Letters

Cherry Amabisca responds to Argus editorial about Metro citizen involvement process

This letter was published in the September 22nd Hillsboro Argus. It was written in response to the editorial “Public Hearings?”, published in the September 15th Hillsboro Argus.

Cherry Amabisca
13260 NW Bishop Road
Hillsboro, OR 97124
503-647-5334

September 19, 2009

Mr. W. Clark Gallagher, Publisher
Hillsboro Argus
150 S.E. Third Avenue
Hillsboro, OR 97123

RE: Editorial “Public Hearings?”
Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Dear Mr. Gallagher,

Your September 15 editorial about Metro’s hearings was very misleading. Metro’s five public hearings for “Making the Greatest Place” start at 5:15 p.m. and will continue until all comments have been heard. Each hearing follows an open house that starts at 4:00 p.m. These hearings are clearly scheduled to be convenient for working people.

I agree that important meetings should be held when working people can attend. Sadly, Washington County hasn’t accommodated working citizens at their Reserves meetings. Washington County’s Reserves Coordinating Committee (RCC) has been meeting for over 18 months to develop Urban and Rural Reserves recommendations, decisions that will shape our communities for decades to come. These meetings all started at 1:30 p.m. The time for public comments varied - it could come early in the meeting, or be as late as 3:30 p.m. So, citizens wishing to speak often had to wait through the entire meeting. In contrast, Clackamas and Multnomah counties started their Reserves advisory committee meetings at 6:00 p.m.

The real decision making about urban or rural reserves in Washington County happened during Planning Directors’ meetings that were closed to the public. The RCC has approved the Planning Directors’ recommendations without changes, so the most important Reserves decisions have been made behind closed doors.

Furthermore, the City of Hillsboro’s “growth aspirations” were developed by their planners and then approved in a City Council work session last year with no public input.

Washington County also chose not to include citizens on their advisory committee, in contrast to Multnomah and Clackamas counties. Multnomah County’s Reserves advisory committee was made up entirely of citizens. Clackamas County’s advisory committee included many neighborhood representatives. The Multnomah and Clackamas County meetings were open to the public, scheduled at convenient times for working citizens, and provided opportunities for public comment. Recommendations from these counties’ advisory committees, developed with direct citizen involvement, more accurately represent the interests of their citizens than the recommendations of Washington County.

In the past 18 months of work on Reserves, Washington County chose not to include citizens on their advisory committee, not to hold any hearings before the Board of County Commissioners, not to open their Planning Directors meetings to the public, and not to schedule meetings of their Reserves Coordinating Committee at a time convenient for working citizens. And Hillsboro chose not to ask for citizen input when they developed their growth aspirations.

The Argus should apologize to Metro, and Washington County should apologize to its citizens.

Sincerely,

Cherry Amabisca

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