SEPTEMBER 22, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Cap amenity fee at $25,000
A plan to enact a fee on commer-
cial deveopment to fund public ame-
nities in Keizer is going to get a sec-
ond, deeper look by the city council.
The council was scheduled to act
on the amendment to the develop-
ment code at this week’s meeting. The
issue has been continued to the fi rst
council meeting in October. The pub-
lic hearing on the matter
will also be re-opened.
The public amenities
will include landscaping
that is up to code for new
development and also a
contribution to Keizer’s
public art program equal
to 1 percent of the proj-
ect’s total worth.
Many cities, counties and states
have such a provision. In many cit-
ies in America a visitor can see lots of
public art that is paid for with a re-
quired 1 percent contribution. Keiz-
er’s public art program has become
anemic and has yet to live up to its
potential. Establishing a contribution
program from commercial develop-
ment is a good way to assure that the
public art program is well-funded and
continues to add pieces and events to
our city.
A sticking point that arose at this
week’s council meeting was the cost
to a developer. The value of a new
dental offi ce being built in Keizer Sta-
tion could be up to $8 million; one
percent is $80,000—a large contri-
bution for public amenties in Keizer.
Some say there should be more parity
amongst differing developments. As it
was pointed out at Monday’s council
meeting, a dental offi ce is a specialized
building that has much higher cost
and value than a standard offi ce.
When the council takes up this issue
again next month it should consider a
cap on contributions. For example, a
1 percent contribution for art, with a
cap of $25,000. If there were only two
new commercial developments a year
(it is very unlikely there would be that
few), the public art program
would get a $50,000 shot in
the arm. That’s much more
than it has ever gotten in any
one year period.
There are costs to doing
business. The costs from the
city of Keizer are low. Mar-
ion County is the body that
issues permits for construction and
they set the cost for such permits. It
is relatively inexpensive to do business
in and with the city of Keizer. When
many individuals and companies en-
deavor to ‘give back’ to the commu-
nity, a contribution of 1 percent of a
project’s worth, capped at $25,000,
is an investment benefi ts the whole
community.
Several councilors that have stated
that they are not artists and do not feel
competent to assess art submissions.
There is a mechanicism in place for
that purpose: the Keizer Public Arts
Commission, which should remain
the fi nal word on acceptable art.
Funding public art willy nilly
doesn’t work. The council should push
forward and make required contribu-
tions easy for developers to swallow
so the city can be a showcase of art for
now and into the future.
—LAZ
A representative
for all?
ing in 2020 before going
down and that would re-
quire government support.
Please write your lo-
cal offi cials and senators
to begin taking action to
combat the opiate epi-
demic and steer us away
from the disaster course we are on.
There are many different approaches
to the challenge of how to address the
opiate epidemic. For more informa-
tion visit: www.narcononnewlifere-
treat.org/blog/the-horrifying-future-
of-the-heroin-epidemic.html.
Aaron Olson
Narconon New Life Retreat
our
opinion
letters
To the Editor:
Seriously? Our state
representative, Bill Post, is
back on the air and this
time on the crazy sta-
tion—opening act for the likes of
Hair Club model Sean Hannity and
Alex Jones.
I get it; I understand the allure of
minor celebrity—been there, done
that (for 25 years), but legislators are
supposed to be serious people who
represent the whole of the district,
not just the easily fooled fringes.
If Mr. Post wants a career in fake
news, fi ne, it’s a free country and I
don’t have to listen to him. But I
hear he’s also fi led for reelection and
that is troubling. I suggest he either
rein in his ego and look for a grown
up job or abandon the reelection bid.
There are serious people out there in
both parties who would be happy to
vie for the Post post.
Martin Doerfl er
Keizer
Ask legislators to
help opioid crisis
To the Editor:
According to the American Society
of Addiction Medicine, the leading
cause of accidental death in 2015 was
drug overdose. The life toll from the
drug epidemic has been consistently
growing over the past couple of years
with opiate addiction and overdose
being one of the lead causes.
Each year, more people use drugs
for the fi rst time and wind up addict-
ed. Right now, the highest number of
opiate overdoses are in the Northeast.
The problem originally started with
heroin as the main contributor how-
ever newer drugs have begun to esca-
late the problem. Fentanyl has begun
to be mixed into heroin with devastat-
ing consequences. This combination is
so potent there have been fatal over-
doses of non-users who merely got
the substance on their skin.
Now more than ever, those in our
country who are struggling with sub-
stance abuse need help getting into
a heroin addiction rehab. According
to the Center for Disease Control or
CDC, drug overdose deaths have in-
creased more than 2.5 times compared
to what they were in 1999. In fact, ac-
cording to a study by experts at 10
universities, the problem can get much
worse. At this point, the best-case sce-
nario would be overdose deaths peak-
Crossing the
Columbia River
To the Editor:
Presently, there isn’t enough
money available to replace the ag-
ing Interstate 5 bridge in the manner
currently envisioned. But there still
might be a way to build the badly
needed replacement by constructing
a new crossing in stages.
