TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 5A
FEAST
Continued from Page 1A
gardens, but could also fi nd them-
selves in a tougher position if supply
were cut off due to weather or other
adverse events.
“Rural communities tend to
be a little weak when it comes to
food security,” Nesbitt said. “Troy
is roughly an hour from Enter-
prise. Imnaha is roughly 45 min-
utes, maybe, from Enterprise, 35
to Joseph. The nice thing about
those areas is it’s easy to grow good
food, and they are self-suffi cient in
that respect. You have to be of that
mindset to live in a place like that,
that you are going to load up on gro-
ceries and only go (to a larger town)
so often.”
Miller also noted the higher
level of self-suffi ciency in Wallowa
County, but many people nation-
wide are solely reliant on grocery
stores.
“As far as self-suffi ciency, some
people in Wallowa County have
wonderful knowledge on how to
hunt, fi sh, raise gardens or livestock,
forage, glean and preserve food,”
PARKING
Continued from Page 1A
now open to the public, it is
time to assist our downtown
businesses to make sure
that customers have access
to their stores,” said City
Manager Robert Strope in a
press release.
The La Grande Police
Department’s code enforce-
ment offi cer will issue warn-
ings for fi rst-time parking
violations from March 22
until April 5, when tickets
with fi nes kick in.
The city stopped
enforcing downtown
parking rules a year ago,
after Gov. Kate Brown
REDISTRICTING
Continued from Page 1A
situation is “unprecedented.”
Translation: Nobody knows
what to do because its never
been done before. Adding to
the drama: The numbers will
likely earn Oregon a sixth
congressional seat, its fi rst
in 40 years. The new district
will have to be shoehorned
into the existing congres-
sional map.
The Legislature has a
“back to the future” solu-
tion. It’s asking the Oregon
Supreme Court to set the
deadlines aside, reset the
clock, and give lawmakers
another shot at redistricting
when the data arrives in the
fall. A special session of the
Legislature would meet to
approve the work.
Secretary of State Shemia
Fagan supports the idea.
The Legislature wants
up to 90 days after the data
arrives to create the maps.
Fagan does not sup-
port that timeline. Pushing
redistricting into December
would be cutting things
close. Any hitch and Oregon
could have blank maps right
up to the January deadlines
for candidates to fi le for the
May primaries. As the state’s
offi cial election referee, she
might have to step in.
House Speaker Tina
Kotek, D-Portland, and
Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem, fi led
a petition with the Oregon
Supreme Court to stop Fagan
from drawing her own maps.
Fagan wants the Legisla-
ture to draw districts using
alternative data to the U.S.
Census. The Oregon con-
stitution doesn’t explicitly
demand redistricting be done
with the census numbers.
But it always has used
the census, lawmakers say.
Doing things diff erent from
how its been done for more
than a century would be a
surefi re way to tangle with
federal courts wanting to
ensure Oregon was fol-
she said. “And some of those people
are willing to share that knowl-
edge with others who want to learn.
However, most people get the bulk
of their food from grocery stores.
And like most everywhere in the
U.S., our grocery stores have about
a four-day supply of food at any
given time and will quickly experi-
ence empty shelves if there are sup-
ply-chain disruptions, such as road
closures due to weather or fi res, or
other disasters such as epidemics
that disrupt highly consolidated
industries such as meat processing.”
Added Nesbitt: “Because we are
so far away from distribution cen-
ters, it makes more sense to think
about how our local food systems
support us.”
The speakers at Tuesday’s
forum include Genuine Wallowa
County/Wallowa County Provi-
sions’ Kristy Athens, Prairie Creek
Farms’ Patrick Thiel and Commu-
nity Connection Food Bank’s Jes-
sica Espinoza.
“The panelists are asked to
briefl y share their role in the food
system, challenges they face and
opportunities they see,” Miller said.
Breakout sessions will follow
issued a stay-at-home order
and closed stores to the
public except those pro-
viding services and prod-
ucts deemed essential. The
governor also ordered busi-
nesses to allow people to
work remotely as much as
possible. La Grande Police
Chief Gary Bell said the
city ceased the enforcement
in part to help people living
downtown who needed
parking places.
“We wanted to lessen
their hardship,” Bell said.
The money the city col-
lects from fi nes for parking
violations helps pay the
code enforcement offi cer’s
salary. Bell said, though,
that revenue covers only
lowing civil rights and
voting rights laws.
While the court sifts
through the paperwork, the
Legislature is planning/
hoping/praying the Oregon
Supreme Court will pick
its solution. A way to move
things along in advance
would be to hold the 10
required hearings — two
in each of the fi ve congres-
sional districts.
Which brings things back
to COVID-19. The usual
“road trip” of lawmakers to
districts to hear from voters
aren’t happening this year
because of COVID-19. All
10 redistricting hearings will
be virtual.
