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East Oregonian
LOTS: City placed liens against all 21 sites
Continued from 1A
years to take that action. But if
they do nothing, the county can
take the title in the seventh year.
But in this case, a county law
allows shrinking the redemption
period from two years to 30
days. The law applies in certain
circumstances, such as when a
property could be a hazard, is
abandoned or is losing value.
Olsen said Paul Chalmers, the
county tax assessor, and Nancy
Kerns, Pendleton city attorney,
looked at the acceleration
process because the Sunridge
properties were losing value
and the developer owed the city
money for a local improvement
district that went into effect in
2011.
Chalmers, who is also a
Pendleton city councilor, said the
properties are not generating tax
dollars and the accruing interest
is eating any equity — plus this
is a liability to the city. He said
accelerating the redemption
period is good stewardship.
Olsen said the goal is to get
these properties to an auction
and onto the tax rolls to generate
income.
First, though, the county
board of commissioners must
hold a hearing. The board meets
Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the
Umatilla County Courthouse,
Pendleton, and is looking to set
June 1 as the date for the hearing.
The city also placed liens
against all 21 lots to recoup its
loses for the local improvement
district. Olsen said the county
has to pay that off with money
brought in by selling the prop-
erty.
In other business, the board of
commissioners on Wednesday
will vote on paying $14,502 to
Ryder Election Services of Bend
for 42,545 ballots for the May
election.
The county as of March
had 32,644 registered voters,
according to Oregon Secretary of
State Elections Division. County
elections manager Kim Lindell
said the department ordered
extra to make sure anyone who
wanted a ballot had one.
The state’s new motor voter
registration added 680 new
names to the rolls and Lindell
said residents have hopped from
one political party to the next,
sometimes changing three or
four times.
To be ready for that come
election day, she said she ordered
25 percent more ballots each
for Democrats, Republicans
and nonafiliated voters and 35
percent more for members of the
Independent Party.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com or
541-966-0833.
CINCO: A ‘multicultural’ celebration for entire city to enjoy
Continued from 1A
month. De la Cruz said after a
recent tour of the site he believes
there will be suficient accom-
modations to host an expanded
Cinco de Mayo celebration out
there in 2017 even if certain
elements like the rodeo arena
aren’t completed yet.
The 2016 event, however, will
take place on Northeast Second
Street across from city hall,
with a carnival in the street and
parking lot behind the Hermiston
Public Library. The carnival will
run Thursday evening through
Sunday, while the rest of the
festivities will kick off with a
parade through downtown at 1
p.m. on Sunday. A stage with
live dancing and music will be
set up on Second Street in front
of city hall and food vendors will
be in the parking lot across from
city hall until sundown.
De la Cruz said there will be
more vendors, more entertain-
ment and more parade entries
this year as the event continues
to grow. He said it has also
gained more sponsors over the
years, including many in the
agricultural community.
This year’s parade grand
marshal will be Hermiston High
School Principal Tom Spoo.
De la Cruz said while Spoo
was still principal at Armand
Larive Middle School he was
instrumental in starting several
initiatives to involve Hispanic
parents in the school. Since
he became the high school
principal, de la Cruz said, Spoo
has been a regular attendee at
Hispanic Advisory Committee
meetings and has helped put
together district-wide programs
such as the one that brings in
volunteers to provide Spanish
translation during parent-teacher
conferences.
“We thought, ‘Here is a person
who has extended his hand to the
Hispanic community, who cares
about the Hispanic community,’
and so we wanted to have him
there,” de la Cruz said.
Last year, the Cinco de Mayo
celebration included a court of
young women chosen to repre-
sent the Hispanic community at
events like the Umatilla County
Fair.
Clara Beas Fitzgerald, who
organized the pageant last year,
said a string of bad luck with
medical issues meant there was
no one available to organize the
pageant this year. Last year’s
winners — Sara Lomas, Hillary
Fernandez, Jennifer Garcia,
Maribel Marin and Brissa Guti-
errez — will serve as the Cinco
de Mayo court for an additional
year and those that are not away
at school will participate in
community events.
De la Cruz called the Cinco
de Mayo event (technically on
Primero de Mayo this year) a
“multicultural” celebration that
was meant for the entire city to
enjoy, regardless of their own
cultural heritage.
