Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Demolition offers
opportunity
In January, Pendleton should be
create as many as 80 jobs. What
the new owners of 20 acres of prime should the city do with it?
development land.
One of the properties has
The property, which was home
obvious industrial or manufacturing
to the Blue Mountain Recovery
potential. Located next to Keystone
Center and a nearby training center,
RV and Eastern Oregon Correctional
had long been off the tax rolls and
Institution, it’s not a good spot for
owned by the state of Oregon.
much-needed rental housing. Its
But due
location near the
to legislative
highway lends it
maneuvering, and
more toward some
City officials
the work of former
manufacturing,
have said the light
Rep. Bob Jenson
or transport and
and current Rep.
transfer facility,
land could
Greg Barreto and
rather than retail.
create as many
Sen. Bill Hansell,
While the BMRC
that land is set to
site
seems limited,
as 80 new jobs. the old
transfer to the city
training
when the calendar
center has a wider
ÀLSVWR7KH¿QDOKXUGOHLV
variety of possible uses. It’s located
a signature from Governor Kate
north of Westgate, on the BMCC
Brown, but there seems to be no
side rather than the EOCI side. That
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means it would be more attractive
from paper.
to the college crowd and to prison
The second advantage given to
employees. An apartment complex
the city is that the state has agreed to that could provide new, affordable
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housing for students and working
buildings, which are ill-suited to the class people would shore up a major
kind of development the city wants
missing piece in the Pendleton
to attract to the space.
livability puzzle.
Falling into ownership of two
The city is in the catbird seat.
level, build-able lots in a good
They have an asset on their hands
location is a real opportunity for the
and the ability to court the kind of
FLW\RI3HQGOHWRQ&LW\RI¿FLDOVKDYH development they want to a long-
said the newly available land could
forgotten part of town.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher
Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
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on a transportation bill
The (Albany) Democrat-Herald
O
ne of the big questions remaining
on the Legislature’s docket as
it races toward its conclusion is
whether it will be able to reach some sort
of deal on transportation.
You’ll remember that a transportation
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needed improvements on state roads,
bridges and other infrastructure was
a top priority for former Gov. John
Kitzhaber and his successor, Kate
Brown. In fact, Brown said she wouldn’t
let legislators leave Salem until they had
crafted a transportation
package.
But then Democrats
passed, and Brown
signed, a bill extending
the state’s controversial
clean-fuels program,
a measure meant to
cut carbon emissions.
Republicans
vehemently opposed
the bill, arguing that it
was certain to increase
the cost of gas — and
they went on to make
it clear that they could
not support a transportation package
funded by an increase in the gas tax.
The clean-fuels program, coupled with
a gas-tax increase, Republicans argued,
would mean that consumers would have
to cope with two separate increases in
the price of gas.
Because any increase in the gas tax
would require votes from Republicans,
even with the majorities Democrats
enjoy in the Legislature, that appeared
to be the end of chances that the session
would reach a deal on a badly needed
transportation package.
And, in fact, that’s still one likely
result.
But The Oregonian reported over
the weekend that longshot discussions
on the issue between Brown’s advisors
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reported a month or so ago — are
continuing. The participants were
generally mum on the details, but the
frequency and length of the meetings
(sometimes twice a day, with at least one
meeting stretching over seven hours)
suggest that momentum for a deal might
be building.
The Oregonian was able to report
on the general outlines of the potential
deal, and they won’t come as much
of a surprise to people who have been
following the debate: The negotiators are
considering rolling back, to some extent,
the clean-fuels program in a bid to win
enough Republican
votes to pass a gas-tax
increase.
That means
lawmakers are looking
for methods to reduce
carbon emissions that
wouldn’t result in an
increase in gas prices.
With less than a
month to go before the
Legislature’s scheduled
July 11 adjournment,
though, this will be a
tricky bit of business.
For many Democrats
(and some of the well-heeled supporters
who contributed to their campaigns), the
clean-fuels program was a top priority.
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unwilling to accept a compromise that
would gut the program.
But they should keep an open mind
on the matter. We think a well-designed
transportation package could do more
to reduce carbon emissions than the
clean fuels program ever will. And the
transportation package also could help
deliver good-paying jobs all through the
state, especially in its more rural areas.
It’s still a long shot that the
Legislature will come up with a
transportation deal. But the fact that
these talks still are going on is one of the
rare bits of good news the session has
delivered thus far.
With less
than a month
to go before
adjournment,
this will be a
tricky bit of
business.
OTHER VIEWS
The GOP’s blinkered contenders
S
AN DIEGO — The Republican
admonished and interrupted them.
Party keeps announcing its new
And his Republican rivals,
modernity, declaring its new
beneath their playlists and campaign
inclusiveness, swearing that it has
choreography, aren’t so impressively
changed and then showing that it
in touch with the times either.
hasn’t.
