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The Mid-county Memo is your newspaper. We want to hear from you. Discuss an important issue or address a concern you want to call to the community's attention. We prefer e-mailed letters to the editor sent to Darlene Vinson at editor@midcountymemo.com. Please put "Letter to the editor" in the subject line. You may also mail your letter to 3510 N.E. 134th Ave., Portland, OR 97230 or fax it to 503-249-7672. Deadline for the March issue is Monday, Feb. 15.

To the Editor:
Blumenauer blows it with Gresham constituent
When Earl Blumenauer was a Multnomah County commissioner and ran for a position on the Portland City Council, he negotiated the release of county streets to Portland so that Portland could benefit from the road taxes generated by what those streets received from the state. Although Gresham also had a road department, Gresham was excluded from his generosity.

Earl did get elected to the Portland City Council.

More recently, he negotiated to give 18 acres of high-revenue corporate land in Gresham to the U.S. Navy (then based at Swan Island on 13 acres of prime industrial land), returning those high revenue acres back on Portland tax roles and reducing Gresham's potential for revenue on 18 valuable acres.

Interesting to me is that when Earl gave county streets to Portland, he left the bridges under Multnomah County's control. Bridges are high maintenance compared to roads. Guess who isn't paying to replace the Sellwood Bridge, used primarily by Clackamas County residents? Clackamas County residents get off scot-free while all Multnomah County residents are having their license plate fees raised dramatically.

I went on Earl's Web site a few days ago and perused it to see what he was doing (in Washington) for us. His Web site consisted of many national items such as health care. Notably missing was what he was doing.

I sent him an e-mail asking him, other than supporting legislation, what was he doing that was proactive for us? I asked him what he was doing about the unemployment problem facing our country and our fiscal depression including the Social Security situation with no cost of living increases for the next two years for us.

I received a "no-reply" Web response stating:

"Thank you for contacting me. I always appreciate hearing from Oregonians about the issues that matter to them. You can be assured I will keep your thoughts in mind as I continue to work in Congress."

I have to assume that it was sent by someone in Earl's office, although no name accepted credit for responding to my questions.

Earl: Thanks, a lot, for your representation and service to Oregon. Thanks for letting me know that you are "... continuing to work in Congress."

I will certainly look for your name next time you are up for reelection.

Larry A. Ward
Gresham resident - lwardret94@msn.com

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