Rep. Karin Power will bring new progressive voice to state legislative committees

Rep. Power’s Twitter profile pic.

A former southeast Portland resident who publicly opined about what downtown would be like if we tore out Interstate 5 has been named to two key state legislative committees that oversee transportation.

Representative Karin Power — a Democrat whose district (41) includes the City of Milwaukie and Oak Grove, as well as the Sellwood, Eastmoreland, Westmoreland and Brentwood-Darlington neighborhoods — is now a member of the Joint Interstate 5 Bridge and Joint Transportation committees. She was appointed by Speaker of the House Tina Kotek in a memo finalized this morning (PDF).

The Joint Transportation Committee is an influential body that oversees all major transportation legislation. This is the group that debated and molded the state’s current $5.6 billion transportation funding bill, HB 2017. The I-5 Bridge Joint Committee will play a crucial role in the resurrection of the Columbia River Crossing megaproject, which is now known as the I-5 Bridge Replacement Program.

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This marks an important shift in Portland-area representation on these committees. Rep. Power is one of the most progressive transportation leaders in the state. She was recruited to join the Milwaukie City Council in 2015 by climate change leader and Mayor Mark Gamba and began her career in the Oregon House of Representatives in 2017.

In April 2019, Rep. Power was the first state legislator to demand that the Oregon Department of Transportation conduct a more thorough environmental analysis of their I-5 Rose Quarter project. In a letter to ODOT, Power wrote, “Our planet has 12 years to halt emissions and curb the worst of the coming effects of climate change.” And in October 2019 Rep. Power tweeted from the carfree Tilikum Crossing Bridge: “It’s hard not to cross the Willamette on a lovely fall day and wonder what downtown Portland would look like without a freeway obscuring most of the riverfront airspace… cleaner air, more trees, revitalized contiguous access.”

Portland’s only other voice on these two committees is State Senator Lew Frederick. Unlike Rep. Power, he supports the I-5 Rose Quarter project.

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Asked Tuesday morning for comment, Power said she’s looking forward to the new committee assignments. “I was first elected to Milwaukie City Council on a strong local multi-modal transportation platform, and championed safe routes to school, a ‘woonerf’-style street approach in one of Milwaukie’s neighborhoods, and better overall connectivity,” she said wrote us via email.

Power also said safe streets are especially important as a mother of two children under five years old. “I recognize that families face different transportation needs,” she shared.

Oregon’s 2021 legislative session begins January 19th.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Scott Kocher
3 years ago

Thank you for your service Rep. Power. Was the “‘woonerf’-style street approach in one of Milwaukie’s neighborhoods” built? Where? Is there a design?

Mike Quigley
Mike Quigley
3 years ago

Finally. Some good news both locally (and nationally). Let’s run with it!

Zach Reyes
Zach Reyes
3 years ago

Not only do I enjoy thinking about what Portland would look like without the Marquam Bridge, but imagine if we were to change I-5 from a nearly impenetrable barrier to a wonderful boulevard all along the east side of the river. By my count, that would open 22 WATERFRONT city blocks to development. It boggles my mind that the city would not demand this considering the incredible amount of revenue that would generate for the city coffers. Let people traveling through the city take the I-405, or if they want to bypass the city take the I-205 as it was built for.

This would return nearly 50% of the downtown river access back to Portlanders and would drive huge changes in the inner east side. At that point it might actually be a nice place to live!

Fred
Fred
3 years ago
Reply to  Zach Reyes

I love this idea (I upvoted it!) and it actually makes some sense, but can you imagine the bellyaching when people are sitting in traffic, alone in their cars, trying to get to the airport etc? We have such an induced demand problem on our freeways. How could some of that demand be removed?

Zach Reyes
Zach Reyes
3 years ago
Reply to  Fred

Is it all that different from the bellyaching of people waiting in their cars to get to the airport now? I absolutely agree with you about the issue we have with induced demand. I am not under some illusion that this isn’t just a day dream, but I had imagined that we would keep I-84 and its connection north to the Freemont bridge so the highway network would remain connected.

My method of convincing people that this is a good idea is having them imagine all these new people flocking to Portland to not move into their neighborhood (thus driving up their housing costs) but instead moving into this new inner eastside, waterfront, neo-Pearl district. The Pearl district is ~48 city blocks. This new East Waterfront district would be 88! And that is only counting the blocks west of MLK.

D'Andre Muhammed
D'Andre Muhammed
3 years ago

All the boxes have been checked. Now get to work.

mark smith
mark smith
3 years ago

Rip up 405….