Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Conferring on
the conference
center
For years, the plan for what to
own.
That doesn’t mean there will
do with the Hermiston Conference
no longer be any use for it. Many
Center has been left simmering on
private events will still seek out
the back burner. Now it’s boiling
the smaller downtown venue,
over.
and the city will add recreational
As the new Eastern Oregon
programming to the calendar. But
Trade and Event Center was built
operated solely as an event center,
south of town, the fate of the
its financial future is
conference center
bleak.
and its contracted
We can
manager/tenant, the
There aren’t
understand
Hermiston Chamber
many Hermiston the chamber is
of Commerce, has
been in question.
disappointed to be
issues that
Rather than find an
forced to leave. But
answer together, the
we don’t believe
require a
city and chamber
wise for them
special meeting, it’s
avoided the
to stay tethered to
discussion until a
something that will
this clash of
decision had to be
now turn from a
interests drew a moneymaker to a
made.
That’s what
full house and money-loser.
So the city’s plan
happened Tuesday,
plenty of public has its merits. It’s
as the Hermiston
well within its rights
City Council
comments.
to change how the
unanimously passed
conference center is
a plan developed by
used, and perhaps
the city to take over
reshuffling the deck now that
operation of the conference center
EOTEC has arrived is the right bet.
next year. As a parting gift, the
But the unified community
council offered the chamber a spot
voice that supports the chamber
in the basement of the soon-to-be
must be recognized and respected.
remodeled historic Carnegie library
These partners are valuable allies
across the street from city hall, plus
in creating a better Hermiston, and
a paid manager for the last seven
months of the chamber’s occupancy drawing battle lines and dividing
into competing teams will not help
of the center.
that goal. Ignoring the wishes of an
There aren’t many Hermiston
issues that require a special meeting overflow crowd is not a good look
for any city council.
and pack the council chambers, but
A compromise is clearly needed.
this clash of interests drew a full
house and plenty of public comment. Once the dust settles and fresh
A wide majority of it was against the wounds are healed, both sides should
plan, though the discourse was civil. meet to discuss a new permanent
home for the chamber. A high profile
The city and chamber have been
reliable partners for many years, and building on Main Street, in easy
sight of travelers and prospective
the relationship at the conference
developers, should be the goal if
center has been mutually beneficial.
the chamber isn’t interested in the
But it has become clear that the
old library. Perhaps a financial
mutual benefit will disappear.
assist from the city, combined with
Hermiston is not large enough to
a needed reorganization by the
support two event centers, and as
chamber, can leave both entities
big events move up to EOTEC, the
stronger than they entered this
Hermiston Conference Center will
unfortunate situation.
soon become unprofitable on its
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.
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. Send letters to 211 S.E.
Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
You’re too busy.
You need a ‘Shultz Hour’
W
hen George Shultz was
I’ve just begun to do so. I have
secretary of state in the
committed to carving out an hour
1980s, he liked to carve
each week with no meetings, no
out one hour each week for quiet
phone calls, no email, no Twitter, no
reflection. He sat down in his office
Facebook, no mobile alerts and no
with a pad of paper and pen, closed the
podcasts. Sometimes, I plan to spend
door and told his secretary to interrupt
the hour sitting down, as Shultz did,
him only if one of two people called:
and other times taking a stroll. I keep
“My wife or the president,” Shultz
David a pen and paper with me and have set
recalled.
Leonhardt my phone to ring only if my wife calls.
Shultz, who’s now 96, told me that
(My boss can’t start a war, so I’m
Comment
his hour of solitude was the only way
willing to ignore him for an hour.)
he could find time to think about the
The fact it felt hard to commit to a
strategic aspects of his job. Otherwise, he
full hour was a sign of my need to do so. Like
would be constantly pulled into moment-to-
many people, I’m overly connected. I have
moment tactical issues, never able to focus on
confused the availability of new information
larger questions of the national interest. And
with the importance of it. If you spend all your
the only way to do great work, in any field, is
time collecting new information, you won’t
to find time to consider the larger questions.
leave enough time to make sense of it.
