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Posts published in “Day: December 24, 2023”

A year in bullet points

This year about to end happened to be the first year in office for Oregon's governor, Tina Kotek. Last week she delivered a somewhat self-congratulatory mail about accomplishments during the year, which allows for something of a frame for thinking about the year as a whole. You can say this about her comments: She touched on many of the top concerns Oregonians often list as top of mind.

Here, her comments and some additional thoughts.

Declaring a homelessness state of emergency on my first full day in office, and two months later signing the Affordable Housing and Emergency Homelessness Response Package into law.

Homelessness surely remains top of mind for many Oregonians, for the coming year as for the last. Calling a state emergency was something all three major governor candidates in 2022 proposed; now that it's been done, impact doesn't seem to have, well, amounted to much. The legislation, which seemed aimed primarily at increasing housing supply, was just a first step but maybe a useful first step. We'll know more about that when we see what sort of followup happens this year.

Signing seven new education initiatives into law aimed at increasing literacy, growing the teacher workforce, and improving student equity.

The most significant piece of this could be the new $50 million fund aimed at providing infrastructure for child care; that could have a direct positive impact for families stressed by child care unavailability and cost. The other items are more limited. Will something more ambitious appear this year?

Traveling to every corner of the state as part of the One Oregon Listening Tour — meeting directly with community leaders to hear their concerns and learn about their issues firsthand.

Again, you can call this a good first start - which she should continue each year to come. And expand in a significant way: These visits mostly involved meeting with specific people and organizations and reviewing projects, all of which is fine as far as it goes; but open town halls and similar events, along the lines of what Oregon's senators do, allowing in all comers, would be a welcome addition.

Joining 20 of my fellow Governors to form the Reproductive Freedom Alliance in response to the nationwide attacks on abortion access. Our coalition is dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive rights across the country.

Oregon may be stressed increasingly in the next year as one of the region's ongoing abortion provider states. This election year may make it a top subject even within the state. If Kotek is keeping a close watch on the situation, she's right to do that.

Announcing a $1 million investment to expand trash cleanup efforts across the City of Portland. We're going to have a cleaner city while supporting individuals exiting homelessness.

My only question is how far $1 million will go across the whole city of Portland. But the idea is a good one. The sheer looks of the city may, if spruced up a bit, improve people's attitudes.

Cracking down on fentanyl in our state, by ramping up targeted law enforcement efforts to go after dealers, increasing intervention programs, and implementing more prevention efforts to combat risky behavior among Oregon's youth.

Intervention and prevention seem to be the strong suit here, but we'll have to wait into 2024 to see what sort of responses emerge.

In all, its a time to get ready. 2024 could be a rough ride for us all.

(photo/Wikimedia Commons, Andrew Parodi)