Let’s work together
Through the last 6 months, I’ve felt angst watching the divisive dialogue in our community so I decided to lean in. I wanted to spend time on things we can all agree on.
I wasn’t alone.
When I started reaching out to people, and through my work with the Wilsonville Alliance for Inclusive Community, I found others who wanted to join in.
It was not surprising - because people are complex and not singularly defined by political labels - that through these conversations there were a number of things we agree upon.
I grabbed coffee with Dina Ochs, a person I’d never met before and seemed like on some things she was different politically than me, and we had a wonderful conversation. She has passion and jokes and is honest. Basically, the combination of my favorite things in a human.
We developed a list of things, pushed out a survey through out networks, and were gladly impressed by the response! 100 people completed the survey and 60 of them provided their names and contact information to be a part of that action.
Keep reading for the results, next steps, and how you can join in if interested. Also, Dina and I are people who finish what we f’ing start. For real folks. We are going to see this thing through!
Results are in!
The following items were on our list:
Beach
Basalt Creek jobs
Food truck and beer court
Bridge to Charbonneau
Wood-fired pizza and espresso restaurant
We asked which of these people loved, which one is their favorite, and left room for people to fill in other thoughts.
The survey results said…
What we heard
91 out of 100 people supported the food truck and beer court action, which is really impressive. It was also 5x higher as people’s #1 choice for what we need (beach was 2nd).
Other observations:
We didn’t receive many concerns, but if we did they were on beach and bridge to Charbonneau. Beach for it’s impact on transportation to Old Town residents and the environmental permitting needed. The bridge as it was seen as a “nice to have” and not a “need to have” in these tough economic times.
Downtown received the most “write in” votes. But, when people described why they wanted a downtown, they either said stick to the Town Center Plan or limit it to 2-3 story buildings with less residential. So, basically both sides of the downtown argument.
Public art, water access for families, Children’s Museum, better food, protected bike lanes on Interstate bridges, and WEED! Cool ideas y’all!
Next steps
Here are thoughts on how we’re going to make the food truck + beer court happen:
Gather a bunch of smart people. We are starting with the list of 40 people who provided their contact information on the survey. If you want to be added to that list, email me now!
Plan for a pop-up day/weekend event this summer. In step #1, we know of amazing event planners and promoters in this community who can help us make this happen (with funding and volunteers).
Move, with speed, toward getting real development underway. We see our role as making connections between a property owner, developer, financing, business operator, and the government. We’d love to have this under construction within 2026 (or best, open this fall!).
We could use your help!
If you read this far you are at least kind of interested in what’s happening. Or, you had time today and might be going to the bathroom with your phone.
If you are interested, please send me an email and I’ll add you to the list. We’ll need people to volunteer, help raise funds, make connections, tell neighbors about this, and possibly be a part of the crew who owns and operates this in the future.
Let’s do this Wilsonville!