community
july16
2015
Salem Update: Transportation Disappointment
By Representative Brad Witt
On Thursday,
June
25th,
G o v e r n o r
Kate
Brown
declared
the
much anticipated
“transportation
package” dead.
The stage was
set for this train wreck in February
when the Legislature went into session.
With the mindset that we owed a clean
fuels program to a number of special
interests, the fate of this legislation was
sealed. Even as there was considerable
opposition to the Clean Fuels bill, we
moved forward and ended up alienating
the very groups that we needed to pass
the transportation package.
In spite of this, opportunities
arose within the last month to address
concerns for both carbon reduction and
transportation needs. You have no doubt
read about the “gang of eight,” who
worked so diligently to overcome every
possible objection, including a way to
match or exceed the reduction in carbon
emissions provided in the Clean Fuels
bill.
The final nail in the coffin
occurred when the Department of
Transportation, that had provided
the estimates of carbon reduction,
overestimated the reduction numbers.
Having said that, there was no attempt
to overcome those shortcomings in view
of the importance of this package to the
transportation infrastructure of our state.
$343.5 million in funding, carefully
crafted from an increase in gasoline
taxes, title and registration fees, would
have gone a very long way to mend our
broken streets and highways.
District 31 would have
benefitted from this package in many
ways, not the least of which would have
been $20 million in funding towards
the improvement of Cornelius Pass
Road. This truck bypass has become
a major arterial in the movement of
both people and cargo, and it has
become increasingly treacherous, read
deadly, over the years. The failure of
the transportation package to move is
a major disappointment to me and to
many of my colleagues whose districts
have similar needs. We will redouble
our efforts in the next legislative session
to once again try to find a way to get the
job done.
Oregon Leads Nation with Funding
for Farm to School for Every School
Kids, Farmers, and Rural
Communities Win with
$3.3 Million Funding Increase
All Oregon school districts can
receive extra funds to buy and serve
local foods, starting this fall, thanks to
the Oregon legislature.
Oregon has been a national
leader in farm to school and school
garden programs, and this will be another
first: offering funds to all districts
that participate in the federal school
lunch program, not just the winners of
competitive grants.
The legislature provided a total
of $4,519,189 for this popular program
for 2015-17, including a $3.3 million
increase in the end-of-session spending
bill, SB 5507. Several key program
details were also revised through SB
501. Both bills passed the Senate and
House on July 6, 2015, in the final hours
of the 2015 legislative session.
New funding will also be
available for food-based, agriculture-
based and garden-based education
programs to help kids get excited about
fresh and healthy foods. “Kids will do
many things with beets if you serve them
in a cafeteria,” says Kasandra Griffin of
Upstream Public Health. “They make
great projectiles, they make great face
paint. But if a kid grows a beet in a school
garden, they will actually eat beets when
they are served in the cafeteria or at
home, because it reminds them of the
time they grew a beet themselves, and
they liked it.”
Supporters tout a wide range
of benefits of the farm to school and
school garden program, from reducing
hunger, to improving nutrition and
reducing the childhood diabetes
epidemic, to supporting Oregon’s
economy. “Farm to school programs
help farmers, processors and rural
Oregon,” said House Republican Leader
Mike McLane. “I’m proud to support
this innovative program that supports
our communities while also providing
students with healthy and fresh Oregon-
grown food.” Representative McLane
was a co-sponsor of HB 2721, the stand-
alone version of the farm to school bill,
before it was folded into SB 5507 and
501.
The focus on local can transform
the buying habits of schools. According
to Megan Kemple of the Willamette Farm
and Food Coalition, “Oregon schools
spend over $45 million in federal dollars
on school lunch ingredients, every year.
By investing in farm to school, we can
encourage school districts to change
their buying behavior and keep more
of that federal money circulating in
Oregon.”
Jane Gullet, the Nutrition
Director of Yamhill-Carlton School
District, is proof of that type of behavior
change. Her district received one of the
grants for 2013-15. “The grant changed
the way I think about buying food,” she
said. “I never thought about this before,
but now the first thing I ask any vendor
is whether their products are local, or if
they have a local alternative. I’m aiming
to serve 75% local products.”
“Local” is defined as anything
produced or processed in the state of
Oregon. Over half of the food dollars
from the 2013-15 grants were spent
on produce, especially apples, pears,
and berries, but other local foods also
qualify, including meat, seafood, grains,
dairy, and even processed foods. Some
of Gullet’s favorite local products
include vegetarian chili from Truitt
Family Foods, fresh lean ground beef
from Carlton Farms, and low-fat vanilla
Tillamook yogurt.
Peter Truitt, of Truitt Family
Foods, produces the chili that Gullet
buys. “We love selling our Salem-made
foods to Oregon schools. It feels good
knowing we are providing the nutrition
kids need to learn. As Oregon’s farm to
school activity has increased, so has the
demand for healthy, locally processed
food. This creates an attractive market
for farmers and food processors. At
Truitt Family Foods, we are developing
new hummus and bean dips for the
school market, and will be able to hire
more workers as this business grows.”
The amount of funding available
per school district will be based on
the number of students eating school
lunches (per USDA’s National School
Lunch Program) there the previous year.
All schools are eligible – public, private,
charter. Other program changes in HB
2721 include allowing the schools to use
the “food” funds for any school meals
(not just lunch), separating the funding
for educational activities from the
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Chip Bubl
Tobie Finzel
Aaron Miller
Shannon Romtvedt
Sonia Spackman
Grant Williams
Representative Brad Witt
Photography
Scott Laird
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funding for food purchasing, and making
non-profit partners and commodity
commissions eligible to apply for the
educational portion.
This year’s program expansion
is a particularly sweet victory for
Representative Brian Clem, D-Salem,
who has been championing farm to
school and school garden bills every
session since 2007. “Our goal ever since
2007 has been to provide funding for
every school in the state to buy local
products,” says Clem. “It took us a few
years, but we made it.”
Oregon
Department
of
Education manages the grant program,
in collaboration with the Oregon
Department of Agriculture. They will
post updated information soon for
schools and other partners: www.ode.
state.or.us/go/f2sgardens.
Cedar Side Inn
Happy Hour Mon-Fri 4-7
Burgers & Bluegrass
Events
BBQ & Basinbillies in the garden
Friday, July 24th at 5pm
Karaoke
Every 2nd & Last Friday
Taco Tuesday
from opening until 9pm
3 hardshell or 1 softshell $4.25
Ladies’ Night
every Thursday 6pm-close
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3
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