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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1982)
The S^nÜy Post Von Braschler. Publish«' Caroline DuH. Office Manager Editorial & Opinion Don ° '* ,on> Editor Scott Newton. News Editor SANDY OREGON. THURSDAY. DECEMBER 9, 1982 City missed housing point When you’re singing the blues in Sandy because housing construc tion’s down and money isn’t flow ing, you don’t shun a rich stranger who knocks at the wrong door. City hall in its pompous wisdom seems to have done just that by turning down a godsend Farm ers Home Adm inistration subsidy of fer for construction of low-cost apartments here. Their reasons must have been good to act for everyone in turning down a ll that federal money to buy local supplies and hire local workers to build local apartments to rent cheap, right? Well, council apparently has decided th e re ’s no need fo r g o ve rn m en t-subsidize d a p a rt ment projects here. Council fu r ther thinks such a project m ight create some sort of tra ffic pro blem in rustic, little Sandy. Perish the thought! Better we all should rest easy, while the world passes us by. T ha t’s the view FHA and the investment com m unity is likely to take of this sleepy com m unity, if Council doesn’t wipe the sleep out of its eyes. Sandy does little enough to at tract developers in its u n w ill ingness to shoulder some of the new systems development costs. Now three developers, vying for FHA loans, have pitched the coun cil for endorsement to the federal agency. FHA had asked the city to consider the m erits of each pro posal and advise them on the m at ter. If there’s no need for more sub sidized low-cost housing here, then how come Sandy’s only two subsidized housing projects have experienced waiting lists? How come only 154 of Sandy’s 1,321 housing units were built with som e k in d o f g o v e rn m e n t assistance? How come even children of council members are looking for spots in these subsidiz ed units today, if there’s no big need the council can see? It also slams the door on in vestors and builders who want a piece of the m arket that present business persons adm ittedly find d ifficult. But that’s competition. I t ’s also growth. And Lord knows we need growth. Now if the council would get the message They m ight reread their co m p p la n and th e ir own Economic Development Commis sion study before their Monday work session on this issue. (V B ) Local com munity boosters who a specific project. If the banker is think Sandy and Estacada could interested in financing part of the do more to a ttract more com mer project, together they approach cial business to strengthen sagg county commissioners. If com ing economies, take heart. Your missioners share the enthusiasm, federal bureaucracy has YOUR an application then is made to hometown development in mind Economic Development Depart and offers promotional aid. All ment. The loans are made to the you’ll need are the proper forms. county, which in turn dispurses T he F e d e ra l E c o n o m ic the funds Development Adm inistration is Acceptable projects would be staking big bucks—in fact, $2 purchasing land and equipment, m illion of them, to help Oregon b u ild in g f a c ilit ie s fo r new com munities promote location businesses or upgrading existing and expansion of small business businesses around the state. F u r th e r in fo r m a tio n is The money is here, but ques available from B arrie MacDougal tions hold up any easy handouts. o f O re g o n D e p a rtm e n t of The state attorney general must E c o n o m ic D e v e lo p m e n t a t resolve the questions before the 1 800 7813. feds can begin looking at in The more we hurt, the more we dividual projects around the first stand to gain The way the pro of the year gram 's set up, counties who suffer Want to tap in? Any interested most serious economic problems business person could begin by w ill be given top priori) . So get talking to his or her banker about going, Mt. Hood builders! (V B , Has Denny forgotten local roads? Campaigning here for his slim victory November would have showed him a few bumps in the road, if nothing else. P ity he didn't make the trip Clackamas County is a spraw l ing, but poor expanse of pot holes and broken pavement Try as they can, sm all county crews are hard- pressed to stay ahead on road repairs. County officials have mulled ways to finance the needed road repairs in recent years and found unsuccessful statewide gas tax in crease drives the only feasible route If you think Sandy roads are bad, you should cruise through downtown w a r-to rn Estacada where mam streets are cracking everywhere Rural roods in the Hoodland and Boring Damascus areas are best traveled by four T Sandy can be proud to the last dying bull. But what of the young calves looking for a fresh piece of ground? Saying everything is fine to d a y and fin e fo r to m o r ro w -s ta tu s quo—shows an amaz ing lack of understanding of the c ity ’s own comprehensive plan that predicts a population boom around the bend Here’s chance for economic help US. Rep Denny Sm ith’s state ment that Oregon roads aren’t bad enough to w arrant a proposed 5-cent per gallon federal gas tax increase for national road im provements is unbelievable. It may be our local represen tative to Congress finds roads especially bad, now that he's back east. But does he remember how bad roads are back in Oregon’’ A H I# * ...