DECEMBER 6, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
Opinion
Alieving rent burden up to all of us
Keizer is a rent burdened city. Well,
what city isn’t?
According to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Housing and Community
Services, Keizer is a rent burdened
city. Fifty-four percent of renters in
Keizer spend more than
a third of their monthly
income on rent.
Of Keizer’s 5,215 rent-
ing households, more
than a fourth are severely
rent burdened—spend-
ing 50 percent or more
for housing alone. Other
cities in our region are in
similar situations (the college cities of
Corvallis and Eugene stand at more
than 35 percent each).
The state of Oregon mandated
that cities with a population of at least
10,000 hold public hearings about the
issue. Keizer’s city council held a pub-
lic hearing at its meeting this week.
Only two members of the public
spoke before the council on the issue.
It is not surprising cities are rent
burdened. Wages country-wide have
not kept up with expenses. Rents
at every level have steadily in-
creased since the Great Recession
of 2008 ended. The cost of building
multi-family residences keeps esca-
lating; high rents have to be asked to
offset the expense of the construction.
In a free market there is not much
private incentive to build
low-income housing; that
usually falls on govern-
ments. The housing indus-
try is not a charity, they
have a profi t motive just as
any other business.
The burden of paying
more than half of one’s in-
come on housing has forced
families to make tough decisions: rent
or food, rent or medicine. It is not dif-
fi cult to imagine some people living
on our streets or in their vehicles do
so because of the cost of rent.
One public hearing will not
make Keizer less rent burdened. The
city is expected to house an addi-
tional 10,000 people in the coming
years. Much of that housing will be
multi-family housing in the categories
of low income and very low income.
The private sector can’t be expected
to bear that alone.
our
opinion
The federal, state and local gov-
ernments will have to lead the push
to build housing for those who can’t
afford to purchase their own house.
Aside from constructing large housing
projects (as was done in large cities in
the 20th century), governments will
need to formulate incentives for the
private sector to join with the public
sector to alleviate rent burdens on our
most vulnerable citizens.
Tax incentives and fee waivers are
but two tools for governments to of-
fer. Another tool could be rent vouch-
ers for a set percentage of rent with a
limited time frame, say a voucher for
25 percent of a $1,000 a month rent-
al for two years to allow that family
to put themselves in a better fi nancial
situation. In return, recepients would
be required to be de facto superinten-
dents of their buildings—maintaining,
repairing and clearing.
As the cost all things in life con-
tinue to rise and wages stagnate, solu-
tions must be sought. And that means
doing more than just holding a public
hearing to make us feel like we’ve ac-
complished something. We haven’t.
— LAZ
Pipe bursts sparking
downpour inside MHS
On the morning of Wednesday,
Nov. 27, McNary High School suf-
fered a small fl ood on the southeast
corner of the school by the stairwell.
According to principal Erik Jer-
spersen, there was a water pipe that
didn’t have a seal properly attached.
The seal, which was connected to
the fi re sprinkler line, burst while a
routine sprinkler test was being run,
and water poured onto the fl oor.
Fortunately, maintenance crews
were right on the scene and be-
cause the water fell onto concrete
fl ooring, the damage was minimal.
The school only had to only replace
a new seal and a small number of
ceiling tiles.
A
Turkey dashing
The Keizer Chamber of Com-
B merce
annual Turkey Dash drew a
throng of runners out for a 5K on
a brisk Thanksgiving Day morning,
Nov. 28.
If MLB drops the Volcanoes, what then?
Via social media, the Keizertimes
asked readers: If Major League
Baseball eliminates the Volcanoes
from its minor league system in
2021, how would that affect the
Keizer
and
Salem
communities?
Here are selected re-
sponses:
lose the Volcanoes would be to lose
a fairly big piece of Keizer’s identity.
—Chris Propeck
We’d be losing a large part of
what makes Keizer,
Keizer. I might even go
so far as to argue that
the development of the
Volcanoes Stadium was
the fi rst development
Keizer had that gave
it an identity separate
from that of Salem,
despite the two cities’
names claiming ownership of the
team. Without the Volcanoes Sta-
dium, Keizer Station would be just
another sad series of strip malls, no
different that the multitude that can
be found in Salem and the greater
Portland metro area. Be sad to see
them go.
—Brennen Hankins
what’s
your
view?
If more people went
to the games it would
be worth keeping the
Volcanoes. I’m not into
baseball, but I did enjoy
going to a game or two with friends.
It was fun.
—Stephanie Duncan
Baseball is a cornerstone of Keiz-
er’s identity. Keizer All Stars Little
League is known all over the val-
ley. When my job takes me to oth-
er parts of the valley, when people
fi nd out I’m from Keizer, they of-
ten mention having heard of the
All Stars, as well as the Volcanoes. To
Our fi rm had four season seats
behind home plate—dropped them
when it got hard to even give the
tickets away. As a family, we’ve also
had season tickets for years. That
said, I only made it to four games
last year. (My wife, daughter and fa-
ther in law made it to a lot more.)
If Volcanoes go away, I’ll be saving
a couple grand in ticket prices and
we’ll go to the Hillsboro Hops a few
times to get our fi x. We’ve contin-
ued to watch the attendance drop
over the years and the service and
fan experience has certainly taken a
hit the last ten years, too. Honestly I
won’t miss it.
—Elliot Kroon Groeneveld
Honestly, I’m gonna be that guy
and say where was all this con-
cern for the public transit of the
Salem-Keizer area? It’s baseball,
true; it’s been a cornerstone of the
community but in all aspects so is
the need for public transit. Maybe
give it a decade break like they did
Cherriots.
