Dorothy English, whose radio ad helped persuade Oregon voters to pass measure 37, died last Friday at age 95. She once told the Oregon legislature that she planned to live to 100 because there were “some bastards I want to get even with.” But she didn’t make it, and–even though measure 37 passed by 61 to 39–she didn’t get even.
Dorothy English at a meeting of Oregonians in Action, the group that promoted measure 37.
English owned 20 acres just outside of Portland in an area that planners had gerrymandered to be outside of the city’s urban-growth boundary. While many areas far more distant from the city were inside the urban-growth boundary, her 20 acres happened to be next to a major city park, so planners simply excluded her from the boundary so they could, in effect, add her land to the park without paying for it.
