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A4 Weekend of February 8-9, 2020 The Dalles Chronicle TheDallesChronicle.com OPINION The Dalles: One Town—One Team W E ALL JUST WITNESSED A small-town revolution initiated by the community who shared the love of their town to #thedalles and beyond! How awesome is it to be a part of what is happening in this community. This is just the beginning of something big! Both non-profit and for-profit organizations, business owners, property owners, city officials and the community all coming together to work for the common good of the community by creating economic development through revitalization of our city, job growth, and new housing. A byproduct of this growth is a visibility outside of The Dalles, and a buzz that affects people’s choices of where to land when they visit the Columbia River Gorge area. The great thing about this is this spirit that we are showing to the outside world. It is something this community has had for a while and channeling it will be the spur that kicks into action excitement to visit and build families and homes in The Dalles. This community is great! There are over 40 organizations that I know of working within their expertise to better The Dalles and give back to the community in the Economic studies show that ev- ery dollar that is brought into town typically gets multiplied in the community on average 30 times. That means that $100 spent by outside sources in town represents Todd $3,000 to our community. Carpenter Imagine a large event or group of events that is collaborative, promot- form of different projects. Sharing ed, marketed and cross promoted the love, creating a buzz, and throughout the year so that the working together is what will shift choices people make when they the dichotomy of giving from being decide to travel in the spring, sum- fully funded by our community, mer, fall and winter brings them businesses and the city to being to The Dalles? Imagine how our partially or fully funded by those local businesses will be impacted if outside of The Dalles. organizations work with businesses We want and need outside dollars in planning events to ensure we are to grow this community and pro- not pulling customers out of stores vide services to help the homeless, but inviting them in? We have that at risk youth, struggling families and power in our community, we can affect this change if we work and more. plan together. We can grow and Every dollar that is brought into support each other by using this The Dalles by boat visitors, state methodology. grants, new development, bikers, For example, during the last hikers, campers and other vaca- two months following an October tioners has an economic impact. “better together” event hosted by We see it all starting with The Dalles area Chamber of Commerce Columbia Bank, individuals and organizations got together and “Cherry Fest” in April and ending with “cruise nights” during August. wrapped the towns October events into a theme called “Spooky Town Businesses all over town will tell 2019.” This series of individual you that their biggest challenge is the “off” season, they do well during events wrapped together under this promotional theme gave The Dalles tourist season. an opportunity to advertise to the rest of the Columbia River Gorge area and beyond what a cool place The Dalles was to visit in October. It was the beginning of a move- ment to unite for common goals for our community. We loosely followed this with a series of events in December with a working theme of “Christmas in The Dalles,” and then got a boost from the TV show Small Business Revolution. The excitement was building and this final push was not only real, it was infectious. We should now be look- ing for opportunities to build on this collaborative excitement and use it to advertise The Dalles to the outside world. In the past organizations in our community worked together under one brand to promote groups of events under the Fort Dalles Rodeo theme. I’ve seen marketing materials for events over at least two weeks and have seen pictures of the streets flooded with people cel- ebrating. I have talked with people who told me there were thousands of visitors during these events and it was amazing! There is a small planning com- mittee right now working together with a vision proposed by our mayor to bring a group of as many groups made threats that closed down the Capitol. Democratic leaders and Gov. Kate Brown abandoned the bill to finish the session. This year, GOP Senators are indicating that if another climate bill is introduced, they may walk out again. This is no way to act as an elected official. If Sen. Chuck Thomsen and his Republican Senate colleagues do not want to do the work of gov- erning, staying in place, discussing, negotiating, doing the best they can for their constituents, they should get out of those positions and make way for real, functioning represen- tatives. We can and will help with their retirements, if needed. Thank you, Linda Densmore Hood River climate change, I expect all senators to stay and do their job. Tracie Hornung Parkdale Guest Commentary as 200 local and worldwide artists to town for a festival of art, music, food and community. This will be a collaborative effort and we will be asking the entire community to be involved. There are logistics that one entity will not be able to accomplish by themselves. We will need organizations to operate in their expertise, or “their lanes,” to hammer out the details and execute together in order to pull this off. It is exciting to see, and it is going to be huge! We can bring bigger econom- ic vitality to The Dalles. We have everything we need to support our community, grow it and still main- tain our small-town charm. I’ve said it before, The Dalles is happening! Visitors, developers, homeowners, business investors and contractors have all overlooked our town for years, but people are starting to notice. Word of mouth and social media is a powerful tool. We can use it to propel this community. Be a part of this change and work with us together—“All for One The Dalles,” “Love the Dalles,” “Explore the Dalles,”—“One Town One Team!” I’m excited, let’s do this #thedalles. YOUR VOICE Support climate legislation on legal fees. Wasco Electric Co- operative