Suzanne Miles, Candidate for LO City Council Visits Old Town Neighborhood
On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, September 9, City Council candidate Suzanne Miles came to Old Town for a walk-about with several OTNA (Old Town Neighborhood Association) Board members.
It was a great opportunity to share our neighborhood's challenges and questions with Suzanne—and, just as importantly, to get to know her and learn how she thinks about the role of a City Councilor.
We were impressed.
Suzanne brings an unusual combination of experience: she's an accomplished attorney and prosecutor, a law professor who teaches others to think critically about complex problems, a business owner, and a mom of twin girls growing up in Lake Oswego.
What stood out to us wasn't that she arrived with a long list of campaign promises. Instead, she demonstrated a way of thinking that we believe could be valuable on City Council: listen carefully, ask tough questions, look at the bigger picture, seek out good information and different perspectives, and work collaboratively to find creative solutions. Plus she cares about our town and the people who live and work here.
What stood out to us
We thought Suzanne would be particularly strong in several areas:
Independently researching issues. There is no one whose job it is to gather best practices from other cities, research alternatives, analyze options, and provide City Councilors with additional information before they make a decision. A good Councilor needs to be willing to ask questions, do the homework, and seek reliable information from different sources and stakeholders—not simply rely on the information presented by staff. Suzanne is very well trained to do that.
Setting policy and creating or updating City ordinances. Her legal background gives her a strong foundation for understanding how laws and ordinances work—and for asking whether an existing ordinance is still accomplishing what it was intended to do.
Helping select Lake Oswego's next City Attorney. Suzanne's legal experience could be particularly relevant as the City considers this important leadership position.
Collaborating. Suzanne emphasized the importance of working with other Councilors, the City Manager, City staff, citizens, and outside experts rather than approaching problems department by department.
Raising the bar for customer service and collaboration. We talked about the importance of City staff investing in productive relationships with neighborhoods and businesses, particularly when issues affect them directly.
Asking hard questions nicely. That combination requires both courage and temperament—and it can be surprisingly difficult to find both in the same person.
Walking Around Old Town
Joining me on the walk-about were OTNA Board members Jim Perris, Ann Garcia, and Michael Schmidt.
As we have done with the other candidates running for City Council, we walked through the neighborhood, talked about our history and concerns, and discussed both the "big stuff" facing Lake Oswego and the "small stuff" that can have a big impact on daily life in Old Town. You can see our neighborhood's priorities here:
Seeing Old Town through different perspectives
As a mom, Suzanne was interested in the sports fields at George Rogers Park and the safety and logistics involved in dropping off and picking up children.
She was also thinking about accessibility for her mother-in-law, who uses a wheelchair.
At one point, she turned to our Board member Ann, whose daughter Maya, who has special needs, joined us for part of the walk. Suzanne said, "I don't understand what it's like to have a special needs child, but you do, so I'd want to hear your experiences and perspectives and priorities."
That small moment stood out to us. Rather than assuming she understood someone else's experience, Suzanne recognized what she didn't know and went directly to someone who could help her understand it. And then, almost immediately, she began thinking about how the problems could be addressed.
Who is Suzanne Miles?
She is the daughter of a teacher and a social worker.
She grew up in Cape May, New Jersey, which she described as a "vacation town" that becomes extremely busy during the summer. She also grew up in a community that cared deeply about preserving its historic character. That experience gave her an immediate understanding of some of the challenges we face living next to the "beach" at George Rogers Park.
Her sister became a historian; Suzanne chose to blend her interests in law and social issues through a career as a prosecutor.
She earned an undergraduate degree in Geography and Environmental Studies from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., followed by a law degree from Stanford University.
She has worked as a federal prosecutor in Oregon and California.
She has worked for the EPA, in academia, and in government.
She was a law professor at UC Berkeley and University of Oregon and is now starting a clinic in Clackamas County to train prosecutors.
Her legal work has included a focus on crimes against women and children, as well as appellate cases. She was on the team that prosecuted a case in Medford of a man who held two girls hostage in his basement.
She moved to Oregon in 2005 for a two-year judicial clerkship and ultimately decided to make Oregon her home.
She is a wife and mom to twin girls, who are starting middle school in Lake Oswego.
During COVID, she and another family with twins hired a licensed teacher to teach the children together.
She's a "soccer mom".
She owns her own law practice, giving her some flexibility to take on public service.
And now she's running for Lake Oswego City Council.
