Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2020)
2 Wednesday, January 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O Fun in the snow! N Development threatens quality of life By K. Meheen Guest Columnist Snow-lovers had to climb a bit for it, but there was fun to be had over the holiday. PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK 2020 Nugget Deadlines Our printing location has changed (see story, page 14). To meet tight turnaround and delivery times, we must adhere strictly to the following deadlines: Display Advertising, Announcements, Events, Meeting Calendar ... 5 p.m. on Friday Letters to the Editor, Classifieds, Obituaries, Subscriptions ... Noon on Monday Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and phone number. Letters 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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: On behalf of all the members of the Sisters Schools Foundation, I would like to extend a very sincere <Thank-You= to all of our won- derful Outlaw Country supporters! Throughout the year and especially dur- ing our annual giving campaign, we have been gifted with your generous donations. Our Foundation supports great local programs for students, such as purchasing new musical instruments for the band, new technology for code programming in all three schools and the outdoor learning programs ECoS and IEE. Your donations also go to grants submitted by local teachers for equipment or supplies in innovative learning projects. In addition, each spring the foundation awards financial schol- arships to local graduating seniors. We would not be able to help all of our great students without this community. For more information on our programs or how you can donate please visit www.ssd6.org under the <about us= tab. Thanks again, and GO OUTLAWS! Angela Buller See LETTERS on page 11 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Snow Showers Mostly Cloudy Rain/Snow Snow Showers Snow Showers Snow 37/29 38/28 44/32 38/30 39/28 35/21 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC 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. Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Graphic Design: Jess Draper & Lisa May Community Marketing Partners: Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal Classifieds & Circulation: Kema Clark Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Owner: J. Louis Mullen The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $55; six months (or less), $30. First-class postage: one year, $95; six months, $65. Published Weekly. ©2020 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. 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. The Three Wind devel- opment is right next to a significant number of The Pines homes, and four of the high-density apartment buildings abut directly behind these homes, with a so-called buffer of two-inch caliper trees which will take many years to grow into an actual buffer. In addition, the parking allotted for the eight-unit, 12-unit, and three 10-unit apartment buildings is wholly insufficient. One stall per unit is not suffi- cient. Where are all the extra cars going to park? In the open space area? In the busi- nesses parking lots? Having this many new residents of these apartments will increase noise, car traffic and, unless these buildings are one-story, they will look directly into our homes and yards and forfeit the privacy we have enjoyed for many years. Realizing the need for housing in our town, does it have to be at the expense of the quality of living we at The Pines presently enjoy? The Pines is for 55-and- older residents and many enjoy sitting on their decks in the morning, drinking coffee and listening to the birds. At night, a favorite pastime is to enjoy a bev- erage while gazing at the star-and-planet-filled sky. It seems that the City has decided to ignore The Pines completely and jam thou- sands of feet of commercial businesses, with their gen- erators and pumps and gar- bage collection, and high- density housing with inad- equate parking right down our throats 4 development that includes a fast-food establishment with drive- through service and a Dollar General that will be open until 10 p.m. The increase in noise, distracting lighting, and traffic is going to be astronomical. Sisters received an award from WHO as an official age-friendly city. Sisters is supposed to value its seniors and be concerned with their well-being and quality of life. Being subjected to years of noisy, dusty con- struction, with the result being permanent noise and traffic, is marginalizing seniors and not considering their quality of life. And the <traffic study= that was done recommends NO traffic calming features and says that traffic will be distributed equally to McKinney Butte and Hood Avenue, streets that they say can accommodate the increased traffic with no problem. Well, I bet they didn9t do the study during peak school hours, because traffic currently during this time is already bumper-to-bumper. Add this to the explod- ing tourist traffic at certain times of the year, and the result will be a huge traffic nightmare. For the residents of The Pines who currently enjoy walking to Ray9s, their doc- tor, PT or gym there is no crosswalk to cross busy McKinney Butte unless they walk an extremely long way to find a crosswalk. To go across McKinney Butte now is an accident waiting to happen. The increased traffic from this large Three Wind development will cre- ate an impossible situation. Traffic calming is essential. The Three Wind bur- den of proof statement says that the sections on Street Tree Maintenance, Urban Forestry, Activities Prohibited, and many oth- ers are purely advisory. Does that mean they intend to ignore these City rec- ommendations which are included there to enhance the livability of Sisters and promote public health and safety? Why the City of Sisters is intent on eliminating our small-town livability and become just another overcrowded, mediocre town with fast-food estab- lishments and low-quality businesses is question- able. Why throw away the unique characteristics that define our town and create another junky, low-quality town? Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.