This past Wednesday, September 26, Brooklyn neighborhood hosted a citywide townhall forum on diesel pollution, at which several subject matter experts spoke and attendees got to hear from a panel of local electeds and candidates for public office about the problem. Our neighborhood worked with a coalition of other Portland neighborhoods to organize the event, with the goal of raising public awareness about a serious health threat to residents of our region.
We learned about important and potentially pivotal opportunities in the near future to make a life saving difference, by convincing local and state officials in the coming months to begin to adopt clean air standards that phase out dirty diesel engines. (The city and county, for example, are considering adopting a precedent setting ordinance on the subject in December, but the public must show up to ensure that the ordinance really serves the goals it purports to stand for.) Brooklyn neighborhood board members intend to continue to work with neighbors across Portland to bring about these changes.
See this link for a program of the evening’s event, and watch a streaming video of the entire event .
