FRIDAY EXCHANGE
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015
A positive note
O
regonians can start the new year on a pos-
itive note. For 2014, Oregon has been rat-
ed the least corrupt state in our country, where
corruption in our government starts with the
ernment body all the way through. But Oregon
— the least corrupt state in this U.S.
That gives me hope, and in the last election,
Oregon voters turned out in very high num-
bers. Isn’t that great? The Democrats in Ore-
gon (I am not a Democrat — but to give credit
where credit is due) are said to be responsible
for a voter law where voters can check to see
if their ballot was counted. If it was not, the
voters have time to rectify it.
Democracy starts where everybody has a
voice in their government, right? Despite more
than $20 million spent to defeat Measure 92
AP Photo/Jean Marc Herve Abelard
Relatives walk to a hilltop, where they will place a cross, in remembrance of those family
members who died in the 2010 earthquake, prior to a memorial service in Titanyen, north
of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 12. Haitians paused to remember the tens of thousands of
people who died in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck outside Haiti’s capital on
Jan. 12, 2010. The quake left 1.5 million people living in tent camps. Officials say more
than 300,000 died, but no one knows for certain how many people lost their lives.
Scrooges of the World, Begone!
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
New York Times News Service
So bear this in mind:
Fewer children worldwide
are starving or dying of
disease now than at any
time in recorded history.
P
ORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI —
Merry Christmas! Yet in this season
of hope and holiday cheer, Haiti might
not seem the obvious place to celebrate.
earthquake here, this country symbolizes
poverty and hopelessness to many
ing is now widespread.
Americans. That despair and
“In the old days, these kids
disdain are misguided. Haitian
would be dead,” Dr. Margareth Mal-
politics are still a mess, and
let told me as she showed me around
a ward treating severely malnour-
poverty is deep-rooted, but the
ished children at a clinic here in the
economy is rising, more children
capital, Port-au-Prince. Now they’re
are going to school, and health is
revived with a peanut-based paste or
improving.
other supplements.
That, in turn, is emblematic of
There has also been a push to
a broader truth that we journalists
encourage
Haitian moms to breast-
Nicholas
don’t acknowledge often enough: In
feed, because that’s regarded by
Kristof
many ways, the world is becoming a
nutrition experts as one of the most
better place. There! I said it.
cost-effective ways to save lives in
Bad news is news, and good news isn’t. We poor countries (globally, an estimated 800,000
cover planes that crash, not those that take off. children die annually because of problems with
But a relentless focus on bad news unfortunate- breast-feeding).
ly leads people to conclude that places from
In 1970, almost a quarter of Haitian children
Haiti to Congo are hopeless, driving away tour-
ists, investors and donors. So, at least once a
year, it’s worth stepping back and acknowledg- years ago, one fewer child dies each hour.
ing progress.
That’s particularly true because 2015 will be dren will survive, they also have fewer of them.
a crucial year for efforts to combat global pov- In 2005, the average woman in Haiti could be
the global vaccine initiative that is saving lives
on a huge scale, the African Union plans to fo-
cus on women’s empowerment, and the U.N.
General Assembly in September is expected to
agree on new “sustainable development goals”
that will provide metrics for progress for many
years to come.
So bear this in mind: Fewer children world-
wide are starving or dying of disease now than
at any time in recorded history, and more chil-
dren are in school.
Here in Haiti, too many people are still
homeless from the earthquake. But, in the last
few years, the economy has been growing
more quickly than the U.S. economy.
A U.S.-backed effort to support garment
culture, which may be the best hope for Haiti’s
economic future, is improving in some import-
ant sectors.
ers to use greenhouses and is supported by the
United States as part of the Feed the Future
initiative. One farmer, Michel Dorlean, told me
that, with greenhouses, he has tripled produc-
tion of chrysanthemums.
“You come back, and this hillside will be
covered with greenhouses,” he predicted.
New York will eventually be exported from Haiti.
Health care likewise shows basic improve-
ments. More than 4 out of 5 Haitian children
get some childhood immunizations. Deworm-
is about three births per woman.
None of this is to gloss over the remain-
ing challenges: At least 2 billion people are
malnourished worldwide, according to the In-
ternational Food Policy Research Institute in
Washington.
Isn’t this season supposed to be about some-
thing more profound than shopping and Christ-
mas trees?
So I’d suggest that the successes against
poverty should stimulate us to do more — and
some steps are remarkably simple. Consider
iodization of salt.
When a pregnant woman doesn’t get enough
iodine, her baby’s brain doesn’t develop proper-
ly. Iodize the salt and, years later, children will do
better in school and will have higher IQs.
Another nutritional triumph: that orange
sweet potato on your plate. It’s the Mother Te-
resa of foods, a treasure of vitamin A in par-
ticular. It could prevent blindness or death for
millions of children suffering from vitamin A
ternational are helping farmers grow it in poor
countries. Good for Michelle Obama for grow-
ing sweet potatoes in the White House garden
this year to encourage their use worldwide. The
orange sweet potato is gaining ground, and
hunger and sickness are retreating.
So tuck into your meal. Join the holiday
cheer. The world still has its problems, but as an
incentive to do more, let’s acknowledge some
reasons for joy.
TOWN HALL
RIVERFRONT VISION PLAN - BRIDGE VISTA AREA
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
6pm to 8pm
Holiday Inn Express, Riverview Room #2
204 West Marine Drive
Please join us to discuss preliminary strategies for updating the City’s development code to
implement the Riverfront Vision Plan for properties in the Bridge Vista area.
