Evelyn Kocher

Housing I support the freedom of cities and counties to implement their own rent control, especially as a renter myself. I want to ensure that any rent increase is indexed to inflation to ensure that housing is affordable for working-class people. I will also work to streamline zoning and permitting for mixed-use and multi-family homes to give varied options for first-time homeowners and families. Infrastructure / Transportation Beaverton is lucky to be at the nexus of so many vital transportation lines, including 3 state highways, 1 federal highway, 2 MAX lines, 2 major transit centers, 17 bus routes, and Oregon’s only commuter rail line, the WES. With all of these important links along with Beaverton’s location as Portland’s gateway to Washington County and Washington County’s gateway to the rest of the metro area, we need to prioritize transit-oriented development to densify our downtown areas and make it a pedestrian-centered space where residents and businesses alike can thrive. Civil Rights If elected, I would work to make Beaverton a gender-affirming care and abortion care sanctuary city like so many other cities have over the past year—including Corvallis in Oregon! Housing As we work towards this goal, I would improve Beaverton’s collaboration with Washington County to streamline the usage of Metro’s existing supportive housing service (SHS) dollars. I want to better connect Beavertonians experiencing housing instability—especially LGBTQ youth and those struggling with mental health and addiction—with wraparound services to help them back on their feet. Immigration I pledge to hold monthly town hall meetings in both English and Spanish so every part of the community can be informed about what is going on, what power the City has, and what the City is actually doing to keep them safe. In addition, I want to strengthen Beaverton’s protections for undocumented residents, including codifying our sanctuary city laws, clarifying procedures for when city staff encounter ICE and DHS (including prioritizing calling PIRC and filming the interaction), mandating that DHS and ICE not use city property to stage their kidnappings, and ensuring that Beaverton police can and do respond to reports of immigration-related detentions so that they can film it on their body cameras. Infrastructure / Transportation Prioritizing projects in progress such as the Beaverton Loop and the redevelopment of TV Highway will go a long way towards making sure we can have a more extensive and equitable transportation system. Longer term, expanding the WES to Salem could make Beaverton the center of intercity rail transit in the state, further increasing the region’s interconnectedness and developing its potential.