Opinion
A4
Thursday, January 27, 2022
OUR VIEW
Will new
climate policy
create bad
incentives?
he story is that, in colonial India, the
British governor wanted to get rid of the
cobras in Delhi. He set a bounty. It was
high enough that people started farming cobras to
make money.
It’s what people call the cobra eff ect or per-
verse incentives. The best plans motivated by
the best of intentions can go awry.
One of the best plans with the best of inten-
tions in Oregon is arguably from Gov. Kate
Brown.
If Oregon gets it right, the new climate
friendly housing and transportation policies for
the state ordered by Brown will lead to a much
changed state.
More dense housing. More mixed-use devel-
opment. Taller buildings. More use of bikes,
walking and transit. Less parking.
More focus on looking at policies through an
equity lens.
State committees are writing the rules and
regulations to require those kinds of changes
right now.
That may not be the kind of place you dream
of living in. But the motivation is to transform
the state into something that reduces the impact
on climate change, is more equitable and is just
a smarter way for people to live and get to and
from where they need to go.
A challenge the proposed changes face is cre-
ating perverse incentives.
For instance, by compelling larger com-
munities in Oregon, such as the greater Bend
area, to adhere to the new policies, will it
drive people, businesses and development
into areas that don’t face the most demanding
requirements?
Think about an example. Larger areas
like Bend will, under the proposed rules, be
required to focus development in what are
called climate friendly areas. That is where
30% of needed housing will need to be built. In
Bend, maybe that would be in the city’s core.
Requirements for housing might become
more dense than they are now. Rules would dis-
courage the use of the car and encourage the
use of bikes, walking and transit.
If Bend wanted to expand its urban growth
boundary under the proposed rules, it would
need to identify a new climate friendly area
within the city’s current limits to meet half of
the housing needed. The other half would be
allowed in the expansion.
Will people want to live in more concentrated
development? Some will. Others may look to
move where the limits don’t apply.
Developers may fi nd it easier to build where
the requirements may be less stringent. Busi-
nesses may want to locate there, too. Smaller
communities in Oregon below 10,000 in pop-
ulation or 5,000 in population where the rules
will be more fl exible may see an infl ux of
growth. That wouldn’t exactly be what Brown
intended.
Maybe it will never happen like that.
But how will policymakers design the rules
to avoid it?
T
We must let all Oregonians vote
ANTHONY
BROADMAN
OTHER VIEWS
magine living in a society where
only those with certain birth-
rights make decisions for the
rest of us. Your taxes, criminal jus-
tice policy, land use actions, deci-
sions about your children’s education
— you would have no formal power
over such decisions.
Seems wrong, right? But that’s
the very system we are allowing
to perpetuate under Oregon’s citi-
zen-only voting structure. All Ore-
gonians should work together toward
Oregonian suff rage — a system in
which adults who live in Oregon can
vote in Oregon elections, including
voters who are not U.S. citizens.
The Oregon Constitution argu-
ably bars non-U.S. citizens from
voting. This disenfranchises many
of us. And it wasn’t always this
way. In fact, it’s inconsistent with
some of the most positive aspects
of our often-troubling heritage as a
state. In 1848, Congress passed an
organic act for the Oregon Territory
that allowed noncitizens to vote. It
wasn’t until the early 20th century,
on a wave of anti-immigrant senti-
ment, that Oregon undid noncitizen
suff rage and sought to limit voting
I
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In other words, we can change.
And we should. All it takes is a
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should change our state constitution
because it’s right for our democracy
and right for our community. Disen-
franchising people based on citizen-
ship is wrong under any theory of
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port the Democratic Party histori-
cally, in the last presidential election,
areas with high populations of His-
panic and Asian-American voters
turned out in higher numbers and
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lican value, but an American one.
We need to truly welcome people
who choose to move to Oregon,
enfranchise them and ensure they
possess the same power to make
decisions about our community and
our future as every other voter.
It shouldn’t matter where they
were born or their citizenship
status. It shouldn’t matter whether
you moved here from California or
France. Representative democracy
is part of ensuring our community
evolves and remains an exceptional
place to live.
Part of encouraging immigrants
to live in Oregon means ensuring
that when they get here they’re part
of the democratic process. If our
republic is truly the land of the free
and we are serious about upholding
equal justice as a foundational value
of our government, let’s show it.
Hold our representatives to the
promises they make about the public
being involved in governmental
decisions. Demand that when they
say Oregon should be welcoming
and equitable for all, they mean
that for everyone, including all the
people paying taxes, starting busi-
nesses and working for the future of
our state and cities.
———
Anthony Broadman is a Bend city
councilor. The opinions expressed
here are his own.
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