At this year’s Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit, economist John Tapogna issued a blunt warning: Oregon is drifting into “stagnation, scarcity and decline.”
The numbers back him up. More Oregonians are now dying than being born. U.S. Census estimates show the state lost about 16,000 people in 2022. In Lane County, employment has grown only about 2.6% over five years, and school enrollments have stagnated or fallen. This is what blue-state governance looks like up close: fewer jobs, fewer kids and families slipping away.
If Lane County wants its children and grandchildren to stay, it needs a growth agenda that is explicit about its values and its trade-offs. Call it center-right or pragmatism if you like, but it rests on three basics: fiscal stability, far more housing, and schools that reliably teach children to read…