Call to Action for the City of West Linn

Our request to the City:

As citizens of West Linn, we believe that our City should be a place where all people feel welcome to live, work, and visit. Michael Fesser and his community in North and Northeast Portland have expressed a genuine desire to have an open and honest dialogue with West Linn to build trust and relationships. The present circumstances provide a leadership opportunity to advance this goal, but the window of opportunity is closing.

We believe it is important that this dialogue is spearheaded by the City leadership. Demonstrating a willingness to engage in conversation is the starting point for meaningful understanding and change. We strongly support engagement with Michael Fesser and his community, and we urge the City to take the following actions:

1) Invite Michael and community members to engage in an ongoing dialogue, with the first meeting by or before July 20th

2) Commit to active listening in order to build trust and understand the goals, aspirations, and barriers that impede connections between our communities.

3) Take the initiative in coordinating and hosting the conversations.

We look forward to the City acting quickly on this opportunity to build bridges between our communities for a more inclusive and equitable future. We understand that there are other issues on the City leadership’s agenda, but we feel this dialogue should have a top priority on your list. The conversations we are advocating for are not dependent on the outcome of any ongoing investigations, the current City equity audit, the task force for proposing a police oversight body, or any other initiatives by the city. Rather, we have an opportunity to gain an understanding that will inform us and help with ongoing decision making.

We invite you to join us in this effort to create an open and welcoming place for all to live, work, play, and engage with businesses.