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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, October 21, 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 EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com OUR VIEW Laying a housing foundation as economy grows If our economy is a house, then Threemile Farms, broke ground this week on a 240-unit apartment housing is the foundation. Every new job added at a data complex. The city also offers a center or RV manufacturer or local $5,000 grant for people who buy hospital is one more person looking homes in Boardman. for a home, and depending on the We know it’s important to profession, those housing needs will employers. Not only do businesses look different. like Costco look In Umatilla at population We know good County there sizes before deciding whether is a narrow 1.4 jobs have gone to locate in a percent vacancy rate for apartments elsewhere because community, but employers make and low-income employers fear their decisions housing, which based on potential is good news for it would be a and landlords but struggle to keep workforce, the ability of that not for newly hired workers their payrolls full. workforce to live happily nearby. hoping to move We know good into the area. jobs have gone elsewhere because They’re often forced to settle for either a higher price than they hoped employers fear it would be a struggle to keep their payrolls full in Eastern to pay or a lower quality living Oregon. arrangement. The common rule is We also know that many of that a vacancy rate under 5 percent those good workers have decided is considered slanted toward the to put down roots in the Tri-Cities, landlord and anything higher is a keeping our communities from renter’s market. growing at a natural pace with the We’re making some progress, with new developments in Pendleton economy and creating challenges and Boardman, and an ever-growing for cities to figure out how to pay for increased strain on roads and housing stock in Hermiston, though other services by workers who often in the form of single-family homes, which are a quicker return on are paying property taxes and gas taxes in a different state. Studies investment for a developer. In this have shown that long commutes week’s story about housing on the also have a negative impact on west end, Jade McDowell reported workers’ health and productivity, that all else being equal, developers and puts them at greater risk for are more likely to build in a larger being involved in a crash. Those urban area because the costs are the drawbacks become particularly same but they can charge more for apparent during a harsh winter like rent. last year’s, when interstate closures To help the process along, and dangerous conditions kept Pendleton has given developer employees from reporting to work. Saj Jivanjee incentives including At the risk of mixing metaphors, land and infrastructure investments it’s been described as a chicken and to build his Pendleton Heights an egg scenario. Housing relies on development. Hermiston has jobs, jobs rely on housing. loosened up its rules on setbacks Hopefully we can add enough to make oddly-shaped lots more bulk and strength to the housing attractive to developers. And in foundation to continue adding to Boardman, PROffutt, the real estate division of the R.D. Offutt company our economy while building up communities and neighborhoods. that owns RDO Equipment and 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 How Amazon took Seattle’s soul EATTLE — I live in the city that fledgling company. From then on, the hit the Amazon jackpot, now the mark of a successful city was one that biggest company town in the could cluster well-educated people in United States. Long before the mad a cool place. “The Smartest Americans dash to land the second headquarters Are Heading West” was the headline for the world’s largest online retailer, in the recent listing of the Bloomberg Amazon found us. Since then, we’ve Brain Concentration Index. This been overwhelmed by a future we pattern is likely to continue, as my never had any say over. Timothy colleagues at the Upshot calculated With the passing of Thursday’s in picking Denver to win the Amazon Egan deadline for final bids, it’s been sweepstakes. Comment strange to watch nearly every city At the bottom of the brain index in the United States pimp itself out was Muskegon, Michigan, a place for the right to become HQ2 — and us. Tax I recently visited. I found the city lovely, breaks. Free land. Champagne in the drinking with its lakeside setting, fine old houses and fountains. Anything! world-class museum. When I told a handful of In this pageant for prosperity, the desper- Muskegonites about the problems in Seattle ation is understandable. Amazon’s offer to from the metastatic growth of Amazon, they create 50,000 high-paying jobs and invest $5 were not sympathetic. billion in your town is a once-in-a-century, What comes with the title of being the destiny-shaping event. fastest growing big city in the country, with Amazon is not mining coal or cooking having the nation’s hottest real estate market, chemicals or offering minimum wage to is that the city no longer works for some hapless “associates.” The new jobs will pay people. For many others, the pace of change, $100,000 or more in salary and benefits. In not to mention the traffic, has been