In 1993 I purchased the farmstead from Marjorie and John Emery that bordered the 42 acre Cooks Butte Park that they deeded to the City of Lake Oswego in 1975 as a wilderness park.
In 1994 there was a Palisades neighborhood meeting about a cellphone tower being built in Cooks Butte. When the company representative was told Mrs. Emery would be contacted about this blatant violation of her agreement, he responded she was dead. Not true, Marjorie Emery was very much alive and incensed by the City’s action. I drove her to sign an affidavit that further stated her previous intention for a wilderness park with no development.
The City was at it again in 2002 to put a cell tower in Cooks Butte. And a third time in 2019. Each time a group of concerned citizens have successfully fought back. The Emerys had hoped the City of Lake Oswego would be good guardians of the park they created, but they have shown not to be.
Please join those of us who have fought the City for almost 30 years to safeguard Cooks Butte, and now other wilderness parks. Vote Yes on Measure 3-568.
Jan Holibaugh
Lake Oswego
With Jan Holibaugh’s permission, we have reproduced her Reader Letter for your convenience and for those who don’t subscribe to the LO Review. Read her letter in the LO Review here: