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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2019)
B2 Alone, but not lonely Dear Annie: I read — Love being Lonely your column in the local Dear Love Being paper, and I’ve noticed Lonely: You might enjoy that folks always write in being alone more than to say that they are older most, but you’re not and alone or in a new lonely. You have close town — “How do I make family and friends and are friends,” etc. So, I wonder content with your social if there are other people life. You’re doing fine, and out there like my brother I say if it ain’t broke, don’t and me. fix it. A few deep personal We are both in our connections are worth mid- to late-50s. Our par- more than a hundred shal- low ones. You ents were quite don’t have to be the the social couple. DEAR lampshade-wear- Dad was always ANNIE ing type to lead a the one who wore bright life. a lampshade on Dear Annie: his head, the life I’ve noticed a new of the party. How- ever, my brother customer service and I are the oppo- trend. When I’m site. Don’t get me checking out at wrong, we have ANNIE LANE the grocery store Creators childhood, lifelong or doing bank- Syndicate Inc. ing, etc., the per- friends and we are son behind the always there when things get going. But I, counter will ask me, “Are personally, have not made you doing anything fun a “new” friend in probably today?” Or, “What are you 25 years, and I couldn’t doing this afternoon?” Having been trained by care less. My brother is the my parents to be friendly same way. So many people are and polite, I have actually fakes, phonies, liars, etc., told these complete strang- that neither of us have ers what are my plans. Now I go running for any interest in cultivating a new go-to person in our the self-checkout aisle lives. I think it involves too because I don’t want to much work and frankly, feel rude. I’d like to know don’t want to be bothered. if anyone else is as put I have a full-time job and out as I am about being commute 50 miles round- asked personal questions. trip daily. When I come I mean, maybe I’m going home, I want my time to to my child’s funeral, or having chemotherapy, or myself. I do attend church not going somewhere at weekly and do love going all because I’m struggling out and shopping, but I with depression. prefer to do it alone. I I’ve chosen dead always strike up conver- silence rather than a sations with strangers, but response. But I would be don’t tell me your name; curious to know if others I’ll forget it five seconds are experiencing this and later. I am not intimi- how they feel about it. — dated by the general pub- Put Out at the checkout lic and even ran for politi- Dear Put Out at the cal office once. But I have Checkout: For anyone zero interest in becom- enduring such hardships ing friendly enough with as the ones you cited, the people to want to social- go-to question, “How are ize in any way with them, you,” could be equally and my brother is the same upsetting or inane. I don’t way. We both are married, think we ought to give up with children on their own. on chit-chatting with one Are we odd, selfish, lazy another altogether because or so laid back that we get of that. That said, should ourselves and aren’t into someone seem to not want being impressed by any- to engage in small talk, we one? I’m sure one day, should try to pick up those when I am older, I will cues and respect their regret this, but for now, I... space. THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, OcTObER 26, 2019 Amazon reaps tax breaks with Eastern Oregon data centers By TOM BANSE Northwest News Network Amazon’s ever-expanding footprint in Seattle — and the polarizing growing pains that accompany it — contrasts what’s currently happening in Eastern Oregon. There, Amazon’s cloud computing division recently won approval for another data center, along with a hefty tax break. It’s the sev- enth Amazon data complex to be built in the area. There are four operations at var- ious stages of construction or completion in Umatilla County, and three others in neighboring Morrow County. The web commerce giant is expanding briskly on the Columbia Plateau while deliberately keeping a low profile. But its accountants undoubtedly have been busy calculating tax incentives, along with sufficient commu- nity contributions to maintain good relations. The Hermiston City Coun- cil and the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners held separate votes last week, at which they unanimously gave Amazon a total exemp- tion from property taxes for 15 years for a new data cen- ter campus on the south side of Hermiston. In exchange, the company agreed to pay community service fees for fire protection, schools, local government and other spe- cial taxing districts, albeit at a much lower rate. Hermiston Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said it is hard to estimate the net value of the tax break. “I’ve run the numbers 37,000 different times and I think the economic princi- ples tell me that we’re giv- ing away exactly zero,” he told the county commission- ers Wednesday. “In my estimation if we decline them, we won’t get anything from them, because they will go someplace else,” said County Commission Chair George Murdock, con- tinuing the line of reasoning. A few skeptical taxpay- ers came before the city and This Amazon data center site outside Boardman is one of seven operating or planned complexes in Eastern Oregon. county boards last week to wonder out loud why a giant, profitable corporation can avoid paying property taxes while everyone else pays up. Amazon Web Services did not reply to multiple requests for comment. The Hermiston data center tax break passed with a min- imum of fuss compared to last year’s drama around the country involving states and localities competing for the Amazon HQ2 prize. Google, Apple and Facebook have taken advantage of the same Oregon tax incentives that Amazon is using for gigan- tic data centers the other tech companies have built in The Dalles and Prineville. The tech giants are taking advantage of tax incentive programs created by