You can learn more about Suzanne's professional background on her LinkedIn profile.
What would Suzanne prioritize if elected?
Interestingly, Suzanne didn't begin by talking about specific issues or giving us a list of campaign priorities.
Instead, she focused on how she would approach decision-making and leadership.
Her emphasis was on listening, asking strategic questions, seeking out different perspectives, and using an iterative process to work toward better decisions.
Here are some of the ideas she shared with us:
"I've spent my career working for the government in public service. It's a role to serve others."
"I'd be doing what I do with law students—demanding creative thinking, data, and iterative conversations."
"I'd start looking at how the problems could be grouped together."
"I'd be seeking out and learning from the experts, who may work for the City and elsewhere. There are a lot of smart people here in Lake Oswego."
"The City Council should be focused on setting large goals with mile markers and using an iterative process to make decisions versus 'we have to decide this on Tuesday' when there is more information or questions to be answered."
One comment particularly resonated with us:
"It's always important to listen to the emotion and passion because within that is the heart of a real problem to a person that they really care about. Listening to emotion is important; so is getting the data for what the problem is to be solved."
She also talked about the importance of bringing people together and having the right metrics:
"Progress gets made by bringing groups together for iterative conversations." And "Reassessing the metrics to get them right...in a holistic way."
And taking a holistic view of the City's agenda: "The City Council needs a holistic agenda that addresses problems that are stacked up and also problems that pop up."
And she challenged the assumption that existing laws and policies should simply be accepted because they already exist: "We have a law. It's written down. That doesn't mean it's right or doesn't need to be changed."
Looking at the whole picture—not just individual pieces
We talked with Suzanne about something we sometimes experience as residents: the City can feel as though it operates in silos.
A City Council agenda may include one department presenting its recommendation, followed by another department presenting its piece of a different issue. But sometimes the problems residents experience don't fit neatly into one department.
We used an analogy: Instead of looking at the whole person, imagine having the "purse people," "pants people," "shirt people," and "shoe people" each report separately on what they're responsible for.
Suzanne immediately understood the point and turned it into an example of how she would approach the Council's role: "I wouldn't want to hear from the 'purse people, pants people, shirt people, shoe people.' I'd want them to work with us on the City Council to figure out the best solutions in a more holistic and integrated way."
That was a good example of what we saw throughout our conversation: listen, understand the problem from different perspectives, and then think about how to solve it.
"Would you be our City Attorney?"
At one point, Ann asked Suzanne directly if she would consider becoming Lake Oswego's City Attorney.
Suzanne politely explained that she wants to give back to Lake Oswego in a significant way, but believes she can do that best by serving on City Council. She said that having her own law practice, along with her work with the prosecutor clinic and involvement with her girls, gives her the flexibility to serve.
She had just returned from a family vacation, gotten her daughters started in school, and was working on her campaign website.
She's managing a lot of balls in the air which she'd need to do as a City Councilor.
What did the OTNA Board members think?
After Suzanne left, we talked about our impressions.
The themes that came up repeatedly were:
Listening to residents and understanding their concerns
Seeking information from citizens, experts, and other sources
Collaboration
Creative problem solving
Thinking about the bigger picture
Asking difficult questions while maintaining a respectful tone
Here are some of the comments from Board members:
"I thought Suzanne was an A+. So accomplished! She focused on:
Listening to the issues.
Getting information from citizens and experts
collaboration
Problem solving with creative thinking"
"Very professional. Very bright."
"Good thinker on a number of issues. I think her experience will let her see around corners others might struggle with. Thoughtful approach to handling the volume of information necessary for the job. Great that she has young children in the school system."
"She is impressive! She was excellent at understanding the situation from different perspectives, thinking about the big picture, being skeptical in a nice way, seeking to collaborate, and demonstrating that she's a creative problem solver. She's a fast learner and could raise the performance bar. Strong positive change agent. Likable. She's brave to go after tough problems and has a history of being an effective advocate for the 'underdog.'"
Our takeaway
Every candidate brings a different combination of experience, skills, perspectives, and priorities to this election.
What stood out to us about Suzanne Miles was how she thinks.
She didn't tell us that she already had all the answers. Instead, she talked about asking questions, gathering information, listening to people with different perspectives, challenging assumptions, working collaboratively, and taking the time to develop better solutions.
That's an interesting approach to the job of a City Councilor—and one we enjoyed learning more about during our walk through Old Town.
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