Phase one: Build a northbound
span. Include an emergency access
lane.
Phase two: Open the new north-
bound span and convert the existing
steel bridge to southbound only traf-
fi c. This change will immediately cut
the traffi c fl ow over the old bridge
by one half which will greatly ex-
tend the life of the bridge. Provide
for emergency access.
Phase three: Construct a new
southbound span when future fund-
ing becomes available. Include an
emergency access lane.
Phase four: In time, dismantle and
remove the existing and worn steel
bridge. Or adapt it to accommodate
light rail to create an experimental
light rail link between Portland and
Vancouver.
By building the new crossing in
stages it may be easier to align ex-
isting and new roadways and lanes
which will minimize the need for
right-of-way purchases.
Designers and planners will argue
that there is no project engineering
economy by having to mobilize for
construction more than once and in
an ideal situation this would be cor-
rect. But realistically, there may be
no alternative to constructing the
project in phases. There simply isn’t
enough money available to build a
complete replacement all in one step.
Jim Parr
Keizer
Keizertimes
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The dangerous triumph of tribalism
By MICHAEL GERSON
In his prescient science-fi ction novel
The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson de-
scribes a post-national world in which
people organize themselves into affi ni-
ty groups called “phyles.” Some choose
to be Victorians, emulating
the beliefs and aesthetic of
19th-century Britain. Oth-
ers identify with the values
and dress of the Boers. The
Celestial Kingdom is a Chi-
nese culture phyle. In The
Diamond Age, globalization
has erased the nation-state
and left people—always hungry for
belonging—to identify themselves en-
tirely by culture.
A provocative new essay by An-
drew Sullivan, America Wasn’t Built for
Humans, describes the emergence of
two American phyles. One is more
racially diverse, urban, secular and glo-
balist. The other is largely white, rural
and exurban, religious and nationalist.
Their confl ict is the context of Ameri-
can politics. At stake is the idea that
“American” describes a single people.
In Sullivan’s description, the
“myths” that used to help unify the
country—the ideal of assimilation,
the idea of America’s founders as ex-
emplars of constitutional values—have
been weakened. “We dismantled many
of our myths,” he argues, “but have not
yet formed new ones to replace them.”
The result is the dangerous triumph
of cultural identifi cation over unifying
political ideals.
Who is at fault for the depth of this
mental divide? It is the nature of po-
litical polarization that both American
tribes blame each other. Sullivan blames
them both, but not quite equally.
According to Sullivan, members of
the blue tribe have created problems in
the realm of ideology. Some have pro-
miscuously accused the red phyle of
hate speech and white supremacy, ren-
dering the terms less powerful when
required to describe the
real thing. Marxist ideol-
ogies on race and gender
have “become the prem-
ises of higher education,
the orthodoxy of a new
and mandatory religion,”
says Sullivan.
But it is the red tribe,
in Sullivan’s view, that has most effec-
tively injected tribalism into politics.
It was Barry Goldwater (by opposing
the Civil Rights Act) who re-racial-
ized the competition between the two
parties. It was former California Gov.
Pete Wilson who cultivated a fear of
migrants for political purposes. It was
Newt Gingrich who disdained comity
and embraced politics as combat. And
it is Donald Trump who has given an-
gry whites their own form of identity
politics.
As an electoral matter, Sullivan fi nds
the two American tribes “eerily bal-
anced” and committed to obliterat-
ing the other side. We are seeing what
happens when an unrepentant tribal-
ist controls the presidency. Depending
on the political fate of the House of
Representatives, we may see what hap-
pens when the opposing tribe tries to
remove him.
The problem identifi ed by Sullivan
is that tribalism is our default value
—the “our” here covering all Homo
sapiens. The ability to quickly and in-
tuitively distinguish “us” from “them”
—likely someone from another tribe
other
views
intent on taking resources or lives —
was a tremendous evolutionary advan-
tage on the plains of Africa. It is slightly
less helpful in the halls of Congress.
But the history of demagoguery shows
how useful it can be in the gaining and
holding of power. “We have created a
Star Wars civilization,” said E.O. Wil-
son, “with Stone Age emotions.”
Sullivan believes that America’s
founders would have been surprised
by our cultural tribalism and skepti-
cal that any republic could survive it.
I’m inclined to think that Alexander
Hamilton—who viewed men as essen-
tially “ambitious, vindictive and rapa-
cious” —would be unfazed. But few
(or none) of the founders would have
viewed political parties based on cul-
tural identifi cation as a positive thing.