the Ore- gon Legislature decades ago, long before data centers were a thing. The most popular are the Enterprise Zone incen- tives, which offer a property tax exemption during con- struction and then for up to 15 years more, if certain con- ditions for minimum invest- ment, rural job creation and wage levels are met. Another property tax-lowering alter- native used in a few cases by Amazon is called the Stra- tegic Investment Program, which also can last as long as 15 years. Umatilla County assess- ment and taxation department director Paul Chalmers said the initial data center devel- opments received shorter tax exemptions than the more recent ones. He said Ama- zon is starting to pay reg- ular property tax in phases as its oldest data centers in the area come onto the tax rolls. “Old” is a relative term though, as the flurry of data center development in Uma- tilla and Morrow counties dates back less than 10 years. Chalmers said northeast- ern Oregon is drawing server farms for a number of rea- sons led by inexpensive power rates, water availabil- ity and a favorable climate during much of the year for cooling the hard-working computer servers. Critics at left-leaning pol- icy watchdog groups argue the attractive qualities of central and Eastern Oregon should make it unnecessary to offer a subsidy, or as big of a subsidy, to data center oper- ators like Amazon. “These tax breaks tend to be a waste of money,” said Juan Carlos Ordóñez, com- munications director for the Oregon Center for Pub- lic Policy. “They rob local government of necessary resources.” The executive director of the group Tax Fairness Ore- gon, Jody Wiser, said the Legislature should revisit the rules for the tax breaks being used for data centers. “There should be a max- imum amount per job cre- ated,” Wiser told public radio. “We’re giving away more than we need to.” A single data center doesn’t need many techni- cians to operate, but there are now so many data centers in northeastern Oregon that the state and local governments estimate direct employment of several hundred workers who are paid well above the average wage for those rural counties. “This is the best pos- sible economic develop- ment opportunity a city like Hermiston in Eastern Ore- gon could get,” Morgan told public radio in an interview. “They’re low impact on ser- vices, but relatively high on revenue generation.” Four years ago, Blue Mountain Community Col- lege started a data center technician training and certif- icate program to meet the ris- ing demand for workers. The training program in Board- man has been filled to capac- ity every year since. Last year, Amazon gave money for scholarships to students in the nine-month program. As part of the tax incen- tive agreement for the new data center complex in Hermiston, Amazon commit- ted to a minimum investment of $200 million. If it turns out like the other power-hun- gry data center complexes nearly, the new complex will be a series of window- less, gray warehouse-like buildings packed with com- puter servers and memory banks. The most notable fea- ture to a passerby likely is the unusual amount of fans, heat exchangers and water tanks for cooling. Halloween: Pumpkin patches carry on tradition continued from Page b1 In the seventh century, Pope Gregory III changed All Martyrs Day to All Saints Day and moved it to Nov. 1. The night before was dubbed “All Hallows Eve,” among other names. The Irish, among other Gaelic speaking people, kept the holiday alive and brought it to America during the last half of the 19th century. The tradition gradually became known as Halloween. Fast forward a few cen- turies, and we have subur- ban lawn displays that cost thousands, households that turn off the lights only after they’ve tossed their 200th candy bar into a sack and retail sales that are surpassed only by Christmas in its buy- ing fervor. A costumed affair Ron Baldwin An evening at a pumpkin patch. The idea of costumes is to appear as someone you’re not, or as someone you really are. In a word, fantasy. Though Halloween in Amer- ica has been geared toward children, costumers say adults form the largest cos- tume user group today. In the mid-70s, comic books culture took off as people embraced the fantastic. Movies and online gaming have multi- plied the effects, and a whole subculture has emerged. Popular Halloween cos- tumes emulate culture icons like superheroes and Disney characters. Spiderman, Cap- tain Marvel, the Lion King and Star Wars characters are still among the top contend- ers, but Fortnite, League of Legends and World of War- craft characters are showing gains. Classic children’s cos- tumes include witches, prin- cesses, pirates and dinosaurs. The holiday’s roots Since most Americans no longer live on a farm, tradi- tional activities like bon- fires, apple cider tasting and hayrides are now enjoyed by trips to the pumpkin patch. I visited two such places early in October to investi- gate, and though the farms themselves could not be more different, they shared the same festive spirit. The pumpkin patch at R&B Pleasant Hill Farms north of Kelso, Washington, exemplifies the old-fash- ioned feeling you find at that kind of small, family owned operation. It features an array of pumpkins of all types and sizes, a huge pond with wild Canadian geese and hayrides. This farm is family friendly and has an easy, country air. When I arrived at the corn maze at Bella Organic Farms on Sauvie Island on a Friday afternoon, there were about 500 cars in the parking field. In the two hours I stayed, the flow of traffic never stopped; this is a big operation. There are two multi-acre corn mazes, hayrides, a cow train, a wine and beer garden, a grass field with thousands of pumpkins to choose from, food concession stands and at nightfall, a giant bonfire. The effect is reminiscent of a big county fair. Halloween is still a big deal for most Americans. We like to hold on to our fears and our fantasies. Cur- rently, I’m afraid all this pumpkin talk has left me fantasizing about is a big piece of pumpkin pie. Ron baldwin is a musi- cian, photographer and writer living in chinook, Washington.