth programs than ever before. Continuing to foster the success of these programs and engage as many youth in local government as possible is leading to ideas and policy making Lake Oswego more responsive to all its residents.