—Dakota Saunders
Stop fi ghting, start working for solutions
The quality of life in this country
would undoubtedly improve if we’d
get back to dealing with facts. For
just one salient example, the
Republicans are jumping all
over Democrats in Washing-
ton, D.C., crying that their
opponents are not doing
anything but picking on the
“poor” president of the Unit-
ed States. Yet, House Dem-
ocrats have compiled a list showing
that they, in the majority since the
2017 election, have passed 290 bills
now stalled in the Senate by GOP
leadership, the largest number of bills
held up between the houses of Con-
gress in the nation’s history.
What are examples
of the stalled bills? The
include healthcare re-
form, climate change,
food safety, fi nancial
aid for the U.S. Postal
Service, a job security
act for wounded vet-
erans, a Civil War battlefi eld preser-
vation act, vision care for children,
the naming of a federal courthouse in
Iowa after former Representative Jim
gene h.
mcintyre
Keizertimes
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Leach (R-Iowa), a National Historic
Park named for Jimmy Carter, a bill
to improve absentee ballot voting, a
bill to improve cybersecurity, and the
Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act. Not incidentally, 60
of these bills have been approved by
Republican votes.
The reader may agree or disagree
with the examples and look at the
entire list and fi nd the pluses and mi-
nuses in his and her opinion. What-
ever the case, it would seem rather
obvious that the American people in
general have items of importance and
concern about stalled bills in Con-
gress because these people can’t get
along due to partisan intransigence.
Is it not high time that we de-
manded maturity among these peo-
ple to get over blaming each other
for everything in order for them to
selfi shly and self-centeredly to win
votes and, instead, began again to
conduct the business of government
for which the national representatives
and senators were sent to Washington,
D.C. and swore an oath to conduct
and uphold.
And while they are at it, how
about dealing with the American
people by truth and honesty. We
want a government that tells it like
it is rather than each side trying to
outdo the other in their chronic, dai-
ly lies, half-truths and exaggerations
solely to win re-election while the
United States of America comes to
nothing but dead ends by failure to
deliver on needs basic to continua-
tion as a viable country. And that
goes also to the goals of U.S. for-
eign policy which are constitution-
ally established to protect American
interests and American security not
sacrifi ced for any one individual’s
political or personal gain such as we
are suffering through by days and
weeks of energy spent to deal with
unacceptable behavior that has led
to charges and countercharges by
politics at its worst.
The time is overdue for Amer-
icans to stand up and be counted,
demanding that we get back to a ra-
tional and productive government.
That condition of work in Washing-
ton, D.C. is the only way we can ex-
pect this great country of ours to be
there for all of us in needs now and
for young Americans in the future.
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer
and shares his opinion frequently in
the Keizertimes.)
D
C
KEIZERTIMES/Lyndon A. Zaitz
A: Runners take off from the start-
ing line.
B: Amy Ryan Courser and Bob
Shackelford with the run mascot.
C: Lauren Smith (left) and Meredith
Patterson.
D: Peter Rundquist dressed for the
occasion.
Toy Swap at Faith
Lutheran Saturday
On Saturday, Dec. 7, Faith Lu-
theran Church on River Road
North will host the area’s fi rst ever
toy swap.
Between now and then, area res-
idents can drop off any clean and
gently used toys to the Keizer Civ-
ic Center or any of several of area
businesses.
In addition to the civic center,
toys can be left at Capitol Coffee,
555 Court Street N.E.; Marion
County Public Works, 5155 Silver-
ton Road N.E.; or Natural Grocers,
4250 Commercial Street S.E.
Toys can also be brought to Faith
Lutheran Church only on Friday,
Dec. 6, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Toy “shopping” will be held be-
tween 9 to 11 a.m. on Dec. 7.
The following items will not
be accepted: dirty, broken, ripped,
chipped, ragged, chewed or marked
items; gear such as car seats, stroll-
ers and cribs; anything missing parts
or in disrepair; items that might be
cutting, choking or lead hazards; or
oversized items.
“Swaps are a great way to share
materials and connect with the
community. Swaps enable us to
avoid throwing usable items away
and helps showcase how fun reuse
can be,” said Jessica Ramey, a Waste
Reduction Coordinator with Mar-
ion County.
Pitch in to fi nish off
Giving Baskets next week
Volunteers are needed to wrap
up the fi nal stages of the Keiz-
er Network of Women (KNOW)
Giving Basket program Dec. 11, 12
and 14.
Sorting and boxing of food is
scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday,
Dec. 11. A big gift wrapping par-
ty takes place at 6 p.m. on Thurs-
day, Dec. 12, with the goal being
to have the process completed that
evening. Participants in the wrap-
ping party should bring along scis-
sors, tape and gift wrap. Delivery
will begin on Saturday, Dec. 14, at
9 a.m.
Sorting and wrapping will take
place at “Santa Central,” the for-
mer location of Blockbuster Video,
5402 River Road N.
In addition to gifts, boxes of
fresh food are also put together for
the families.
While the gifts and food box-
es are handed out in December,
the process starts each June, when
school counselors in Keizer are no-
tifi ed and asked to start thinking of
students who could use some gifts
during the holidays.
Requests are hung on giving
trees throughout the community.
This year, a number of business-
es and families stepped up to the
plate to help provide food for the
families. NW Dental Arts is sup-
plying onions; Bob Shackelford of
Homesmart Realty is paying for
potatoes; Rob and Rhonda Brat-
tain and the Brattain family are
supplying peanut butter and jelly,
beans and rice; Scenic Valley Farms
is donating 1,500 pears; and Lorens
Sanitation and Valley Recycling &
Disposal joined forces to purchase
hams. Each group is providing
enough of their foods to feed 250
families.
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