Parking pains
Ahh, says my mind as I walk away from
the car with my kids in tow in Newport. I didn’t need to feed
a meter, or wonder how long we will be in the restaurant, or
worry that the meter is failed and pack my children up to move
down the street to another parking space, or mad that it ate
my first two quarters ….ahh …
So different that feeling is from the
frenzy of parents running in and out to frequent where I work,
saying, “No, put that down, we have to go, just a quick in and
out…we’ll come back later. I am not sure how much time I have
left on the meter.” People forgo coming in with their children
more often due to lack of change, frustration at broken meters
that eat change for breakfast, or time constraints set by
meters.
I heard a mother exclaiming once that
she was being written a ticket just as she had to run and grab
her toddler (a choice she made rather than feed the meter
first — go figure). And now to hear that there is a quota for
how many tickets the parking police must write. As if
penalizing struggling parents in an already difficult struggle
will somehow make it worthwhile? A quota?
We the people of Hood River who live
around here and work here have high housing costs, food costs,
etc., every day. We are not just tourists going to a
restaurant. We live here, and are faced with daily choices and
struggles that have parking meters involved. So perhaps with
the new “scandal” erupting in the City of Hood River, we can
also rethink what our goals are for these parking meters as
well.
Make the tourist pay, if necessary,
and give the rest of us who make this city run a break.
Heather
Clemons-Porter
Parkdale
Trail kudos
Indian Creek Trail is looking great!
Thanks to the crew for all the work.
Samantha Irwin
Hood River
Praising Adventist
Thank you Adventist School! Words can
not express how grateful my family is for the year our
5-year-old son spent in kindergarten at the Mid-Columbia
Adventist School.
For those who aren’t familiar, this
understated school sits on 22nd Street close to Belmont and
houses the most dedicated, caring staff of teachers and
principal. Our son’s class is run by Elaina Mathisen, who is
such a gem. Her dedication to this school is unbelievable! She
has a vast knowledge of how to teach children of varying
abilities and she works so hard at bringing such a wide
variety of experiences to the classroom, both indoors and out.
She is joined by two equally amazing and dedicated assistants,
“Grandma Gigi” and Miss Lisa.
The principal, Peter Hardy, can often
be seen on a Sunday morning working away at improvements for
the school. This is a place where on any given day my
kindergartner has the front door of the school opened for him
by a seventh- or eighth-grader and is greeted by name and with
a smile. What a community this school staff has built.
I encourage anyone to come and see the
seasonal school concerts and listen to the performance of the
older children on the chimes. It is just beautiful. Thank you,
Mid-Columbia Adventist School, from the bottom of our hearts.
Suzanne Cross
Hood River
Idling time?
Well I see that Chrysler is filing for
Chapter 11. I have said all along that if the CEO and top
executives would have trimmed back on their big fat salaries
then they wouldn’t be in this bad situation.
I hope Ford and GM take note of this
or they will go down too.
Ron Dunn
Hood River
Good service
I would like to commend two family-run
companies I have done business with and I am extremely
impressed.
The first is Taylor Automotive, John
and Andrew did an outstanding job making sure our vehicle was
safe and ready for summer trips.
The second is Gorge Environmental Pest
Control; Dan and Shannon are very professional and personable.
Both places are highly ethical, trustworthy and will not sell
you things that are unnecessary.
We live in a tight-knit community and
we need to support and inform one another when we experience
something positive and our expectations have been exceeded.
Thank you.
John Kristmann
Hood River
Vote McBride
I believe Rich McBride will make an
excellent port commissioner. He will conduct the business of
the port in the same thoughtful way he conducts himself. His
broad interests include gardening, music, baking and
craftsmanship.
His interest in community gets
expressed in a loaf of bread, or a dozen eggs from his own
chickens left by the back door at times they are needed, in
his willingness to lend a hand without thought of payment, or
an ear if you want to talk something through. These are
qualities that strengthen the fabric of our community and they
are qualities that should be represented on the Port
Commission.
