Wealthy Portland residents freak out as judge grants public access to a lake

[Demovictory9]

https://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/2025/03/socialism-and-carnival-act-what-some-lake-oswego-residents-say-about-lake-access-amid-legal-battle.html

‘Socialism’ and ‘carnival act’: What some Lake Oswego residents say about lake access amid legal battle.


Last week, Lake Oswego residents flooded city officials’ inboxes with hundreds of emails pleading with them to join a recent legal challenge to once again privatize access to the Portland suburb’s prized waters.
A vast majority of the email authors warned of dire consequences for current users if the general public is permitted to splash, paddle and row in Oswego Lake.

Here’s what some of the residents who wrote to the Lake Oswego City Council — which will hold a public meeting on the topic on March 31 — had to say:

>>> “[T]he fountain area below Millennium Park, which is now a serene area to view the lake, will become nothing short of a carnival act on a hot summer day, with paddleboards and inner tubes prepping to go in the water,” wrote Mark Dunham, who identified himself as a 30-year resident. “The last thing the city (and taxpayers) need is public access to the lake, which will ultimately spoil the lake, the Millennium Park area, and strain the city’s resources.”

>>> “You cannot live in the Governor’s mansion just because you want to, and you think it is your right,” wrote John and Kathy Willis. “None of us can live in the White House just because we feel we are entitled to do so because we are taxpayers in this country.” They added: “When those who work the hardest must give to those who did not make the same commitment, you have socialism.”

>>> “As a frequent user of the lake for the past two years for paddle boarding and powerboating, I personally know how dangerous it can be to enter the lake without the right knowledge and preparation,” wrote Neil Potter. Without more regulations, “It will only be a matter of time before a member of the public is seriously injured, or dies in the lake.”
>>> “We find it appalling that any judge would deem it responsible for others to use the lake we have spent over a decade and thousands of dollars to maintain; when any non-resident can now use it for free,” wrote Ashley and Charles Miller.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. How dare those welfare queens and great unwashed poison the lake for these snobs!

[Cirsium]

2. Look at the development

Check out that lake on Google maps.

The wealthy residents and the developers and landscapers are the ones who have ruined that lake. The shoreline development is over the top. I favor condemning most of those hideous eyesores, suing the residents for the destruction they have caused, and using that money to restore and repair the lake. Then, develop a program for public access and use management.

Evict all of those whining self-centered idiots. You earn the right to use the waterway by respecting it, not by buying it.

[fargone]

3. The riff raff do not know how to properly "lake".