A Metro councilor with a long history in Portland’s land use and transportation sectors will step down next month as he focuses on treatment for a brain tumor.
Bob Stacey, 71, will resign his position with the regional government on Oct. 15, according to a news release from Metro on Thursday. Stacey represents District 6, which covers portions of Northeast, Southeast and Southwest Portland.
Stacey has been battling meningioma for nine years — a condition that causes tumors to grow in and around the skull --but said that although the prognosis is reasonably good, the illness now requires his full attention.
“Managing these tumors without surgery requires strong medications to reduce swelling,” he said in the news release. “These affect my energy and ability to analyze and think clearly about complex subjects.”
Stacey has been a councilor since 2012, and had previously worked as the director for the Portland Bureau of Planning, the policy and planning director for TriMet, the chief of staff for Rep. Earl Blumenauer and the director of the land-use planning nonprofit 1000 Friends of Oregon.
As an attorney for the nonprofit, he became well-known in the 1970s for battling the Rajneeshee cult’s efforts to build a town in rural Wasco County.
He is a longtime Portland resident who attended Parkrose High School, Reed College and the University of Oregon.
Metro Council President Lynn Peterson called Stacey a “titan of Oregon’s land conservation movement.”
“His service and vision are obvious in all corners of our state, and his wisdom and nearly 50 years of experience is going to be missed on the council,” Peterson said in the news release.
In April, the city of Portland renamed a pedestrian bridge near the Southeast 12th Avenue and Clinton Street MAX station after Stacey, citing his long-term commitment to land conservation and transportation planning.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR
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