Most interestingly, Sullivan proposes
a response to tribalism that is not struc-
tural, but essentially spiritual. He urges
a renewed appreciation of individuality,
citing himself—a gay Catholic, conser-
vative independent, religious secular-
ist—as a misfi t challenge to tribal con-
formity. As an evangelical sympathetic
to gay rights, a Republican critic of
Trump and a compassionate conser-
vative, I can relate. We need a politi-
cal system that makes room for human
complexity.
Sullivan also urges “mutual forgive-
ness” as the basis for genuine reconcili-
ation. “No tribal confl ict,” he says, “has
ever been unwound without magna-
nimity.” We need the spirit of Abra-
ham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela in
our politics, which is essentially to call
for a miracle. It is the secret strength
of democracy that miracles occasion-
ally happen.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
Divisons in our united state
By GENE H. McINTYRE
What is most challenging is to keep
our country united when we are so
divided. Nevertheless, it’s not at all
like this is a modern day phenom-
enon. Really, our divisions go back
to American beginnings as any study
of those times past does not reveal an
integrated, interdependent and unifi ed
America. To believe the contrary is to
ignore and misread our history.
What is referenced is the
polarization and philosophi-
cal and political differences
among those various states
and regions of this country
as there are the red states and
blue states, the coastal states
and the heartland states, the
big states and little ones.
Pondering life in our time
means to ask the most salient ques-
tion: Is the American democracy at
risk because of the deep divisions and
separations throughout the country?
Our nation’s founding had what
would become the United States by
way of the Articles of Confederation
which created a weak form of central
government with no power to Con-
gress. This loose condition of togeth-
erness with all its diffi culties got our
forebearers to the 1787 Continental
Convention “to devise such further
provisions as shall appear to render the
constitution of the Federal Govern-
ment adequate to the exigencies of the
union.”
Those fi ts and starts were no piece
of cake as the convention of 55 del-
egates from 12 states (opposing it
without debate, Rhode Island, sent no
one) was convened in Philadelphia in
May, 1787 where, after many propos-
als through September, 39 of the 55
delegates voted to adopt the Consti-
tution. Among its provisions: it re-
stricted Congress from regulating the
slave trade for 20 years, counted slaves
as three-fi fths of a person, but did
lastingly decided that representatives
would be based on population with
two senators from each state.
Getting it adopted in Philadel-
phia was the easy part as ratifi ca-
tion required further compromises
and amendments. The most compel-
ling concern, and the biggest buga-
boo ever since, was the
concern about too much
power given to the cen-
tral government; after all,
the American patriots,
those who didn’t fl ee to
Canada, had just fought a
six-year war to rid them-
selves of the British and
the much-loathed King
of England.
Ultimately, what was demanded by
those with a voice became the Bill of
Rights with, at the time, and to the
present day, the Tenth Amendment
that reads, “The powers not delegated
to the United States by the Constitu-
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States,
are reserved to the States, respectively,
or to the people.”
Other amendments to the U.S.
Constitution have what are called piv-
ot points in our history. However, the
tensions between states rights and fed-
eral rights have determined whether
our “united” states have come closer
or fallen apart. Some examples of
these issues have been the Civil War,
the 14th Amendment, Brown v. Board
of Education, Civil Right Act of 1964
and Roe v. Wade.
Some among us would argue that
states rights has got us to where we are
today. Yet, the dysfunctional Congress,
ignorant and gullible citizens, political
polarization, economic inequality, the
guest
column
changing nature of work in America,
culture clashes between society’s seg-
ments here, negative attitudes regard-
ing our institutions, globalization of
corporations, fear of Muslim immi-
grants are viewed as more destructive
than, for just two examples, whether
the disparate populations of Rhode Is-
land and California should each send
two senators to D.C. and the Electoral
College.
What weighs most heavily on this
column writer’s outlook for a via-
ble U.S. future or the end of a great ex-
periment in self rule is the number of
legislators and other elected offi cials in
my state, and the other states, so many
offi ce holders, and those we send to
the nation’s capital. Rather, it’s those
who are there due to the money they
collect to win elections. Yet, in our en-
tire history as a nation there’s been no
time that exceeded ours in what looks
most often like a virtual stampede to
make money and use it to power one’s
way to infl uence the nation’s direction
to new laws and the interpretation of
old ones.
No matter what issue is reviewed,
among them, corporate and the wealthy
tax breaks, medical insurance, Mus-
lim immigration, voting rights, jus-
tice equality, Russian meddling in our
elections, et cetera, all things come
down to who’s got enough money to
power his way with promises made
to donors and the beholden that re-
sult in things getting done or not, too
often by those with the most money.
When moolah is the main, monopo-
lizing, most important value in our
country then we end with a place that’s
mainly amoral, unethical and undesir-
able to those within and outside with
far too many having have no stake in
its future.
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)