Mayor revisits first speech for last

Alice Norris gave her final state of the city address last week

By Anthony Roberts

The Oregon City News, Feb 23, 2010 (3 Reader comments)

anthony roberts / oregon city news

Oregon City Mayor Alice Norris, right, gave her final State of the City speech last week. Due to term limits, this is her final year as mayor.

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When Oregon City Mayor Alice Norris gave her first State of the City speech in 2003, she was only 134 days into her first term as mayor.

Last week, with only a few hundred days remaining as mayor, Norris gave her final address, treating the audience at Abernethy Center to a look back at her words from seven years ago. Her message: “things look different here,” a nod to the state’s old tourism slogan.

Like the present, Oregon was stuck in an economic rut in 2003. But Oregon City was in a far deeper trench. The city was, in Norris’s words, “bleeding red ink.” At the time, Norris compared the city to someone undergoing a physical exam who had “a very strong heart but empty pockets.” The city cut the budget by 10 percent across the board and slashed library hours back to 23 hours per week.

The cuts were painful, but Norris believes they ultimately put Oregon City in a better position to withstand the current economic downturn.

“This may be the biggest accomplishment of the past seven years: financial stability,” she said. “Oregon City has weathered the recession better than many cities, partly because our recession began in 2004. It’s a relief to know that things are different with our bottom line.”

Norris credited the city’s stronger financial footing in part to voters' decision to join Clackamas Fire District #1. It was the first property tax increase Oregon City voters approved in 19 years, and led to the opening of the South End Fire Station, which had sat vacant for five years.

The mayor also announced that Oregon City was named a Preserve America Community, one of only six in the state. The designation means the city is eligible for matching grants to support its efforts in historic preservation, heritage tourism, and to use its historic assets for economic and community revitalization.

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