{"id":2534,"date":"2020-09-30T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T08:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/?p=2534"},"modified":"2022-01-10T21:38:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T21:38:00","slug":"the-debate-is-over-action-is-required-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/2020\/09\/30\/the-debate-is-over-action-is-required-now\/","title":{"rendered":"The debate is over, action is required now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align:center\" class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cYou cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.\u201d -Jane Goodall&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter is-style-squared\"><a class=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/pamplinmedia.com\/lor\/49-opinion\/482502-388989-readers-letters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SCOTT HANDLEY&#8217;S<br>READER&#8217;S LETTERS<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;re experiencing the horrors of an existential global climate crisis. People have lost homes; some their lives. A million forested acres have burned. We&#8217;ve choked on the worst quality air in the world with unknown health consequences. We need bold leadership new leader ship now! We need leadership that prioritizes our natural resources for all over the short-term financial gains of a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lake Oswego\u2019s biggest weapon to combat climate change is strong policy that protects and preserves the natural environment we take for granted: big trees, natural parks, and open spaces. We need thoughtful and deliberate planning for future growth, economic opportunity, and transportation that places greater emphasis on protecting natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the last several months, I have been asked by many if I would&nbsp;consider running for city office, or if I would&nbsp;be&nbsp;endorsing candidates. While I&#8217;m flattered by the suggestion, I currently don&#8217;t have aspirations for city office (and I prefer to remain married to my lovely wife ?). And, endorsing a candidate is no small&nbsp;responsibility as we each have individual&nbsp;qualities, attributes, and policies we look for in&nbsp;candidates. However, I reached out to each candidate with an offer to discuss&nbsp;natural park&nbsp;protections and to learn more about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After researching and speaking with candidates, a few standout with strong conviction for protecting Lake Oswego&#8217;s natural resources.\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/votefortmk.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Theresa Kohlhoff<\/a>\u2019s leadership with her unwavering consistency, authenticity, innate quality to listen, and economic plan that includes our environment is the Mayor we need! She can\u2019t do it alone.\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/electemmaburke.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Emma Burke<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fireside2020.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Melissa Fireside<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rachel4lo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rachel Verdick<\/a>, and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Massene Mboup (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/masseneforlocitycouncil.com\" target=\"_blank\">Massene Mboup<\/a> are equally impressive; each bring\u00a0unique qualifications that round out our community&#8217;s diverse needs on City Council. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Theresa, Emma, Massene, and Melissa are endorsed by\u00a0the\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.olcv.org\/2020-general-election-endorsements\/\" target=\"_blank\">Oregon League of Conservation Voters<\/a> as of this writing, Theresa and Emma have signed our\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/petition\" target=\"_blank\">initiative petition<\/a> to protect our natural parks from future city development. <strong>Have you sign it?<\/strong> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"SIGN NOW (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/petition\" target=\"_blank\">SIGN NOW<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/sign-theresa-emma.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2535\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lake Oswego\u2019s urban forest and future as a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arborday.org\/programs\/treecityusa\/about.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tree City USA<\/a>&#8221; is on the ballot. Join me in voting for candidates who have the courage to take action to protect it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visit our&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/loveloparks.org\/elections\/lo-city-nov-2020\" target=\"_blank\">election dashboard<\/a>&nbsp;to read candidate statements and more. You may even ask any candidate to support our effort&nbsp;with a prepared email template by clicking the email icon under their name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter is-style-default\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-color has-very-light-gray-color has-background has-vivid-green-cyan-background-color\" href=\"https:\/\/loveloparks.org\/elections\/lo-city-nov-2020\">Election Dashboard<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We can only expect the change we deserve when we participate and make informed decisions. I hope you find this information useful in your quest to elect our next leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Best regards,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scott Handley<br>Chief Petitioner |\u00a0Palisades Resident<br>Love Lake Oswego Parks Committee<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally published Sept 18, 2020. Revised Sept 30, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cYou cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.\u201d -Jane Goodall&nbsp; SCOTT HANDLEY&#8217;SREADER&#8217;S LETTERS We&#8217;re experiencing the horrors of an existential global climate crisis. People have lost homes; some their lives. A million forested acres have burned. We&#8217;ve choked on the worst quality air in the world with unknown health consequences. We need bold leadership new leader ship now! We need leadership that prioritizes our natural resources for all over the short-term financial&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-protect-lo-parks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2534"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2714,"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions\/2714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loveloparks.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}