Metro area mayors lay out their 2021 legislative priorities
To-do list covers economic recovery, housing, mental health, policing and property taxes.
The two dozen mayors in the Portland metropolitan area have laid out their to-do list for the 2021 Oregon Legislature.
Four of the seven priorities by the Metropolitan Mayors Consortium, which is led this year by Forest Grove Mayor Pete Truax, dovetail with those unveiled by the League of Oregon Cities. They are economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, housing and homelessness, mental health services to ease the burden on police who are often the first responders to people in crisis, and changes to Oregon s quarter-century-old system of property tax limits.
Wyden optimistic ahead of a transformative week in government January 17 2021
With Joe Biden taking office and Democrats winning Senate control, Oregon s senior senator anticipates big changes.
Despite the challenges facing Washington County, Oregon and the United States, Sen. Ron Wyden is optimistic and eager to get to work this year, he told county residents at a virtual town hall meeting Sunday, Jan. 17.
Unable to hold his customary annual town hall meetings in person in each of Oregon s 36 counties due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Wyden has been conducting the meetings by videoconference instead. Sunday s town hall meeting was held in Washington County itself, at the offices of the News-Times in downtown Forest Grove.