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.
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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
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