4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ DECEMBER 2, 2017
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
Opinion
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
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Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the
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L ETTERS
Dark side and bright side to local housing
T
he Siuslaw News recent-
ly began a series to shine
a light on the current
housing crisis. It has generated
a great deal of positive
response. Many have stepped
forward to offer help and sug-
gestions to alleviate this issue.
However, a recent letter to
the editor (“News Story Paints
False Picture,” Nov. 25)
sparked a bit of a debate on the
issue. The response illustrates
how some members of our
community are misinformed
and unaware of what many oth-
ers in our community are expe-
riencing, as well as throughout
the State of Oregon.
The writer of that letter
seems to want the Siuslaw
News to only report on the pos-
itive things going on in our
area. The writer also claimed
there were unsubstantiated facts
reported in Part I of “Is Coastal
Living in Jeopardy?” (Nov. 15.)
Her letter cites the city of
Florence’s website to dispute
those numbers when, in fact,
the numbers reflected in the
article were inclusive of the
greater Florence area (Dune
City, Heceta and Mapleton) that
contribute to our local econo-
my.
The estimated numbers
come from feasibility studies
done in the past 10 years, Lane
County, Dunes City, City of
Florence and U.S. Census
Bureau.
By the calculations of the let-
ter writer, she reports nearly 60
percent of Florence residents
are of retirement age. The rele-
vancy of that is a lower number
of “work force” residents com-
pared to communities of similar
size.
Here are some substantiated
documented statistics collected
from Lane County, U.S. Census
Bureau and the City of Florence
to consider:
• 826 document homeless
individuals living in our area,
• 2,956 unduplicated
Hands, Food Share, local
churches and individuals help-
ing the homeless with clothing,
showers, tents, sleeping bags,
motel stays and food.
There are many homeless
individuals working during the
day and sleeping in their vehi-
cles at night.
Yes, I agree there are home-
less individuals that choose to
GUEST VIEWPOINT
B Y B OB T ETER
E XECUTIVE D IRECTOR OF S IUSLAW O UTREACH S ERVICES
Florence-area residents sought
assistance with rent or utilities
in 2016.
• $32,588 average household
gross income for the greater
Florence area (or $47,318 for
Lane County).
In Part II of “Coastal Living
in Jeopardy,” (Nov. 22), City
Planning Director Wendy
FarleyCampbell
confirmed
there is a housing issue at hand
and many wage earners are
only a paycheck away from
homelessness.
Most recently, in Part III of
the series (Nov. 29), local prop-
erty managers and builders
have confirmed that many are
homeless due to no fault of
their own, but rather because of
a larger economic issue.
This is the case around much
of the country.
It may be that some in our
community do not see a prob-
lem because there are so many
groups like SOS, Helping
be homeless.
Yes, there are homeless indi-
viduals who suffer from drug
addiction. Oregon ranks second
to last in the availability of drug
and alcohol rehabilitation pro-
gramming — but, that is anoth-
er issue altogether.
There are many who are
working, or want to work, but
cannot obtain affordable hous-
ing as illustrated in Part III.
There are also several seniors in
our community whose sole
income is Social Security and,
as a result, cannot afford hous-
ing. The reasons and causes of
homelessness are as vast as the
number of those experiencing
it.
Now for the brighter side…
The City of Florence has
been taking action on this issue
like never before. Mayor Joe
Henry, members of the
Florence City Council and their
committees, as well as city
staff, are aggressively working
to create workforce housing
opportunities and encourage
business development that is
not dependant on seasonal
tourism.
