A4
East Oregonian
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Editor
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Democracy doesn’t work unless there is participation
D
emocracy can sometimes be
a messy — or contentious
— business.
A good example was Rep. Greg
Walden’s town hall session in Athena
Sunday.
Eastern Oregon is traditionally
a friendly place for the Hood River
federal lawmaker. But on Sunday,
Walden faced some tough questions
regarding the immigration crisis and
the climate.
That’s how it should be.
We don’t support town hall meet-
ings becoming shouting matches
and, thankfully, that didn’t happen
Sunday. We do, however, believe
town hall meetings are essential for
our democracy.
Not only do they allow voters to
hear what their elected representa-
tives are doing — or, in some cases,
not doing — in Washington, D.C.,
but such gatherings allow voters to
ask questions and seek answers.
Walden faced pointed questions
— especially about the ongoing
immigration and border crisis — and
delivered his answers.
On the border issue, Walden stuck
to his familiar mantra that America
must have secure borders, while he
said he didn’t support the Green New
Deal concept.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris, File
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden talks about breaking with President Donald Trump on his declaration
of a national emergency during a March town hall meeting in Hermiston.
Those two issues generated some
vigorous debate and that is a good
thing.
Walden — and other members
of the Oregon federal delegation —
deserve kudos for sponsoring such
town halls across the region. Sure,
it isn’t easy to face tough questions
from voters. However, that is part of
the job and Walden and his elected
colleagues seem to understand that.
Yet those who took the time — on
a Sunday no less — also should be
lauded.
Democracy can be messy but it
does not work unless people par-
ticipate. Our system of government
demands that lawmakers and voters
interact with each other on a regular
basis. Sometimes that isn’t easy but it
is essential.
Walden also brought up a good
point — when answering a question
about lack of bipartisanship — that
lawmakers on both sides of the polit-
ical fence typically cooperate to get
things done.
Often that interesting fact gets
lost in the daily, weekly and monthly
white noise of the political atmo-
sphere in Washington, D.C.
We all tend to focus on what isn’t
working — rather than legislative
success — because that grabs head-
lines and good sound bites.
Walden and his colleagues could
just as easily shed the town hall con-
cept and choose to communicate
with voters in a different manner
— like Twitter. That they don’t is a
good sign that despite everything,
our elected leaders not only want
input but actively seek feedback
from voters.
That’s a good sign our democracy
isn’t in as dire straits as it is often
portrayed.
YOUR VIEWS
PDC needs to refocus
We’ve all heard that old adage, “You
can lead a horse to water, but you can’t
make them drink.” That’s exactly where
the Pendleton Development Commission
(PDC) is at with their “second story” pro-
gram. Even with additional incentives,
that same horse refuses to drink. Perhaps
it’s time to lead him over to Byers Avenue
and put him to work.
Despite the rosy picture painted by
both the PDC and the Pendleton Down-
town Association (PDA), vacancies are
on the upswing all over town. Penny’s,
Wicked Kitty, Curio Shop, Mosa, Pup-
cakes, the Bike Shop, Mann Mortgage,
and United Grain, just to name a few, are
all empty or closed, and that’s just down-
town. Have you checked that strip mall
near Walmart? Empty would be an appro-
priate description. That Portland “Pearl
District” mentality continues to permeate
the PDC, and it just isn’t working.
The question now is should PDC fund-
ing be used to fix Byers Avenue? The
opposition contends this does nothing to
increase the tax base, the purpose of the
PDC programs. Au contraire! You’d be
remiss claiming replacing a pothole-rid-
dled street and new sidewalks wouldn’t
increase property values. Building value
increases the tax base, and that’s what
urban renewal is all about. Byers’ resi-
dents contribute property taxes to fund
the PDC. Shouldn’t they share in the ben-
efits? Must everything go to business?
The precedent has been set for fund-
ing public projects: Riverfront Park, Main
Street speed bumps, statues, repaving
downtown parking lots and paying the
salary of the PDA director. It’s been sug-
gested that only 25% of remaining PDC
funds be used for public projects, far
short of the $3 million requested by the
citymanager, the actual executive director
of the PDC. The PDC account seems now
no more than a slush fund for the city
council and they just don’t want to give it
up. Revenue that should be used for infra-
structure repair is siphoned off for pet
projects. Until the PDC expires, deferred
maintenance on public infrastructure will
remain just that, deferred.
