On Friday March 24th Governor Tina Kotek visited communities in Lincoln County for the fifth stop of her One Oregon Listening Tour. Governor Kotek and First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson participated in four activities to hear diverse perspectives on the governor’s priorities, including behavioral health, education, and housing.
“Lincoln County is a community that figures out how to help one another,” Governor Kotek said. “Whether it’s the public library and aquatic center supporting the community in Toledo, law enforcement and behavioral health providers working together in Newport, or city leaders and housing providers triaging the need for shelter and supply of affordable housing in Lincoln City.”
The Governor and First Lady got off to an early start with a tour of the Greater Toledo Aquatic and Community Center, led by Toledo Mayor Rod Cross. When Governor Kotek served as Speaker of the Oregon House, she advocated for the center to receive $3.3 million in lottery bonds to support the renovation of the community pool. Mayor Cross spoke about the construction challenges of Toledo’s landscape and the town’s role as a stronghold for workforce housing in Lincoln County, a legacy the town is fighting to preserve.
Their next stop was Phoenix Wellness Center in Newport, a recovery support organization
founded by four members of the Siletz Tribe. The center is open six days a week with staff on call 24/7 for crisis response. After a tour of the facility, the Governor and the First Lady sat down with clinicians, outreach workers, Lincoln County Sheriff Curtis Landers and others. The group had a focused conversation about recovery, the importance of peer support, and how their community has reimagined the role of law enforcement as a partner in behavioral health care.
The Governor and First Lady then headed to Rogue Bayfront Public House for a working lunch with Lincoln County Commissioner Kaety Jacobson, Newport City Councilor Beatriz Botello and Lincoln County School Superintendent Karen Gray to discuss a range of local and regional issues. The day concluded with a tour of Coastal Phoenix Rising, a Project Turnkey facility. In 2020, Governor Kotek fought to allocate $65 million for Project Turnkey to acquire motels and hotels to use as non-congregate shelters for people experiencing homelessness or displaced by wildfires.
The Governor and First Lady heard from housing advocates and Lincoln City Mayor Susan Wahlke about the challenges of increasing affordable housing in an environment with a high volume of vacation rentals and limited buildable land. Governor Kotek will visit every county in Oregon within her first year in office through the “One Oregon Listening Tour” to foster trust and build strong partnerships across the state to get results for Oregonians, with a focus on housing and homelessness, mental health and recovery, and early learning and education.
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