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
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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.