Growth is something that Oregon, like Washington, has plenty of experience with. A hot economy and a spectacular setting combined to draw hundreds of thousands of newcomers to the state in the 1990s, pushing its population up 17 percent. Oregon has a national reputation for managing its growth more gracefully than most - limiting sprawl, saving forests and farmland. But AGO contends that managing growth isn't enough, that traffic congestion and disappearing green places provide ample evidence that Oregon's vaunted quality of life is slipping away. The group's proposals include making new development pay upfront the full cost of schools, roads and other public services it requires, cutting immigration 80 percent and changing tax laws to reward families that have just one child.
Most people assume growth is good or inevitable, or both.
Public policy reflects those assumptions. In that context, a group such as AGO might seem as relevant as the Flat Earth Society. But AGO is challenging those assumptions. It has already inspired a similar group to organize in Washington state. Kiss my ax, Andy' Kerr is probably the best-known environmental activist in the state, and the most controversial.