The hearing Wednesday,
March 10, was for Congres-
sional District 2, a nearly
70,000-square-mile expanse
that share borders with Cal-
ifornia, Nevada, Idaho and
Washington. Anyone living
east of the Cascades, plus a
chunk of the southwest part
of the state, lives in the 2nd
District.
All four of the other con-
gressional districts are rep-
resented by Democrats. The
2nd is solidly Republican,
with freshman U.S. Rep.
Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, in
the seat.
The hearing Wednesday
would require something of
a technical miracle. Video
testimony expected from
Wallowa County, Bend,
Medford, Klamath Falls and
several other spots in the
district taxed the Legisla-
ture’s internet capabilities.
Balky phone lines, echoing
microphones, stuck mute
buttons and more led to fre-
quent silent spots. Many of
the people who signed up
to testify either couldn’t get
through or gave up prior to
their turn in the queue.
Two who signed up dis-
covered they lived in other
congressional districts.
One caller wanted to
know why Wallowa County
had been left off a map of
Greater Idaho.
Some of the panel mem-
the keynote speakers that will be
open to discussion for those who
are in attendance, even in the vir-
tual format.
“Conversations have the oppor-
tunity to go where they go, and so
any
number of things can
come out of it,” Nesbitt said. “It
could be issues around nutrition
and food security for those on
assistance. It could be around com-
munity gardens and partnerships
with schools. Could be around how
to make distribution among pro-
ducers. How to make the distribu-
tion of their product easier.”
Nesbitt also said there is an edu-
cation side to the discussion.
“Another aspect of these FEAST
conversations is how do we con-
nect folks in poverty with fresh
food,” she said, noting that and
other educational elements are
brought up.
The event runs from 5:30-
7:30 p.m. Tuesday and is on
Zoom. Door prizes will be avail-
able for entrants, who can register
at tinyurl.com/WCFEAST. Email
caitlin.rushlow@gmail.com for
more details.
a portion of the position’s
cost.
“Our code enforcement
offi cer does many other
things,” Bell said. “We are
not reliant on parking fi nes
to sustain the position.”
The offi cer’s other
responsibilities include
enforcing nuisance ordi-
nances, including those
involving weed abatement
and abandoned vehicles. La
Grande police offi cers once
dealt with such issues, but
in recent years the depart-
ment shifted the responsi-
bility to the code enforce-
ment offi cer. Bell said that
was in response to a signif-
icant increase in reports of
code violations.
Ellen Morris Bishop/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Robin Martin and Lynn Curry put the fi nishing touches on a fresh
vegetable platter for the FEAST luncheon in 2018. This year’s
FEAST event in Wallowa County is going virtual.
“We wanted to unburden
them from these tasks so
they will have more time to
respond to calls,” Bell said.
Larry Fry, the owner
of 1104 Adams Antiques,
supports the move to bring
back parking fi nes because
it will reduce how far
people have to walk to get
to a store. He noted many
stores downtown rely on
people traveling through
town for business. Fry said
these people are not willing
to walk very far to get to a
business.
“They will walk one
block but not two or three
blocks,” he said.
Fry also said the parking
fi nes add a sense of order to
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
• The second virtual hearing by the Oregon Legislature’s redis-
tricting committees will be Saturday, March 20 at 1 p.m.
• The hearing is for residents of the 2nd Congressional District.
The hearing will deal not only with the future boundaries of the
2nd Congressional District but also the state House and Senate
districts in the area.
• The area encompasses the following counties: Baker, Crook,
Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jackson,, Jef-
ferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla,
Union, Wallowa, Wasco and Wheeler and parts of Josephine
County.
• To sign up to testify online or submit written comments, go to
bit.ly/oregondistricts.
• Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, in a recent press release said it is
vital to have testimony from Northeastern Oregon residents. He
asked constituents interested in testifying to be as specifi c as
you can be with comments to the committee. He also said the
following legal requirements for redistricting may be helpful for
constituents formulating testimony:
• • Be contiguous.
• • Utilize existing geographic or political boundaries.
• • Be of equal population.
• • Not divide communities of common interest.
• • Be connected by transportation links.
• Hansell also said if you are not able to access the internet, call:
Patrick Brennan, Legislative Policy And Research Offi ce analyst,
at 503-986-1674, or Michael Lantz, counsel, at 503-986-1736 for
further instructions.
• More information
bers squinted, “What?”
Rep. Daniel Bonham,
R-Dallas, fi nally piped-up
to explain the caller’s query
was about a theoretical
secession of much of Eastern
Oregon to form “Greater
Idaho” with the neighboring
state to the east.
Bonham even helpfully
added that maps circulating
for the mythical “Greater
Idaho” state did not include
Wallowa County, though he
wasn’t sure why. With the
mystery aside, the discussion
could return to Oregon.
For more than an hour,
the committee heard three
main themes: The dis-
trict was much too large. It
included diff erent commu-
nities with diff erent identi-
ties, and in the case of Mal-
heur County, a completely
diff erent time zone (Rocky
Mountain Time).
