2010 Primary: Metro President

May 18, 2010, Oregon Primary Election
Nonpartisan
Metro Council President
Four-year term, $114k salary LWVPDX.org (PDF)

[X] Bob Stacey	Good: "...I have recommended—and will continue to recommend—a “restart” of the CRC process, with new aims of repairing the existing bridge as inexpensively as possible, adding non-highway transportation choices to the crossing, and achieving regional greenhouse gas reduction goals..." BobStacey.com Good: "We can allow new development to pave over those farm fields we depend on to grow those foods. Or we can permanently protect this close-in farmland. I want new development to contribute to a fund to ensure that permanent protection." BobStacey.com
[_] Rex Burkholder	Ugh. Currently on Metro board and seems to be one of the least critical voices regarding the Vancouver SUV Bridge. Considering Vancouver/Clark County oppose everything that Metro stands for, it's odd he is so willing to go along with their bridge project.
[_] Tom Hughes	Ugh. Campaign website oddly nonspecific. Ugh. Troubling endorsements from Commercial Association of Realtors, Portland Business Alliance, and suburbs -- all of whom would seem the least supportive of the Urban Growth Boundary and Metro. VoteTomHughes.com Poor reasoning. "...we'll be voting for Hughes, if for no other reason than being tired of the wasteful, juvenile 'planning' mafia that's quickly running our local government into bankruptcy...." BoJack.org It's like saying you don't like police wasting resources on policing. Planning is what Metro does.

It may merely be 'change' rhetoric, but Bob Stacey seems to get what Metro is about. Most importantly, Stacey is critical of Metro's current support of the Columbia River Crossing (AKA Vancouver SUV bridge). The I-5 bridge primarily benefits non-Metro residents: job-stealing, SUV-driving Vancouver and Washington residents. For generations, Metro residents have made significant sacrifices to live within the Urban Growth Boundary. Meanwhile, our Washington neighbors continue to sprawl, vote against bus and light rail, and refuse to even carpool over the bridge.

Current Metro Commissioner Burkholder seems too willing to bargain away Metro residents' interests in favor of the bridge for Washingtonians. Former suburban mayor Hughes touts employers he supposedly attracted to his city, but I'm not sure how that really relates to Metro as it focuses on long-term land use planning (although Stacey has also been campaigning on job creation).