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November 13, 2008 Opinions |
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—Letters To The Editor—
Red Cross Blood Drive Needs You
To The Record-Courier:
The Red Cross Blood Drive will be visiting Baker City again on Nov. 17 and 18. We had a scheduling problem this time so the drive will be held in the Family Life Center at the Nazarene Church on Hughes Lane. The times are from 1-6 p.m. on Monday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Tuesday.
Baker City has been known for making its quota, or very close to it, for many years. However, lately that hasn’t been the case. It seems like more people are retiring from giving or moving away or whatever than we are recruiting and it is becoming very difficult to supply our share of the blood for this region.
Therefore, I am sending a plea to all who read this letter and ask you to please come and give. It takes an hour of your time and it doesn’t hurt. You can have lunch or a snack and you will be saving three lives! Do call me with any questions or to make an appointment. However, walk-ins are always welcome also.
In the United States someone needs a blood transfusion every two seconds and people count on blood being available when it’s needed. So give a patient in need a reason to be truly thankful this Thanksgiving season.
Call me, Colleen Brooks, at 523-4650. We really do need you.
Colleen Brooks
Red Cross Blood Drive
Chairman
Baker County Zoning Ordinance Hearing
To The Record-Courier:
Baker County is in the process of revising the Baker County Zoning Ordinance, and has held several hearings regarding the draft of the proposed new ordinance. After becoming aware of the extent of the revisions and having conversations with a number of people, I came to the conclusion that the notices of said hearings did not make clear the extent of the revisions, since no one seemed to be aware of them.
This proposed ordinance contains among other things, some severe restrictions on the creation as to the construction of any private roadway. One of the proposed provisions is that no private road easement shall be less than 30 feet wide, which may be modified to allow a driveway easement of 20 feet to one parcel or lot. It also states that new private road easements shall provide access to no more than two parcels — if more than two parcels need access, then access shall be provided by a “public use road.”
Patented mining claims also face new restrictions as to any construction of a dwelling, including a replacement dwelling. For example, a replacement dwelling would not be allowed at all if access is by a BLM or Forest Service Road, unless “the Forest Service Road is paved to a minimum width of 18 feet, there is at least one defined lane in each direction and a maintenance agreement exists between the USFS and landowners adjacent to the road, a local government or a state agency.”
The above is only a brief summary of some of the proposed restrictions of use of private land. If you own, or expect to own rural property, or just plain care about private property rights, then you should be informed about what is in the proposed ordinance, because if you require a building permit to improve your property, or to rebuild after a fire, you could easily be spending more on your driveway or road to get to the house than what the house costs. In many cases the terrain would not allow the roadway to be constructed to meet the new requirements. The Draft Zoning Ordinance can be accessed on the Planning Department’s website, www.bakercounty.org/planning/Ordinances.html, and can be reviewed in hard copy at the Planning Department office in the Baker County Courthouse, and at each branch of the Baker County Public Library. There are two upcoming hearings for the final approval — the first is Nov. 13 regarding all of the ordinance except roads, and the second is Dec. 2 as to the roads. Each meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at the Baker County Extension building.
We are fortunate to have good public officials in the county, but they won’t know our cares or concerns if we don’t let them know.
Laurene Chapman
Baker City
Historic District Wonderful
To The Record-Courier:
Virtually every visitor to Baker City comes to the same conclusion upon discovering our community for the first time: “Oh, what a wonderful downtown.”
More than anything, our historic district is Baker City’s defining characteristic. The preservation and promotion of our downtown will remain our top drawing card for decades. In fact, the value of this unique asset will only grow over time.
When my family moved to Baker City in 1987, Historic Baker City, our downtown development organization, was an all-volunteer organization. Thanks to some very dedicated volunteers, the wheels were in motion for improvements to come to the downtown.
By the early 1990s, the organization had become staffed by a downtown development professional, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of grant funding has leveraged millions of dollars of private sector improvements which have totally transformed our downtown. Our ability to maintain this momentum has been through the Business Improvement District and Economic Improvement District. We can only expect that outside investment will come into our downtown if we demonstrate our own willingness to invest.
I encourage my fellow downtown business owners to make this investment, and to contribute their time and energy into our downtown development organization.
Brian D. Cole, Downtown Business Owner
President, Orbis Group, Inc.
EID Equals Success
To The Record-Courier:
Property and business owners in downtown Baker City are again faced with a decision: do you continue to have the outstanding successes that have occurred over the past 20 years or do you take your chances that future progress will happen on its own?
Historic Baker City, Inc. operates under the four principles of a downtown program: organization, promotion, design, and restructuring. Their mission is to “promote a healthy and prosperous downtown.” Facade renovations, streetscape improvements, events, small business assistance and much more are made possible through the tireless efforts of the staff and volunteers of Historic Baker City. Funding through the Economic Improvement District provides for a full-time staff person to carry out the goals established each year that help Historic Baker City – and in turn, the entire community – succeed.
For residents of our fine community, it is easy to overlook the incremental improvements that have occurred in the last two decades. However, these positive changes are very noticeable to visitors, especially those looking to call Baker City and County their new home. They comment on the historic restoration of buildings, the street benches and trees, and quality downtown promotions. More importantly, they catch the spirit of revitalization that is making Baker City a standout town in rural Oregon.
