I believe it is very important for us to have geographic diversity on our city council. As I've said before, the areas of the city are quite different, and we need views from around the city on the council to represent that.
There are 16 neighborhoods in the city, and currently the council members fall into three of them: Gresham Butte (5, including Karilynn Echols, whose position is being filled), Southwest (1), and North Central (1).
The only member from the northern half of Gresham on the council is one who lives just off Burnside, even though the address says SE Gresham.
The graphic below shows how little geographic diversity we have on the council.
Note: I've colored two of the pinpoints red to make it easier to see those that are extremely close to each other.
Now let's add the locations of those who have been listed in The Outlook as being interested in the position. They will be colored yellow. (I am the pinpoint in the upper right corner near Kane and Stark).
You'll see that one of the interested people lives right near where one current council member and former council member Echols live -- in the Gresham Butte Neighborhood. Another is nearby the cluster, but north of Powell in the NW Gresham Neighborhood.
Two of them are outside the areas covered -- one in SE Gresham in the Kelly Creek Neighborhood and one in the NE Gresham Neighborhood.
