The Real Story- A Column
Town Halls– something that have been non-existent in Hillsboro in the past few years- are on the rise in the wake of a contentious short session of the Oregon Legislature. For some reason, certain local leaders have decided they want to hold them this Spring, which is a very good thing. In Hillsboro and Washington County, where power rates have doubled, thousands of jobs have been lost, and massive land expansions for AI Factories, Advanced Manufacturing, and Data Centers have been attempted, people are unhappy. And they should be.
March 30th – Hillsboro Town Hall
The three primary architects of Senate Bill 1586, which would have expanded the Hillsboro Industrial boundaries over thousands of acres of farmland, are hosting a town hall. And while they may want to maintain the pretense that this issue is not the reason for the town hall, they have called it for March 30th at Hillsboro City Hall. But those of us watching know what this is about. Both Pace and Sollman have deleted social media posts they made in favor of SB 1586- a telling sign that they want and need to rewrite the script. But meetings have already been held with the landowners, and a big push to reqgroup and retry for the expansion is already happening- more on this later. Having said that, PR Firms and consultants, as well as City officials, are going to flesh out all the issues and come up with a winning strategy to expand our boundaries and these Town Halls become 1) a way to find out how to defeat opposition, and 2) political cover so that they can say “We had several town halls” when they push for the expansions again in 2027. Juan Carlos Gonsalvez is running for METRO President, and he already showed his hand- he wants all of this farmland converted to industry and has committed Metro to being the one to do it, as per his testimony in Salem. This would give his position significantly more cachet and power going forward, should he win. Sollman has carried the water several times on this land expansion and took a beating on social media and in Salem over this last attempt. We see JCG as the new champion of this land, pushing with Beach driving the Industrial expansion bus.
If residents want to attend, they must RSVP, and they must register their questions ahead of time- and there is certainly no guarantee their question will be answered or addressed.
Hillsboro Mayor Beach Pace was visibly angry that Senate Bill 1586 dominated the March 10th, 2026, Town Hall she hosted. About 30 people were in attendance, and maybe one supporter was among them. Pace attacked me personally rather than answering the straightforward question I had asked about the Data Centers. She made a broad and rather personal attack on me for spreading “misinformation” in articles in the Herald, yet provided no evidence, nor has she ever reached out by phone or email, nor asked me in person regarding such claims. The Herald requests information needed for stories from the City of Hillsboro and submits questions about important issues, which are sometimes answered and sometimes not. City Staff generally communicate, and City Manager Hammond has reached out on a few occasions to clarify or request corrections to our stories; we always respond and rest immediately. Having said that, Mayor Pace has my cell and email, and would get an immediate response from me should she ever want to correct us or provide clarity on anything. She has never even once done so in the many years I have known her.
Robert Bailey of Save Helvetia spoke passionately about why leaders at the March 10th Town Hall felt empowered to break agreements made by the City of Hillsboro and others in 2014’s Grand Bargain land deal.
Now with that background out of the way – let me stress to all of you that you NEED TO SHOW UP at these Town Halls- and I believe that those putting them on are going to ask questions, and you should have yours ready. I hope to see you all get to these events!
Virtual Meet-and-Greet: Smart Growth Champions for Washington County – Tuesday March 31st, 2026
Here is a Town Hall being promoted by Friends of Smart Growth, the group that stood tall to fight the land expansion that would have occurred under Senate Bill 1586. This group of candidates and electeds has shown up and spoken up throughout this process over the past few years, and will present their concerns and take questions. An RSVP is not required, and this is an online Town Hall that should accommodate those with mobility issues or who have time and distance constraints in getting to City Hall.
From the social media post:
“Over the past decade, Washington County has opened up to inefficient and expensive sprawl and led to misguided attacks on our land use protections in Salem. A slate of candidates is poised to change that trajectory if they are elected this year. Whether or not you live in Washington County, this region can be a model for smart growth that builds resilient economies inside and outside of urban growth boundaries while building needed housing and protecting farmland and natural resources.”
Join Friends of Smart Growth and your friends and neighbors to meet these candidates and contribute to their campaigns!
Tuesday, March 31, 2026 from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm on Zoom
Register with Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/SmartGrowthSlate
Another Town Hall by Senator Janeen Sollman (Primary Sponsor of SB 1586), Senator Lisa Reynolds, and House Rep Hai Pham is being held at the Hillsboro Senior Center. RSVP is required and SB 1586 will certainly be back up for discussion as these supporters try to distance themselves from it and work on new talking points and agenda items.
From the Social Media Post:
“Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Please join me, Senator Reynolds and Senator Sollman on Monday, April 27th for a Joint Town Hall at the Hillsboro Community Senior Center.
We look forward to the conversation so please bring your questions and comments!
Registration is not required but RSVPs are appreciated.”
When: Monday, April 27th at 6 pm
Where: Hillsboro Community Senior Center, 750 SE 8th Ave, Hillsboro, OR 97123
RSVP: https://bit.ly/4lHfFTw?r=qr
We hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Representative Hai Pham
House District 36
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1436
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-282, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.HaiPham@
Website: https://www.
Get to these events and many others that are coming up if you can. Also, please post town halls you may be hosting or attending in the comments below!
We should be building industrial land next to the highway. Also other than grass fields what crops are being grown on this “farmland”. PS please stop labeling your blog as news.
The crops have been well documented in many hearings and in many dozens of pieces if testimony. If you were involved and engaged you would know this. And we have time tested methods for including lands into the Urban Growth Boundary. This attempt broke all of those rules that have made Oregon what it is today. As things stand right now from a purely legal standpoint these lands are in the rural reserve and not to be touched as per the agreements reached by law in the Grand Bargain in 2014. It can not legally come into the Urban Reserve in any way shape or form without violating that agreement and that will be arbitrated by the courts should this land use battle start again in 2027, which is will. Industrial properties are best suited on non HIgh-Value farmlands. This area while highly touted by the land owners and paid conultants is not well suited under Oregon laws and rules for those uses. The Herald has many contirbuting authors, over 4,0000 people on our subscription news mailer, and has put up over 800 stories- all unique news stories and hundreds of them we brought to the news world first. You can ppund that drum as much as you want- we care not. Fox News is an entrtainment network – do you rail against them? I am guessing not. Fox News itself describes its operations as entertainment and not news. If you review the Fox News website terms of use, you see clearly they say, “Company furnishes the Company Sites and the Company Services for your personal enjoyment and entertainment.”. None of the mainstream news organizations offer a similar descriptor that I could find.
Additionally, Fox News themselves admitted in other court filings, like their defense of Tucker Carlson, that no reasonable person would listen to Fox News and expect to hear vetted news. The judge found, “Fox persuasively argues, that given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statement he makes.” So you can read our news, or not. As I said, it matters not and this article was in fact news- it brought helpful information to members of our communities who would otherwise not know about the gatherings. Sounds like you might rather get yoru news elsewhere- so if you need help finding the button to click us off your screen, please let me know. I am always happy to help folks who get confused or are struggling with technology! Enjoy your evening!