Heather Ramsey, a Candidate for Lake Oswego City Council, Visited Our Neighborhood on Saturday
- Derrith Schmidt
- 11 hours ago
- 7 min read
Several OTNA Board members—Jim Perris, Ann Garcia, Jeannie McGuire and Michael Schmidt —along with Barb Perris, who has volunteered with our neighborhood board for many years, joined Lake Oswego City Council candidate Heather Ramsey for a neighborhood "walk-about" on Saturday August 29.
It was a great opportunity to introduce Heather to Old Town, show her some of the issues we've been working on with the City, and get to know her better.
Who is Heather Ramsey?
Heather shared that she is a mother of two—one son in high school and another in college. She has spent the past 20 years building a successful executive coaching business, working with executives and teams around the country. Her husband is a retired FBI international field agent, and their family moved frequently during his career before eventually settling in Lake Oswego.
Heather told us that most of her coaching clients are on the East Coast, which means she's often up early and on calls until about 2 p.m. But eventually she realized something: "I miss people."
So she took the initiative to get involved in the Lake Oswego community, joining both Rotary and the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce, where she became Chamber President.
Her community involvement has continued to grow. She has taken on a number of leadership roles, including serving as Bond Chair for the most recent school bond, which successfully passed.
One thing that struck me was how thoughtfully she approaches new commitments.
When asked to take on a new role, she said she often responds: "I need a day or a weekend to think about this." That's a good quality in someone who is asked to make important decisions. She doesn't seem to feel the need to immediately say yes—or immediately have an answer.
Heather also gave us many examples of bringing people with different expertise, perspectives and objectives together to find ways to collaborate.
She said, "We moved here for the schools. And we've stayed because of the community and people." That statement resonated with me. I did the same. And I suspect many of us who love Lake Oswego feel the same way. We came here for something specific and stayed because of the people, neighborhoods, schools, parks and sense of community.
Heather's experience in Lake Oswego has given her a good opportunity to see the community from several different perspectives. She talked about:
Supporting small businesses and helping them thrive in Lake Oswego.
The importance of our schools and the role they play in our community.
Neighborhood livability and safety, including the importance of our police and fire departments.
Our parks and recreational facilities. She and her family have used George Rogers Park and have rented kayaks there.
She brings not only her professional experience as an executive coach, but also years of hands-on volunteer leadership in Lake Oswego.
Showing Heather Old Town
It was a calm, cool Saturday, so we weren't seeing the crowds and traffic that Old Town experiences on hot summer days—or during a major event like the Car Festival the following day. But we wanted Heather to understand what happens when large numbers of people descend on George Rogers Park.
This is what "overflow parking" looks like. The photo below was from Sunday during the Car Show hosted at George Rogers Park. This is Durham Street heading towards Ladd Street and the Park. No sidewalks. People parking on one side, some illegally. Cars going both ways along with people walking. Not safe.
And this is not unusual on hot summer days when so many people descend on George Rogers for "the beach", along with renting the Picnic Shelter, camps and getting to the fields, playground and tennis courts.
What did we talk about?
Heather was a very good listener as we explained some of the history of Old Town's work with the City and the issues we continue to try to address.
Planning ahead for summer traffic and safety
We talked about the importance of the City Council and new City Manager adopting Lynn Peterson's proposed "good neighbor policy" so that when Parks & Rec schedules activities that bring large numbers of people into George Rogers Park, they consider the negative impact on neighbors livability.
That includes scheduling during the hot summer weekends:
Summer camps
Kayak and paddleboard rentals
Picnic shelter rentals
Special events
Large private gatherings
We explained that the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts provides a good example of what advance planning can accomplish. For that event, the City and organizers plan for traffic flow, use temporary No Parking signs and provide shuttles. The result is a much more predictable and safer experience for both visitors and residents.
We'd like to see that kind of advance planning become standard for busy summer weekends at George Rogers Park. We've learned this is a "policy issue" that the City Council and City Leaders will need to initiate.
Vehicles parked—and people sleeping—in our neighborhood
We also talked about vehicles being parked for extended periods in our neighborhood, including people sleeping in their vehicles right next to neighbors' homes. They can't park in George Rogers overnight but they can in our neighborhoods. Under the current rules, police generally cannot issue a citation until a vehicle has been parked for 72 hours. This is an issue where we believe City Council should create a new ordinance for our police to enforce.
Furnace Street safety
We talked about our long effort to get both sides of Furnace Street between Wilbur and Ladd signed No Parking. There are no sidewalks on Furnace Street, yet it is used by people walking to George Rogers Park, cyclists, cars, families with strollers and people carrying paddleboards.
We've made progress with the City, but there are still areas where parking creates confusion and safety concerns.
How does our Neighborhood Association get things done working with the City?
This was an especially interesting conversation. We've spent considerable time learning how to work with City staff and how to move projects forward. Heather had some thoughtful observations about how organizations can empower the people who work in the City. She also talked about the importance of retaining people and recognizing people who are great at collaborating with others to get things accomplished. That is something that matters to us as residents. We want a City government where good ideas don't simply get stuck in the system. We appreciate the incredible responsiveness and collaboration of our Police and Fire Department teams, along with some of the people we work with in other departments.
Funding to maintain what we already have
We also talked about one of our biggest concerns:
How do we make sure the City has enough money to maintain and upgrade the facilities and investments we already have?
That includes our parks, LORAC and the library.
We don't want the City's approach to be simply to wait until something becomes so old that the only option is to tear it down and build something new. Maintenance and upgrading what we have matters.
We'd like to see the City think about ongoing maintenance and strategic upgrades at the same time it considers major new capital projects.
Heather's approach to learning about the City
Heather told us that she has already met with—or has meetings scheduled with—all of the current City Councilors and other City leaders so she can learn from them.
She also talked about people she considers mentors, including Liz Hartman from the Chamber, Mary Kay from the schools and members of Rotary.
That willingness to listen and learn was noticeable during our walk. She asked questions. She listened to our stories. She didn't pretend to have all the answers.
And that's important because being a City Councilor isn't about knowing everything.
It's about listening, asking good questions, understanding competing interests, working with the City Manager and staff, and ultimately making decisions for the community.
What did our OTNA Board members think?
After our walk-about, I asked our OTNA Board members: "What adjectives describe Heather?" Here's what I heard:
"Listener, energetic, involved."
"Balanced, reasonable, possibly pragmatic. In the middle politically, not at either extreme."
"Down to earth, very approachable, good listener."
My own impressions? I found Heather to be kind, smart, practical, an excellent listener, a problem-solver and collaborator, and someone who is willing to keep learning. She's also very nice. Those are qualities I value in anyone who takes on the demanding job of serving on the City Council.
Thank you, Heather!
We all enjoyed meeting Heather and appreciated her willingness to spend part of her Saturday walking Old Town with us.
Running for City Council is a significant commitment. We appreciate people who are willing to invest their time and energy in our community and take on what can be a very challenging job.
You can learn more about Heather and her campaign here:
After our walk-about, Heather sent me this very nice note:
"Thank you so much Derrith—it was a joy to meet all of you and to have an opportunity to walk the neighborhood together. I will look forward to seeing you at the neighborhood forum and hopefully on the council.If you have any questions or if anything comes up that would be good for me to know or attend please don't hesitate to reach out.Many good thoughts coming your way, Heather"
Thank you, Heather, for listening to our neighborhood concerns in Old Town and taking the time to see our neighborhood firsthand.
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