Poll: Tigard parks bond’s best bet is November election

By Geoff Pursinger

The Times, Feb 11, 2010 (2 Reader comments)

ADVERTISEMENTS

The Tigard City Council is expected to bring the failed parks bond measure back from the dead and in voter’s hands in time for the November ballot.

The parks bond — which failed by more than 52 percent in last year’s special election — would have asked residents to pay up to $20 million in higher taxes in order to create several new parks and preserve the few remaining natural areas left in the city.

The voter turnout for the election was poor, with only 9,000 voters (of the city’s 26,000 total registered voters) casting their ballots, in the last go around.

Now, it looks like the city is ready to try it again, thanks to recently completed polling which shows that residents are still interested in the idea.

According to Josh Albert of the Trust for Public Land, residents polled indicated they would vote for the measure in November, but not in May — the next closest election.

“May will not be the most opportune time for a good chance as success,” Albert said. “But there’s good news for November — things look much better.”

There were several factors in determining why placing the parks measure on the May primary election should be avoided, including the proposed aquatic district measure to keep the Tigard and Tualatin high school swimming pools open, which will appear on that ballot.

“If they were placed on the same ballot, voters would choose the aquatic district over parks,” Albert said. “That was enough for us.”

Albert said that putting the parks measure on the same ballot as the proposed aquatic district would only hurt both items.

In order to make it to the May election, the City Council would have to approve the measure and file it with the county before Feb. 23.

Currently, the parks measure is the only money item planned for the November election, which bodes well for the bond.

1 | 2 Next Page >>