The port has a lot of power in shaping
our economy and character. The Waterfront Park could not be a
reality until the commissioners believed it was in the best
interest of Hood River County. The people who sit in those
chairs must rely on their experience and judgment to guide the
investments the port makes to improve our quality of life. I
believe Rich would be a valuable voice in crafting those
decisions.
John Everitt
Hood River
Obama’s cost
Good news! Obama’s first 100 days cost
$13 trillion projection; first term, $182 trillion, second
term $364 trillion.
However, most presidents spend more
toward the ends of their terms so multiply the projections by
10. Can your great-grandkids afford this man?
Paul Nevin
Hood River
Move the box
I’m delighted that the Port of Hood
River is moving ahead with this attractive light industrial
green building on its waterfront property. The large
industrial structure could occupy many sites on the port
property.
It is curious why the port decided to
locate it opposite the 6-acre public park development?
Besides, this building should be
running north and south to avoid creating such a visual
barrier on the waterfront.
That space across from the park is the
now the port’s premier piece of property and to place this
incompatible light industrial building where hundreds of
people and occasionally thousands of citizens are gathering
seems incomprehensible. It will silently overwhelm and
actually put a damper on the park.
The property is much more valuable to
the port zoned commercial. In about five minutes I listed
about 20 commercial developments that would love to have this
kind of foot traffic across the road and in the neighborhood.
Whether they are all individually viable or not, the synergy
becomes a real positive economic factor.
The park land is too valuable to
construct a huge concrete walled dead zone across from it.
Let’s think outside this big box!
Nancy Moller
Hood River
Europe model
Can you believe that some people, many
having only lived here since it became fashionable, are
against the commissioning of a wind turbine installation in
Underwood? I know that previous statement is a generalization,
but can’t anyone find some truth in it?
I don’t know how many times I’ve
heard, “I’m all for green energy, but what about my view; my
profiteering of the Gorge; and it taking longer for me to get
over to ‘the Hatch’ due to the increased trucking of heavy
equipment and turbine pieces?” That’s not a real quote, yet,
that’s what I hear.
Within this group of people opposed to
the Whistling Ridge project there has always been a trend of
trying to be more European. They should ask themselves, “What
would Europe do?”
Cheers,
Kevin Herman
White Salmon, Wash.
Health cares
In medicine, there is always the
danger of treating symptoms rather than curing the underlying
illness. The same is true for current efforts at Health Care
Reform. At the heart of our troubled health care system is an
issue we find difficult to acknowledge.
We have created more medicine than we
can afford. Over the past 30 years, spending on health care
has more than doubled as a share of GDP. The Congressional
Budget Office projects that spending will double again by
2035, increasing to 30 percent of GDP.
Health care spending that outstrips
the growth of our economy hurts both families and businesses.
The growing ranks of the uninsured, reduced competitiveness of
U.S. businesses and projected Medicare deficits are the
symptoms, but the underling problem is our inability to
control the growth in health care spending.
As we work to extend affordable health
care to all Americans, we must not lose sight of the
inescapable need to redesign our health care system to one
capable of controlling the growth in spending. Otherwise, we
will end up treating symptoms while the system continues to
hemorrhage.
Rick Davis
Mosier
Real fears
Dick Cheney has said that
waterboarding, formally known as torture, was effective at
preventing another terrorist attack. The implication is that
if torture works, it’s okay. If that’s the starting point, why
stop at waterboarding? If we’re going to be all good with
waterboarding, why not gouge out eyes or cut off legs, which
should really get good “actionable intelligence.” It could be
used on any number of suspects, domestic or foreign.
If illegal wiretapping is just fine,
next time we get really scared, maybe we allow real-time
monitoring of our Internet use and a government monitored
GPSunit in our cars — or, as they have done in some parts of
China, an I.D. card that monitors your every position.
