Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 3, 1981)
Rhodes: ‘Maybe we were a bit negative’ I It’s been an interesting year, to say the least. ‘I’ve been accused of simplistic patriotism, of being an anarchist, of hating humanity, of not possessing love, or all of the above. I’ve enjoyed the epic poems asking where my love was or if I was an Iranian. Most important (and most often) I was accused of being negative. Rub* bishl Impossible! Nonsense! So what, my first editorial slammed the ABC television network for running “Midnight Ex press” against the first presidential debate. If they ran “Jaws” I probably wouldn’t have com plained. The idea of running a “Shot Down in Flames” column, whose sole purpose was to rank supposedly innocent organizations such as ASG, American Citizens for Honesty in Government and Amway, it wasn’t negative. Well...maybe... Okay...it wasn’t exactly the greatest (or most intelligent) idea. So what it was literally begg ing for a malice suit. But is wasn’t negative at all. You ask me what good did the “People are Snakes” article do? Well...er...well...I lost my job that day and lousy events were occuring in a domino effect, so that was the only way of ex pressing my anger. It was either that, or attack some pretty young lass. Also important in the decision making was the fact that 17 inches of space needed to be filled on the editorial page. The many articles screaming about the then- presidential candidate Ronald Reagan weren’t really negative..okay, a good 99 44/100 per- cent were. x The pompous stand I took on the flag inci- dent, a little over-wrought I’ll admit, at least caught the conservatives’ eyes. The revolu- tionaries were a little miffed. So it too was a lit tle negative, but hey, Will Rogers would have like it, and you can’t do much better than that. My tuition tax credit editorial negative? Oh no, no, no, no, no—okay yes. But that was to get the jest of the argument across, that the tuition tax credit bill will hurt the public school system by forcing it to compete with private schools that have an infinite advantage moneywise. Yeeeeessssss...it was a little negative. Yeah, one of my last editorials, saying that humanity should be wiped off the face of the earth, was in fact, a little negative, but if we on ly wrote positive editorials, people wouldn’t get the incentive to improve their performances,, or change themselves. As for “Politics Make Strange Deadfellows,” I lunched with Hal Prince the other day, and con vinced him to take it to Broadway next season right after Eugene O’Neil’s new musical opens, so I really don’t care. Still, I get complaints that the paper is negative. I’m tired of hearing it! You want something positive? Okay, then take this: Freude, schöner Götterfunken Tochter aus Elysium Wir Betreten Feuertrunken Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder Was die Mode Streng geteilt: Alle menshen werden bruder Wo dein sanfter Glugel weilt Wem der grosse wurf gelungen. Eines Freundes Freund zu sein. Miche seinen Jubel ein! Ja wer auch nur eine seele Sein rennt auf dem Erdanrund! Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle Weinend sich aus diesem Bund. Freude trinken alle Wesen An den Brüsten der Natur; Alle Guten, alle Bosen Folgen ihrer Rosenspur. Kusse gab sie uns und Reben, Einen freund, geprüft in Tod; Wollust ward dem Wurm gegben, Und der Cherub steht vor Gott! Froh, wie seine Sonnen Fleigen . Durch des Himmels pracht’gen Plan, Laufet, Bruder, eure, Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Heldzum Siegen. Seid umschlungen Milionen. Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt! Bruder! Uberm Sternenzelt Muss ein lieber Vater Wohnen. Ihr stürzt nieder, millionen? Ahnest du den schopfer, Welt? Such’ ihn uberm Sternenzelt! Uber stemen muss er wohnen. Happy? You better be! Because I don’t want to hear any more about this negative shit again! Thanks Ludwig, you saved me once more. feedback Proposed city a criticai economie issue To The Editor: “Don’t cheat the future!” So say the proponents of the June 30th ballot issue that could carve the State’s fourth largest city out of North Clackamas County. It could be the most important ' economic decision the area will have to make. For over a year, a large, group of citizens .has been working to convince voters in the city of Milwaukie and in the surrounding 11 Service Districts that consolidating into a single city is the most economic way to provide the full range of services citizens have been demanding. What is consolidation? It is the replacing of the 13 forms of government in the- area with a single, new government. It is the distilling of 60 elected of ficials and 12 separate budgets into one mayor elected at large and Six city councilors elected from districts, responsible for a single budget. It means streamlining government to allow for more efficient and focused policies, planning, and spending within the area. The new city; as proposed, will provide all nine municipal services for a tax rate of $3.85/1,000 TCV. This would reduce the city of Milwaukie