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
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covering the campus community as thoroughly as possible. Opi
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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
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