Advocacy

This is the first in a new series of blogs by the Oregon State Volunteer President

As kids we spent many long hours in our neighborhood playing games of kick the can. One of the main goals in the game (if you were “it”) was to protect the can from other players, while also looking for hidden players and calling them out. Now, as mid-life adults, we are too preoccupied with life to think about the kick the can game or even the symbolic “can” for our generation: Social Security. As a society, continuing to “kick the can down the road,” means failing to find solutions to shore up the Social Security program.

By Debbie Cahill, AARP Oregon Volunteer

By Rep. Tobias Read

By Jerry Cohen, AARP Oregon State Director

By Dick Weinman, AARP volunteer and ALF guru

Tuesday, May 17th is Election Day in Oregon and voters in the City of Portland will cast their votes to select a new mayor. The results may determine who the next mayor will be or if no one candidate gets the required 50% of votes, the top two candidates will face off again in November.

By Elaine Friesen-Strang

Crossing the street shouldn’t mean crossing your fingers. Yet every two hours, a pedestrian in the United States is killed because a street or crosswalk is unsafe. Children, seniors, people of color and the low-income are disproportionately the victims of these fatalities. According to the 2015 Oregon State of Pedestrian Safety Report, Oregonians 65 years and older are four times more likely to be killed walking on our streets than any other age group. That is why AARP Oregon supports Measure 26-173.

On Saturday, April 2 nd AARP Oregon hosted a Portland Mayoral Candidate Forum at the DoubleTree Lloyd Center. Mayoral Candidates Ted Wheeler and Jules Bailey participated in the forum which was moderated by Laural Porter, KGW-TV Anchor and Straight Talk Host. The forum included audience polling, moderated Q& A with the candidates and also questions from the audience.