Milwaukie Mayor Jeremy Ferguson summarizes past year in State of the City address

Mayor Jeremy Ferguson hit all the high notes of the past year to emphasize that Milwaukie “has turned a corner” in his State of the City address Tuesday. It was the 10th annual address sponsored by the Milwaukie Rotary Club.

With projects like Walk Safely Milwaukie, he praised the efforts of residents, neighborhood associations and city staff for reaching an outcome many people are pleased with, while avoiding the messy — and sometimes contentious — process that produced the three sidewalk and road improvements.

But, as Ferguson said while talking about two downtown business initiatives that awarded grants to spruce up the exterior of buildings and pay for public area improvements, a walk down Main Street shows that the programs have seen a measure of success.

“You can see things happening right now on Main Street,” Ferguson said. “Things are really being cleaned up.”

He also touted partnerships with local schools, such as when the Milwaukie Police Department decided to ask a Sellwood bike dealer to refurbish a bunch of confiscated bikes and gave them to elementary schoolers who didn’t have one. Again emphasizing the lessons learned from unpleasant situations, Ferguson said the closure of Hector Campbell, and the neighbor association’s involvement in that process taught the city how to better communicate with North Clackamas School District.

“Building that relationship with schools is very important and we’re taking steps in that direction,” he said.

Ferguson wrapped up by summarizing the City Council’s works in progress: the recently adopted South Downtown Plan, which includes the Milwaukie Main Street light rail station, and Milwaukie’s attempt to build a minor league baseball stadium.

“I’ve been a member of this community over 30 years, and I can’t remember a project that has sparked so much excitement,” he said.

Thanks to the efforts of one of our residents, the co-chair of the Hector Campbell NDA, Linda Hedges, a growing group of citizens in Milwaukie have been trained to care for themselves and their neighbors until professional responders can reach them in the event of an emergency.

The Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.