< ' TUfKll NOTHIN' Y LIKE A F F k PAVS \ — IN THE COUNTRY.' a SONI BM W >. e r a THAT C H Ï 2 t - j l SMOG! a d l ’ wheelers with heavy-duty shock absorbers. The other end of Clackamas County is even worse, in some areas A driver not practiced in dodge-and-weave precision could lose a sm all car in potholes in the Oregon C ity , M ilw a u k ie and Gladstone areas But Clackamas County can't claim all the bumps in Oregon's road that M r Smith seems to have missed since going to Washington Here’s the real test for you and your car: T ry driving through the public streets of Lents in Portland Now here is a fine old Portland com munity that govern ment has forgotten in its own sense of moral responsibility. (Or was it the state’s burning desire to cut through I^ents with Highway 205’’ ) Anyway, some of the side streets ot this southeast Portland neighborhood aren't even paved, let alone irrigated In places, cars must brave very deep puddles and even trees in the middle of the road Perhaps a nickle more for gas is too much to ask. the price of gas being what it is C i the other hand, maybe a nickle spent in Oregon on roads is better than a dime tomorrow, considering how roads are bottoming out (V B , Reader laments: Layered government bolsters Portland N ext J a n u a ry C lackam as County w ill have its first effective v o ic e s in th e s ta te L e g is la tu r e We m ust make our views known to Senator Steve Starkovich and Representative Bob Shiprack These men. our n e ig h b o rs , p ro m is e a w elco m e im p ro v e m e n t over the flat-tire politicians from the wrong side of Mount Hood The election clarified some critical issues for these districts I suggest many of them stem from th e te n ta c le s of th e Portland establishm ent, but do our new solons know the extent of this'* The elitists of Portland have created an apparatus, regional government, the “ tri-counties" to work their w ill over us Typically, they spent scads of money to defeat Ballot Measure 6 Right or wrong 11 think it was wrong*, the voters in our midst turned out a substantial m in ority in favor, even aware it was a Draconian solution to our meddlesome land use laws ( Not, it is their LCDC > The voters asserted that much is wrong with LCDC Everybody knows its hor ror stories in the mountain c o m m u n ity S ta rk o v ic h and Shiprack have said they favor reform, so let us remind them LCDC threatens property owners in our midst, even as it has t D racon ian - style-’ » with Happy Valley They mock private proper ty rights Some of us stand to lose our very homes, because we will be unable to rebuild if the house burns down under LCDC rules Something is woefully undemocratic in these and other instances We need to assert our rights in them all. Let us join in wishing Senator Starkovich and Representative Shiprack well in their new careers T h e ir success promises good things, and they should be our gain Joseph A Stein Zigzag Personally speaking: Whole hog, chops dilemma "Whole hog or no pork chop " Father Boyle smiled contented ly ax he passed among the 27 members of our freshman Latin class, handing out midterm ex a m i - a single paragraph of declensions and conjugations a c ro b a tic a lly strung into a passage from V irgil’s "Aeneid "It's whole hog or no pork chop, he d repeat, more for his own pleasure than the edification of the minds wondering why "Then Came Bronson ” took precedence over studying the travels of Aeneas the evening before The whole hog in that case was a succinct translation of the intrepid Roman s travails The pork chop a semesters grade Certainly no more passable a path than the split infinitives and colloquialisms of Virgil is the m ate the city of Sandy finds itself in pursuing its own pork chop- a paid for Heritage Square parking lo t. The city and property owners, who asked for the lot have been dickering over the price for some five years It's whole hog -pay for the pro j e c t o r no pork c h o p w e ll keep it and do with it what we will, the city seems to be saying If the property owners balk. city At the same time, however, the courts gave the city authority to return to square one and begin the project anew, as if it never ex isted at all. which started the latest round of city bills for the project If the city indeed goofed—and the voters who elected the of ficials when the goof occurred share part of that blam e—it is responsible by DAN DILLON and hidications are they will, the city is readying a list of alter natives for the 63 space chunk of prim e macadam in the heart of the city The city could sell it for a toil lot. put up parking meters or begin a long range improve Yet, the city cannot be faulted entirely for making its best effort to provide the lot that property owners requested regardless of technicalities that point to one side or the other's favor The battle over payment has waged through thick and thin almost since the beginning In and out of courts, the skirmishes have seen the w ita of the judiciary carry the case to the ex treme - the state Supreme Court Principal to the argument there i t a parking lof The hatchet should be buried somewhere The commum! is choosing up The whole affair, begun with a sense of neighbors helping neighbors, has turned into the Hatfields and McCoys. It's a neighborhood war War m em orials make nice tourist attractions and no one's tried a peace memorial lately, have they’ However, if both sides swallow ed some indignation—city of ficiate and the businessmen and businesswomen who wanted the confounded thing in the first p la c e - Sandy could have one of the first-ever draw memorials. «away ija-oikip«« fw gym wrr^asj •I’itk I 4 I ' ** ~ « <• . . «»semaitw^ srww. nwwbiw« aassa» a w» jttft happens in the p arking lot brouhaha It's a battle that will m ark a Pyrrhic victory, at best Tfie city could be seen as losers if they give in. after believing it the way it to. Maybe they could call it Mental Block. Just a thought about the pig in a poke ylajmg lot tom up for any number of years Somewhere along the line, so meone goofed The courts seem to point the finger of blame at the was only serving the wishes of businessmen and businesswomen who asked for a place for customers to park while they shop, and taxpayers get stuck with the bill The b u s in e s s m e n and businesswomen could be seen as losers if they see the once free municipal lot turned into a park for-pay venture It could add another log to the fire that drives shoppers to Gresham for goods m m