Recommendations will include possible changes in allowed land uses; revised provisions re-
lated to building heights, sizes and setbacks; design standards and guidelines for future new
developments and major renovations; and possible changes to requirements associated with
landscaping and off-street parking areas associated with future development.
City Staff and Consultants will make a brief presentation at 6:15pm, followed by Q&A and
comments. Light refreshments will be provided.
Bridge Vista Area
almost passed, and probably would have if all
votes were counted. I am really in awe of the
Oregon voter. Oh, by the way Fortune maga-
zine calculated that corruption in the U.S. costs
each family $1,308 every year.
I am so glad to live in Oregon. Reading
through our local newspapers shows many
putting their time and energy into solving real
problems that we have to face in the coming
years. My energy for the new year is going to
educate myself about public banking, the bet-
public banking.
I would like to mention corruption has a
hard time gaining a foothold when everybody
turns out to vote. The more voters cast their
ballot, the less corruption has a chance.
DIXIE GAINER
Nehalem
Calling Robin Hood
W
here is Robin Hood when you need him,
to rob from the rich and give to the poor?
N. GLARUM
Warrenton
We are not Scrooged
I
t is a Christmas story told: We are not
Scrooged after all. The past 10 years have
been full of meetings, letters and protests.
A Christmas present, at last, for all the good
people of Clatsop County — a future with no
LAREE JOHNSON
Astoria
America’s New Year bonus
A
ll this concern, all this blathering ink
fretting that the poor oil-drillers may
not be able to drill profitably below $50 a
barrel. No. Say it isn’t so. Has Chicken Little
become a business reporter?
With oil falling to $55 a barrel, we will
soon see gas for less than $2.20 a gallon.
Maybe lower.
Unless you are self employed, your fuel is
bought with after-tax dollars. Let’s calculate
your savings. You drive 60 miles a day. Your
car gets 22 miles to the gallon. You were
paying $3.40 a gallon last year and you will
be paying $2.20. That’s $1.20 a gallon times
2.7 gallons, which equals $3.24 a day times
365 days, which equals $1,181.60. That’s
only 21,900 miles a year.
5A
Keep the views
B
e prepared to lose walking along a
special section of the Riverwalk to
enjoy the views and history of the river.
This is the section between Second Street
and the bridge, about which the Planning
Commission has been holding study ses-
sions on the Bridge Vista plan, to talk
about what will be allowed to be built over
the Columbia River.
They are proposing hotels, motels,
multifamily buildings, restaurants, as well
as a convention center be allowed to be
built on the north side of the trolley tracks
and over the water. According to The Dai-
ly Astorian (“Keep Astor West historic,”
Dec. 22), the next Planning Commission
study session at which you can express
your views will be at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27,
but there will be an important town hall
meeting Tuesday, which all who read this
should attend, and bring a friend. This spe-
cial meeting for you on the Bridge Vista
Area of the Riverfront Vision Plan will be
held at the Holiday Inn Express from 6 to
8 p.m.
What they will not show you are pic-
tures of the trolley with buildings on both
sides of the tracks making a tunnel of
buildings — even though pictures of this
are in the Riverfront Vision Plan. They
will explain that building over the river is
necessary to provide jobs, but the meeting
is being held in an example of a building
which is south of the trolley tacks and pro-
viding jobs. Most of the proposed over-
water structures allowed under this plan
could/should be built south of the trolley
tracks, and hopefully you will tell them
that.
I encourage all of you to walk the
Riverwalk starting at the Ship Inn, and
passing Stephanie’s Cabin to the Hol-
iday Inn Express. Enjoy the vistas and
the river traffic. Some believe all that
needs to be offered is a few points like at
the end of 14th Street, where you walk
out to enjoy the river and return to the
Riverwalk.
I hope you will attend both meetings
and explain that the existing views we now
have should not be compromised, because
they are what brings people, and therefore
jobs, to Astoria. These majestic views are
also something we all enjoy — no mater
our income level.
GEORGE HAGUE
Astoria
In Oregon, we pay federal and state in-
come tax on that, so we had to earn about
$1,900 on average to have that $1,181 to
spend. And that hits entry-level taxpayers
equal to everyone else. Better than a target-
ed tax credit.
Now, if high-energy-dependent compa-
nies would quickly pass on their savings as
well (parcel deliveries, airlines, transporta-
tion, plastics, fertilizers, electricity), imag-
ine our collective relief.
We’re all getting a bonus this year. I love
this country.
WAYNE MAYO
Scappoose
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The Finnish Brotherhood & Sisterhood Auxiliary, of Suomi Hall
Lodge #2, Astoria, OR, would like to thank the Community for the
extraordinary support of the 2 nd Annual Lutefisk Holiday Event,
held on December 6 th , 2014.
Special Thanks to:
Astoria Coffee Company
Ronni Harris
Bridgewater Bistro
Columbia Produce
Cathie at Erickson’s Floral
Dana Gunderson
Clatsop Distributing
Cannery Pier Hotel
Josephson’s Smokehouse
Andy Carlson
Columbia River Maritime Museum
Finn Ware
M & N Workwear
Leila Collier
Oja Tree Farm
Sven Sundstrom
Stephanie’s Cabin
Jorgen Madsen
Blue Scorcher Bakery
Steve Phillips
One Six Five West Bond
Wilho Saari
2014 Miss Finland: Kaylee Nyberg
Home Baking Company
And to the Members of the UFKB&S Lodge #2
Kiitos! (Thank-You!)
Onnellista Uutto Vuotta! (Happy New Year!)