Finally, the desires of
people in the district too
often were gnored in the
capitals of Washington
and Salem. How they were
ignored depended on each
testimonial.
In a written statement,
Umatilla County Com-
missioner George Mur-
dock struck a note between
hope and resignation over
the likely outcome of the
process.
“My greatest concern is
that our district could be ger-
rymandered in order to fur-
ther diminish representation
for a portion of Oregon that
refl ects ideology, values, and
interests much diff erent than
the remainder of Oregon,”
Murdock said.
New districts should
“geographically make sense”
to retain an Eastern Oregon
voice in Washington and
Salem.
“If Oregon gets a new
seat, we are not naive enough
to expect more representa-
tion for Eastern Oregon but
we would like to retain what
we have,” Murdock said.
Nathan Soltz, chairman
of the Democratic Party of
Oregon’s 2nd Congressional
District Committee, said the
sparse population and vast
landscape made it diffi cult
for communities to feel any
mutual connection.
“You can drive from
downtown La Grande.
“You can’t have chaos,”
Fry said. “Regulations are
put in place for a reason and
that is to prevent chaos.”
Keisha Anderson, a real
estate agent with John J.
Howard and Associates
Real Estate, 1207 Adams
Ave., is not a fan of the
fi nes coming back because
it means she and other
people who work downtown
again will have to move
their vehicles regularly out
of two-hour zones because
there is not enough free
parking downtown.
“Many of us will be left
shuffl ing our cars every two
hours,” Anderson said.
John Howard, the owner
of John J. Howard and
Associates, said the city
could take several steps to
improve the parking space
situation. He said the city
should encourage Union
Pacifi c Railroad employees
to park in spaces and lots
on their corporation’s prop-
erty instead of the space the
city has for 24-hour parking
adjacent to railroad prop-
erty, which he said many
railroad employees use.
This would open up many
parking spaces for people
coming downtown.
Howard also said he
would like to have the city
off er discounts to get people
to buy permits for down-
town parking.
Medford to Enterprise —
about 10 hours — and never
leave CD2,” he said.
Ann Snyder of Ashwood
in Jeff erson County agreed
the boundaries created an
oversized area with too
many acres and not enough
people.
“District 2 is geographi-
cally too big for one person
to accurately represent,”
Snyder said in written testi-
mony. “Trying to cover an
area from Medford to Hood
River and the Cascades
to the Idaho border is too
much, and the people are too
diverse.”
Brad Bennington of
Jackson County said law-
makers needed to listen more
to rural voters.
“There is more to the
state than just Portland and
Salem,” he said. “There are
a lot of people who feel they
haven’t been heard.”
Bennington said he would
give the legislators the “ben-
efi t of the doubt” in drawing
political maps.
“Democrats can keep
themselves in the superma-
jority until the day the sun
doesn’t come up,” he said.
But Barbara Klein of
Ashland said she experi-
enced the opposite feeling.
She wanted congressional
and state districts that would
have more in common with
the arts town at the foot of
the Siskiyou Mountains.
“Don’t separate us from
Bend, Deschutes County,”
she said. “Communities that
have shared values, a bit
more left leaning.”
Todd Nash of Enterprise
said it would be diffi cult to
draw political maps with so
little population to pool into
a district.
“We have about 320 acres
per person,” he said.
Craig Martell of Baker
City said proximity and
highway connections should
guide the grouping of com-
munities in districts.
“Baker City and La
Grande, only 44 miles apart
on Interstate 84, belong in
the same district,” he wrote.
“As lines are currently
drawn, Senate District 30 is
a grotesque gerrymandered
monstrosity.”
Mimi Alkire of
Deschutes County repre-
sented the League of Women
Voters, which supports the
creation of an independent
redistricting committee to
draw the lines instead of
lawmakers.
“Redistricting has been
used to restrict and dilute
voters,” she said. “Voters
should choose their represen-
tatives, not have representa-
tives choosing their voters.”
Resolutions have been
introduced in the Legis-
lature to move to a com-
mission like those already
used in California and sev-
eral other states. Several
speakers endorsed such a
plan. But even if approved
by the House and Senate,
the change to the state con-
stitution would need voter
approval. Any change
wouldn’t occur until the 2031
redistricting.
Joanne Mina, volunteer
coordinator for the Latino
Community Association,
based in Bend, said it was
important for lawmakers to
make sure the census num-
bers were a complete count.
“The Latinx population
has grown from a few thou-
sands in the 90s to over 20
thousand strong across all
of Central Oregon — our
region is united by com-
merce, culture and values,”
she said. “Central Oregon
is not what it used to be, we
are more vibrant, enriched
and bold because of all the
people that make up our
community.”
At the end of the eve-
ning, Salinas, chair of the
House committee, said the
gathering of so many people
from so many places had
been time well spent.
“A robust debate,” she said.
The video ended. The
committee will hold a
second hearing on Saturday,
March 20, at 1 p.m.