Tuesday, November 1, 2022 A7
REDMOND SPOKESMAN
Write to us: news@redmondspokesman.com
GUEST COMMENT
Developers
and utilities,
spare that
farmland!
BY LLEWELLYN KING
I
n nearly every city in the United States, and many
around the world, bulldozers are busy making dreams
come true: Leveling land for a single-family home on
a lot.
Who doesn’t want a lovely home with a nice bit of land
on some tree-lined street? It is the Amer-
ican Dream manifested in bricks and
mortar.
Trouble is dreams can morph into
nightmares. A growing nightmare across
the nation is the incursion of homes onto
King
farmland — land that will be out of pro-
duction essentially forever.
All around Washington, I watched year after year for
decades lovely farms in adjacent Maryland and Virginia
being turned into suburbs — sometimes 70 and more
miles from the city center.
It has been a simple tradeoff: There has been a relentless
demand for single-family homes and builders see farms,
usually family-owned, as ripe fruit ready for picking.
When age is an issue, they almost always sell. Farming is a
tough, 365-days-a-year undertaking, and a fat check at the
end of a farming career is irresistible.
No villains here, but there are consequences. Mark
Twain said, “Buy land, they aren’t making it anymore.”
Sadly, Twain didn’t take his own advice and instead in-
vested in the tech world of the day: He lost a fortune in a
company that was trying to perfect the typewriter.
Farmers are special to me. They are the real renaissance
men and women. They know a lot about a lot, from being
able to gauge the pH levels of soil on their tongues to how
to birth a calf, repair a tractor, or raise a barn.
They also know a thing or two about how the govern-
ment works and filling out forms. They are regulated but
have no guaranteed rate of return. They are as subject
to the weather over their own land as floods around the
world.
Businesses talk about being rewarded for taking a risk.
Farmers take a risk with every seed they plant — and the
returns aren’t guaranteed.
But, as Gail Chaddock, host, and producer of “No
Farms, No Future,” a podcast of the American Farmland
Trust, said, “You can’t blame the farmers, and you can’t
blame the developers. But the land we’ll need for food
production in the future is being taken.”
What is happening is the irreversible destruction of mil-
lions of acres of prime farmland every year. A reverence
for farmland needs to enter the culture, she said.
No longer, however, is it just developers buying up
farms. Farmland is now being sought by another kind of
developer: renewable energy companies. They are buying
it for large solar arrays. They also contract with farmers
to install windmills which, while not taking so much land
out of agricultural use, cumulatively take a lot.
But it is solar farms that are the real problem. Britain is
thinking of legislating to prohibit the use of agricultural
land for energy production. Other countries are waking to
the realization that a field of shining solar collectors is not
the same as a field of waving wheat or even lowly cabbages.
As over time we exported our manufacturing, we also
have exported our food production. What was once raised
on truck farms around the cities is now raised in neigh-
boring Canada and Mexico, or as far away as Chile and
South Africa.
There is no compelling reason to cover huge acreages
with solar panels. Roofs, rights of way, and urban parking
lots could be pressed into service. Railroad tracks cry out
for a solar canopy.
Just because energy or housing is a higher economic use
for land today doesn’t mean that it won’t have a higher fu-
ture value, feeding future generations.
█
Llewellyn King is executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle” on
PBS. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
YOUR VIEWS
Pipe Columbia River water to fight
drought in Oregon and Southwest
Now that we again have a drought in
south-central Oregon and southwest United
States, it seems like it is time to seriously
think of long-term solutions.
One of these could be pumping water out of
the Columbian River to that area. The ocean
does not need that water. Bonneville Power
could be compensated for the loss of the elec-
tricity that would be generated by that water at
the Bonneville Dam and The Dalles Dam.
A good place to take the water out of the
Columbia River would be somewhere be-
tween The Dalles and Biggs using two large
pipes along Highway 97, dropping off the
necessary amount at Klamath Falls and
pumping the rest to Lake Shasta near Red-
ding, Calif. Two pipes would be better than
one, in case something happens to one, the
other one would still be working. California
has the canals to take it from Lake Shasta.
This would not help immediately, but
could be part of a long term solution. This
drought problem is not going to go away.
The sooner we start working toward a long
term solution, the sooner it can be done.
Bob Mattila
Brush Prairie, Washington
Fitch outlines platform for mayor
Next year we will have a new city coun-
cil with limited experience in elective office.
Since September, the campaigns for mayor
and council in Redmond have been pursued
by each candidate with respect for others in
the race and provide both hope and promise
that the new city council will work together
for the benefit of the entire community, in-
stead of using their council positions to ad-
vance their own personal agenda.
There will be many issues the council will
need to address in 2023, including housing,
homelessness, child care, public safety and
the need to plan for and fund needed public
infrastructure. I believe that with 40 years
of experience in both city government and
private business I can provide the best lead-
ership for the new council to ensure that the
council, with input from the community,
will address these and other issues in a fair,
open and transparent manor.
While I respect my opponents, I do be-
lieve that I am the best candidate to lead the
new council. I am the only candidate with a
proven record of putting together regional
partnerships and in successfully obtaining
state and federal to help pay for our needed
public improvements. I hope you will vote
for me for the position of mayor.
Finally, I want to thank the many volun-
teers who helped on my campaign and to
the citizens who patiently listened to the
debates, became informed about the candi-
dates and measures and welcomed us when
we went door-to-door.
