Rex for Metro

Dear Friends,

It looks like the results are clear. I won’t be your next Metro President. I want to thank my hundreds of supporters who gave their time, their money and their names to my campaign. As I told those gathered at p:ear tonight, I began my career as a community activist in order to make my community a better place for everyone. And we have succeeded in making Portland a more prosperous, a more equitable and a more sustainable community. I pledge to you that I will continue working to see that everyone thrives in a community that supports and cherishes each person. Thanks to all of you who gave so much of yourselves to this effort. I love each and everyone of you. Keep the faith.

- Rex

7:30 am on a Friday, a group of great people came together at the Rex4Metro Headquarters to talk about freight, trucks and trade over coffee and donated Voodoo Doughnuts.

Jeff Swanson, Schnitzer Steel, was the host and the topic was how to be smarter and greener while continuing to grow the Portland region’s economy. Recent studies show a continued growth in trade to and through the region’s Ports due to growing demand for goods from Asia and the export of Oregon products. Schnitzer just sent 65,000 tons of steel scrap to China by ship, joining the millions of tons of wheat and minerals that go through the Port of Portland’s terminals annually, coming down the Gorge by barge and train. Across the Columbia, if you take a ride along Lake Road you will see giant piles of wind turbines imported by Vestas, soon to be trucked to eastern Oregon and Washington.

I have found out that we are challenged by this growth. The railroads are nearing capacity even with the Connect Oregon investments I helped steer to North Porltand. Most additional freight in the future will move by truck. The question of the morning was, “How can we keep trucks moving and reduce the impact on our neighborhoods and highways at the same time?” Both Jeff and Jerry Grossnickle, Tugboat Association, served on Metro’s Regional Freight Advisory Committee where this question was top and foremost. There is surprisingly strong support among shippers for transportation choices for commuters because they know that trucks have to compete for road space with motorists. If more people carpool, take the Max or ride a bike, there is less congestion and pollution.

The complex and inter-related nature of our import-export economy really came home to me when Dean Large, Waste Connections, talked about how they take the “auto fluff” left over from Schnitzer’s grinding operation to landfills in eastern Washington where it is used as a clean cover. Victoria Yu, a consultant helping Oregon companies connect with Asian firms, pointed out that we need better air connections to Asia and container capacity in our Ports to compete for the Asian market.

It is clear that our economy is truly regional –neither people nor companies care about county or city lines, or state lines, either. Our success depends on greater collaboration and thinking bigger.

Do you like to eat? What a question! Eating, cooking, growing food is part of being human, a way we relate to each other and to the earth.

Tuesday night, I gathered a group, including farmers, restaurateurs, food activists and people who like to eat and are concerned about where their food comes from to discuss issues of food security, quality and the future of farming in the Metro region. My goal was to develop a regional agenda to ensure that everyone has access to good quality food and to support family farmers.

Here are some of their thoughts (paraphrasing from my notes):

Deborah Kane of Plate and Pitchfork and Food-Hub: What we have isn’t a food desert, but a food mirage. The good food is here—in farmers markets and on the shelves of stores like New Seasons—but many people don’t have the money or the knowledge of how to use unprocessed food. We need education and ways to lower the cost of good food.

Laura Masterson, farmer, 47th Street Farm: In this country we heavily subsidize commodity crops like corn and soybeans that are used in processed foods. Why can’t we subsidize organic farmers? Our costs are higher because we don’t ask the public to bear the costs of soil depletion, pollution of rivers with pesticides and fertilizers or low wages for farm workers.

David West, owner of Nostrana: When I have family over to eat, I say, “these beets came from Laura, and this lamb is from Bob’s farm” and they say do you know where all your food comes from? And I ask them, don’t you?

Nancy Becker, dietician and healthy food activist: What is really missing is education. Many families have grown up on fast or processed food, which is full of fats and sugars and not healthy, but is easy to prepare. We need to have home economics back in our schools and education through a renewed Extension Service focusing on healthy eating and growing of food.

Tom Maddox, Food Front Co-op: we truly live in a Garden of Eden, with an abundance of fresh foods and farmers and consumers committed to good food. But, this love of food isn’t driving policy. When we talk about urban growth boundary expansions, where are the foodies? They should be fighting to preserve farmland.

The group also talked about supporting farmers markets as community gathering spaces, using small, urban farms as teaching places for our children, the potential for food co-operatives to get affordable, good food in lower income neighborhoods (new co-ops are starting in Montavilla and Lents), having schools buy locally and thinking more about using the food we have more wisely and wasting less, in particular increasing support of the Oregon Food Bank and other organizations that keep food out of the landfill.

Thanks to all who came and shared their great ideas about how we can support our local farms and all become more conscious and healthier eaters. Now, chow down on some fresh veggies!