The psychologist Amos
The science of the mind
Tversky had his own version
is clear about this point. Our
of this point. “The secret to
brains can be in either “task-
doing good research is always
positive” or “task-negative”
to be a little underemployed,”
mode, but not both at once.
Tversky said (as Michael
Our brain benefits from
Lewis describes in his latest
spending time in each state.
book). “You waste years by
Task-positive mode allows
not being able to waste hours.”
us to accomplish something
Likewise, Richard Thaler,
in the moment. Task-negative
the great behavioral economist
mode is more colloquially
and a Tversky protégé,
known as daydreaming, and,
self-deprecatingly describes
as Daniel J. Levitin of McGill
himself as lazy. But Thaler is not lazy, no
University has written, it “is responsible for
matter how much he may insist otherwise. He
our moments of greatest creativity and insight,
is instead wise enough to know that constant
when we’re able to solve problems that
activity isn’t an enjoyable or productive way
previously seemed unsolvable.”
to live.
Whether you decide a Shultz Hour makes
These days, however, it is a very tempting
sense for you, I’d encourage you not to fool
way to live. It can be hard to live any other
yourself into thinking that you can easily
way, in fact. We carry supercomputers in
change your habits in little ways here and
our pockets and place them next to us as we
there. The ubiquity of smartphones, together
sleep. They’re always there, with a new status with our culture of celebrating busyness,
update to be read, a new photograph to be
makes ad hoc approaches difficult. You
taken, a new sports score or Trump outrage to
are much more likely to carve out time for
be checked.
strategic thinking by making concrete changes
Even before smartphones, this country’s
to your habits.
professional culture had come to venerate
Wake up to an alarm clock rather than a
freneticism. How often do you hear somebody phone, to collect your thoughts at the start
humble-brag about how busy they are? The
of each day. While you’re driving, put your
saddest version, and I’ve heard it more than
phone out of reach, mostly for safety, but also
once, is the story of people who send work
to let your mind wander at red lights.
emails on their wedding day or from the
Around the house, hide your phone — in
hospital room where their child is born — and a backpack, a drawer or another room — for
are proud of it.
set periods of time, as Sherry Turkle of MIT
Our society, or at least the white-collar
recommends. Or carve out a few hours each
portions of it, needs some more of Thaler’s
week when no one in your house can check
laziness and Shultz’s reflection time. They
a phone. The filmmaker Tiffany Shlain
are the route to meaningful ideas in any
and her family do so for an entire day — a
almost any realm: personal relationships,
“technology shabbat.”
academic papers, policy solutions, diplomatic
If you remember my recent column on
strategies, new businesses. I find it striking
sugar, this advice may sound familiar. Like
that new-business formation has declined over sugar, technology makes life more enjoyable.
the last 15 years, despite (or perhaps partly
But it’s better in moderation, and modern life
because of) the digital revolution.
pushes us toward excess.
My goal with this column is to persuade
■
you to add a Shultz Hour, or something like it,
David Leonhardt is an op-ed columnist for
to your week.
The New York Times.
Constant
activity isn’t
an enjoyable
or productive
way to live.
YOUR VIEWS
Pendleton emergency
crews need new facility
This is support of the new fire
station for the city of Pendleton.
I have been a resident of the
fantastic city of Pendleton for over
three decades. There were three
instances that I had to call on the
fire department: a fire in the alley
of our business and two ambulance
calls for family members. When
you are on the other end of the
telephone for an emergency, you
appreciate the quick response
time that literally saves lives and
buildings.
Let’s support our firefighters
and emergency personnel to have
the proper facilities and updated
equipment. They deserve it and we
as citizens deserve it. The location
is the one that fits them best and I
have confidence in the employees
and their leadership, city council
and mayor of Pendleton.
