FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LAKE OSWEGO, Oregon – January 15, 2022 – LoveLOParks Steering Committee issues statements condemning Lake Oswego City Council’s rebuke of Lake Oswego voters for ratifying citizen-initiated Measure 3-568 and their consideration to undermine voters with another referendum.
Measure 3-568 was the result of Lake Oswego residents organizing, informing, and communicating with transparency, honesty, and integrity on development limitations sought for 15 designated natural parks. When City Council chose to compete against the citizens’ measure, LoveLOParks encouraged our community to compare and contrast the legal strength of both measures’ full texts to make an informed vote.
In the November 2, 2021 Special Election, Measure 3-568 was ratified by 8,267 Lake Oswego voters, or 62%, thereby enacting legal safeguards limiting development in 15 Lake Oswego natural parks keeping them safe, accessible, healthy, and vibrant natural habitats.
On January 4, 2022, Lake Oswego City Council held a study session on Measure 3-568 where the Director of Parks & Recreation, Ivan Anderholm, explained the City’s legal interpretation on allowed and prohibited development activities for 15 natural parks. In an about-turn to Mayor Buck’s public conciliatory statements on election night, Mayor Buck and City Councilors expressed contempt toward the Lake Oswego community and discussed forwarding another referendum to voters — continuing their campaign tactics characterized by opacity, obfuscation, revisionist history, and disinformation.
In response, the LoveLOParks Steering Committee has issued the following statements:
Kirsten Sommer: “Lake Oswego City Council’s narrative about ‘unintended consequences’ is a desperate attempt to retain control by invoking doubt and fear. Measure 3-568’s development limitations are precise, deliberate, and intentional to ensure the City obtains voter approval before natural habitats are destroyed. The prohibition of telecommunications facilities and parking lots are intended protections and not unintended consequences. It’s the strength of these protections that Sierra Club and Oregon Wild endorsed Measure 3-568 and the majority of voters approved it. It’s disappointing City Council continues with these disingenuous and deceptive tactics.”
Brad Home: “Being a member of this community that has protected Cooks Butte 3 times from increasingly larger telecommunication facilities over nearly 30 years, it’s disturbing that Lake Oswego City Council fails to respect the wishes of the Emery family who bestowed Cooks Butte as a nature preserve to Lake Oswego citizens. From the beginning, we campaigned on the prohibition of public and private telecommunication facilities as one of the limitations. It’s time for the City Council to respect the peoples’ vote and move on.”
Betsy Wosko: “We organized and executed a TWO-year transparent, fact-based campaign to inform and educate the Lake Oswego community on these development limitations. For Councilor Rapf to say voters were “duped“ and stupid is offensive, grossly inaccurate, and a Trump-like, anti-democratic and incendiary response to a valid election result. It’s time to put politics aside and unify our community toward the common goal of preserving these natural habitats.”
Scott Handley: “Lake Oswego City Council’s comments are unequivocally false. We sought out and met with several City-aligned community members who routinely dismissed our efforts and falsely claimed we were uncooperative. Not once in two years did Mayor Buck, City Councilors, or City staff accept our offer to discuss and work toward common ground. Their recent actions are yet another example of them going against the will of our community. Instead of defiance, City Council should make this an opportunity to finally begin listening more closely to all constituents.”
Michael Louaillier: “We expect the Lake Oswego City Council to respect the will of the community and the fundamentals of our democracy. I think they owe our community a big apology.”
LoveLOParks remains committed to overseeing the protection of our natural parks as an independent citizens’ oversight to ensure the City of Lake Oswego upholds the provisions of Measure 3-568.
More information:
- (LO Review) Lake Oswego City Council considers tweaks to approved parks ballot measure
- (Reader’s Letter) Council should elevate discussion on park measure
- (Video) City Council Study Session – January 4, 2022
- (City Council) Agenda Item – 2022-01-04 – Number 8.1: Chapter Ten Charter Amendment Impacts
- (City Council) Agenda Item – 2021-12-07 – Number 8.2: Declaration of Vote for the November 2021 Special Election
- (Audio) Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Advisory Board – November 17, 2021
- (Readers Letter) Vote for parks is historic moment
- (Press Release) LoveLOParks – Citizen-initiated Measure 3-568 Passes!
- (News Release) City of Lake Oswego – Citizen’s Initiative 3-568 Passes
LoveLOParks is a Lake Oswego grassroots citizen coalition & oversight for City Charter Chapter X – Park Development Limitation that was enacted by voters to apply legal safeguards limiting development in 15 natural parks to keep them safe, accessible, health, and vibrant natural habitats
https://www.loveloparks.org