Well, it's been more than a year since I wrapped up my City Council campaign in May 2008.  It seems like only yesterday...and it seems like eons ago.  What's been going on since?  Lots, actually.

 

My first order of business after closing down my campaign was to sleep and unwind.  In the week right after the election, I read three books and at least a dozen magazines.  And didn't do much else.

 

After that, I went back to work at my job at the Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon .  My colleagues welcomed me back as only they could.  Toward the end of Summer 2008, the organization underwent some major changes as long-time staff members made the decision to take on new challenges or succumbed to the unfairness of life. But we hired some great folks and things are humming right along.

 

Through the fall of 2008, there were lots of preparation for the 2009 legislative session, particularly helping to organize the Health Climate Partnership to push for good climate policy in the session. The legislature started in January 2009 and went through late June.  It was my sixth regular session and ended with some good results and some unfinished business.  Since the session, I've been focused on CUB's new large donor program and CUB's 25th Anniversary event.

 

Outside of work, I have been doing some periodic volunteer work on homeless issues and small business issues, both key topics that I talked about during my campaign.  The economy has impacted both, increasing the ranks of Portlanders without permanent housing and making it more difficult for small businesses to start up and survive, much less thrive.

 

And I'm about to take on a significant project.  Today, I was appointed to the Citizen Review Committee (CRC) of Portland's Independent Police Review (IPR) Division.  CRC members are appointed by City Council to perform four primary functions: 1) gather community concerns about police services; 2) help the IPR Director develop policy recommendations to address patterns of problems with police services and conduct; 3) review and advise on IPR and the Police Bureau's Internal Affairs Division handling of complaints; and 4) hear appeals from citizens or officers who file complaints and publicly report its findings from those appeals.  I'm very excited to be part of the CRC and will be helping do a lot of outreach to community groups to increase the transparency of the CRC's process and overall police accountability.

 

To close this update, I've been pretty quiet about city issues.  But this site is going to be much more active as my work with the CRC gets underway and some of the other "extracurricular" projects start to heat up.  I invite you to check back often.  I hope to pick up some of the conversations I was having during my campaign.  It's important to note that these conversations will not be happening as part of any campaign for public office in 2010.  Although the question "will you ever run again?" is a common one, the answer for this cycle is "not right now but maybe someday."  All of the commentary here will be my own as a private citizen.

 

Thanks for tuning in and we'll be talking again soon.