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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1977)
County comments 'Take it...and like it' cry of planners by Bill Sanderson Douglas Gantenbein, S taff Reporter Carl Weaver, Advertising Manager Published weekly Thursdays by The Outlook Publishing Co. Box 68 Sandy Oregon 97055. Second closs postage paid at Sandy Oregon 668 5548 SUBSCRIPTION RATES In Multnomah and Clockamas Counties per y e a r............................*5.00 In Northwest and Pocific Coast States outside Oregon per y e o r................‘ 7.00 Servicemen any oddress ..............*5 00 In Oregon outside Multnomoh and Clackamas Counties per year . . . ‘6 00 N E W ÎF f+ P E R Outside Northwest and Pacific Coast states, per year ..............................‘9.00 Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association I A llo c a tio n - founOoO ’ M 5 Page 2 Sandy Post, Sandy, Oregon 9 7 0 5 5 Represented Nationally by UCS. SUBURBAN PRESS INC No. 41 «ISR Thurs., Oct. 13, 1977 Give Credit Where Due The Clackamas County Historical Society Monday night voted to sup port a cause we’re behind 100 per cent: Naming the new U.S. Post Office currently under construction on Welches Road the Welches Post Office. Right now plans indicate that the new post office will go by the Wemme name. However, we hope the U.S. Postal Service hasn’t cast this decision in stone. The mountain area has lost many of its post offices through the years —including Welches, Faubion, Zigzag and Rowe. There is also talk about the discontinuation of the Brightwood and Rhododendron post offices, something we would hate to see. The new post office is really closer to the Welches area than Wemme. And 85-year-old Jennie Welch, long time postmaster for the Welches Post Office, still runs an antique store in the area. Her husband, William Welch, served as postmaster from approximately 1910 until 1940. Then Mrs. Welch served as postmaster of the well-loved office until her retirement in 1960. Shortly thereafter, the office was closed. Wemme is named for E. Henry Wemme, a public spirited citizen of Portland who posthumously deeded the Barlow Road to the State of Oregon. Wemme certainly deserves to have an area named after him but we believe the Welch name played a much bigger role in area history. The Welch family homesteaded in the area in 1882 and built a summer hotel that attracted numerous visitors to the area. And the family previously owned what is now Bowman’s Golf Course. Further adding to the historical significance of naming the post office Welches is that Jennie Welch’s father, William J. Faubion, was the only postmaster of the Faubion Post Office discontinued in 1932. Jennie Welch is, in the words of one mountain resident, “a first citizen of the mountain.” We agree and would like future history to reflect the Welches heritage. If you agree with us, write to Portland Postmaster B. W. Luscher, Jr., care of the Portland Post Office. It may not be the “fight of the century” but scores of irate Clackamas County citizens are preparing to oppose the efforts of the co un ty’ s planning bureacracy to complete the current Rural Zoning Project. Various citizen’s groups are busily preparing petitions to the county commissioners and reportedly to state and regional authorities to save their areas from the “’take it and like it” authority of the “ planners.” The announced purpose of the Rural Zoning Project was to zone uraoned areas, rezone portions of rural Clackamas County not consistent with the current comprehensive plan or confirm the present zoning. The four main “ areas” of the project were identified as Molalla, Redland, Estacada and T u a la tin -W ils o n v ille , although a number of smaller communities were lumped together in some of the named areas. Many of the smaller areas quite properly claim distinct differences with the area to which they have been assigned. The normal problems in volved in the land-use planning and zoning processes have been escalated in this zoning project by a deplorable ineptness in its presentation and the always frightening threat of “ legal” bureaucratic domination. When the p ro je c t was in itia lly announced, the reasons for it were listed as follows. —State law requires counties to zone land (ORS 215). —Comprehensive plans and zoning must meet state land use goals (ORS 197). —The comprehensive plan is the “ overriding document” (Oregon Supreme Court, Fasano vs. Washington County). —Zoning must complement the plan (Oregon Supreme Court, Baker vs. City of Milwaukie). Unfortunately for the project, rural people who have slaved a lifetim e to carve out a farm, rural home or investment do not take kindly to being told that without so much as a “ by- y o u r - le a v e , ” p la n n e r s ’ decisions have already been made and have already been