disori- Seattle, Amazon employees are the kind of enting. The character of Seattle, a rain-loving young, educated, mass-transit-taking, innova- communal shrug, has changed. Now we’re a tive types that municipal planners dream of. city on amphetamines. So, if you’re lucky enough to land HQ2 — Amazon is secretive. And they haven’t congrats! But be careful, all you urban suitors been the best civic neighbor, late to the charity longing for a hip, creative class. You think table. Yes, the company has poured $38 billion you can shape Amazon? Not a chance. It will into the city’s economy. They have 40,000 shape you. Well before Amazon disrupted employees here, who in turn attracted 50,000 books, music, television, furniture — every- other new jobs. They own or lease a fifth of all thing — it disrupted Seattle. the class A office space. At first, it was quirky in the Seattle way: But median home prices have doubled in Jeff Bezos, an oversize mailbox and his five years, to $700,000. This is not a good little online startup. His thing was books, thing in a place where teachers and cops used remember? How quaint. How retro. Almost to be able to afford a house with a water view. any book, delivered to your doorstep, cheap. Our shiny new megalopolis has spawned But soon, publishers came to see Amazon as the inevitable political backlash. If you the evil empire, bringing chaos to an industry think there’s nothing more annoying than that hadn’t changed much since Herman a Marxist with a bullhorn extolling a failed Melville’s day. 19th-century economic theory, put that The prosperity bomb, as it’s called around person on your City Council. So Seattle’s here, came when Amazon took over what had council now includes a socialist, Kshama been a clutter of parking lots and car dealers Sawant, who wants “the public” to take over near downtown, and decided to build a very Amazon ownership. Other council members urban campus. This neighborhood had been have proposed a tax on jobs. Try that proposed as a grand central city park, our own proposal in Detroit. Champs-Elysees, with land gifted by Paul As a Seattle native, I miss the old city, the Allen, a Microsoft co-founder. But voters lack of pretense, and dinner parties that didn’t rejected it. I still remember an architect friend turn into discussions of real estate porn. But telling me that cities should grow “organi- I’m happy that wages have risen faster here cally,” not by design. than anywhere else in the country. I like the Cities used to be tied to geography: a fresh energy. To the next Amazon lottery river, a port, the lee side of a mountain range. winner I would say, enjoy the boom — but be Boeing grew up here, in part, because of its careful what you wish for. proximity to spruce timber used to make early ■ airplanes. And then, water turned the industrial Timothy Egan worked for 18 years as a engines that helped to win World War II. writer for The New York Times, first as the The new era dawned with Microsoft, Pacific Northwest correspondent, then as a after the local boy Bill Gates returned with a national enterprise reporter. S YOUR VIEWS There are times we all should take a knee Since when is kneeling disrespectful? When you pray at home or in a house of your God do you kneel? When you receive an honor from the monarchy do you kneel? Do you kneel before a fallen comrade, or to give CPR? That is out of respect for life. I am shocked that no one has referred to that. When was the last time anyone said the Pledge of Allegiance? In a public place or privately? Have you forgotten the words and lost the meaning of those words? “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” When the Pledge of Allegiance was taken out of the schools we lost the meaning and the importance of the flag. And look up the definition of indivisible. Does this not apply to people of color? And justice does not mean “just us.” Jesus was of darker skin! Those young men were not being disrespectful. It was very brave of them and they chose a nonviolent way of expressing their deep emotions on this issue. And who would have more right? Four hundred years of slavery! That is a tough act to follow. And they are still being singled out with racism, anger and hatred. Why? I don’t get it. They have fought and lost their lives in our wars keeping our country safe. The young athletes were saying “remember us.” They were representing all people of color. And what injustices they are still being put through due to bigotry, ignorance and bullies! Let’s show some respect and compassion to humanity, be a little more flexible and not so rigid in what we feel is right and wrong. Consider what other people have been through. All of the above is what makes America great! Not building walls or shipping children to a strange country that isn’t home, or refusing sanctuary to people needing help. The man in the White House is a trigger for hatred, anger and criticism. He makes it all boil to the surface and then people act violently and negatively. He is a catalyst instead of having a calming influence. He wants to do battle. He is making our country a ticking time bomb and acts like it is one of his reality shows. I realize I’m older, but since when has the President of the United States of America descended to the level of street language of the youth? Stella Enright-Queen Francis Sewell Echo 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.
