Dear Neighbor,

Thank you for coming to my web site to find out more about my campaign. I hope you will want to join the citywide, grassroots team helping to elect me to the Portland City Council. And THANK YOU to everyone who voted for me on May 20, 2008. Together, we won 64,430 votes! (unofficial, final count 6/09/08) That's over 45,000 votes more than the second place candidate - 43% to his 13%. I am very grateful to all the volunteers and workers who helped me reach so many Portlanders. We will continue working hard together through the November General Election, and on into City Hall in January 2009. Please join me!

For 20 years, I’ve been a volunteer leader and an effective advocate for citizens, making a difference in neighborhoods, schools, parks, social justice, and holding development accountable to the Portland way. Some of the things I've done for Portlanders, in neighborhoods all over the city, are summarized here. I am the mother of three children, active in Portland's public schools for 17 years. In my paid job, I'm a registered nurse, helping mentally ill people lead happier, healthier lives.

I'm running for City Council because I believe everyone should share in the benefits of our community. I want the Council to prioritize the City budget to take care of basic needs in all 95 neighborhoods, and focus on the City government's core mission before spending millions on fancy extras that are optional rather than essential. Housing costs and property taxes are high, yet many areas don't have vital city services. When hard-working people pay for public improvements, that shouldn't mean affluent insiders getting richer while the rest of us foot the bill. There is money in the City budget that if spent more frugally and carefully could and should pay for necessary infrastructure and services, such as public safety, safe streets, sidewalks, and parks.

In May 2006, 24,251 Portlanders voted for me in the primary election when I challenged an incumbent on the Portland City Council -- almost 25% of the vote, for a candidate who had never run for political office before. I'm proud of the honest, honorable, positive campaign I conducted as the first community candidate to follow all the rules of the Voter Owned Elections system. Public Campaign Financing is an essential component of the people taking back our government. In 2008, once again I was the first candidate to collect 1000 donations of $5 to qualify for Public Campaign Financing. My team and I collected contributions in 91 of the city's 95 neighborhoods. If you elect me to the Portland City Council, I will be beholden to the people of Portland, and I will vote to spend taxpayers' money wisely.

Like most Portlanders, I love our city, and its people. I love our 95 distinct neighborhoods, our five great public school districts, many beautiful parks and natural areas, and wide range of activities from world-class cultural opportunities to unique individual expressions, aka weirdness. Portland is a wonderful place to live, and we all want a community where folks have good jobs, great schools, comfortable housing, safe streets, fresh air and clean water, and healthy happy lives.

But not all Portlanders share in the benefits and amenities of our great city. The outlook for our local economy causes many to worry. Young people, families, and seniors struggle to afford a home. Neighborhoods annexed from the County nearly forty years ago still lack sidewalks, paved streets, parks and other urban services. High-cost transportation facilities are provided in some areas, while shift workers needing to get to industrial jobs face long bus rides with many transfers. Good jobs with benefits like health care coverage can be hard to find. Schools in some neighborhoods are "exceptional", in others "unsatisfactory". Violent crime and drug deals seem almost accepted, everyday happenings, in some parts of town.

That's not fair. And if Portland is to continue to be at the forefront of enlightened environmental sustainability and progressive social leadership in Oregon, the City Council must pay more attention to equity and justice in prioritizing City spending and actions.

Economic equity and justice. Environmental equity and justice. Social equity and justice.

After 20 years of successful participation in a broad range of City issues, I will cut through red tape in the bureaucracy, and I will help the Council to operate more efficiently. I will make sure the City spends taxpayers' money wisely. I will ask the questions Portlanders want answered: "What is the true cost of this project? Who is going to pay for it, who benefits, and is that fair?" And I will do so in a way that fosters collaboration, participation, and understanding, and helps further the belief that we are all in this community together.

Please read on, and learn more about what I’ve done in community service as a volunteer and plan to do as your City Commissioner. After you review my web site, if you still have unanswered questions you may email me at home, and I will do my best to respond.

Please get involved! Working from what unites us, let's deal with the problems that affect citizens' everyday lives.

Sincerely,