A4
Opinion
wallowa.com
September 28, 2016
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wrong
solution
for housing
pinch
N
ot content to legislate wages, a Portland Democrat
now wants state government to act as Oregon’s
Chief Landlord. It’s one more example of the wave
of proprietary governance that began in our largest city and
has swept south to our state capital.
Housing already is one of the most regulated industries.
And rent controls exacerbate the problems supporters
claim they fix: affordability
and supply.
No matter, political
leaders like Tina Kotek
are anxious to exert more
Voice of the Chieftain
control over the private
sector. The speaker of the House, fresh off her victory to
raise the minimum wage and salivating over the $3 billion
Measure 97 would generate in higher taxes, has made
rental housing her next crusade.
Kotek, who represents northeast Portland, says she
will lead an effort next year to repeal the state’s ban on
rent-control laws. She also pledges to restrict all but
“reasonable” increases in rental fees and further restrict the
ability of landlords to evict tenants.
“We need to prevent property owners from making
excessive profit and protect tenants from economic
eviction and displacement,” Kotek said. Her solution is
to cede more control to state government — the same
folks who have wasted billions of dollars on technology
boondoggles and recently handed out $347 million in
improper or suspicious energy tax credits.
Oregonians should be encouraged to look at how
rent controls have worked in two other bastions of
“progressive” politics: New York City and San Francisco.
The Big Apple has imposed rent controls on and off
since World War I. Apartment vacancies have all but
vanished as tenants in rent-controlled units renew their
leases in perpetuity. In San Francisco, government limits
the amount rents can increase each year in an effort to
preserve affordable housing. The policy has backfired.
Instead of renting out units at below-market rates, owners
offer their apartments to well-heeled visitors as weekend
getaways and vacation rentals.
Government-imposed rent controls also discourage
construction of new apartments and the maintenance of
existing units. There is no incentive for builders to build if
they cannot quickly recoup their investment. The resulting
housing shortages benefit existing homeowners, but create
significant disadvantages for the poor and those seeking to
rent.
There’s no doubt that Portland is experiencing steep
increases in the cost of housing. The booming tech
economy and the city’s allure for young professionals
has created an imbalance between housing supply and
demand. Home price increases are among the highest in
the nation. Portland also has the 15th highest apartment
rents in the country.
But state and local governments can better address
the situation by encouraging the supply of new and
refurbished dwellings. Let the private sector respond
with market-based solutions rather than by government
directives that overreach.
Unfortunately, that’s not The Portland Way.
EDITORIAL
Correction
Heather Poor’s name was misspelled in an article about a
dodgeball tournament in our Sept. 21 issue.
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Think carefully before
saying ‘You’re hired’
Sometimes when one thought process
does not appear to be working, it’s a good
idea to try a different one. Let’s set aside
at least temporarily the peculiar customs
that our national media have recently
adopted whereby a presidential election
is treated as if you were voting for your
favorite reality television character or
circus act.
Please imagine instead that you are a
member of a hiring committee whose mis-
sion is to find the most qualified candidate
for the highest public office in the United
States. You are encouraged to give weight
to each candidate’s relevant professional
experience along with his or her demon-
strated history of character and leadership.
Your committee has four applications.
The first comes from Green Party candi-
date Jill Stein, a Harvard professor and
physician. Although her liberal platform
appeals to the more progressive members
of your selection committee, a glaring gap
in her resume is her lack of legislative or
executive political experience beyond one
term in the Lexington Town Assembly.
Your committee determines that she is not
qualified for the position.
Another application has been submit-
ted by Libertarian Gary Johnson, a former
Republican whose background was in
construction prior to two terms as gover-
nor of New Mexico. There he was known
primarily for budget cutting and frequent
vetoes along with his support for the le-
galization of marijuana. The conservative
members of your committee like his cuts
in social programs but do not support his
liberal position on marijuana, while the
progressive members of your committee
POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY
John McColgan
feel precisely the opposite in both areas.
His application is set aside for further con-
sideration, but with skepticism from all
your committee members.
The third application comes from Don-
ald Trump, a billionaire businessman who
has built resorts, golf courses, casinos
and skyscrapers in the United States and
throughout the world. His detractors on
your committee point out that he has zero
experience in elected office, and that his
business record is a mixture of successes
and failures checkered by bankruptcies
and defaults to creditors and contractors.
They also point out that he is arrogant,
insulting, sexist and xenophobic. His sup-
porters counter that Trump is not afraid
to say what he thinks and that he would
make America great again.
Curiously, the conservatives on your
committee do not appear to be troubled by
Trump’s denouncement of the war in Iraq,
his harsh criticisms of President Bush re-
garding the 9/11 attacks, his outspoken
admiration for Russian strongman Vladi-
mir Putin or even his personal history as
a playboy with multiple divorces. There is
sharp division on your committee regard-
ing Trump’s fitness to serve as president
and considerable uneasiness about what
he might do with his finger on the nuclear
weapons button.
