In which Shemia Fagan gives City Hall a long, hard stare - and expects action

Kari Chisholm

In the days since the death of five-year-old Morgan Maynard Cook, a lot of politicians have said a lot of things about sidewalks in Portland.

But despite her rookie legislator status, Rep. Shemia Fagan was taking on the decision by Mayor Charlie Hales to cancel sidewalk construction on SE 136th well before little Morgan was killed.

Here's a few excerpts from Fagan's interview with Willamette Week's Kate Schimel. It's powerful stuff:

You had protested City Hall’s plan to cut the sidewalk project along Southeast 136th. How well do you know this spot?

I drove 136th 20 minutes before the accident happened. I’m intimately familiar with that road. You have to walk up a hill, literally in the road—it’s a 35 mph road—without being able to see oncoming traffic and, more importantly, without them being able to see you.

This street serves two elementary schools and one middle school—2,000 kids in the David Douglas School District five days a week. They have to cross 136th in order to get home.

It is basic. It is 2013. A kid should be able to cross the street in front of her house without risking her life.

Has any part of the tragedy of Morgan Maynard-Cook’s death been overlooked?

One thing really struck me when I went to the candlelight vigil for the little girl the day after she was killed. Her classmates were invited, [so] you walk up to the haunting chorus of children mourning. But her family was remarkable in that just 24 hours after she passed away, they were fired up and they were demanding action. And so that is important to recognize—that in this instance, a family that had every right to grieve and mourn in private has instead chosen to pick up the battle cry.

...

In a city that’s praised nationwide for its greenness, its transportation, cutting-edge activities, the fact that we have a little girl who can’t just cross the street in front of her house without risking her life means that we are not the city yet that the rest of the nation thinks we are—and some of Portland wants to believe we are.

We are not yet the city that the rest of the nation thinks we are. That's exactly right. And exactly why so many, including Morgan's family and Rep. Fagan, are looking to City Hall for a serious plan to finally fix Portland's unpaved streets and missing sidewalks.

During the campaign, Mayor Hales said he had a plan. It's now time to see that plan translated into policy. Sadly, fixing our crumbling infrastructure isn't even one of his priorities yet.

By Kari Chisholm March 14, 2013