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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 2015)
2 Wednesday, July 22, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Editorial… Housing has to be a priority for Sisters If Sisters is to continue to be a vibrant community, a mix of housing types and price ranges has to be a priority in local planning. If Sisters schools are to recover the enroll- ment they need to be healthy over the long haul, young families with children have to be able to move here. That means they need housing they can afford — and not just hous- ing for purchase. Central Oregon’s rental market has grown exceedingly tight, mak- ing it difficult for folks to establish them- selves here and eventually enter the housing market. Recently surveyed business owners note that lack of workforce housing has a negative impact on employee hiring and retention. If the people who work in Sisters can’t find a place to rent in Sisters or can’t afford to live here, they’re going to look for employment closer to home and lose the commute. The City of Sisters has a limited toolkit to provide incentives to build affordable hous- ing, but they are looking at ways to deploy reductions in fees, zoning changes and loos- ened code restrictions to jump-start afford- able-housing efforts. One thing the City can definitely do is to tread carefully in allowing develop- ers to change plans that are already in place that could provide more affordable housing options. Last week, representatives of Hayden Homes floated the possibility of modifying their master plan for the remaining phases of their development at the west end of Sisters. The development plan approved by the City of Sisters in 2010 called for 273 total dwell- ing units, including 164 apartments and 109 townhouses. Hayden Homes’ development model and area of expertise is in construction of single-family residences. There’s no harm in talking about mak- ing changes. Hayden Homes is to be com- mended for seeking public input in a work- shop before making a proposal, and the Sisters Planning Commission should be will- ing to consider alternatives. However, the burden must be on the developer to demon- strate why changing an agreement that has been in place for five years is a good deal for Sisters. It may be true, as many folks believe, that single-family homes are a better “fit” for Sisters. But a single-family home may not be in reach for many folks who work in Sisters or for a young family that wants to get a start here and send their kids to Sisters schools. The town needs rental units and financially accessible homes. The City and developers should work together to find ways to make that an economically viable proposition — and do it quickly. The need is great. Jim Cornelius News Editor Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let- ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: Some very well-written and thoughtful let- ters written in support of the proposed trail between Black Butte Ranch and Sisters, and glad to see them. I had guests from out of state and we went for a couple of rides from Tollgate — one south on Highway 20 to Sisters and up across McKenzie Pass on Highway 242 (a wonder- ful experience), and a second to Indian Ford Road and back to Sisters to visit the Quilt Show exhibits. See letterS on page 18 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday thursday friday Saturday Sunday Monday Sunny Mostly sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Mostly sunny 76/39 74/46 82/51 82/50 79/48 81/na The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson News Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Williver Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Advertising: Lisa Buckley Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $40; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2014 The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. Rachel Marsden American Voices PARIS — The five per- manent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany have struck a deal with Iran to lift economic sanctions and open the country back up for busi- ness in exchange for limita- tions on Iran’s nuclear pro- gram. While skepticism may remain about Iran’s will- ingness to follow through on the agreement, Western nations nevertheless must quickly and decisively shift from a conventional-security mindset to one of economic security. Economic security is syn- onymous with national secu- rity — more so now than ever before in this era of per- petual fiscal crisis. The Iranian situation is unique. Try to recall the last time that a significant nation- state economy opened up to the West for business. The first one that comes to mind is the Soviet Union follow- ing its dissolution in 1991. Remember how Russians were going to fall in love with Hollywood and Levis and become overnight entrepreneurs? Ye a h , w e l l , s o m e Russians became entre- preneurs, all right. They’re called “oligarchs.” The Kremlin divided up the peo- ple’s assets, handed them out to a few cronies (some of whom soon went over- seas to live the good life), and we in the West cheered that Russia had embraced capitalism. As long as Russia was no longer seen as a military threat, the West didn’t seem to care that this version of capitalism was nothing more than lip service. Cereal boxes have more detailed instructions for their enclosed toys than the Russians were ever given for their newfound capital- ism. Nearly 24 years later, Russian President Vladimir Putin is still trying to steer Russia’s fledgling version of capitalism off the rumble strips. That’s the mistake the West is in danger of making with Iran, as it has made with so many other post-conflict economies. The nuclear deal with Iran represents a window for the West to export capitalism— not the crony capitalism of Wall Street, please, but true capitalism. Western govern- ments should make it as easy as possible for entrepreneurs to gain access to the Iranian market, but those govern- ments should also help instill security through measurable economic engagement and profit. That means opening up Iran not just to big cor- porations and their lobbyists, but to the individual capi- talist who wants to venture out into the new frontier in search of opportunities, Gold Rush-style. The West has been oper- ating on a hot-conflict foot- ing for so long, it’s way overdue for a massive shift in focus away from conven- tional (and often redundant) security and toward stability through foreign economic engagement. Consider the recent exam- ples of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. We have gone into these countries on a military basis and have failed to tran- sition to economic stability after investing billions of dollars in warfare. In the post-9/11 era, scores of “counterterrorism” and “security” experts have come out of the woodwork and flooded the private sec- tor. This period has produced far fewer experts analyz- ing post-conflict or emerg- ing markets for economic opportunity, regulatory har- monization and strategic partnerships. Part of this can be blamed on the system itself, whereby nation-states’ development funding is largely laundered through bloated bureaucra- cies and world governing bodies, virtually ensur- ing that by the time these funds trickle down to the people who are rolling up their sleeves and doing the groundwork, there isn’t much left. Imagine if most of the time and effort being spent on what has thus far been an unsuccessful fight against overseas terrorism were applied to concocting ways to engage emerging post- conflict economies. Maybe one of the many candidates running for the U.S. presidency and prom- ising economic growth can figure out how to lead this change of direction in short order. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.