“Everyone is invited to come
and have fun,” he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536.
PIERCE: Would like to repeal gas tax, low-carbon fuels mandate
Continued from 1A
dation in January by the Oregon
Cannabis Research Task Force
to start a state-funded marijuana
research institute. He said he
also would favor using some
of the tax revenue from recre-
ational marijuana legalization
to pay for the research.
Business
As a small business owner
operating a medical practice,
Pierce said he has experienced
how government regulations
have hindered business. As
governor, he said, he would like
to repeal laws that he believes
hinders businesses such as the
gas tax and the low-carbon
fuels mandate Gov. Kate Brown
signed into law.
Meanwhile, he supports
strengthening another Brown
creation, the state’s Ofice of
Small Business Assistance, and
increasing targeted investments
in education.
Pierce’s
leadership
in
medical circles inspired him to
enter politics.
In 2012,
Gov. John
Kitzhaber sought out Pierce,
as head of the Oregon Medical
Association, to negotiate a
compromise with trial attorneys
on tort reform.
“The hardest sale I ever did
in my life was to take liability
reform, which was not any
protection against lawsuits, and
have 80 people in the room and
convince them that what we had
on the table … was the way we
needed to go,” Pierce said.
“At the end, we won the vote
by a couple of votes,” he said.
Monica Wehby, a pediatric
neurosurgeon who ran for the
U.S. Senate in 2014 against Jeff
Merkley, said she opposed the
compromise and wanted more
protection for physicians.
“I think he did a nice job
of trying to ind a solution that
was beneicial to everybody,”
Wehby said. “Did we get every-
thing we wanted? No, but that’s
negotiation. The other side
didn’t either.”
Wehby, who has declined
to endorse a candidate in the
primary, said she thinks Pierce
would be a good choice for
governor because of his lead-
ership skills and his experience
running a small business.
“He has a lot of respect for
others’ opinions, and I think a
lot of that comes from being a
physician,” Wehby said. “You
spend a lot of time listening to
people and trying to come up
with a diagnosis.”
———
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
TRAVEL: 1 out
of 8 tourists visit
both the coast and
Eastern Oregon
Continued from 1A
taste of the world-famous show.
Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson said
many in attendance were impressed with the
performance and are already plotting their
return to Pendleton.
Travel Oregon’s conference comes as the
state ramps up its tourism efforts.
During its last session, the Oregon
Legislature passed a bill that increases the
lodging room tax from 1 percent to 1.8
percent through 2020 before it settles into a
permanent 1.5 percent rate.
Davidson said Travel Oregon will use
part of that money to expand its competitive
grants program from $500,000 in the current
biennium to an estimated $6 million over the
next two years. Funding organizations like
Travel Pendleton can apply for those dollars.
Pendleton Chamber of Commerce
Director Gail Nelson said the money will
also trickle down to regional destination
marketing organizations like the Eastern
Oregon Visitors Association, which the
chamber belongs to.
Nelson said Travel Oregon helps Eastern
Oregon communities in other ways, like
using its global marketing capabilities to
advertise rural Oregon to an international
audience.
Travel Oregon did just that when they
held the Oregon Road Rally in early April, a
week-long tour of the state for international
tour operators that included a stop in Pend-
leton.
Davidson said the tour operators liked
the Pendleton leg of the trip so much,
they speciically said they would add the
Round-Up City to their travel packages.
Davidson said many tourists take the
time to explore the whole state — the
commission’s internal data shows one out of
eight tourists visit both the coast and Eastern
Oregon.
Travel Oregon has highlighted Eastern
Oregon in the past, making the Painted
Hills and the Wallowa Mountains two of its
“seven wonders.”
Although successful, Davidson said a
rash of imitators in other states caused Travel
Oregon to shift the focus of its marketing
campaign away from the Seven Wonders
and into a new slogan: “We like it here. You
might too.”
Linea Gagliano, Travel Oregon’s
communications director, said the more
low-key campaign will be used to take a
broader look at some of Oregon’s hidden
gems, speciically mentioning Pendleton’s
Prodigal Son Brewery & Pub.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.