Question Of The Week: Do You Get Involved in Local Politics?
By Tom Peterson
Welcome to Question of the Week, a weekly news column that poses timely questions about life, politics, culture, economics, health, and more to people out and about in our communities. Our hope at CCC News is that having this space dedicated to being curious about other people’s experiences can help us to deepen our understanding of people from all walks of life.
This week's question is: Do you get involved in local politics? Why or why not?
Mark Farely, 63, The Dalles
“I do get involved with local politics,” he said noting he had gone door-to-door campaigning for candidates. He also said he had participated in the primaries in Washington helping to choose who would represent the party.
“It’s useful to everyone,” he said. “You get to hear everyone’s perspective.”
He also pointed out that he sent emails in opposition to the recent agreement between City of The Dalles and Google for two new data plants.
“It’s important to be involved and have the opportunity to create positive change,” he said. “It makes a difference.”
Frank Davido, 78, The Dalles
“Yes and no,” he said. “I have voted every election since 1970. I am a registered Democrat, but oftentimes I vote the other way. I don’t get very involved in local issues. I don’t go to City Council meetings. But I follow them in the newspaper.
Davido said he, at times, bends Councilor Tim McGlothlin’s ear. “I tell him what I think, occasionally.”
“I am interested in our town. It’s where I live. I don’t like to see our town or politics go to one extreme. I like a middle-of-the-road approach to life.”
Davido said he was a Biology teacher at The Dalles High School for 32 years and he never pushed his politics on students. “I taught them how to think critically,” he said.
Robert Catlin, 63, The Dalles
Catlin said he met with The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays as the City of The Dalles was near to a deal with Google for two new data centers. He said the Mayor and City Council made a poor decision by agreeing to the deal.
He said the water needed for the data centers was too much, noting the glacier on Mount Hood has been dwindling for years. “Google should not have been able to pull that,” he said, noting Council should have stood up and pushed back against the deal. “I talked to Tim McGlothlin about that.”
Catlin said he had been in and out of The Dalles since 1966 and has been a resident of Oregon his entire life, adding he cared about the future of our town.
Gabriel Garcia, 36, The Dalles.
“Not really,” Garcia said of participating. “I guess I don’t know how to get involved.”
Garcia who graduated from Hood River High School said he had been in The Dalles for 8 years.
“It interests me,” he said. “I need to figure out how to do it. I bet a lot of Hispanic people don’t know how.”
How would you get involved? “That’s a really good question. Maybe, like, going door to door. Nobody has ever asked me that question before.”
Saul Vega, 17, The Dalles
“No,” he said. “I don’t know anything about local politics.”
What would help? “Maybe, like, newspapers and posters around town,” he said.
“Things are pretty good,” he added about The Dalles. “Something needs to be done about houses. They are super expensive. There are a lot of homeless people. We need more affordable housing”
Yessi Valdez, 28, The Dalles
“No,” she said.
Why not?
“Probably time,” she said. “I have three kids. I work. I have a house to take care of.”
She said she has trouble just keeping track of her emails, noting she is constantly overloaded with information on her phone.
“There is so much information coming at us all of the time,” she said.
Nik Portella, 33, The Dalles
I participate in local government. I'm newly part of the city's long term planning committee and the school district's equity committee. Local government tends to be where change can be felt the most because the decisions being made and influenced have a direct effect on your neighborhood and neighbors. Plus, if something can be successful locally that can serve as an example to state or National government.
Participation is so low primarily because our system is complicated! Bills, legislative concepts, motions, councils - there's a whole language a person has to learn just to understand what people are talking about. It's not often someone sits down and explains the whole convoluted web of state and local government. Plus, so many meetings and opportunities for engagement happen while people are working their regular jobs. So if someone doesn't understand what's being talked about, and they're unable to learn more because they're out providing for themselves or their family, how do we expect them to get involved?