Then there’s this: After successfully
convincing the PDA to provide grant
funding for a new air-conditioning sys-
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of
the East Oregonian editorial board. Other
columns, letters and cartoons on this page
express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
tem through the Main Street USA pro-
gram, the new owners of the Elks Club
are asking the PDC for a “historical
building” grant, promising a brass plaque
to thank taxpayers. Is that historical or
hysterical?
Rick Rohde
Pendleton
Street funding shouldn’t
raise local taxes again
I hope every one read the article in the
June 29 East Oregonian edition editori-
alizing how Pendleton will fix the streets.
No cuts in other parts of the current bud-
get. They are proposing new taxes and
fees. It is too bad we can’t do that with our
personal budgets.
The Street Fund budget for 2019 and
2020 is $3,601,500, which is up over
$300,000 from last year’s budget. The
Capitol Outlay (street repair) budget is
$2,200,000 and more than we have heard
from the city’s propaganda ($440,000
for residential streets and $1,481,000 for
collectors/arterial). A large portion of
the $1.4 million is for Southeast Byers
Avenue.
If the city council decides to use Urban
Renewal funds for Byers Avenue, the $1.4
million could be used for other streets in
the city, which may be decided at the next
meeting PDC meeting.
The city council is planning a major
campaign to push all these new taxes and
fees by meeting with clubs and organi-
zations like the Downtown Association,
Lion’s Club, Chamber of Commerce and
others. Eventually they will work their
way down to us common folk.
If the city decides to proceed with a
gas tax, the council will propose it at the
May 2020 primary election. Like Mayor
Turner said, “Less people vote in the pri-
mary, so there is a better chance to pass
it.” May 2020 is a governorial and presi-
dential primary.
As you know, all the city gas taxes
have been opposed. The last one was
defeated by 60%. The proposed tax prior
to this was for the famous “Road to
Nowhere.” We all remember that one. We
won’t be fooled again.
Rex J. Morehouse
Pendleton
OTHER VIEWS
Congress should keep after robocallers
Bend Bulletin
W
e’ve likely all had them, maybe
at least once a day — those
annoying robocalls that interrupt
dinner or whatever else you happen to be
doing at the time. Stopping them perma-
nently may be difficult, even impossible.
But Congress continues to try, and that’s
good.
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, the
top Republican on the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, and Rep. Frank
Pallone, D-N.J., committee chairman, are
co-sponsors of the Stopping Bad Robocalls
Act, which this week was sent to the full
committee for a vote.
The measure tells the Federal Commu-
nications Commission to require telephone
carriers, both of landline and cellular ser-
vices, to use technology that prevents
spoofing, which involves providing mis-
leading caller identification. In addition,
the bill would extend the statute of limita-
tions for some robocall violations and pres-
sure the FCC to enforce current robocall
laws more strictly.
Robocalls are more than an occasional
annoyance. The FCC says more than 5
billion of the calls, many of them fraudu-
lent, were made in May alone. In 2018, for
example, robocalls pitched phony health
insurance policies to unsuspecting victims.
So far this year, more than 25 billion rob-
ocalls have been made in the U.S. More-
over, they cost Americans billions of dol-
lars per year, according to Truecaller, the
Swedish company that makes a robocall
blocker by the same name for cellphones.
Even important phone lines at hospitals get
besieged by them.
It’s no wonder the FCC has begun beef-
ing up efforts against robocallers with its
Operation Call It Quits campaign. And,
it offers consumers suggestions for how
to deal with the calls. Chief among them?
Don’t answer the phone if you don’t recog-
nize a telephone number, and if a robocall
is answered, simply hang up without say-
ing or doing anything.
As for the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act,
if it’s greeted with the same bipartisan
enthusiasm a similar measure received in
the Senate, it will be approved with little
difficulty. Then, the two measures face the
tricky business of reconciling differences
between them.
Even all this effort is unlikely to elimi-
nate robocalls permanently, unfortunately.
There’s big money to be made in suckering
people, and robocallers will no doubt find
new ways to reach victims. That said, both
Congress and the FCC must keep trying.
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. 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 the editor to
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR 97801