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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 2015)
A10 Hood River News, Wednesday, July 22, 2015 Governor Brown Q & A ‘We’re going to need to take proactive measures,’ Kate Brown says of drought and other effects of global warming Oregon Gover nor Kate Brown sat down with the Hood River News editorial board Friday morning to dis- cuss the prescient issues Oregon faces, part of her day-long visit to Hood River. First, Brown signed the af- fordable college bill, SB 81, at CGCC Indian Creek. Then, she fit in a talk with the News between her speech at Leaders for Tomorrow and her business tours at Pfriem Family Brewers and Dakine. Brown fielded questions about numerous topics con- cerning the recent legislative session, from education and infrastructure spending to marijuana and the proposed Nestlé water bottling plant in Cascade Locks. Education Brown signed the Oregon Promise affordable education bill, SB 81, at CGCC Friday morning, then met with local education officials in a round Photo by Ben Mitchell GOV. BROWN SPEAKS at Best Western Plus Hood River Inn at the Leadership for Tomorrow’s 20th anniversary celebration. She told the group, “We are all standing on the shoulders of people who came before us and we need to think of that as we start to grow and train the next generation of leaders. I wanted them to think about the future and who they need to start bringing up with them. We’re standing on the shoulders of others and our shoulders are going to be stood on as well.” Other Leaders for Tomorrow speak- ers were Tofurkey founder Seth Tibbots and 2010 HRVHS graduate Jackson Dougan, who has served as a United Nations Youth Ob- server. Below, Brown shares a laugh with Rep. Mark Johnson fol- lowing signing of the community college bill at Indian Creek. (On page A1, Brown accepts a bountiful gift basket from the Leaders for Tomorrow organization.) table, discussing CTE and STEM education. The complete total num- ber of $7.4 billion (is) a sig- nificant increase from the last biennium. Obviously the growing economy has something to do with that, but we were able to direct the dollars crit- ically important to reducing class sizes, which I know is really an issue in this area. We invested in Career Technical Ed and STEM edu- cation. I followed up the billing signing, Senate Bill 81, with a round table around that particular issue: how can we create an educational system — cradle through ca- reer — that will meet the needs of our diverse student body, giving the opportunity to expand their learning horizons but also meet the needs of our workforce, of the future. We invested heavily in early childhood education, something I’m very passion- ate about, expanding access to Head Start, early funding, all-day kinderg ar ten — something for the first time ever in Oregon’s history — insuring access to more qual- ity day care programs for working families, but also significantly investing in our K-12 schools. We added $12.5 million to our ELL program and have revamped that. I hope it will be a more successful ap- proach than our current sys- tem, as well as providing dedicated funding for GED programing in student ab- senteeism, and so I think there’s some dedicated fund- ing that will help different schools districts based on their makeup. Also there was a signifi- cant investment in the Stu- dent Opportunity Grant. More than 16,000 students will be able to access these grants. These are additional students, after the current number. So speaking as a whole I think we’ve made g reat strides in expanding oppor- tunities for Oregon families across the state. process and make sure that the laws are being enforced — state laws are being en- forced. I guess what I would do is encourage Oregonians to get in touch with my of- fice, which they seem to feel free in doing both through social media and paper and phone calls, but I would strongly encourage folks (who) are concerned or sup- portive of the project to be contacting directly the City of Cascade Locks. Photo by Ben Mitchell Drought declaration GOVE. KATE BROWN meets with Hood River News editorial board. Hood River submitted an emergency drought declara- tion June 24 to the Governor. We’re moving very quickly on these drought declara- tions. I (have) declared 20 at this time. So we move very quickly on them because we want to make sure that the commu- nities can access all the available resources, includ- ing federal resources. You conservation plans, to sub- mit those plans to the Water Resources Department and make sure they have metrics about their water usage and how we can measure if they’re working to conserve energy. And I’ll just tell you per- sonally, I’m reducing my shower time and I’d encour- age my fellow Oregonians to do the same. Oil and coal trains through the Gorge In terms of our agency processes and my commit- ment on new projects … are to facilitate the process and make sure Oregon laws are being followed … that if there is a public process that it be a transparent one and that Oregonians are able to participate in that process Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea TOURING THE