If you think this is a bit Chicken
Little-ish, try to imagine yourself 20 years ago and ask
yourself, 20 years from now will my government monitor my
e-mails and telephone calls? I would have said no way; not
unless we’ve been taken over by China.
Our freedoms distinguish us, and our
representative democracy challenges us to be above this stuff.
We were supposed to be a nation of laws, not men. That means
we don’t act irrationally in a moment of fear because we have
laws that should define the limits of those actions.
This is not a matter of whether you or
I think torture is justified. Our nation has signed two
international laws against it; one of those by Ronald Reagan
himself.
This is one of those times where we
must do the right thing. If we don’t prosecute those who are
responsible for this, regardless of their political
affiliations, we stick one more dagger into our principles of
government and assure it will happen again just as soon as bin
Laden, Jack Bauer or CNN scare the hell out of us.
Many forms of government have tried
and failed. This one was set up so that if we stayed strong
and brave and adhered to its principles, it might succeed. I
think we’re failing badly.
Imagine just how happy Mr. bin Laden
must be right now. With just one day’s attack, he got us, the
strongest nation on Earth, to fundamentally change who we are.
We started torturing; we significantly reined in our freedoms;
we illegally spied on Americans and who knows what else. And
now we are on the threshold of subverting the principle of law
for all the world to see.
Have we turned into sniveling cowards?
If we have, the terrorists by definition have already won.
That, I think, is what we must fear most.
Tom Westberry
Parkdale
ANOTHER
VOICE
Positive agenda underway despite
challenges
By SUZANNE VANORMAN
Now that we’re more than halfway into
the 2009 Legislative session, I think it’s important that we
take a look at what has taken place so far, and the work that
I and other House Democrats have set out to do over the next
few months of the session.
When we began the year we had some big
tasks and important problems in front of us, and I believe
we’ve done a good job prioritizing the things that matter.
It’s no secret that the economic
downturn has been challenging for all of us, but I’m proud of
the work we’ve done to address the situation.
We’ve had to make some tough calls,
but the results are that the House Democrats came together to
create a stimulus package that will create jobs, spur on local
businesses, invest in our infrastructure and help support
Oregon families.
The projects contained in our state
stimulus have touched each county in Oregon, including many
construction projects here within our district.
We’re staring down an even more
challenging budget for the next fiscal year, and it’s my
commitment to continue to honor the areas that mean the most
to us — children and families, jobs, public health and safety
— while making financially necessary decisions.
I’ve been really excited to help lead
efforts in the Legislature to protect our children and give
parents the peace of mind and tools they need. I know
government doesn’t have all the answers, but words are not
enough to protect our kids — we deserve the toughest laws in
the nation.
One of my bills, HB 2206, passed in
the House and is on its way to the Senate. HB 2206 would close
a loophole that allows child care providers who have lost
their license to continue to care for children. Another one of
my bills, HB 2868, also protects children by requiring all
child care providers to attend a special training/orientation.
My HB 3041 would give parents of
Oregon’s Head Start preschoolers the tools they need to make
important medical decisions. This bill would set up a pilot
program that would educate and equip families to better assist
their children medically, cutting down on expensive and
avoidable hospital visits. This one also is headed to the
Senate.
Improving access to affordable health
care is one of the goals for the next half of the session. We
have been informed of the great needs for more health care in
Oregon, and now there are many bills that have been introduced
that can make the needed changes. I have hope that we can
improve our health care system and open the door for tens of
thousands of more Oregonian families, adults and children to
the Oregon Health Plan.
A lot has been accomplished in the
75th Legislature — too much really to list in this space — and
there’s much more to do. Overall I’m confident that, despite
tremendous challenges, we’re showing that we can put forward
an ambitious agenda geared toward improving the safety and
quality of life of all Oregonians.
Thanks again for letting me serve you.
n
Suzanne VanOrman, of Hood River, is
the District 52 representative in the Oregon House.
