Mayoral race is on

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a race!  Two men are now in competition to be Mayor of Lake Oswego for the next 4 years.  Rumors abound about who else will declare for the three open City Council positions, but so far, only two people have talked about it openly, Skip O'Neill and Charles Collins.  There will be more joining the line up soon enough.

Dave Berg says he will run for mayor of Lake Oswego

Lake Oswego Review, May 13, 2016  By Gary Stein

Chairman of the Citizens Budget Committee will challenge incumbent Kent Studebaker in November

Excerpts:
Berg, a 26-year resident of the city, told The Review that he would commit himself as mayor to preserving community character, reducing the impact of taxes and water rates on residents and “most importantly, increasing the quality of life in our community.”

“Four years ago, we elected what many thought would be a city government devoted to reform,” said Berg, who is also a board member of the Citizens for Local Accountability in Lake Oswego (COLA LO). “Instead, water rates kept increasing, fees increased and the promise made against high-density development was never kept.”

Since the 2012 election, Berg said, the cost of living in Lake Oswego has been increasing to “unmanageable levels for many in our community who are on fixed incomes or otherwise cannot afford the impact of these higher costs."

Berg has been a vocal critic of the current council, not only for some of its policy decisions but also because of what he sees as a lack of transparency in city government. In particular, he has denounced a move by officials earlier this year to limit public comment periods to one council meeting a month.

“Leadership must govern with the informed consent of the community,” he said, “not act as a political elite by limiting the transparency of decisions and everyone’s access to the public process.”