Opinion
4A
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
The Observer
MY VOICE
City should better
support La Grande
Farmers Market
am writing to express my appreciation to the city of
La Grande for reinstating the farmers market permit
and allowing the La Grande Farmers Market to be
held in Max Square last Saturday.
This permit suspension last week revealed the mar-
ket’s tenuous position at Max Square and with the city
— a situation that is not new. Although the market pays
rent to use Max Square, its occupancy has been threat-
ened before. A few years ago, the market also was evicted
from Max Square with three weeks notice for recon-
struction. The
market was not
NELLA MAE
considered in
PARKS
the reconstruc-
COVE
tion schedule
although it is
the most frequent user of the space and has been for a
decade.
The La Grande Farmers Market draws hundreds of
people downtown twice a week to shop. It is one of the
only regular tourist attractions, and markets are becoming
expected by tourists. The market has dozens of down-
town sponsors because of the value it brings to downtown
businesses.
My questions are: How can we change this tenuous
relationship with the city? When will the city see the
value that the market brings to the community, citizens
and downtown? What can the city do to start supporting
the market in a real way?
As a member of the Oregon Farmers Market Associ-
ation, I know that many cities in the state either provide
staff, funds or other support for their markets. To date,
the market receives no money or resources from the city
and our use of Max Square is not certain. I know many
cities across Oregon would pay big bucks for a market as
vibrant and established as ours. In short, I think City Hall
takes our market for granted and assumes its permanence.
This year, 2020, is the market’s 40th year of bootstrap-
ping existence. The community’s support for the market
is clear. The value the market brings to downtown is
clear. This may be the toughest year in the last 40, so per-
haps the city could provide some support in words and
deeds. Here are a few ideas:
• Establish a city fund supporting the market that
could help pay for overhead market costs or the manager
position.
• Improve signage for the market.
• Build a bathroom at Max Square to accommodate the
market and other events.
• Promote the market with local citizens to help us
grow our customer base.
• Develop a long-term agreement with the market to
ensure our ongoing use of Max Square.
• Waive the annual rental fee during this difficult year.
• Establish a working group between the city and
market to create a firm relationship and come up with
other ideas to keep the market strong downtown.
I’m sure the market staff, board members, vendors and
shoppers have many more ideas. Let’s use this situation
to create a better partnership so we can have a successful
market for 40 more years.
I
About the Author
Nella Mae Parks is the owner of Nella Mae’s
Farm in Cove.
MY VOICE
Why we broke from Northern Blues Forest Collaborative
ecently, our organizations
made the difficult decision to
withdraw from the Northern
Blues Forest Collaborative. As
founding members of Northeast Ore-
gon’s forest collaboratives, our orga-
nizations have spent countless hours
working in good faith to guide U.S.
Forest Service projects that support
our local communities while pro-
viding better ecological outcomes for
the forests we care so much about.
Unfortunately, like many other
stakeholders before us, we have deter-
mined the NBFC has devolved to a
point where we can no longer lend
it credibility with our continued
participation.
The premise of collaboration is
one we still support. Strongly. As the
Forest Service sees its funding con-
tinue to dwindle and the public it
serves becomes ever more polarized,
we need functional collaboration now
more than ever.
Good collaboratives provide a plat-
form for representatives from diverse
interests to address problems in a
landscape we all care about. Good
collaborators speak to be understood
and listen to understand. We recog-
nize the legitimacy of all interests.
We agree on lofty goals of trying to
guide willing public agencies toward
projects that lead to outcomes that
benefit our communities economi-
cally, socially and ecologically. We
then seek consensus with give-and-
take on all sides. Increasingly at the
NBFC, when it comes to protecting
R
Your views
Pastor Parker misses
the mark
I have contained myself as
long as I can in regard to pastor
James Parker of the Lighthouse
Pentecostal Church in Island
City. Most all of us are trying
our best to follow the governor’s
orders during this virus pan-
demic. We happen to be one of
the states with the lowest number
of cases, but now Union County
has its first COVID-19 related
death.
Parker, your large gather-
ings could eventually bring more
death to a lot of us older folks as
well as younger ones.
When you say, “It’s the right
thing to do” and you will con-
tinue doing it, by whose stan-
dards is that, and just what does
that mean?