applied to the old homestead. And s till more un fortunately—or ineptly—the schedule for completing the project seemed to allow citizens only one meeting in September in each of the main areas for discussion of the changes the “ planners” were about to make! A great many people—a clear m ajority according to some reliable observers—attended the September area meetings hoping to, (1) get more in formation on some of the basic problems completion of the project would cause, and (2) to find some way to offer their own ideas and suggestions in the face of what they regarded as an economic catastrophe or an intrusion upon their legal rights. In either case they were short changed. Meeting agendas were c a re fu lly printed, spelling but the “ one way’’ communications flow. Agenda items were closely followed, allowing no response from the floor and ignoring all other points of view. The m eetings were “ tellings” —not “ hearings.” Much of the dissatisfaction with the county’s rural zoning project springs from the use by the planners of such words as “ must” and “ required’’ and “ perm it” and “ according to our maps.” Few people who own, care for and pay plenty of taxes on their homes and property take kindly to the presumption that any b u re a u cra tic plan takes precedence over the rights of ownership. Strong comparisons are being made between the legal “ investment” in time and of a fam ily farm or home, and the county employe whose ad m in is tra tiv e w him , or schedule, or decision, could, if left unchallenged, destroy the scanty rew ards of land ownership. Those opposing the zoning project are not the stubborn, unthinking people who resist even efficient land-use plan ning. These are the people who are well aware that the public employee whose wages they help to pay can avoid the vicious side-effects of higher taxes on the land along with impossible limitations on its use, w hile the landowner cannot. They are also well aware that a “ law” is one thing, and that a d m in is t r a t iv e p la n s , schedules, meeting agendas and poorly concealed squeeze plays are something less than the "la w .” Among those who have most persistently questioned the legality, necessity and methods being used in this project are those in rural areas already zoned. Planners claim that parts, or all, or most of such areas are inconsistent with the current comprehensive plan and must therefore be rezoned to con- His 'fa ir' share We Want Your Stories Why do you rewrite my articles? How can I get my story in the newspaper? These are questions we are frequently asked at The Sandy Post. We want to help so next Tuesday night at 7 p.m. we will sponsor a newspaper article seminar in Rm. 4 of the Sandy Upper Grade School geared especially for the club publicity chairmen. We are interested in getting your local news in the paper and want to help organizations g the most out of their publicity efforts. We’ll cover such topics as how to submit an article about a group meeting, planned . money-raising project or special event. Newspaper writing has a style all its own and we want to help people write an in formative article suitable for the press. The class is sponsored by the Sandy Community School. (SAL) Tri-Met Looks for Alternatives A blue-ribbon committee currently is studying possible alternatives to Tri-Met’s present method of finan cing. Tri-Met doesn’t have a route that is paying its own way and a few recent cuts in service really have done nothing more than nibble away at the deficit. Additional, substantial cuts will occur unless more money is found. Two obvious avenues are open. . . increases in fares, and a hike in the business tax. Either would be unpopular and would be implemented only with reluctance. The business tax can only go so high. Right now, it is at five-tenths of one per cent of payrolls in the Tri- County area encompassed by Tri- Met. It could go to six-tenths but no higher under Tri-Met’s enabling legislation. Practical considerations dictate just how high fare increases can go. The blue-ribbon committee will report about Jan. 1. Reportedly, none of the proposals considered thus far have met with much enthusiasm. Some cities—Tacoma, for one—have a household tax: each residence is taxed 50 cents per year or some such minimal figure. Voters in Seattle, however, rejected even that approach in an election earlier this year. Advertising, inside and outside Tri- Met buses, also has been suggested but this wouldn’t generate the kind of income Tri-Met feels it needs. Coming up with the necessary cash isn’t going to be easy. Choices for the College It was just a couple of months ago that Mt. Hood Community College finally gained approval of its 1977-78 operating levy. Now the College is back at the well again. Board members will decide tonight (Wednesday) what route they’ll take for 