Mayor candidate · City of Oregon City · November 3, 2026
Damon Mabee
Former city commissioner and planning commissioner; retired educator and naval officer.
Reach the campaign
As published in their City filing.
In their words
Said: I have lived my whole life in Oregon City and in the more than 20 years since I became active in Oregon City government, the Parks have been the lowest budget priority.
Pamphlet p. 37
Candidate statement · November 2026 edition; extracted September 21, 2026
Clackamas County voters’ pamphlet · PDF page 37 ↗Nothing skipped: the statement opens with running prose. Verbatim opening of the candidate's own statement; publication by the county does not verify the claims.
The verbatim opening of their voters’ pamphlet statement, the same rule for every candidate. We chose nothing.
What they say they would do
Our summary of their platform, in our wordsMakes parks investment his first priority and calls for a close review of the budget and economic-development choices.
- Find budget resources to repair parks and trails.
- Improve local recreation access.
- Consider industries that allow residents to work near home.
Our reading
Our interpretation, not their wordsParks come first by reallocating within the existing budget; what would be reduced to pay for them, and by how much, is not stated.
Where they stand
Rent and homes
Not foundNot found in the sources we reviewed. That is a research gap, not a position.
Camps, crime and who responds
Active, maintained parks- What
- Said: Would keep parks safe by keeping them active and maintained, so they do not become homeless camps or places where drug users gather.
- How
- Not in their sources
- Measured by
- Not in their sources
Your bills and taxes
Budget savings for parks- What
- Said: Would take a hard look at the city budget to find money to fix the park system, through cost savings rather than new revenue.
- How
- Said: Deliberate cost savings across the budget, the approach he credits with keeping the pool open in 2004; no specific reductions named.
- Measured by
- Not in their sources
Streets, buses and air
Not foundNot found in the sources we reviewed. That is a research gap, not a position.
The choices this office faces
Every candidate in this race is asked the same 6 questions. Damon Mabee is on record on 3, with 3 still open. A question without an answer is a research gap, not a position.
No answer we could findAdopt a temporary moratorium on data centers while the city rewrites its code?
Nothing on this exact choice in the sources we reviewed.
Keep the urban-renewal district (about $3.2 million a year in tax increment) and try again to loosen the charter’s voter-approval rule, or wind it down?
Nothing on this exact choice in the sources we reviewed.
Give ODOT five more years, to 2031, to stage I-205 bridge work in two riverfront parks, and keep pressing the state to strike tolling from statute?
Nothing on this exact choice in the sources we reviewed.
Close the general fund’s structural gap by raising the property-tax rate or the $6.50-a-month public-safety fee, or by cutting?
Said: Says he feels tax and fee changes as a retiree on a fixed income and would take a hard look at the budget to find money for parks; raising the rate or fee, or what to cut, is unsaid.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
Move the city’s Caring Court into the Caring Place services hub, and keep the downtown civil-exclusion zone?
Said: Says safe parks are active parks that do not become homeless camps or places where drug users congregate; the Caring Court move and the exclusion zone are unsaid.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
Ask voters for a parks bond to build a new aquatic center and rebuild the End of the Oregon Trail center?
Said: Calls parks his top priority and recalls helping keep the pool open in 2004 through budget savings; whether to ask voters for a parks bond is unsaid.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid.
A question the evidence leaves open
What spending would you reduce or reallocate to restore parks, and how much would that raise?
Sources (1)
- Clackamas County voters’ pamphlet · PDF page 37Candidate statement · November 2026 edition; reviewed September 18, 2026Written by the candidate or campaign. Publication by the county does not verify the claims.