Veronica
Warnock
About the Authors
Veronica Warnock is the
conservation director for Greater
Hells Canyon Council. Rob
Klavins is the northeast Oregon
field coordinator for Oregon Wild.
Both are based in Wallowa County.
things like old growth, roadless for-
ests, wildlife and salmon, there is no
give.
Respect for one another’s values
is written into the NBFC’s oper-
ating principles. Yet fellow collabo-
rators have marginalized conserva-
tion groups and others with whom
they disagree. This and more egre-
gious violations of collaborative prin-
ciples makes legitimate collaboration
impossible.
The Forest Service is under
increasing pressure to log our public
lands more aggressively, rush sci-
entific review and reduce public
involvement. If it were functioning
as intended, the NBFC would be an
inclusive place where this pressure is
balanced by a diversity of viewpoints
rather than serving as a platform for
advancing one-sided agendas.
Forest management and collab-
Write to us
If you really want to do the
right thing, Parker, have all your
people stay home. God can hear
their prayers from home very
well.
If it’s the absence of the col-
lection plate you missed, brother
Parker, I’m sure your congrega-
tion will be happy to mail their
contributions to you. Please
show some consideration and
compassion for the rest of us and
do the really right thing.
Etta Ruberg
Union
Don’t seek payback,
seek to pay it forward
Like many in our community,
I am saddened and dismayed by
the outbreak in Union County.
Sometimes I, too, am angry that
decisions by the leaders at Light-
Rob
Klavins
Mail: The Observer, 911 Jefferson
Ave., La Grande, OR 97850
Email: news@lagrandeobserver.
com
• The Observer welcomes letters
house Church have led congre-
gation members to make unsafe
choices, and have thus put the
wider community at risk. Yet,
as a Christian, I cannot condone
boycotting Lighthouse member
businesses, nor the petition to
shut the church permanently.
As Christians, we are to love
our neighbors, not vilify them.
Lighthouse Church members
need our compassion, not our
desire for revenge.
Those with COVID-19, and
those who’ve been in contact with
them, whether from Lighthouse
oratives work best when there are
agreed upon rules and sideboards.
For 25 years, one such set of rules,
commonly known as the “Eastside
Screens,” have provided a safety net
for old-growth forests, large trees and
the wildlife that depend on them in
Eastern Oregon. Now, over the objec-
tions of independent scientists and the
conservation community, the Trump
administration is rushing through
a process to undermine those pro-
tections. Unfortunately, some inter-
ests have pushed this divisive process
into the collaborative arena, not only
in Northeast Oregon, but around the
state.
We know collaboration can be suc-
cessful and have found success in the
past — even winning awards for our
efforts. We know what good collabo-
ration looks like.
The NBFC has been devolving
for years, which explains its dwin-
dling participation. There aren’t many
places in Northeast Oregon where
conservation voices are given a fair
shake. Sadly, the NBFC has become
another such place. Therefore, as the
last two conservation advocacy mem-
bers, we felt our continued participa-
tion was lending credibility to a dys-
functional collaborative.
While our groups have with-
drawn from the NBFC, we remain
ready and willing to work in good
faith with stakeholders and agency
staff to protect and restore the public
lands and other places we care so
deeply about.
to the editor. We edit letters for brev-
ity, grammar, taste and legal rea-
sons. We will not publish consumer
complaints against businesses or
personal attacks against private
individuals. Thank-you letters are
discouraged.
• Letters are limited to 400 words
and must be signed and carry the
Church or not, need our support
so they can self-isolate to keep
this virus from spreading further.
This outbreak has made us all
too aware that our community is
not in a bubble of safety from the
rest of the state.
Yet we are a community, and
we can choose to band together
to help one another so we will
emerge from this experience
stronger and wiser, not splintered
by our anger and differences.
If you want to help others,
first be on your own best
behavior: wash your hands,
author’s address and phone number
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tions in certain circumstances.
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content.
stay home except for essen-
tial trips and, when you’re out,
wear a mask and maintain social
distancing.
If you want to do more, con-
tact your church, join #LaGrande-
Strong Coronavirus Neighbor-
hood Watch on Facebook, or
reach out to Community Con-
nection or Neighbors Together to
learn how you can help those in
need.
Roberta Smythe
Pastor of Zion Lutheran and
St. Peter’s Episcopal churches
La Grande