David and his wife Diane moved to Damascus 16 years ago in search of a peaceful rural setting and to escape the stresses of the urban lifestyle.
David was born in raised in East Multnomah Co. so the rural life was new to him. Diane had been lucky enough to be raised in the Damascus-like, rural settings of both La Grande, and Turner Oregon. It took some convincing on her part, but they began searching for the perfect place to live and eventually retire. Fortunately for our community, they chose Damascus.
David is graduate of Parkrose High School, Mt. Hood Community College, and the University of Oregon (David is forcing us to insert "Go Ducks" here). He and Diane met while both were working for Boeing Portland, where he was the Master Schedule Planner for the prime product line at the Portland facility. From there he was recruited and employed by Thyssen Metals and Koei America as a Sales and Aerospace Contract Administrator and US Marketing and Business Development Manager. David was once again recruited and accepted a position with the Windsor Forestry Tool Division of Blount Inc. where he was hired as their Western Territory Manager and eventually was named their Global Brand Marketing Manager. He left Windsor and acquired his Brokers license in 2006.
He and Diane opened Pup Scrub Self Serve Pet Wash & All Natural Pet Foods in historic downtown Gresham in 2003. In 2004, Pup Scrub was one of 6 finalists for Small Business of the Year for Oregon and SW Washington through the Better Business Bureau. The business is now 7 years old and is considered a model for all self-serve pet washes across the country. They are contacted very often for advice from potential new business owners across the US.
Because of the amount of support the local business community and the Gresham Area of Chamber of Commerce gave their fledgling business, David immediately felt the need to give back. He decided to take the business development, sales and marketing skills that he had acquired and use those to benefit the local community and it's business partners. It was not long before, as his Dad used to say "he was asked to be and participated on every Board and Foundation known to man."
David has served on the Board of Directors for the Gresham Area Chamber of Commerce, the Center for the Arts Foundation, the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, and the Computer Recycling Center, among others. His proudest achievement was to take the defunct Downtown Gresham Boosters and reconstitute them into the Historic Downtown Gresham Business Association. The overwhelming success of this new group was not done by David alone, but his leadership as its founder and serving as President the first two years got the right people involved, set impressive goals and then exceeded them. The Historic Downtown Gresham Business Association is now at the table with the City of Gresham, the Chamber of Commerce, and other area organizations when there are discussions the economic future and viability of Gresham.
When Damascus voted to incorporate in 2004, (a move his supporters encourage him not to admit he was against) David saw a need to get involved once again. Because of his involvement with citizen’s committees for transportation and police in Gresham, he understood the tremendous challenge that lay ahead for Damascus and the importance of getting citizens involved. David was concerned that there had not been a new city incorporated in the State of Oregon in 22 years, and there had to be a reason for that! So with these challenges ahead, David made a commitment to run and serve on the Damascus City Council. He has proudly served on that body with commitment and common sense since 2007.
David is very proud of his achievements regarding our biggest challenge in Damascus, citizen involvement. He initiated the "Coffee with a Councilor" program and has hosted over 40 of these events at the Hawaiian Beanz coffee shop near City Hall. He has been the most responsive and accessible of all our City Councilors and is a regular participant at local neighborhood functions and is always ready, willing, and able to talk to any of our citizens or groups. David feels it's his responsibility to listen to all of the 9774 other citizens in Damascus including groups from both sides of every issue. He believes very strongly that you cannot make the best decisions without all of the information, or in the case of Damascus, all the opinions. Other candidates in this race are either strongly aligned with a particular group or have bounced from group to group for their own benefit. David does not believe that choosing sides aligns with his goal of listening to and supporting every citizen of Damascus. When you see him speaking to someone that you are not in agreement politically, know that he will listen to you as well. Through these discussions, he will serve all of our citizen’s best interests.
Our hope is that you have learned about David and, of course welcome any inquiries, and are more than happy to schedule David to meet with you, your group, or your neighborhood. We feel that like us, once you meet and speak to David, you will see that he has the skills and "Common Sense" leadership that Damascus sorely needs.
We thank you for your vote!
Friends of David for Damascus