spent $160,000 to defend a single public records request asserting Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) 62.440. This on top of a To the editor, number of other lawsuits Wasco As a supporter of climate leg- Electric has had to deal with over islation, I have been reading the comments of Republican legislators the years. As things turned out, Wasco and the timber unity group. It’s clear that they just aren’t interested Electric didn’t even need a lawyer. in compromise - they say so openly. While Judge John Wolf could have simply dismissed the case; instead They have found that they don’t he fined us $1,800 just for asking. need to compromise, they don’t This despite the fact that the statute even need to win many elections. provides for legal fees to enforce They can just run off to Idaho and (not defend) this provision. shut the government down. This is Judge Wolf also allowed Wasco not how the government is sup- Electric to submit documents posed to work. A political party under seal. While at times there is that can’t even win enough seats good reason to seal court records to keep the other side from getting conducting a secret trial for the a super-majority is not supposed purpose of shielding Wasco to have a veto on laws they don’t Electric and people like Jeffrey like. Democrats have made many Epstein from embarrassment is not changes to the law, but as long a good reason. as Republicans think they don’t So much for government have to com-promise, no changes transparency. Welcome to Wasco will matter. The state constitution County. actually has provisions to prevent Britt Storkson abuse of the quorum requirement, The Dalles but these are not working when our legislators run off to Idaho. Please stay and do your work and vote on these bills. And if you want to block a law, try winning a few more seats in Salem so you can win a vote there. To the editor, Dean Myerson Oregon’s short legislative session The Dalles of 35 days started Monday, Feb. 3, and there are many important bills for legislators to work through. They can’t do that if they walk out, as they have again suggested they might, putting partisan games above the jobs for which they were elected and above the needs of their constituents. To the Editor, When HB 2020, the climate Regarding the $88,000 that Mid- Columbia Fire and Rescue (MCFR) bill, was introduced last year, Republican senators walked out to spent on legal expenses; MCFR is a piker when it comes to spending prevent a vote, and far-right militia Senators: Stay and work. Government transparency lacking Chelsea Marr/Publisher • 541-296-2141 Ext. 119 cmarr@thedalleschronicle.com CeCe Fix/Business Manager • 541-296-2141 Ext. 110 cfix@thedalleschronicle.com Tanya Lindsey/Circulation Manager • 541-296-2141 Ext. 108 tlindsey@thedalleschronicle.com Mark Gibson/News Editor • 541-296-2141 Ext. 107 mgibson@thedalleschronicle.com • Established 1890 • Ray Rodriguez/Sports Editor • 541-296-2141 Ext. 105 541-296-2141 rrodriguez@thedalleschronicle.com 811 East Second, The Dalles, OR 97058 A member of Eagle Newspapers, Inc. Joe Petshow, President Neita Cecil/Reporter • 541-296-2141 Ext. 115 © 2018 The Dalles Chronicle All rights reserved ncecil@thedalleschronicle.com Stay on the job To the editor, State senate Republican leader Herman Baertschiger said another walkout by Republicans, as they did last year, during this short legislative session is possible in order to deny Democrats a quorum on climate change legislation. In light of that news I’d like all senators and their constituents to be aware of this: According to the Bend Bulletin (Jan. 29, 2020), “21 companies, including Nike and Microsoft and two health care climate alliances in Washington and California, sent a letter to ‘leadership and legislators of the Pacific Coast,’ urging them to adopt cap and trade programs, which they argue can promote economic growth.” I would think those last three words should strike a chord with our Republican senators. When the vote comes up on The Dalles Chronicle is published Wednesday and Satur- day except: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Entered as Periodicals postage paid at the Office of The Dalles, OR and additional mailing offices. polls have shown that over eighty percent of Republicans, Democrats and Independents support the American Anti-Corruption Act. EDITOR’S NOTE: In the letter above, Ending corruption is an issue we the Craft Brew Alliance was referenced can all get on board with. as a signatories to the letter encourag- Represent.us brings together ing adoption of cap and trade programs. conservatives, progressives, and That reference has been removed. The everyone in between to pass pow- original letter included a signature from erful anti-corruption laws that stop the Craft Brew Alliance. The alliance, political bribery, end secret money however, has since contacted the report- and fix our broken elections. er and said they were not signatories Anti-corruption laws are being to the letter, and that their inclusion passed all over America right now. was a mistake on the part of Ceres, a Both Oregon and Washington states Boston-based nonprofit that organized have already passed some anti-cor- the letter. ruption laws supported by the Represent.us movement. Amazingly the state of Maine now uses “Ranked Choice Voting (RCV)” on their state level elections! RCV is only one part of the Anti- Corruption Act. If you don’t know what ranked choice voting is, there To the editor, Here’s some good political news! are many articles and videos about it on the internet. Ranked choice There is a national organization, voting, sometimes called “order of www.represent.us, who’s only mission is to end corruption in American politics. Independent See YOUR VOICE, page A6 Ending political corruption EDITORIAL GUIDELINES The Dalles Chronicle welcomes letters. They must be accurate, free from personal attacks, and include the writer’s name and contact information for verification. Those without identification of the writer will not be pub- lished. Letters containing advertising will not be printed. Digital submis- sions are welcome and can be submitted online or emailed. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Dalles Chronicle, P.O. 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