tax rate from the requested $5.55/1,000. In the unincor porated areas, Fire Districts, to' provide a single service, now have a tax rate of: RFD No. .1—$3.58/1,000; RFD No. 7.1 — $3t4tl/l,000; Oak Lodge—$2.23/1,000. How is it possible to provide all city services at ;such a low rate? There are two -main reasons. First, this city of 56,766 will have access to. a wide range of funds the area is THE PRINT, a member of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, aims to be a fair and impartial journalistic medium covering the campus community as thoroughly as possible. Opi nions expressed in THE PRINT do not necessarily reflect those of the College administration, faculty, Associated Student Govern* ment or other staff members of THE PRINT. office: Trailer B; telephone: 657-8400, ext.'309 or 310 editor: Rick Obritschkewitsch news editor: J. Dana Haynes; arts editor: Amy DeVour; photo editor: Duffy Coffman political affairs: David Hayden staff writers: Linda Cabrera, R. W. Greene Tina Riggs, Sandi Langman Tom Jeffries, Mike Rose, Susy Ryan, Wanda Percival, Tracy Teigland staff photographers: Ramona Isackson, Sue Hanneman, Karen Marshall typesetter: Kathy Walmsley; graphics: Lynn Griffith cartoonist: J. Dana Haynes adviser: Suzie Boss Wednesday, June 3, 1981 not eligible for as it is now con stituted. The proposed tax rate will only generate 27 percent of the funds needed to run the ci ty. That means 73 percent of the monies áre available from sources other than property taxes. Second, the new city has an excellent ratio of industrial landss.to other land uses. On the average, for every $1.00 a city spends to delivef services, it gets back in revenues from Industry $2.79, Commercial .85, Single-family .86, Multi family .77. Each area in this proposal has different reasons for wan ting consolidation. Since Milwaukie is a mature city and has few industrial acres left to develop; it has to grow to con tinue to spread its costs. But to grow, it must cut into the tax able lands of surrounding Ser vice Districts. A single city would ease the territorial fighting that now takes place and relieve the financial pressure on Milwaukie. Oak Grove has the highest crime rate in the coiinty and wants' greater police service. The recent Sheriff’s Levy, ac cording to County Sheriff McAllister, will only return ser vices to the 1977 level, which was inadequate. Of the 32 new sheriffs the levy will provide, only 17 will be assigned to patrol. The rest will go to the jails, courts and detectives. The city of Milwaukie alone must pay $777,000 for the county area to be policed. The industrial lands need a city structure to help finance the development cost? of that area. In the past, the developer bore the cost of streets, water, lighting, etc. Given the costs and the economy, this is no longer possible? The whole area benefits when the in dustrial land is used. City struc tures offer the greatest latitude in addressing these developmental needs. Collectively, the unincor porated area citizens want a wide range of services: parks and recreation, youth and senior activities, better plann ing, storm drains, better animal control, libraries, swimming pools, etc. Since counties, by State law, are rural in orienta tion, they don’t have the finan cial flexibility to deal-with urban needs. The total property tax revenues for the county are $3.2 million. It cost $3 million to finance one county func tion—assessing and collecting taxes. Given the economy and the financial, pressures on all levels of government, it behooves the citizens of this area to look seriously for the best way to plan for and finance our local needs. A city of this size makes sense. A city of over 50,000 becomes an “entitlement” city and as such has direct access to road . funds and to urban renewal funds. Smaller cities do not. A single city staff can accumulate the necessary statistics to plan for the best use of funds within this area. A city -of this size also has the political clout to fight its case before Metro, Portland, State Com mission and federeal agencies. The various districts within this area will have, for the first time, direct political representa tion. Each area will have its own elected representative on a city council responsible for the planning and spending of all local funds. Although Milwaukie will no longer be a city, it will preserve its identity as a political entity within a larger economically healthy ci ty- This proposal does not solve all of thè areas’ problems, but it does offer a strong solution to most of them.,Its merits should be weighed heavily. There is a strong rpove to create a smaller city in the Clackamas/ Southgate area should this pro posal fail. It would be detrimen tal to the city of Milwaukie because it could no longer grow. It would abandon the en tire Oak Lodge area .to relying on the county for urb^n ser vices. The. county has repeatedly said it is not in a position to provide those ser vices. This proposal is a one time opportunity. Be an informed voter. Learn all the facts. Vote June 30th! Ann Nickels Page 3