Margaret A. Gianotti
Pendleton
How about saving the
Vert first?
It seems like the city of
Pendleton and the city council is
willing to let the Vert Auditorium
rot away while giving away
thousands of dollars to save the
Rivoli Theater. The owners are
asking the city for another $95,000,
this after the city bought the
building and then gave it to the
current owners in the first place.
The county, after promising the
city $20,000 to move the Eighth
Street Bridge to Main, is proudly
offering another $20,000 for the
Rivoli as economic development
funds. I vaguely remember they
vowed to quit “frittering.” I guess
they feel guilty over that $3.3
million and blank check they gave
to the city of Hermiston for that
EOTEC project. The building
owner claimed at his presentation
to the city that this whole project is
classified as a nonprofit endeavor,
a historic building restoration.
Where the county sees economic
development remains to be seen.
It actually appears that by the time
this money pit is finished, very little
of the original theater will be left. I
wouldn’t call that very historic.
Now it’s always nice to have
a facility such as the Vert to hold
events such as Dancing with the
Stars to raise money for different
organizations, and though the city
gives away money left and right,
they cry poverty when it comes to
their own buildings like the Vert.
Perhaps it’s because they don’t
charge fair market value for its use
except when it suits them. Are free
movies the way to go when the
building is falling into disrepair?
As I recall, the number one goal
set by the mayor and city council
was sustainable funding for city
buildings, roads and utilities. We
are borrowing $14.8 million to
fund utilities. The city council has
established a $5 utility fee, that’s
already going up, to fund street
maintenance. I have yet to hear
of any program to address the
backlog of building maintenance,
yet the city council continues to
fund private projects that benefit
a few people within their circle of
friends.
Main Street update: I guess
City Hall has decided to celebrate
Christmas year around with those
tree lights. The crab apples are
already starting to decorate the
sidewalks and I especially like
those hanging extension cords.
They must be going for that
heartwarming “ghetto” look that’s
so “chic” these days, and those sale
signs really set off the Chief Burke
statue.
Rick Rohde
Pendleton
Sanctuaries should lose
funding, court cases
It is amazing to me that states,
governors and mayors of our
country would openly defy U.S.
laws regarding sanctuary cities.
Major cities such as New York,
Chicago and Los Angeles have
declared themselves sanctuary
cities, but so have Seattle and our
own Portland. In fact, Governor
Brown of California is heading
efforts to make the entire state
of California a sanctuary state.
(Editor’s note: Oregon is a
sanctuary state.)
Attorney General Jeff Sessions
has recently warned these cities
he will crack down on them and
withhold federal money and grants
if they don’t comply. Declaring
there is “a new sheriff in town,” he
has federal law on his side as the
sanctuary jurisdictions executive
order states that the attorney general
may take “appropriate enforcement
action” against any entity that
has in effect a “stated policy or
practice that prevents or hinders the
enforcement of federal law.”
When an illegal alien is arrested
ICE receives fingerprints and may
request, through an ICE detainer,
that a local government hold the
prisoner so ICE can pick them up
and deport them. Sanctuary cities
are not doing this in open defiance
of federal law.
The government states “failure
to deport aliens who are convicted
of criminal offenses makes
our nation less safe by putting
dangerous criminals back on our
streets.” Seattle states, however,
“federal authorities can not force
local police officials to be involved
in federal immigration activities.”
I am hoping these cities lose their
court battles over this situation.
I determined years ago, here in
Oregon, the Cascade Mountains
have provided a natural barrier
to genetics and have created a
different species on the west side
of our state. The vastly over-liberal
officials who live there often have
clouded judgment now.
We can not allow sanctuary
cities to cry about loss of federal
funds and grants when they
openly defy U.S. laws. This illegal
sanctuary status must be reversed
immediately and lawful order
restored to our cities — especially
our very own Portland. Cities can
not be allowed to pick and choose
the laws they should enforce.
David Burns
Pendleton