Willamette week., March 04, 2015, Image 4

INBOX
KITZHABER AND HIS CONSULTANT
Once again, another layer is peeled from the on-
ion, and another layer of John Kitzhaber’s total
failure as governor is brought into daylight [“Kit-
zhaber’s Secret Weapon,” WW, Feb. 25, 2015].
And it sounds like Patricia McCaig is in it up
to her neck, too. Given her background, what on
earth would possess her to undertake things like
the Columbia River Crossing project or Cover
Oregon?
Sadly, I think there is even more yet to come.
—“J E Nielsen”
This all comes back to Kitzhaber’s real personal-
ity…the heart of the king. Bringing McCaig on to
smoke-screen Cover Oregon to get re-elected
was a slime-bag move made by a desperate can-
didate hell-bent on covering up the third-term
dents to get to the unprecedented fourth term.
Especially since she had no health care expe-
rience. That makes it 10 times worse.
—“Harley Leiber”
Kitzhaber should go to jail if it’s only for putting
someone with no knowledge of the health care
industry in charge of a $300 million debacle
after she ran another $300 million debacle into
the Columbia River.
We Oregonians are idiots. This guy oversaw
both of these and we re-elected him.
—“Douglas Williams”
Who would have thought the closest thing to
Richard Nixon since Richard Nixon would be
Our street just got LED streetlights.
I love the bright white light! Do
they last longer than yellow sodium
lights? How much power do they
save? How long before we switch
out all the old lights? What’s the
city’s installation plan? I really like
the new lights.
—Not a Talking Dog
Settle down, Cornholio. I realize it must seem
pretty awesome that you can now spend 24 hours
a day alphabetizing the gravel in your driveway,
but you should really consider getting some sleep
one of these weeks.
First, the good news: LED streetlights you so
cherish are coming to Portland in a big way—the
changeover is expected to be more or less com-
plete in fi ve years.
LEDs have a shapely cost-benefit curve that
has created rustling in the pleated trousers of
civic-planning wonks nationwide. The initial
outlay is two to four times higher than the cur-
4
Willamette Week MARCH 4, 2015 wweek.com
a blue-jeaned, cowboy-booted governor by the
name of John Kitzhaber?
—“Dave Lister”
GOV. BROWN PUT TO THE TEST
Your article “Carbon Copy?” [WW, Feb. 18, 2015],
with the stated premise that “a climate-change
bill will test Gov. Kate Brown’s independence,”
was wrong to suggest she must oppose the carbon
fuel standards bill to demonstrate her indepen-
dence from former Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Her independence will, in fact, be tested by
whether the position she takes on the bill is
dictated by her conscience, sound science and
enough backbone to withstand the corporate lob-
bying of the energy industry and the Republicans
whose strings they control.
WW’s piece is anything but journalistic inde-
pendence; it simply rephrases the Republican
Party’s talking points, which attempt to manipu-
late the governor to their own ends.
Robert Reid
Southwest Portland
CORRECTION
In last week’s story on local cider pubs (“Pickin’
Pubs,” WW, Feb. 25, 2015), we misnamed one of
Portland Cider Co.’s co-owners. He is Jeff Par-
rish. WW regrets the error.
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Letters must be 250 or fewer words.
Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210.
Fax: (503) 243-1115. Email: mzusman@wweek.com.
rent sodium lights, but LEDs last four times as
long and use half the power.
The upshot is the change is projected to save
the city $17 million over the next 20 years. Bet-
ter, cheaper, brighter—what’s the catch?
Well, in London, where the LED changeover
is further along, the Daily Mail reports that
round-the-clock white light is disrupting some
residents’ sleep.
I’m reluctant to introduce Portlanders to the
luminescent version of gluten, but blue-white
light can interfere with the body’s production of
melatonin. This is why they make apps that turn
your computer screen orange in the wee hours—
it’s supposed to help you go to sleep instead of
wanking your way into tomorrow.
Historically, America’s streets have been as
bright as we could afford to make them. Now
that LED technology has put us in a position to
cheaply dispense with nighttime forever, we may
need to fi ne-tune that assumption.
QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com