PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 20, 2015
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
The marketplace chooses winners
Show rationale for new district
Everyone likes parks, but
not everyone uses parks on
a frequent and regular basis.
Parks do add to the quality
of life of a city. Keizer has
19 parks from pocket parks
to the jewel—Keizer Rap-
ids Park.
There has been talk for
several years now about how to fund
our parks. By necessity the parks have
been at the bottom of the budget
list after the city allocates money for
public safety and the infrastructure of
the city (sewers, streets, etc.). Some
think that is unfair and think that
parks should get as much fi nancial
support as any other part of the city’s
operation. That’s a nice viewpoint,
but until the city is able to increase
its tax base, our leaders will have to
work within the revenue we have.
A few years ago there was discus-
sion of adding a surcharge to water
bills or some other existing fee that
homeowners already pay, but that
idea was dead on arrival. It seems
there are people who have already
decided that a special district is the
only way to sustain funding for
Keizer parks and they’ll fi nd a way
to make it happen. Of course a parks
district cannot be wished into exis-
tence, it will require the approval of
Keizer voters to levy a new tax on
themselves.
Those who propose a parks dis-
trict concede that it will be a long
process—researching existing parks
districts in Oregon, deciding how
to move forward with a master plan
for all the parks and how the district
woud operate. A district would call
for an elected board, equipment, staff
and operational organiza-
tion. That’s a lot of extra
bureaucracy for 19 parcels
of land.
A governing body of
parks supporters with
control over a pot of
new money could easily
go out of control. One
would expect there would be public
hearings regarding budgets and how
to allocate money to parks other than
Keizer Rapids Park (KPR)—which
really drives the whole parks district
proposal.
The master plan for Keizer Rap-
ids Park is really a blueprint for an
amusement park. When we think of
parks we think of opens spaces, trails,
fi elds, benches, picnic tables, nature.
With most of Keizer Rapids Park
forest undevelopable, parks and ath-
letic supporters eye the remaining
land with visions of pavillions, soccer
fi elds, tennis courts, softball diamonds
and more. The more activities that are
crammed into Keizer Rapids Park
the further from its original intent it
will be.
Residents like to have a park in
their neighborhood they can walk
to and use when they want. Would
a parks district assure that every park
gets equal attention?
If a parks district is placed on a
ballot for voter approval, the public
will have the fi nal say on increasing
their own taxes. In a political climate
where cutting taxes is always a win-
ning campaign platform, the rationale
for asking Keizer households to add
another fi nancial burden had better
be well thought—and planned—out.
—LAZ
editorial
Park district for
Keizer?
Parks district
letters not a slam
dunk
To the Editor:
The Keizertimes had an in-
teresting article about a parks
district in Keizer
My fi rst thought was “Here we go
again, folks;” several people on the
city council want more of your hard
earned money. They are talking about
forming a parks district. They are not
satisfi ed with the money parks receives
from the general city budget. Keizer is
known for its frugal handling of your
tax dollars but some folks want to get
deeper into your pocket.
Forming a parks district will mean
having to elect a board of directors,
hiring a superintendent and main-
tenance staff, not to mention park
equipment. Then there is the offi ce
space, offi ce personnel and a variety of
costs including things like insurance
and legal costs.
The city would have to sell or
give all of the park land to the dis-
trict. I wish these people would get
real and learn to live within a budget
like the rest of us do. Richard Walsh
was quoted as saying the park budget
has to compete with sewer and wa-
ter for funding. We all have to pay a
fee for sewer and water completely
separated from the general fund. Mr.
Walsh knows this as he was on the city
council. Such statements raise ques-
tions as to trustworthiness of future
statements. The next thing you know
these same people will want a police
district and a library district in order
to receive more taxes. This topic is like
a vampire.
We put a stake in its heart several
years ago and it is back again.
Bill Quinn
Keizer
To the Editor:
So, some members of
the Parks Advisory Board are consid-
ering forming a Parks District. Why?
They say “to stabilize park funding,”
but what they really hope for is more
funding and more autonomy.
Parks board member Richard
Walsh and city councilor Marlene
Parsons seem to suggest that com-
peting with other general fund pro-
grams such as the police department
is somehow unfair. There are few citi-
zens that would put parks ahead of the
police needs.
Walsh used examples of competing
with the water and sewer departments.
This is misinformation in the extreme.
Both Walsh and Parsons know the
parks do not compete with water and
sewer. They never have.
The parks board would soon fi nd
out there are many duplicate admin-
istrative costs, now borne by the city,
that they would have to cover before
one additional penny is spent for the
betterment of the parks. Costs such
as an administrator, a secretary, fi eld
workers, a furnished offi ce, heat, lights
and water, insurance, legal support, an-
nual audits, and the list goes on. The
cost of a special election to establish
the district would be an estimated
$30,000.
