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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2022)
OFF PAGE ONE Tuesday, January 25, 2022 Preview: Continued from Page A1 Smith focusing on consumer protection Smith in a press release Thursday, Jan. 20, said consumer protection, gun rights and housing are among top issues he is working on during the session. He said he is proposing a bill to limit how much Orego- nians have to pay residential general contractors before completing remodel or repair projects. “For context, large contractors charge 100% of residential project costs up-front,” Smith stated. “Once payment is received, the consumer is at their mercy and completion of the project can often become an incred- ibly difficult process. This legislation would strengthen the consumer’s interests and improve project outcomes.” Smith also explained he was “disheartened by the passage of SB 554 during the 2021 legislative session,” the Senate bill Gov. Kate Brown signed in 2021 that regulated firearm storage and banned guns at the state Capitol and Portland International Airport. The law also allows school boards to ban guns on school grounds. He said he would support legislation that would “establish liability for specific crimes committed in ‘gun-free zones.’” Smith also said he is going to focus on middle-income housing, according to the press release, which he called “District 57’s most pressing housing need.” He also pointed out the importance of the Interstate 5 bridge, which connects Oregon and Washington, as “critical” to the Port of Morrow and other ports in his district. “As a member of the Joint I-5 Bridge Committee, I support the new bridge and will be intimately involved in its development,” he stated. Protecting Eastern Oregon livestock from predators, education funding, behavioral health, curbing the gover- nor’s emergency powers and returning people to “normal” life also are on Smith’s agenda. Hansell to address two issues in Senate While he waits for his proposals to become bills through legislative counsel, Hansell said he hopes to use the two bills he’s allowed to submit this session to address two issues: illegal marijuana grows in Southern Oregon and medical mergers and acquisitions. Hansell said he’s a part of a bipartisan group of legisla- tors looking to pass a number of bills to assist Southern Oregon, a region Hansell said is being inundated with drug cartels and other bad actors operating illegal mari- juana farms. While his bill likely would fund operations far outside his Northeastern Oregon base, Hansell said the impacts could be felt locally if the Legislature fails to take action. “If you don’t stop it there, it’s coming to you,” he said. Hansell is focusing his other bill on amending a law passed last year that requires the state to approve many health care provider merg- ers and acquisitions before proceeding. The bill passed with heavy Republican oppo- sition, and Hansell said he would prefer to just repeal the bill and start over. But instead, he said he’s working with hospital groups to change the law. If the law isn’t changed, Hansell said it could cause rural health care providers to shut down rather than seek out a merger that could keep them open. Besides the bills he’s spon- soring, Hansell said one of the issues he’s keeping an eye on is the push to lift the overtime exemption for agricultural workers. Hansell said such a law would lead employers to cut hours and would hurt producers. Short session hot takes Smith said he is looking forward to the upcoming session. “The 2021 legislative session was a long and diffi- cult session coupled with a full reconstructive shoulder surgery that I dealt with,” Smith stated. “This session, I am hoping to see many constituents in Salem again because, unlike last session, the Capitol is slated to be open to the public.” Levy also expressed posi- tivity about the session, even if it’s no longer doing what Oregonians intended it for. “This short session was meant to fix budget short- falls,” she said, “and there’s nothing in my bill or anyone else’s bill who I’m sponsor- ing that’s a budget shortfall — except, perhaps the $1 million ask, because we don’t have enough money in that compensation fund — but I sure hope we get them all passed. I always am an opti- mistic person.” She even said she, a Repub- lican, might vote for a Demo- crat as the next speaker to replace the outgoing speaker, Rep. Tina Kotek, D-Portland. House Democrats selected Rep. Dan Rayfield, D-Cor- vallis, to be their nominee as speaker. As Democrats have the majority, Rayfield likely will gain the office. While Levy said she did not know him well, she credited him for being experienced, moderate and logical. She said Rayfield has, in previous work, “spread the money around the state,” which she said she appreci- ated because Portland should not get everything they want. “He’s an equitable person in that regard,” she said. “I’m looking forward to getting to know him better.” While she is considering voting for Rayfield as speaker, she said she first needs to confer with her caucus first. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS PAPER East Oregonian A9 Drivers: Continued from Page A1 which doesn’t provide rules or regulations for “driver for hire services.” “I feel this change will affect the city greatly as some citizens feel a discon- nect with the current options for a variety of reasons,” he wrote before listing a number of anticipated benefits from welcoming Uber and their ilk into town, including more economic opportunities, less drunk driving incidents and faster response times. “Let’s make a change for the here and now,” he wrote in conclusion. An Uber spokesper- son wrote in an email the company has offered rides in Pendleton since December 2020, although drivers who signed up to work for Uber seemed to be running afoul of city law. At the heart of the matter is Pendleton’s Taxicab License Act, which was orig- inally passed in 1992. To obtain a license from the city to operate a transpor- tation company, a business’ vehicles need to meet the city’s definitions and regu- lations regarding “taxicabs.” In Pendleton, every taxi business must operate with its business or trade name on its vehicles, meters with consistent rates the city has approved and identifications the police chief issued for all its drivers. Uber has its own set of rules: Drivers must have at least one year of legal driv- ing experience, pass a screen- ing and their vehicle model must be under 15 years old and include at least four doors. But Uber and similar companies such as Lyft don’t consider themselves taxi companies, but “ride-hail- ing” operations. Rates and payments are all handled through an app. Drivers are independent contrac- tors rather than employees. And unless local regulations require it, drivers don’t need to put anything on their cars to identify them as being associated with Uber. City Manager Robb Corbett said when the city Statue: Continued from Page A1 director of W hit man College’s Maxey Museum and art history profes- sor, said during a Septem- ber 2020 Walla Walla Arts Commission meeting. The statue, Miller and her team argued, does not repre- sent the historical figure, a medical missionary from the 1800s. While Miller noted in an interview that she has since learned Whit- man did on at least one occa- sion wear buckskins, it was not his typical style of dress, but appeared to be chosen by the artist to honor a symbolic representation of “frontier mythology.” Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian An Elite Taxi taxicab on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, passes along Northwest 10th Street in Pendleton. Some Pendleton residents are pushing the city to allow Uber and similar com- panies to offer ride-hailing services in town. learned Uber drivers were operating in Pendleton, city staff informed them they were in violation of the city’s taxi ordinance. While the city can fine violators up to $1,000 per offense, Corbett said staff haven’t issued any citations. Corbett said he doesn’t have an opinion on whether the city should change its taxi ordinance, but he’s not surprised the question has come before the city coun- cil. He said he’s observed as companies such as Uber started in large urban centers, moved on to small cities and now are looking to expand into rural communities. It’s a trend Elite Taxi, the city’s only traditional taxi business, would like to see skip Pendleton. Taxis versus ride-hailing Matthew Johlke and his father Rod own and oper- ate the company. Ahead of the Jan. 18 meeting, the pair sent a five-page letter argu- ing why they were concerned with Uber expanding into Pendleton. The letter listed several ways in which Uber and other ride-hailers don’t comply with the city’s taxi ordinance, but in an inter- view, the younger Johlke said changing the city’s rules to accommodate Uber still could have unintended consequences for residents. Arguments against the statue During the arts commis- sion meeting, Whitman College professor Stan Thayne, speaking on his own behalf, compared this depiction to the fictional monument of Jebediah Springfield on The Simp- sons. “My point here is that the coonskin cap frontiersman is a generic form of monu- mental-ization of every- town in America,” Thayne said. “Every town has their coonskin cap frontiersman, violent killer who went and did the dirty work of the town to kind of clear the way so that white settlers could come settle there.” Tillotson, speaking also on her own behalf Jan. 19, spoke in favor of removing Johlke said Elite Taxi is committed to operating 22 hours per day as a part of its license with the city, running vehicles even during slow periods when they lose money. While Uber drivers might be plentiful during the city’s busiest hours, Johlke doubted they could offer the same level of availability as Elite. “It’s not just on a Friday or Saturday night, when it sounds great for Uber driv- ers to get some revenue on a bar rush,” he said. “Are they going to be there on Sunday at 6 a.m. to take a little old lady to church and back? Are they going to be there 11 p.m. at night when someone needs a ride to work on a Monday or Tuesday night? These crucial times of the week are import- ant for a small community.” Beyond traditional taxi service, Elite Taxi also holds contracts with the city to offer subsidized rides for seniors and disabled residents in addition to free rides to the hospital for nonambulance emergencies. Should Elite Taxi go out of business, Johlke said there will be gaps in service ride-hails aren’t set-up to fill. Elite Taxi has been the lone cab company in Pend- leton for many years, but Johlke said it’s not a monop- oly because anybody can start a competing taxi busi- ness as long as they follow the city’s ordinances. He added no other businesses have entered the market because no one else can figure out how to make a second taxi company financially viable. Johlke said Pendleton once had three taxi compa- nies before they all went out of business, and Elite Taxi emerged to reestablish taxi service in town. “There was too much competition, not enough service for a little town of this size,” he said. ”I think, as we are the only providers in town at the moment, it puts us to a higher standard to make sure everyone gets the qual- ity of service that’s around.” He said a market the size of Pendleton’s has only so many calls for service and increased competition from ride-hail drivers likely would drive Elite Taxi out of busi- ness. Both the Johlkes and the Uber drivers will get a chance to make their cases to the city council. Corbett, the city manager, said a work- shop to discuss the issue has been scheduled for Feb. 8. The council typically avoids voting at workshops, but the discussions at these meetings can lead to more permanent decisions at future council gatherings. At the Jan. 18 meeting, Turner left the door open to making changes to the taxi ordinance. “We amend city ordi- nances all the time,” he said. “And things change.” the statue and potentially placing it in a museum. She argued against conceptions that monuments are meant to be permanent, stating the first monument to be remove in the United States was a statue of King George III in 1776. “Folks are still digging up pieces of King George in their gardens in lower Manhattan,” Tillotson said. “Monuments are symbols of what we value as a commu- nity, and they should change and grow with us.” Joy Garcia, a licensed clinical social worker serv- ing as a therapist at Yellow- hawk Tribal Center for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reser- vation, argued the stat- ue’s continued presence prolongs historic trauma against the region’s Indig- enous peoples. The CTUIR’s website states Whitman was killed in 1847 by a band of Cayuse, along with some of their Umatilla and Nez Perce allies, for a number of reasons, including for the stealing of Native property, encouraging the increase of immigration and the belief that Whitman, a physi- cian, had poisoned Native peoples. The arts commission will meet again in March to consider its recommen- dation to the city council, though the exact time and date will likely not be set until the commission meets again Feb. 2. The Walla Walla City Council has the final say over the fate of the statue.
