The Portland region has led the way for the nation in improving livability and development in the last 50 years. But we are now grappling with a question we avoided for that 50 years - Liveability for who? Metro's work in centering racial equity, focussing on affordability and sustainable economic development is ensuring that we are creating a region that is livable for everyone. At the next Urban Design Panel meeting on August 17 Metro President Lynn Peterson will initiate a conversation with Panel members about how good urban design intersects with this agenda.
About our guest speaker:
Metro Council President Lynn Peterson leads the nation’s only elected regional government, representing over 1.7 million Oregonians in the Portland area. In this role, Peterson directs a staff of more than 800, charged with affordable housing and parks investments, protection of farms, forests and water resources, planning an investments in transportation, overseeing tourism and cultural venues as well as management of garbage and recycling.
Prior to serving as Metro Council President, Peterson worked in a variety of roles in the public, private and non-profit sectors. She first held elected office as a Lake Oswego City Councilor before becoming the first elected chair of Clackamas County, one of Oregon’s fastest growing suburban and rural counties.
A transportation and land use expert with degrees in engineering and planning, Peterson served in Salem as senior advisor to former Gov. John Kitzhaber, before a three year tenure as director of the Washington State Department of Transportation, appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee.
After returning to Oregon, Peterson consulted nationally on transportation and land use best practices, and served as interim executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, the state’s leading land use advocacy group.
Under Peterson’s leadership, Metro is expanding its role in affordable housing and response to the homelessness crisis in the Portland region, and in 2018 Peterson helped lead campaign efforts to approve a regional bond measure that is funding construction, maintenance and support for thousands of low income families and individuals.
In 2019, Peterson convened an equity-based process for renewal of a regional parks and land use bond, approved by over 66% of the region’s voters. In 2020, Peterson led efforts for a supportive housing program that aims to functionally end chronic homelessness in greater Portland by 2031. Despite the onset of the COVID-19 health and financial crisis, nearly 58% of voters approved the nation’s first regional supportive housing program.
Lynn and her husband Mark, an engineer and entrepreneur, share a home with three Alaskan malamutes in Lake Oswego, where she first ran for local office nearly two decades ago. When not poring over light rail alignments and affordable housing plans, Peterson can be found cycling or hiking throughout the Northwest.