Although more than 70 percent
Witness Rand Paul, who is
of American adults under 35 support
supposed to be one of its fresher,
same-sex marriage, not one candidate
unconventional faces.
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Frank
He spoke at a dinner here Saturday,
explicitly taken that position, and
Bruni
in a blazer and khakis instead of a suit,
most have expressed impassioned
Comment
and once again presented himself as
opposition.
a Republican unusually in touch with
Although an increasing fraction
the sensibilities of younger voters, especially
of American adults, including about a third
concerned about the welfare of minorities
of those under 35, pronounce themselves
and uniquely positioned to expand the party’s
UHOLJLRXVO\XQDI¿OLDWHGWKHUH¶VQRVHQVHRI
reach.
that drift in the emphatic religious testimonials
It was a refreshing
of most of the Republican
pitch — until a medieval
candidates, including Bush,
metaphor revealed an
Rubio and Scott Walker,
antiquated mindset.
who introduces himself as a
He was describing
preacher’s son.
people’s need to feel that
Almost all of them are at
their personal information in
odds with young Americans’
cyberspace is as safe from
belief in climate change and
indiscriminate government
stated desire for immigration
snooping as the documents
reform.
in their dwellings have long
And none of the leading
been, and he mentioned the
contenders has a pitch that
adage that “a man’s house is
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his castle.”
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Then he updated it:
more Americans label
“Now we would say a man
themselves socially liberal
or a wife’s home is their castle.”
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A man or a wife’s?
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Aiming for a less sexist, more sensitive
of those who call themselves socially
vocabulary, he came up with a more sexist,
conservative.
less sensitive one, casting women as
Where’s the Republican presidential
auxiliaries of men.
contender for them?
This was no way to rebrand the party, no
Where’s the Republican candidate who
way to retire any image of it as a preserve for
can enter into an important, necessary debate
old white guys.
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But it was emblematic. For all the party’s
without being weighed down by a set of
VHOIFRQJUDWXODWLRQDERXWD¿HOGRIRI¿FLDODQG statements and positions on social issues that
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seem tailored to placate the religious right
from the fusty norm, the truth is that they
and to survive the primaries, not to capture
don’t depart nearly enough.
voters in the center? You’re not allowed to say
Yes, they’re a racially diverse group,
George Pataki unless he reaches 5 percent in
including Bobby Jindal, who is Indian-
the polls. Last I checked, he’s about 4 points
American; Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who
shy of that.
are Cuban-American; and Ben Carson, who is
Yet again there’s a void, and Hillary
African-American.
Clinton and her advisers have certainly noticed
Yes, Rubio and Bush speak Spanish, as
it. That awareness informed her own speech
Bush did in Miami on Monday during his
Saturday, on Roosevelt Island, where she
formal campaign announcement, which had
made many references to young Americans,
WKHPXOWLHWKQLFÀRXULVKRID&RFD&ROD6XSHU to LGBT Americans, to minorities, to working
Bowl commercial.
women. Her remarks constituted a road map
Yes, Cruz and Rubio are both under 45.
of the precise terrain that Democrats want to
Rubio in fact looks young enough to be Bernie keep — or put — beyond Republicans’ reach.
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And she sought to counteract the
for hip-hop and rap. He name-checks Pitbull
familiarity of her presence with the novelty
and Nicki Minaj.
of her promise. She pictured a woman in the
Paul, an ophthalmologist, highlights his
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travels to Central America to perform eye
On the other side of the country, Paul
surgery on indigent Guatemalans. He cuts
pictured a woman in a castle — and all he saw
his own hair. And he urges criminal justice
was a wife. The ophthalmologist needs better
reforms, including lighter punishments for
vision. So does his party, if it wants passage
marijuana possession and use.
across the moat to the White House.
But he came across as more backward-
Ŷ
acting than forward-looking during that
Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The
strange sequence of interviews with female
New York Times since June 2011, joined the
journalists a few months ago, when he
newspaper in 1995.
This was no way
to rebrand the
party, no way to
retire an image
of the GOP as a
preserve for old
white guys.
YOUR VIEWS
Pick up your dog poop and
condoms from city parks
My dogs and I just got back from
our morning walk in our Pendleton
Community/McKay parks. As usual I
carry my doggie poo bags and pick up
after my own dogs along with other
dogs.
Here lately I have had to pick up lots
of drink containers where people won’t
go a few feet out of their way to throw
them into the many trash cans provided.
Plus I have picked up condoms
with my doggie bags. I’m glad they are
practicing safe sex. But it would be nice
if all would practice using the trash cans.
Our parks are family parks. Children
and adults use our parks. No one wants
to step in a dog pile, or see trash all
around our park or their children seeing
used condoms.
Please, the summer has just begun.
If you use our parks do your part in
keeping them clean and safe for all.
Virginia Beebe
Pendleton
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and
products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must
be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number.
The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send
letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
or email editor@eastoregonian.com.