1978-79. Three choices are being con sidered. . . a one-year levy, a new tax base, or a three-year serial levy with a constant tax rate. The latter alternative, made possible by passage of SB543 during the recent legislative session, offers a new approach Heretofore, serial levies were for a set, specified amount of money each year. .. say $1 million. The new approach doesn’t set a money amount but rather a constant tax rate. New construction or in creases in appraised value thus are reflected in the amount of money collected. In other words, tax receipts will increase as the district grows. We don’t know which of the three alternatives the College board will accept. Students favor a new tax base, management groups favor a one-year levy, and classified per sonnel and faculty favor the new serial levy appcoach. Each has its drawbacks, each its advantages. Mt. Hood’s present tax base is inadequate to support the College so some sort of decision has to be made. We realize voters traditionally are reluctant to approve multi-year levies but we still like the new serial levy approach. It will give the College some stability as well as catching up with new and-or revalued con struction. It’s worth a try. Official: But John Q., w e’re going to let you pay for if. letters to the editor Office open To the Editor: We wish to thank everyone for their thoughtfulness and prayers during this trying time, especially the Sandy Fire Department for their prompt and expert services, which we are sure saved doctor’s life. The dentists assciated with the Clackamas County Study Group, which Dr. Lamke has been affiliated with for 20 years, are volunteering their time and services to keep our office open. The office will be open on Monday and Thursday mor nings from 9 to 11:30 a. m . The office w ill be open from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Monday thru Friday to answer calls. Dr. and Mrs. Albert Lamke and family Sandy, Ore. form with that document. Actually, areas zoned prior to the adoption of the com prehensive plan were in complete compliance with existing statutes and-or ordinances and were the then comprehensive plan. There is no evidence that such lands have legally been measured against either the Fasano or the Baker decisions of the Oregon Supreme Court. It is a fact that some areas were zoned more than three years before the adoption of the current comprehensive plan and by procedures that were far more democratic and in line with LCDC’s Goal No. 1 (citizen involvem ent) than those used in the present project! Another area of contenion between citizens and country employees, (planners, coor dinators, etc.) has been that county bureaucrats have not always followed the same regulations they insist must be followed by the citizens. The size, shape and geographic locations assigned to some “ neighborhood" or “ community" areas is a case in point. The county’s comprehensive plan which the “ planners” use so glibly as a legal reference and guide sets forth, among a plethora of other bureaucratic verbiage, “ that the boundaries of the neighborhood specifically define an area of appropriate geographic size and population for effective planning and that these boundaries take into account n a tu ra l boundaries, com mercial patterns, community organizations and historical factors.” It is no secret that the county’s planners and coor dinators have rarely followed their own regulations in the establishment of neighborhood organizations and m aking recommendations that such organizations be “ recognized." The rules have been warped to accommodate various persons or groups believed to h«y com pliant w ith the bfcteaqcracy’s plans just as many'people believe they have been warped to exclude some hard-headed citizens who know the difference between true democratic process and the tyranny of fuzzy, complicated administrative rules mat are generally interpreted for the b u r e a u c r a t — by th e bureaucrat. Ample evidence of the above situation is available throughout the county where strange, unusual and unwieldly combinations of former long standing and historical neigh borhoods have been combined to form “ Community Planning Organizations" in which only a small per cent of the people are either interested or active. The opposite is equally true. Many geographically small neighborhoods have either been absorbed by the b u re a u cra tica lly oriented confederations or le ft unrecognized because they can not be “ handled ” The w rite r has in his possession a list of persons more or less active in “ plan ning” circles throughout the county who have been actually “ evaluated” by a former Clackamas County Citizen Involvement Coordinator. A handwritten note on this “ secret" list is addressed to an o ffic e r in a regional The Veterans of Foreign Wars w ill meet at the VFW hall