The Lake Oswego-Tigard (LOT) Water Partnership is offering a $5 million "right of way" bribe to West Linn's city council to override the West Linn Planning Commission’s permit denial and allow their water plant and pipeline expansion to go forward. However, the neighbors being impacted by this monstrosity have been offered next to nothing, and are being sued by Lake Oswego for wanting to maintain the residential character of their neighborhood.

The impacts of this project are quite serious, including three years of lost property values, heavy construction noise, traffic and dirt, closed/clogged roads, inability to sell our homes and an industrial plant in our residential neighborhood.This sleazy tactic reminds us of the 1993 movie (“Indecent Proposal” starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore), but in this case, the rich interloper is offering West Linn $5 million for the privilege of screwing our neighborhood. West Linn gets the money for which they’ve done and given up nothing, while the neighbors take the financial, emotional and environmental hit. Let’s hope the West Linn City Council finds the collective backbone to stand up for its taxpaying citizens and stop this project from going forward.Michael Ragan

West Linn