There is a funding solution if the
parks board is up to it. That is to fi rst
convince the city council and then
the general public that more money is
needed at this time for the parks. That
would mean more taxes in the form of
a traditional levy.
Dr. Jerry McGee
Keizer
Keizertimes
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Salem, Oregon
By JOHN MORGAN
I am a specialist in community
development working with cities all
over the state. I also served as Keizer’s
Community Develpoment Director
from 1990 through 1998. I have some
particular understanding in both how
corporations make location decisions
and in how local government oper-
ates.
Therefore, I fi nally have to step in
to short-circuit the belief city govern-
ments pick the stores that locate with-
in a community. It seems many people
think the Keizer City Council or staff
will choose who goes in the vacant
Albertsons/Haggen building, or at
least will actively market the building.
I am afraid it does not work that way,
nor should it.
Cities only regulate private market
decisions through zoning restrictions,
and only proactively engage in market
decisions in extraordinary situations.
Cities will get proactively engaged
in the context of a major redevelop-
ment of a substandard district. This is
a classic role of urban renewal. Even
in Keizer’s ma-
jor urban re-
newal
efforts
for the River
Road Corridor
the focus was on
creating a more
attractive busi-
ness district not on the city becoming
a developer. There was the rare excep-
tion of a small delegation of business
leaders and me talking with the folks
at Shari’s to encourage them to locate
in Keizer, which was successful.
You have to look to projects like
Salem Center, where the city of Sa-
lem bought out that whole block and
actively marketed it to specifi c retail-
ers, including Nordstrom, recogniz-
ing it was key to the redevelopment
of downtown Salem. It was a multi-
million dollar public investment.
The Albertsons/Haggen situa-
tion is far from that. It’s a vacant store
owned by a private party and being
marketed by them as aggressively as
they see fi t. That’s no different than
the Roth’s site or any vacant store-
front on River Road. It is a private
market situation and a private market
decision to be made. If the people of
Keizer want to infl uence the decision
that’s great. But the interest must be
focused on the potential tenants, not
on city hall.
Continue to pour letters and
phone calls into Winco and other de-
sirable retailers. Find out who owns
the property and ask that person if and
how the community can help. If there
is any pressure to be brought on city
hall, it is to raise the level of urgency
to have the city be more aggressive
with the overall River Road redevel-
opment program. The city can help
create an even more attractive district
and then let the market do its thing to
fi ll Albertsons, Roth’s, and all the oth-
er vacant spaces. That is what works
and it should be where all this great
energy is focused—looking forward
to the grand opening of the wonder-
ful new stores the market creates.
By DON VOWELL
It seems sad how little encourage-
ment it takes to return me to this
page. A long-time friend at church
asked why I have been absent so
long. I told her it was because I re-
alized that I’m an idiot. Not going
so far as to deny that, she did say she
sometimes agreed with things I had
written. Good enough. Let’s continue
on. My new premise is that we are
all idiots to some degree. See, you’ve
already found something with which
you can disagree.
Facebook has been a major con-
tributor to my growing belief that I
am only one among many in a crowd
of idiots. Somehow any restraint
shown in face to face conversation is
jettisoned in Facebook commentary.
My Facebook “friends,” of whom
I know much about, are similar to
me in many ways. Most of us have
the standard American high school
education, perhaps with some college
thrown in, have stable income, a de-
cent living space, and the security of
American freedoms as protected by
the most able military ever seen. De-
spite our common origins each of us
believes we have the answers, hostile
to any bold enough to disagree. I’m
not sure how we all became so singu-
larly brilliant.
Not
for
the fi rst time,
I recommend
humility.
If
you are con-
temptuous of
c o m p ro m i s e
that implies
belief that you are right, others are
wrong. There are more than three
hundred million of us in America.
You can’t fi nd one of them that agrees
with you about everything. If there
is just one right way to do things the
odds are three hundred million to one
against you being the one with the
true path. The odds are the same for
me. The odds grow even longer if we
are magnanimous enough to include
people of other nations.
Facebook lives in the now. France
is our forever ally and we support
them in their grief by coloring pic-
tures of our face with red, white, and
blue. Never mind “cheese eating sur-
render monkeys” and “freedom fries”
when France resisted going to war
with Iraq. It could be that that war
with Iraq created the swamp from
which ISIS was brewed. Anyhow
France is again our original and best
ally, a recognition that can be switched
on and off as needed. Facebook has
the attention span of a gnat.
Facebook also shows that ISIS is
succeeding in making us believe they
are Islam. Their bloodthirsty and hid-
eous terrorism is not aimed at en-
couraging religious conversion but at
provoking holy war. Christianity and
Islam have coexisted for a very long
time. Now we are seeing a terrifying
slide toward religious hostility toward
all Muslims. We are reacting just as
ISIS hoped. There are lots of tough
guy American Facebook posts about
bombing them and shooting them if
they come down our street.
