Key senator speaks out on Governor’s veto threat as voters flood office with concerns

Pressure is building on Oregon Governor Brown to reverse her threat to veto a long-awaited infrastructure project in southwest Portland. In the past two days readers of BikePortland have helped spur dozens of phone calls and emails to her office. Our community’s voices are helping buoy efforts by legislators who are urging the Governor to reconsider.

Here’s where things stand…

Senator Devlin plans to hand-deliver a letter to Governor Brown today.

I spoke to veteran Oregon State Senator Richard Devlin yesterday. The SW Capitol Highway project borders his district and according to other legislators I’ve spoken to in recent days, he’s the main champion of the project.

Devlin told me he plans to hand-deliver a letter to Governor Brown today. I’ll post that letter once I receive it from his office.

While he said he and Brown have a good relationship, her veto threat came as a complete surprise. “The arguments made publicly so far by the governor have very little rational basis,” Devlin said. He also thinks this could very well be a case of the governor simply being unaware of the background and importance of this project.

“I think if she went out and talked to the people she would have a much different understanding of the project,” Devlin added. “Is it a project of statewide significance? No. Is it a crucial regional project? Probably not. But for the 30-40,000 people around that area it’s a very important project.”

Screen grab of our action alert. Read it here.

Is there a chance she’ll change her mind? Devlin said he’s “Hopeful she can find a path to reconsider.” He also urged people to contact her office and share their opinions. “I would hope as many people as possible would get on the record. That’s all we have left at this point… to try and get as much feedback to her as possible.”

Yesterday I sent out BikePortland’s first-ever action alert to our list of about 700 subscribers and donors. I’ve gotten a ton of positive feedback about it and according to the stats so far, about 60 people have clicked over to the governor’s contact form to share their opinion. The action alert has also been shared on Facebook, Nextdoor, and so on.

Thank you to everyone who read, acted, and shared our message.

We have until Tuesday to tell Governor Brown she shouldn’t veto this important project. If you haven’t contacted her yet, please do so. Her office phone number is (503) 378-4582.

For more background see our other coverage this week or check out the action alert.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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