Karon Johnson
Our workforce must be able to afford to live here
Everyone should be able to walk down the street or through the park and feel safe, no matter what part of town they live in.
Everyone should be able to walk down the street or through the park and feel safe, no matter what part of town they live in.
Endorsed by:
Bend needs a course correction
Bend needs a course correction. We need politically moderate, middle-of-the-road councilors who listen to Bend’s citizens and make the safety of our community their top priority.
We need councilors who engage the public in real dialogues and make decisions based on hard data rather than ideology or sentiment or hope. Hope is not an effective government policy.
We need councilors who engage the public in real dialogues and make decisions based on hard data rather than ideology or sentiment or hope. Hope is not an effective government policy.
Fighting for the things you care about
Public Safety
Citizens should feel safe in our community. They should be able to walk down a sidewalk instead of stepping into the street because the sidewalk is blocked by tents and trash. They should be able to take their children to a clean public park, one free of syringes and other implements of illegal drug use.
Workforce and Affordable Housing
Bend’s Area Median Income (AMI) is $68,000. Our teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and city employees earn between $50,000 and $80,000 per year. Other workers, often service providers, earn much less.
Homelessness
Public safety should be the first consideration in any program addressing the homelessness issue.
Transparency
This council refuses to listen to citizens’ concerns or to answer important questions. It refuses to engage in any meaningful dialogues on issues which impact our quality of life.
Transportation
I used to bike from my home in Southeast Bend to the Safeway on 3rd Street. I no longer do so, because the streets are just not safe to ride on. We need physical barriers between traffic lanes and bike lanes, which will require a significant investment that this council has not made.
Trees
There are practical solutions to save some of Bend’s iconic trees, achieve the density required by Oregon land use laws and still allow builders to make a reasonable profit and return on their investments.
Trees are not just an indulgence for nature lovers, they are essential to our health and our quality of life. If I am elected, I will introduce a new tree protection code to start a city-wide discussion on how better to preserve our mature native trees.
An Example Of How This City Council Is Failing Bend: Workforce Housing
Presently, city councilors operate in a closed system. Rather than set policy and provide leadership, they follow the directions of city staff and staff-appointed citizen committees. This system fails to utilize the talents of experts excluded from those committees and discourages examining how other cities are addressing the same problems Bend has.
Support Karon Johnson for Bend
There are solutions to Bend’s problems, but they will require a city council which is not satisfied with its present performance. I know what Bend has to do and I know how to get things done.