March 23, 2022

What Do We Have to Show for Metro?

Property investment, house mortgage financial planning and real estate home refinancing concept with piggy bank saving budget and money coin stacks -cm

Many people don’t know this, but Metro has been around in some form or fashion for about 65 years. It began as the Metropolitan Service District in 1957 and ran under that name until 1966, at which point it became the Columbia Region Association of Governments. A statewide ballot measure passed in 1978 that created its current incarnation. So what…

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March 16, 2022

Local Government Matters

Heavy traffic on the road-cm

As a longtime Wilsonville resident, I’ve gotten to watch the traffic through town get gradually worse over the years. What began as your typical rush hour years ago now extends for several hours and often sitting bumper to bumper on I-5 on Saturdays and Sundays. These kinds of traffic issues are especially concerning to me in my role as a…

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March 9, 2022

Availability and Affordability

Concept of selling a house. A hand is holding a model house above green meadow.-cm

Housing is, and has been, a huge issue, especially in Clackamas County and the Portland metropolitan area. It’s easy to see why—constant increases in rent and housing prices have been straining household budgets for years now. However, when politicians talk about “affordable housing,” it’s taken on a different meaning. It’s become a euphemism for subsidized housing and other expensive government-run…

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December 1, 2021

Ben West runs for Clackamas County Board of Commissioners

Ben West-cm

Published in Pamplin Media Group – Wilsonville Spokesman “I enjoy public service and find a lot of fulfillment in that, and I think in my first full term on City Council I’ve been able to be effective and learn a lot … and think some of my skill set is conducive to being a county commissioner. I’m looking to serve…

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