Why I'm running for the parks board

  Two months ago now I declared my candidacy for election to Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District Board of Directors Position Number Five.  A mouth full of a title.  I really enjoy our local parks and have no major qualms with the parks district or the current board.  They have done a fine job maintaining and improving existing parks and programs.  So there's question you are probably asking and I am required to ask myself.  Why am I running?

Democracy requires contest

  What is the point of an election with only one candidate?  Without contested races there is almost no need for real public discourse unless some controversy springs up.  This is all too common for local elections in Wasco County.  Uncontested races are akin to a business handing a job to the first and only applicant.  This wouldn't work in the private sector and it shouldn't work for public offices.

  Surely the citizens of our county deserve a better political climate. Contested races increase the opportunity for citizens to air their grievances to public official or those who may take their place.

  As a voter I detest opening my ballot only to discover a handful of contested positions.  Most positions are held by longtime incumbents and several others have no candidate at all only to be filled through appointment.  I understand that local politics are not the most exciting thing in the world and that often times it is difficult to get enough information about an organization to feel comfortable running.  However, I don't believe this makes for a healthy democratic society especially at the local level where the democratic experiment likely has the greatest chance of success.

  I finally met my "opponent" Annette Byers a few days ago at the "Special District Election Candidates Night" at Freebridge.  Unfortunately for me she is by all accounts a great person and is doing a fine job on the board.  I found her to be very polite and thoughtful.  Having served on the board she's clearly more experienced than me.  I'm not going to be shedding any tears if I lose the election but I'm happy to have just joined in the conversation and get some more in depth experience in the democratic process.

I do have things I'd like to see change

  Above is a map I made showing residential areas in the Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District within walking distance of public parks (in green) and those that are not (in darkish pink, fuchsia?).  I threw in an area that could possibly be within walking distance with improved trails in Orange just for fun.  

  We can do better.  Several areas of The Dalles do not have a park within walking distance.  We have some lovely parks in town but most families will choose to drive to most of them unless they are overly ambitious walkers.  If you haven't figured it out by now, I am no fan of the automobile myself.  As stated earlier, I have no real issue with what the district has been doing.  However, I do believe we could put more attention into finding and funding new small pocket parks in residential areas to give everyone greater access to public parks.

  Also see many opportunities are available to improve and maintain existing trails.  For example the trail between 14th ST and Sorosis Park has a staircase leading up to it put there by who knows who but is almost completely washed out.  If a little effort was put into erosion mitigation that trail could be used by many more people and would improve access to the park sans driving.  Additionally, we could add more paved trails through parks to give cyclists and pedestrians beautiful paths away from traffic.

  Lastly, I'd like to find ways to be more civically engaged.  Running for office is something that would fill that need and stretch me out of my comfort zone.