And in Conclusion… Portland votes. Or not.

I mentioned in a previous post a speaker saying towards the end of his prepared remarks, “Motivational speakers should always say the words, “And in conclusion…” towards the end of the talk. It gives the audience hope.” And our preacher yesterday passed along this wisdom:

“A conclusion is simply where you stop thinking.”

It’s time for Portlanders to stop thinking and reach a conclusion. Several conclusions, for some. Some may decide, “I don’t know/I don’t care, I’m not returning my ballot”. Valid conclusion.

“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” (First person to note in the comments which rock song/band immortalized that line, receives my enduring respect. No Googling, please.)

For others, the time is now to make several choices, in deciding how to vote on the Charter change measures and school board/education district races. My recommmendations on the Charter changes: No on 26-89, No on 26-90, No on 26-91, and No on 26-92. Ruth Adkins for School Board. The Voters Pamphlet gives good leads on the other people choices, in the candidates’ statements and endorsements. I don’t have any new information or arguments on the Charter questions. I’ve found the campaign not at all helpful to furthering civic engagement, and I think voting on the elections of candidates while leaving the Charter measure bubbles blank is very valid choice. Or vote No on them all, to leave the structure as is until and unless we have a real community conversation about whether other options have some certainty of being significantly better.

If you conclude you’d like your vote to count, drop it off at any Official Drop Site, including several open 24 hours. All Multnomah County libraries are open with drop-boxes tomorrow from noon to 8 p.m. (some longer – all hours are in that link).

I apologize to regular readers who’ve seen all the above links multiple times. New folks are coming here daily after Google searches, and I want to make the information easy to find. Welcome, new readers! Please browse some of the other posts, too. My husband Steve’s photos will likely increase your satisfaction with living in Portland. And they make welcome breaks between all the political prose.