The reason, in part, for this
housing crisis is that we have a
high quality of life here. People
drive through town and see we
live in a community full of car-
ing citizens. We have great
facilities, wonderful events and
an
active
Chamber
of
Commerce. We enjoy the arts,
have good schools, experience
a low crime rate and enjoy
beauty all around us. We live in
an area full of generous people
who give of their time, talents
and money to support their
neighbor. We have organiza-
tions like SOS, Food Share,
Helping Hands, Red Cross,
Boys and Girls Club and others
filled with amazing volunteers
that provide help to those in
need. We have active service
clubs like Rotary, Kiwanis,
Soroptimist, Lions and veteran
clubs working hard to improve
our community. I know I am
leaving some out because we
are so blessed with many caring
groups and individuals in our
community.
Because we have so many
caring selfless individuals and
groups out there, I am confident
we can solve this issue. It is
just going to take time to do it
right and sustain long term.
To do so, we must be willing
to both embrace the bright side
while shedding light on those
things that aren’t so bright.
LETTERS
D EMS WERE ON BOARD
WITH R EAGANOMICS
In response to Rand Dawson’s Letter
to the Editor “Less is More” (Nov. 29):
For the entire Reagan presidency, the
House of Representatives, which writes
legislation, was Democratically con-
trolled. At no time did the Republican-
controlled Senate have a filibuster-proof
majority.
Ergo, Democrats were on board with
the crafting of what has become known
as “Reaganomics.”
We can play silly numbers games all
day long.
For example, Johnson signed the
Revenue Act of 1964.
Tax rates were reduced.
Unemployment fell.
The economy expanded.
Revenue grew.
From legislation written by a demo-
cratically-controlled House and Senate
that reduced taxes, grew the economy
and raised government revenue.
The left-media never write about
Johnsonomics, yet the same changes
under a Republican president with a
Democratically controlled House are
blamed for all manner of economic
woes. As far as taking refuge in the 1990
proposed budget, the revenue “losses”
are calculated on the size of the econo-
my. It is a fool’s errand to assume that
the economy would have sustained
growth had the 1980 rates been in effect.
The economy was a yo-yo for the
Carter years and the first two Reagan
years. Had the economy contracted with
the 1980 rates in effect, receipts would
still have declined.
On page 1-15 of the FY1990 Budget
of the U.S. Government., Reagan
admonished “... we must continue our
recent progress in reducing the Federal
deficit,” while the national debt was a
comparatively paltry 50 percent of the
GDP.
How much better off might we be
today had his sage advice been heeded?
—Ian Eales
Florence
W ILL O REGONIANS
BE STRONG ?
The recent wildfires in Napa and
Sonoma counties of northern California
were devastating. Fire destroyed homes,
apartments and entire mobile home
parks, as well as businesses both small
and large.
Fires don’t discriminate. It will take
years for families to rebuild — if they
choose to do so — and for businesses to
recover. People of all ages are out of
work and without a home. I am amazed
at how firefighters, first responders and
utilities employees were able to keep the
fires from burning all the way to the
ocean.
Three large hospitals and many
schools were saved. It was reported by a
Napa County congressman that the fire
traveled at up to 200 feet per second.
The fires are believed to have been
started by downed power lines in 70
mph winds.
Regardless of the cause, fires have no
boundaries be it city, county or state
lines, or ODF, BLM or USFS.
Come next fire season, if you think it
won’t — or can’t — happen here, think
again.
—Michal Fletcher
and Mark Owens
Florence
TO THE
P OLICY
E DITOR
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor
as part of a community discussion of issues on the
local, state and national level.
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Libelous, argumentative and anonymous letters
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editor.
P OLITICAL /E LECTION L ETTERS :
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Letters must 1) Not be a part of letter-writing
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Candidates themselves may not use the letters to
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As with all letters and advertising content, the
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general manager and editor, reserves the right to
reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above crite-
ria.
Send letters to:
nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com
WHERE TO WRITE
Pres. Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments:
202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Gov. Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line:
503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office
Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office
Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753/FAX: 202-
228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
( 4 th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609
541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan
( Dist. 5 )
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@
state.or.us
State Rep. Caddy
McKeown
( Dist. 9 )
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email: rep.caddymckeown
@state.or.us
West Lane County
Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email:
Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us