The final applicant for the job is Hillary
Clinton. Even her critics on your com-
mittee concede that she has the strongest
resume for the position. She already has
served eight years in the White House as
first lady, eight years as U.S. Senator from
New York and four years as secretary of
state, in addition to her earlier experience
as first lady of Arkansas and in private
law practice. Her critics also acknowledge
that she is tough and politically resilient.
Her supporters on your committee insist
that she is by head and shoulders the most
qualified candidate for the job. Her detrac-
tors counter that she is not trustworthy,
that her term as secretary of state was
marked by growing unrest in the Mideast,
and that she should not have used her pri-
vate email server for government busi-
ness that involved national security. Her
supporters counter that Colin Powell also
used a private email server while he was
secretary of state and maintain that there
is much more smoke than fire in the whole
email scandal.
Outside your committee chambers,
a crowd is gathering. A loud group is
chanting, “Build That Wall!” and “Lock
Her Up!” while across the street, anoth-
er group is quietly holding signs that say,
“I’m With Her.”
The time is closing in for you to make
your decision. You are about to choose
the leader of the free world, the person
who will help to determine the future of
your children and grandchildren.
Please choose wisely. Our republic is
in your hands.
John McColgan writes from his home
in Joseph.
Home sweet home remedies
Among the many enjoyments of liv-
ing in Wallowa County are my friend-
ships with people descended from pi-
oneer stock. Because they are rich in
common sense, I benefit from their wis-
dom.
My Wallowa County elders are ag-
ile and active, quick-minded and smart
— how I aspire to be well into my 80s.
Many conversations center around
growing and preparing their own food.
Therefore, my health has improved a
hundredfold by following their eating
habits and trying out home remedies.
One winter day, as I was visiting
some friends, they asked me about the
Band-Aids on each of my fingers. Upon
hearing of my dried and cracked cuti-
cles, they suggested I coat my fingers
with lard.
My questions led to a demonstration
on “rendering lard” and I was gifted
with a jar of the prized substance.
Before bed that night, I applied the
hog fat, even covering my entire hands
because it felt so good. After carefully
crawling between the bed linens so as
not to rub it off, I fell asleep ignoring
the fact that I smelled like bacon in a
frying pan.
The only problem from this experi-
ment was that an hour later I woke up to
my cat and dog licking my fingers.
GUEST
COLUMN
Katherine Stickroth
I wore gloves the rest of night, and
sure enough, it worked.
Another condition that required at-
tention might be a sensitive subject for
some, but because October is Breast
Cancer Awareness Month, I’m going to
share my story.
This past July, on my first day at the
Outpost writers workshop offered by
Fishtrap, my breasts became fire engine
red and very, very painful. An emergen-
cy room visit that night armed me with
antibiotics, yet when I returned home
from Outpost at the end of the week,
things had not improved.
Breast cancer is normally thought of
as only determined by the discovery of
a lump. But I remembered Inflammatory
Breast Cancer (IBC), the fast-growing
kind with no tumor. My research indi-
cated my condition matched IBC symp-
toms and photos.
Flooded with memories of my hus-
band’s fight with cancer, a terrible fear
drove me to several doctors for a defini-
tive diagnosis.
The appointment with Doctor No.
4 led to a recommendation for a sports
bra. She thought I had said I was attend-
ing a “riders” workshop (a horseback
riding clinic), not a “writers” workshop.
When I explained I was only holding a
pen, we broke into giggle fits. She re-
ferred me to a surgeon for a biopsy, and
a close friend arranged for me to see a
breast specialist in Boise. This physician
readily diagnosed mastitis, an infection
of the breast tissue.
What? It had been 34 years since I
had nursed a baby.
Tears of relief ... then joy, pure joy.
Friends at home had been holding
their breath, praying for me. Upon leav-
ing the clinic, I immediately called them
with the good news.
And being from Wallowa County,
where so many of my friends are ranch
women, by the time I got off the phone,
I had five offers of bag balm for my ud-
ders.
I promptly bought my own, and can
personally attest to the value of home
remedies.
Katherine Stickroth is a freelance
writer who blogs at awallowagal.com.
Look for a recent post there for more
information on what she learned about
breast health.
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Contents copyright © 2016. All rights reserved. Reproduction
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Volume 134
Heroes earn thanks from student
Dear Hometown Heroes of Wallowa
County:
I would like to thank all the heroes
in our county such as the veterinarians,
paramedics, businesses, mechanics,
farmers and ranchers, Life Flight, Red
Cross, ODOT, ODFW, city halls, Search
and Rescue, Humane Society, volunteer
fire fighters, teachers and school boards,
all police officers, doctors and nurses
LETTERS to the EDITOR
and Wallowa Memorial Hospital, the
National Guard and all the branches of
the military and veterans.
Thank you for your service. Not
everyone can be a hero. You are spe-
cial people. You have done a lot for us.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Thank you.
Treyton Sams
Wallowa
Editor’s note: Jennifer Gibbs’ fifth-
grade class at Wallowa Elementary
School recently wrote letters to local
heroes in honor of 9/11. Treyton Sams
wanted to write to everyone.