BREWERY, Brown samples Belgian Strong Blonde ale courtesy of pFriem general man- ager Ian Hutchings, right and co-owner Josh Pfriem. She also met with local elected and appointed of- ficials from the city, county and port. “It’s a true Hood River success story,” she said of the brewery, pointing to its growth from three to 55 employees since the founding three years ago. “It’s an incred- ible product that’s breaking barriers all across the Northwest.” Brown also visited the neighboring Dakine facility and met with vice president Roger Roediger. “The products they make are really cre- ative. It’s got Hood River DNA all through its products,” Brown said. Sales Tax Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea I think we have to look at all the options, and I think the challenge for Oregon has been with our active initia- tive process, that it’s really been a challenge to rewrite our entire revenue code. I know that we are an un- bound stool. I think that question is, can we do it in a way that makes tweaks to the system that can survive the initiative process and I don’t know what those answers are. At this point I wouldn‘t take anything off the table. Nestlé water bottling plant My job as governor in terms of this particular pro- ject is to f acilitate the this iconic resource for many years to come,” said Dave Meriwether, Hood River County Administrator. The OPRD advisory com- mittee recommended the Punchbowl application last month, but it was uncertain until last week if the funding would come through. At a June 30 Hood River County Board of Commissioners meeting, Meriwether said the Punchbowl project was “fifth in line” at the state committee. OPRD’s Local Government Grant Program gives $4 mil- lion annually to Oregon com- munities for outdoor recre- ation projects — the Punch- bowl grant accounts for about 12 percent of that total funding pool. Last year, the should know, obviously, the drought and its nefarious companion, wildfire, are at the (top) of my radar screen this summer, particularly with the warm, dry weather we’re seeing. Unfortunately, we don’t anticipate that this is a short term issue. This is a long term changing of our climate brought about by global warming and we’re gonna need to take proactive measures to tackle these is- sues. One of the things I’m doing next week is signing an executive order asking my agencies to develop water and have their voices be heard. I will be upfront, I did have a meeting with the governor of Wyoming and they’re cer- tainly encouraging us to move forward on coal pro- jects, but I committed to making sure Oregon laws are begin followed. Marijuana This has been an interest- ing issue for Democrat and Republican legislators to come to g ether. T hey’ve passed multiple major bills on this issue. For me, I wanted to make sure that we kept marijuana out of the hands of young people —that means under legal age — and secondly, that we increased adults’ awareness of marijuana, and third that we work to reduce or minimize the amount of marijuana going into the black market. So toward that end, the bills I have signed I think move us in that direction. When the legislature ad- journed, I get 30 days to sign whatever I have not signed, which is including the bill you just mentioned, and dur- See BROWN, Page A11 Joined the G RANT Continued from Page A1 establish a protected public park: Punchbowl Falls Na- ture Park. The property will pass into the county’s hands by the end of the year and most park improvements, includ- ing a gravel parking lot, in- for mational signa g e, portable toilets and an en- hanced trail system, will be completed by next summer. “The people of Hood River County will be able to enjoy Recycle Tips COMPOST - Food as garbage creates methane, which is a green- house gas 21 times stronger than carbon dioxide. - Food as compost creates soil. - Composting sustains 4 times more jobs than landfilling. - Home Composters are sold at local transfer stations for $50 each. - Commercial Curbside compost service available through Hood River Garbage and The Dalles Disposal Service. www.tricountyrecycle.com 541-506-2636 River City Team! county failed to secure the grant, but the tides have turned in their favor. Meriwether attributed to success to a combined effort from Western Rivers, the state and local resident groups. “We wish to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of the Western Rivers Conser- Matt Rankin Oregon Broker 541-400-0648 209 3rd Street • Hood River mattrankin@remax.net River City See GRANT, Page A11 Y ou have You ha a v e a v voice. oi ce. We wireless. W e help he lp make mak e it wir eles ss. W ith our Lifeline With L if eline C Calling alling Plans, P U U.S. . S. Cellular Cellular® ® off offers er s discou discounted nt ed wir wireless eless service participants certain government assistance programs. ser vice t to o par ticipant s of cer tain go v er nment assis tance pr ogr ams. To more information apply, uscellular.com/lifeline T o get mor e inf or mation or t to o apply y , visit us at uscellular . com/lif c eline give 1-800-447-1339. or giv e us a c call all at 1-800 44 7 1339 . 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