Yet, in a recent community survey, those that live here also recognize the changes. Residents agreed that it is important for our historic assets to be preserved and maintained. Many respondents also mentioned downtown development as a project of which they are most proud. These responses indicate that the proactive efforts made possible through Historic Baker City and the Economic Improvement District are making a difference.
Still, the work is not complete. There are several major historic building facade restoration investments to be made. Some empty storefronts remain. Streetscape improvements to other areas of the downtown district need to be completed. Some believe that nothing is being done to try and resolve these issues. Quite the contrary is true. HBC, Economic Development and the City of Baker City work closely to encourage private investment, as well as leverage public dollars for infrastructure improvements. Without future efforts made possible by the Economic Improvement District, these efforts will be severely hindered.
In reality, while many Amill towns throughout the Pacific Northwest have experienced serious flight of retail businesses brought about by the decline of the wood products industry, Baker City has weathered this economic storm in remarkably good condition. Without the efforts of Historic Baker City, made possible by the Economic Improvement District, it is not unlikely that we may have seen entire blocks of empty, dilapidated storefronts — similar to what we had in the mid-1980s. Clearly, residents want more retail opportunities, but they won’t materialize without a plan, resources, and people to carry out that plan.
As the economic development team for the area, we are involved in many different projects throughout Baker County. One unique asset we have is our downtown historic district. The resources leveraged by the Economic Improvement District produce a tremendous return for our community, making our town more appealing to business owners and representatives looking to relocate or expand.
We have witnessed the difficulties that volunteer-only organizations with broad and aggressive missions deal with in the absence of full-time professionals. The Economic Improvement District makes it possible for the downtown to have a professional staff person solely devoted to its needs. For those of you who own a business or property in the community’s central business district, the question for you is not, “Can I support the Economic Improvement District renewal?” But rather “How can I not support it?”
We encourage all of you to support the renewal of the Economic Improvement District.
Jennifer Watkins
Community Development Director
Gene Stackle
Economic Development Manager, Local Business Development
Jake Jacobs
Economic Development Manager, Business Recruitment
Is This Our Last All-Inclusive Veterans Day?
To The Record-Courier:
All our veterans have been honored on this day since it first began, the living and disabled as well as the deceased. These are the people who have served our country, and paid the price to protect our freedoms. Many of these veteran’s both young and old alike were disabled while serving, others are aging. But now we have a change in the making. Soon our living and disabled veterans will be dishonored, by losing their civil rights.
Presently more veterans are surviving due to advanced battlefield medical attention; many returning veterans are coming home disabled. If the U.S. Forest Service prevails in closing 1,400 miles of roads in Baker County, and many more in Wallowa, Union, Grant, and Umatilla Counties, veterans will be losing everything they fought for, their Constitutional, Legislative, and Civil Rights. The disabled are excluded by the U.S. Forest Service definition of a wheelchair, yet any able bodied person can still use these roads to walk or bike on. This certainly dishonors our disabled veterans, as well as the common man, woman, and child they fought for.
The losers are:
Legal mining, water right access, routine police patrols, county owned right of ways (RS 2477), community policing, recreation, hunting, fishing, our heritage, culture, economy, just to name a few. The number and names of roads that they plan to close will no longer have signage, which will further complicate the response to people in need of assistance and the new maps will not identify these roads as ever being in existence, that’s 1,400 miles of roads being wiped off the map in Baker County alone.
Just obey the Statutes that protect us and our Democracy:
The County Commissioners must cancel The Letter of Intent (MOU) that they have signed giving the final decision on these issues to the U.S. Forest Service. They must insist the Forest Service obey all Federal, State, and Local Laws, and to be up front with transparency and accountability. The laws that protect us are fundamental and the foundation of our system of Government; can you imagine being required to need a contract to force obedience to the law, and its protections?
Please refer to the article in The Record Courier, Thursday Oct. 30, 2008, showing the draft letter by Commission Chairman Fred Warner to the “Big Look” (land use decisions). The list of reasons (1 thru 6) stating why decisions should be handled at the Baker County level, and that they are qualified to do so most effectively. These six reasons hold true in the attributes for the future of Veterans Day.
We must have faith in our Democratic Republic. We must stand up for our Disabled American Veterans, because they stood up for us!
Roy H Barnes
Retired OSP
Electricity Comes With Impact
To The Record-Courier:
As the Baker area wrestles with the issue of the proposed Boardman to Hemingway Power Line, it has been proposed that this line won't directly benefit us, so we should just outright reject it.
Let me just remind everyone that as I write this letter on my computer, with my TV on, in my comfortably heated home, that virtually all (OTECC says over 99%) of our electricity comes from big power lines that go through someone else's backyard. If you have any doubt, just look at the huge towers leading away from the McNary and John Day dams next time your driving west on I-84.
If we want to reduce the chance that we have to send our young men and women overseas to defend our energy security, then we must make big strides with our energy independence. If we want to improve our national energy independence, then we need to vastly increase our energy infrastructure — and that includes power lines.
So, if we can focus more on how to best route the power line to minimize its impacts, rather than lamenting the fact that our electricity comes with an impact, we’d probably all be better served.
Just a thought!
Mark Henderson
Haines, Ore.
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