in Sandy this Friday night at earned dollars w ill provide much needed funds fo r research to find a control or To the Editor cure for cystic fibrosis, a On behalf of lung-damaged leading genetic k e lle r of childred throughout the United chikfren. the Cystic 6:30 for a potluck dinner. A business meeting at 8 w ill feature the district commander and the auxiliary president. SERVICE WE GIVE! Fibrosis Foundation extends sincere thanks to the many members of the Portland Metropolitan area who did “ everything to help” in the Breath of Life Campaign. Thousands of dedicated volunteers donated their time in the door-to-door march, and although it is too early for a final tally, indications are that this year’s goals w ill be met when all the money has been turned in. Special thanks to the mass media representatives who have helped alert parents to the signs of CF and other lung damaging diseases and to the importance of diagnosis and comprehensive treatment Through the humanitarian efforts of volunteers, con tributors and the media, we hope one day to realize a future in which children no longer suffer from cystic fibrosis or any other lung-dam aging This volunteer effort w ill help disease to support Cystic Fibrosis When that day arrives, you centers throughout the United w ill have helped make it States specializing in the possible John T. Floyd, diagnosis, trea tm en t and Executive director referral of children with CF Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and other lung-dam aging Oregon Chapter diseases 0112 SW Pennoyer, To the contributors, we send Portland, Ore 97201 heart felt thanks Your hard Although this happened during the incumbency of a former “ coordinator” there are no reasons to believe that the urge to “ control” is still one of the significant forces behind the county’s planning effort. The various belated efforts of the countv commissioners to improve the “ planning” have only served to highlight, rather than provide any lasting benefits to the county’s wobbly planning program. While the real benefits of a c a re fu l, c itiz e n -o rie n te d planning program have been shrinking from a lack of leadership and a real desire to serve rather than control, the difficulties of imposing this kind of a program upon the citizens have been allowed to m ultiply until they (and their rapidly escalating costs) have formed a formidable barrier to its success or its acceptance by the public. More and more citizens are beginning to realize the “ insult- to-injury” factor in a public program that lim its their freedoms at the same time it takes more and more of their money to support it. In the matter of costs, an exceedingly sore point has been the planner’s stock answer to citizen request that planning studies and program s be tailored to fit each neigh borhood or community and its particular problems. Planners insist that such a course would be too costly and too time consuming. Citizens (who pay the costs in any case) simply cannot accpet that answer. They see both the costs of supporting the program and the much greater costs of its consequences as being their contribution, while the program is being directed and controlled by those who have contributed nothing but the willingness to accept a fat paycheck. In the Molalla area a few citizens are said to be gearing up for an all-out battle to resist the rural zoning program unless more effective citizen participation is allowed. In the Viola area petitions are being distributed to put the county commissioners on the spot for legal and official ex planations of the program that planning employees could not or would not offer. In the Estacada-Colton area letters and phone calls indicate a rapidly growing coalesence of resistance. In Redland small groups of neighbors are banding together to explore the possibilities of petitioning the county com missioners for relief from what they believe are unjustified procedures initiated by the planners. Back of it all is the often expressed fear of bureaucratic domination without adequate protection of the citizen’s rights by his elected officials. Perhaps it is now long past time for the three county commissioners to take a good, careful look at what they have permitted to grow in the county’s bureaucratic garden. Their legal responsibility to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the citizens contains no exceptions not even when that means protecting them from their own em ployees. VFW slates potluck CF thanks States, organization. It states that the list is "fo r you alone because of the evaluations" and contains a “ key” to the evaluations. INSURANCE WE SELL . . . The personal insurance counsel and advice of a local agent is important to you in planning a complete insurance program. Gaorga Morgan Local Rapratantativa WALRAD ScT' Sandy, O regon 668*4421
