PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 6, 2017
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Take the lead on ride-hailing
Economic models are being
thrown on the slag heap of history as
technology changes the way we live
and work.
Social media has revolutionized
communications. Every new dis-
covery and service brings their own
rewards and challenges. The way we
work has changed and
will continue to re-
volve. The way we move
around is changing, as
much a result as tech-
nology and life changes.
Public
transporta-
tion in our area does
not have wide support,
most of us still opt for our private
vehicles which means many car trips
with only one person. Some com-
plain that public buses don’t have
a schedule or a route that works in
their lives, especially when there is
no late evening or weekend service.
For those who do retain their
driving habit the complaint veers
toward traffi c in general—too much
of it, too slow, other drivers. Traffi c
continues to be one of the top liv-
ability issues of local residents.
Add all of that with the fact that
younger people are not as hyped to
get their drivers license and a car as
earlier generations.
This gives the city of Keizer a
chance to be a leader by allowing
ride-hailing services to operate in
the city. Salem’s incoming mayor
Chuck Bennett wants to see Uber
and Lyft start to operate in his city.
Let Keizer be the leader on this is-
sue (Mayor Cathy Clark has been a
strong voice in all things transpor-
tation for years)—let Keizer set the
standard for how services such as
Uber operate.
Allowing ride-hailing services in
Keizer (and Salem) would help peo-
ple get where they need to go when
they want to go. Things might be
different if votes in the Salem Area
Transit district approved bonds and
levies to expand and improve bus
service in our region. Barring that
local municipalities must take steps
to help their citizens move around
according to contemporary models.
Approving ride-hailing services of-
fers the public an alternative to their
current choices of transportation.
The fi rst step is for the
city to fi nd out how Uber
and Lyft operate and how
they can be profi table here.
Cities of every size across
the country have had policy
discussions regarding these
services including issues
such as liability, permitting
and licensing. Keizer has a little-used
licensing ordinance for taxis; there is
not much call for taxis now because
wait times are unacceptable to some
riders, primarily because cabs come
from bases in Salem.
A former mayor once said that
Keizer is open for business. If that is
still viable, let us open it for all busi-
nesses. Let us tell Uber and Lyft that
Keizer is a good market for them.
In the current Keizertimes web poll,
more than 70 percent of respondents
would use a ride-hailing service.
That’s a great start.
Ride-hailing services in Keizer
would be good for students, for peo-
ple with appointments in or outside
of the city boundaries, for those not
able to drive and for those who want
to attend a social function where al-
cohol is served.
We call for Keizer to take the
regional lead on this issue and cre-
ate the model that other cities can
follow. We want to see this move
forward with the fewest obstacles as
possible.
Our city is open for business. The
way people move around is chang-
ing. Those are two things Keizer can
address with one leap forward: let’s
hail a ride.
—LAZ
editorial
Electoral
college serves
a purpose
an inexperienced neigh-
borhood organizer and
party hack was elected.
We didn’t disavow our
country or the Constitu-
tion.
The election is over. It
was constitutional. Give
the president-elect a chance. That is
an equation for Democracy.
Kent McCurdy
Keizer
letters
To the Editor:
Gene McIntyre started
his column (An equation for disas-
ter? Dec. 30, 2016) with the wrong
premise.
Alexander Hamilton and oth-
ers created the Electoral College
so states with low populations
wouldn’t be left out of the process.
If they hadn’t created the College,
a few large states could control all
national elections. For that rea-
son alone the Constitution would
most likely not have been ratifi ed.
As for his totally biased remarks
about Trump, who knows? Many
of us had serious concerns when
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Will Trump let Obama go quietly?
By E.J. DIONNE JR.
Will Donald Trump deprive Presi-
dent Obama of what we have come to
think of as a normal post-presidency,
the relatively serene life of refl ection,
writing, philanthropy and high-
minded speeches to friendly au-
diences?
In recent decades, we have be-
come accustomed to the idea of
ex-presidents who leave political
combat behind. They might oc-
casionally speak out on behalf
of their party: Bill Clinton was
an effective “explainer in chief ”
for Obama at the 2012 Democratic
National Convention. But with some
exceptions (Jimmy Carter on the
Middle East comes to mind), they
usually avoided trying to infl uence
policy. In their above-the-fray roles,
former commanders in chief some-
times improved their standing in the
polls. George W. Bush is a prominent
example of the less controversy/more
affection dynamic.
It is already clear that Obama, leav-
ing offi ce at a young 55, intends to
pursue something more than the quiet
life. He will lay down some prelimi-
nary markers on policy next week in a
Farewell Address. He has signaled that
he wants to energize a new generation
of Democrats and help rebuild a party
that he will leave in less than optimal
shape. Democrats control neither the
House nor the Senate and have seen
their share of governorships and state
legislative seats decimated.
He has already lined up to work
with Eric Holder, his former attorney
general, to help Democrats in guber-
natorial and legislative races. Their
goal is to fi ght Republican gerryman-
ders by infl uencing the drawing of
congressional district boundaries after
the 2020 census.
And it would be
good to see Obama
visit Appalachia and
the old factory towns
and cities where
Trump did well to
connect with white
working-class voters
who have soured on
progressive politics.
