The challenge of helping our students achieve the high academic standards we have set for them. The challenge of reducing juvenile crime. The challenge of managing growth in a way that preserves our exceptional quality of life. The challenge of continuing to restore streams and watersheds throughout the state, including the Willamette River. And the fact is, we know what works.
Juvenile crime offers a concrete example.
Three years ago, in an effort to address this problem, Oregonians passed Ballot Measure 11. We will spend millions more running them. In Portland alone last year there was a record number of gang-related homicides. This irony was brought home to me a couple weeks ago by a juvenile homicide in Boston which made the national news. Because it was the first gun-related killing of a juvenile in Boston in 29 months.