This race is an interesting contrast. On the one hand you have a sitting councilor, Megan Norris, who’s been embedded in politics in California and now works for local housing developer, Hayden Homes. On the other hand you have Jonathan Curtis, who was raised in Bend and experienced homelessness before working as a wildland firefighter and now as a business loan consultant. With those backgrounds, both can claim some measure of experience in tackling the issue of housing affordability. Norris was appointed unanimously by her fellow councilors — perhaps a reflection of how deeply the Council is enmeshed with the development industry. Norris has had to recuse herself in roughly 4% of votes since her appointment — not a lot, but those were sometimes important votes, such as the now-disputed Tree Code. These are things to consider when voting.
Still, Norris’ professionalism and preparedness for the job far outshine that of Curtis. He’s a firebrand who has garnered attention on social media for his scathing criticisms of the City Council, but those criticisms lack tangible solutions. We’d like to see Curtis lend his voice as a check on local governments — perhaps on a committee — but Norris is simply more ready to lead here.
WATCH: Videos with Norris and Curtis (separate videos):
This article appears in Source Weekly October 17, 2024.
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