My story 

As an Irish American, raised as a hillbilly on the east side of Cleveland (Ohio) in a Black, Jewish, and immigrant neighborhood, I interacted with lot of different people in my upbringing.

Benefits: I’m wonderful at code switching, appreciate all kids of food and music, and understand what it’s like to be the only one of “you” in the room.

Downside: The schools I attended and neighborhood places I frequented were woefully underfunded. You don’t know what you don’t know until you do. Looking back, our 30+ kid classrooms, overly re-used and dated textbooks, and expectations to “graduate high school” were not the norm.

When my father lost his job and moved us out of the city, we lived in a modular home near an oil well and 2 sets of train tracks (aka affordable housing) in one of the highest-funded public school systems in the state. My classes went from sewing boxers to webpage design. With well timed irony, my graduation from high school in 2012 corresponded with the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling the public school funding system as unconstitutional. 

I attended and graduated with a degree from Bowling Green State University, as a first-generation college graduate. I’m incredibly proud and thankful for this accomplishment! But, student loans suck.

My passion for addressing and examining inequality in me and in my community has been a lifelong journey. Because I’m the first in my family not to work with their hands, I’ve been searching for what job (aka source of income and healthcare) could best match my passion. I’ve been a K-12 teacher, university professor, urban planner, public policy manager, economic development analyst, community organizer, and non-profit founder (2x).

Guiding and grounding all of is this is my faith. I’ve been influenced by multiple spiritual paths, but I’ve landed today on what Richard Rohr describes as “Jesus and the Universal Christ.” I’m a Jesus follow and proud member of The Parish in Wilsonville.

Finally, I’m a dad (2x), husband, son, big brother, friend, and lover of bakeries, Cleveland sports, and jokes. All hail the great Conan O’Brien.

Issues I care about

Youth health and safety crisis

The combination of COVID ramifications on student achievement, a foster care system in shambles, and unchecked social media calls for us to raise youth health and safety as an issue of utmost public health importance. Policy actions include:

• Advocate to establish regulations to put guardrails on social media companies

• Team with our schools to enhance mental health support

• Enhance resources for positive engagement, like the arts, sports, and workforce training

• Increase accountability in our foster care and adoption system at the county and state

• Invest in the Sheriff’s Office to investigate and enforce youth protective laws

Families are facing rising costs and not receiving the support needed

Rising costs of groceries and goods have been a crushing pinch point for residents living with transportation, housing, and healthcare systems that cost much and deliver less. Policy actions include:

• Remove barriers between government and community to connect people to resources

• Prioritize mortgage and rental assistance to keep people in their homes

• Address daycare costs by cutting regulatory barriers and investing in training and wages

• Expand apprenticeship programs that connect people to life-changing wage jobs

• Broker better deals to have competitive transportation options from city-to-city and first-and-last mile trips to support housing development where it is needed and planned

Rural stewardship and job growth/access

Agricultural land, our most unique resource, is facing pressure from all sides. However, adopting an anti-development stance alone will not save it. Our county has experienced tremendous growth in the past 20 years, but we can’t reliably get people to the new jobs. Policy actions include:

• Invest in research and support that help farmers with multi-cropping and biodiversity

• Ensure local control over land use decisions, pushing back against state preemption

• Advocate for lower state taxes on agricultural transportation

• Work with the state and providers to enhance internet access

• Reorient our transportation planning and investment system to better connect Clackamas industrial areas to workers and shipping/export locations

Unique attributes, expertise, experience, and community service

My values-based approach has developed the following areas of expertise and experience (and how that would benefit Clackamas County):

• Public-private partnerships (courthouse contract management)

• Rural, urban, and small-town planning, investment, and development (aligning housing, transportation, utilities, and parks to foster thriving industrial, agricultural, and downtown places)

• Workforce diversity and labor (relationships and contracting approach)

• Housing and homeless services (relationships and DLCD requirements, Metro/OHCS/HUD/private financing and funding, and community organization services)

• Budget, capital planning, and investment (budget process and asset management strategy)

• Communications and community engagement (informed decisions, clarity, and transparency)

• Elected officials and administrative staff at the federal, state, regional, county, and city levels; Oregon’s federally recognized Tribes (relationships and understanding roles)