Voters

By Merry MacKinnon

Working for a vital democracy

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 Jon Bartholomew - AARP Oregon Government Relations Director

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.

At our Portland Mayoral Forum, we started the program by hearing from our members. Take a minute and find out what we learned! For example, 97% of AARP members voted in the last election. But we also asked about older workers, transportation, housing and more.

Sitting at a conference table, I wrestle alongside my AARP Oregon colleagues with deciding which questions to ask Portland mayoral candidates, and how to word them.