Given all that I am willing to con-
cede that I don’t know what I’m talk-
ing about, and willing to believe the
same of you. This is a representative
democracy. The president was twice
elected and fairly by a majority of
Americans. He has sources of infor-
mation and intelligence that you and I
don’t even know about. He has com-
plete access to all military branches,
the State Department, intelligence
agencies and diplomats of every for-
eign country. He is advised about
Middle Eastern history, geography,
fi nance, resources, religion, govern-
ments and military threats.
We are armed with Facebook
memes. Recognize your limits.
guest
column
(John Morgan, of The MorganCPS
Group is executive director, of The
Chinook Institute for Civic Leader-
ship.)
Foreign policy brought to you by Facebook
a box
of
soap
(Don Vowell lives in Keizer. He oc-
casionally gets on his soapbox in the
Keizertimes.)
Don’t feed the Islamic State narrative
By MICHAEL GERSON
As careful as we should be in
drawing lessons from tragedy—and
there is something particularly dis-
graceful in mounting a political
soapbox at a funeral—the horrors
experienced in Paris demand a re-
newed dedication to the prevention
of future horrors.
Islamic State terrorists have goals
beyond a blood-drunk love of car-
nage: to discredit the Syrian refugees
(whom they hate) and to encour-
age the perception of a civilizational
struggle between Islam and the West.
They are currently succeeding in
both.
What are the elements of the
Islamic State’s strategy? Sunni ter-
rorists have fought in local civil
wars across the Middle East—ex-
ploiting the tribal politics of the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and
Sunni resentments against a petty
Shiite despot in Iraq, and a civil war
against a brutal, Iranian-sponsored
despot in Syria—to gain a territorial
foothold and raise the black fl ag of
global jihad. They are stoking reli-
gious confl ict between Muslims and
Christians in order to attract recruits,
including from Western countries.
And one way to encourage the ap-
pearance of civilizational confl ict is
through spectacular acts of murder
that somehow (horribly) appeal to a
Sunni Arab sense of historical disem-
powerment.
This raises a serious, medium-
term prospect for the terrorists: to
gain in morale, territory and re-
cruits until they have the noncon-
ventional capabilities to sabotage
the great Western advantage and
vulnerability—the global economy.
Consider the effect that a radiologi-
cal or biological weapon might have
on London or New York—and on
our world order of trade, investment,
banking and travel. All of it is built
on a fragile foundation of confi -
dence.
With the rise of the Islamic State in
the ruins of Syria and western Iraq—
wealthier and more capable than any
terrorist group in history—the U.S.
has a fateful decision to make in the
Middle East. Destroying the Islamic
State is necessary. But does America
fi ght in effective cooperation with
Shiite radical-
ism (Iran) and
Russia?
Or
does America
build and lead
a more ef-
fective coali-
tion of Sunni
powers
and
European countries that are up for
the fi ght, while countering Iranian
infl uence?
A rapprochement with Shiite
radicalism to defeat Sunni radicalism
(which was America’s approach dur-
ing last year during the Iraq emer-
gency) would be a terrible mistake.
It would effectively ratify American
irrelevance in the Middle East—giv-
ing legitimacy to the Iranian bid for
regional dominance.
Adopting a “let them fi ght it out”
approach is to encourage a regional
Sunni/Shiite civil war in the Middle
East, with Iran funding militias and
supporting proxies (while we tacitly
approve) and Sunni powers (secretly
or not so secretly) funding Sunni mi-
litias and proxies of their own. This
battleground is good for Shiite radi-
calism and for Sunni radicalism. It
strengthens both through perpetual,
sectarian jihad. And it could eventu-
ally produce people and movements
that strike America and Europe in
ever more ambitious ways.
This is the hard fact. Americans
other
views
don’t want this role, but it needs to
lead an alliance of Sunni powers (the
Gulf States, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt)
and NATO countries to crush the
Islamic State. The current strategy of
train, equip and bomb is not con-
taining the threat. And we can’t rely
on Iran and Russia to do the job
without inviting new problems.
And all our efforts are under-
mined by declaring Islam itself to be
the enemy, and by treating Muslims
in America, or Muslims in Europe,
or Muslims fl eeing Islamic State op-
pression, as a class of suspicious po-
tential jihadists. Instead of blaming
refugees, we need to make sure our
counterterrorism and intelligence
policies give us a chance to screen
and stop any threat. But if American
politicians defi ne Islam as the prob-
lem and cast aspersions on Muslim
populations in the West, they are
feeding the Islamic State narrative.
They are materially undermining the
war against terrorism and compli-
cating America’s task in the Middle
East. Rejecting a blanket condemna-
tion of Islam is not a matter of politi-
cal correctness. It is the requirement
of an effective war against terrorism,
which currently means an effective
war against the terrorist kingdom in
Syria and western Iraq.
As of now, that war is not being
won.
(Washington Post Writers Group)