Ed Fitch
Redmond
City councilor, mayoral candidate
Fitch right choice for mayor
I am supporting the election of Ed Fitch
for the Mayor of Redmond.
My husband Jon and I moved to Red-
mond eight years ago when the population
was about 15,000 people. Redmond’s popu-
lation has doubled in that time. Exorbitant
growth for any city. Jon and I saw this first-
hand in Tigard. Many of the same issues
and concerns are in Redmond today.
Planning has been done on many issues.
Council, mayor and staff need to imple-
ment solutions. We are not a city of 15,000
anymore. I have seen Fitch connect with the
council to open up their meetings for actual
citizen input and he has pledged he will be
more transparent on this issue.
With his experience as mayor, I am confi-
dent that Fitch can and will bring this trans-
parency to the city and the council to nav-
igate current and future issues of growth,
quality of life, and all of the things we citi-
zens talk about every day.
Fitch knows and has been at the table
with decision makers in the past. He was
there for the first bypass of Redmond. Now
he is working with the council to plan and
secure right-of-way and funding for a re-
route not only Redmond, but to move the
high volume of regional traffic that passes
through our city. This won’t happen tomor-
row or the next day, but securing the future
right-of-way is huge as it will lock in a route.
We need Ed Fitch for the way he has nav-
igated those issues and many other issues
both noted and unforeseen. But I am confi-
dent that he can lead, listen and empower the
council, as well as all citizens of Redmond. We
need a leader to deal with the complexities of
our city for 2022 and beyond.
Judy Fessler
Past chair of the Redmond Landmarks
Commission, past president of Greater
Redmond Historical Society
GUEST COLUMN
Counting down to election day
H
ave you been count-
ing the minutes until
election day when your
neighbors can remove all those
campaign signs from their
lawns for another two years?
Yes, these are midterm elec-
tions, just as serious as the presi-
dential election yet to come two
years from now, but not as inter-
esting.
Why not? Because the great
candidate Vermin Love Supreme
only runs for president and
doesn’t mess about trying to be
someone’s governor.
V.L., who appears to be a
bearded cross between Archime-
des and Alexander Graham Bell,
tends to stand out in a crowd.
That is largely because he’s usu-
ally wearing a boot on his head
and is carrying a giant tooth-
brush.
Unlike most politicians, who
basically ask us to vote for them
because they have their names
on several yard signs and can
prove it, Ol’ Verm isn’t afraid to
to delve into time travel, 3. Inves-
tigate the possibilities of a Zom-
bie invasion, and 4. Give a pony
to everyone in the country.
Lest you be scratching your
head over the time-travel expen-
ditures, Vermin Love Supreme is
quick to point out that once sci-
ence has whipped time travel, he
can then go back in time and kill
Adolf Hitler.
How can you beat a campaign
face his country head-on and tell
slogan like that? Not only is it
us what we really need.
Last time around, while trying fun, but just picture 250 million
to wedge his goals into the New people riding ponies around and
showing off their shiny teeth.
Hampshire primaries, Vermin
made no bones of his platform: Just two more years … we can do
1. Passing a national law that ev- it. Two more years.
Slim Randles is a nationally
eryone must brush their teeth, 2.
Dedicating millions of tax dollars syndicated columnist.
█
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
Redmond
Mayor George Endicott: George.endicott@
redmondoregon.gov, 541-948-3219
Deschutes County
County Commission Chair Patti Adair: Patti.adair@
deschutes.org, 541-388-6567
County Commission Vice Chair Tony DeBone: Tony.
debone@deschutes.org, 541-388-6568
County Commissioner Phil Chang: Phil.Chang@
deschutes.org, 541-388-6569
Your Legislators
Rep. Jack Zika (District 53): 503-986-1453; 900
Court st. Ne, H-387, salem, or 97301, rep.JackZika@
oregonlegislature.gov
Sen. Tim Knopp (District 27): 503-986-1727; 900
Court st. Ne, s-425, salem, or 97301, sen.TimKnopp@
oregonlegislature.gov
State
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 state Capitol, salem,
or 97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.
treasurer@ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter st. Ne, suite 100,
salem or 97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum:
Justice building, salem, or 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and
information are available online at www.leg.state.or.us.
Federal
President Joe Biden: The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania ave., Washington, d.C. 20500; 202-456-
1111; to send comments, go to www.whitehouse.gov.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: d.C. office: 313 Hart senate
office building, u.s. senate, Washington, d.C., 20510;
202-224-3753; fax 202-228-3997. Portland office: one
World Trade Center, 121 s.W. salmon st. suite 1250,
Portland, or 97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-326-2900.
baker City office, 1705 main st., suite 504, 541-278-
1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: d.C. office: 221 dirksen senate
office building, Washington, d.C., 20510; 202-224-
5244; fax 202-228-2717. La Grande office: 105 Fir st.,
No. 210, La Grande, or 97850; 541-962-7691; fax, 541-
963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz (2nd District): d.C. office: 1239
Longworth House office building, Washington, d.C.,
20515, 202-225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. medford
office: 14 N. Central avenue suite 112, medford, or
97850; Phone: 541-776-4646; fax: 541-779-0204;
ontario office: 2430 s.W. Fourth ave., No. 2, ontario, or
97914; Phone: 541-709-2040. bentz.house.gov.