But Obama could be pushed to-
ward a larger role if Trump proves to
be as profound a threat as his oppo-
nents fear. It may fall to the president
of hope and change to become the
national spokesman for opposition
and even resistance on civil liberties,
civil rights, press freedom, the rights
of immigrants and religious minori-
ties, and the United States’ standing in
the world.
A largely offstage but lively debate
is already unfolding over Obama’s
coming role. In one view, Obama
should recede and allow new voices in
his party to take the lead. The Demo-
crats’ path back to power, this argu-
ment goes, will best be blazed by a
younger generation that can declare
its independence from the politics of
the past—exactly what Obama him-
self did in 2008.
A related argument sees Obama as
inciting a negative reaction if he be-
comes too vocal, too quickly. Even
if the apolitical post-presidency has
rather shallow historical roots, it has
other
views
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Supporting our local teams is in our DNA
Why do I care about the fate of
any sports team? Why do I consider
the teams “my” teams?” I have no im-
pact on or personal reward from the
outcome of any game my favorites
play. For the sake of transpar-
ency here, my favorites are the
University of Oregon Ducks
and Seattle Seahawks. Mean-
while, what’s most silly? I feel
temporarily upset when ei-
ther one loses and get a boost
when they win.
I have talked to friends
about this phenomenon and
they’ve not been much help.
Some say they’ve just always been a
fan of so and so. They’ve attended a
college or grew up in a certain city, say,
for example, with an NFL team. Their
dad liked that team so it’s an emotional
inheritance. Whatever the answer, it is
always vague and imprecise; in other
words, they do not really know why,
but just feel something and carry it
like a crucible in team colors.
But what is it? Where does it come
from? What purpose does it serve? I
soberly recognize the irrationality of
identifying with a team I never played
on, such as the Ducks, although I did
earn graduate degrees at UO but as an
older student, and would have viewed
myself mad if I’d traveled to Seattle for
a try-out, even forty years ago when I
was still a young guy with a fl at tummy.
According to the anthropologists,
there’s a connection. As long ago as the
Middle Ages, peasants played a version
of soccer while villages competed with
each other, kicking a pig’s bladder
around for scores. Games took place
at carnivals, festivals and gatherings of
all kinds with feasting, dancing and
physical activity in which, most likely,
every able-bodied person participated.
These sorts of human interactions
took place throughout the world, in
primitive and so-called advanced soci-
eties, as far back as early man—it got
into our DNA, in ways scientifi c and
artistic, and stuck there.
I may understand it better now
than as a child. However, once I played
on teams then it became natural to en-
thusiastically support the effort. Even
kids who never par-
ticipated in a sport, like
most of the girls when I
was young, they showed
their support by cheer-
ing for the boys they
knew. We simply grew
up with the habit of sup-
porting school teams and
it followed us into adult-
hood and life thereafter
even though, nowadays, most of us do
not personally know those for whom
we root.
Hence, an additional dimension to
this subject that can further mystify
the questioning mind. Sports in the
United States have become unattached
from the fans who support them to a
point where it is challenging to un-
derstand why anyone can cheer for
a team. Players and owners take fan
loyalty for granted and give back only
wins and losses with evermore super-
gene h.
mcintyre
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
become something of a norm that
Obama ought to be careful about
challenging.
But these qualms might be most
useful as a guide to how and when
Obama should engage. In the un-
likely event that Trump governs in a
more moderate way, Obama’s activism
might not be necessary. And even if
Obama’s voice is needed to rally dis-
sent, it would be a mistake for him to
jump into the debate too quickly. His
witness should be seen as an emer-
gency measure, the actions of a leader
who could not sit by while his coun-
try was in peril.
Obama can take risks in confront-
ing Trump that more conventional
politicians, with their futures ahead of
them, might not. He has the capac-
ity to seize the country’s attention on
the issues that matter. Here, the ac-
customed behavior of ex-presidents
could work in Obama’s favor. His fel-
low citizens would see him as speak-
ing out reluctantly and despite his
desire to move on to a new phase in
his life.
He would have to calibrate his
interventions. He doesn’t want to
become a daily commentator on all
things political. But his popularity as
he departs and the record he leaves
behind on job creation and growth
give him added credibility with a
broad swath of Americans.
My hunch is that Obama would
prefer to hang back from politics. My
expectation is that Trump will not
give him that option.
twitter.com/keizertimes
fans, mega-fans, fans who yell louder
and spend more on tickers and mer-
chandise. Team member indifference
perplexes but the craziness goes on
while the professional players have
contracts and are paid whether they
win or lose. They build it and we
come.
In trying to fi gure it all out to a de-
fi nitive answer, logic fails me. I rec-
ognized that powerful, illogical human
emotions are involved. The wide-
spread phenomenon has most to do
with our being human. I don’t appre-
ciate the disgustingly excessive money
in sports, amateur and professional (a
moral nation would provide food and
shelter for its youth in poverty before
paying grown men millions to play
with a “pigskin”), but that equation
has favored the games over my life-
time. I want to say that my New Year’s
resolution is to back off of interest in
sports teams but know I’ll fail that
commitment as there is an instinctive,
powerful force at work, something
bigger than me, seeking human social
belonging and membership.
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap-
pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)