A8 THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Allow live public
comment during
public meetings
T
he big news out of the Bend Park & Recreation District’s
board meeting last week was that the board moved
forward on reducing fees for affordable housing.
Feel free to applaud. The board
deserves it.
But also at the meeting, the dis-
trict tried to get more back to nor-
mal. Ever since the park district
meetings went virtual, live public
comments have been missing in ac-
tion. It began allowing them again
last week. Several people took the
opportunity and spoke during the
meeting about the fees and afford-
able housing.
The public never completely lost
its ability to comment on what the
district is doing during the pan-
demic. They could always send in
emails or submit letters. There is
something special about being an
actual part of the meeting, speaking
to the board more directly. It is cer-
tainly more of a guarantee that the
board hears it and also that other
members of the public do, too.
The Bend City Council has al-
ready been allowing live public com-
ment. So does the Deschutes County
Commission. The Bend-La Pine
Schools have not, which is a shame
because it has been deep in a debate
over the new superintendent and
how to reopen schools.
Juggling the technology is not easy
for government bodies And some
members of the public don’t have the
ability to connect even if it is allowed.
But it is important that government
bodies make the effort to allow the
public to speak live at meetings.
Oregon may be slower
to reach herd immunity
T
he goal posts have moved
on herd immunity for
COVID-19. It was initially
60% to 70% and has gradually ticked
up.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of
the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, most recently
has mentioned numbers as high as
85%. Herd immunity refers to the
number of people vaccinated or who
are recovering from a recent infec-
tion to shut down the spread of the
virus.
The goal posts are just estimates.
Whatever they are, they do make it
clear that it’s going to be a while.
In Oregon it may take longer than
in other parts of the country. About
one third of Oregonians said they
were not sure if they would get the
shot, according to a December sur-
vey, as reported by Willamette Week.
The number of people who said they
would not get the shot was about
25% of men and 21% of women.
Those numbers aren’t fixed and will
likely change, though, Oregon is gen-
erally behind the rest of the nation in
getting people to get vaccinations.
Most Oregonians do not even
know yet when they could get the
vaccine if they want it. Please, state
of Oregon, ramp up your efforts. We
don’t need anything else holding Or-
egon back from getting the economy
back to normal and more people
breathing freely.
You can help drive
safety improvements
B
end is not a walking and bik-
ing paradise. It’s pretty good,
as towns go. But there’s room
for improvement.
We aren’t just talking about walk-
ing and biking. There are neighbor-
hood streets that have become favor-
ite shortcuts for cars. Ever walked
along NE Revere Avenue? People
zoom up and down the hill like it’s
the straightaway at Portland Inter-
national Raceway. OK not quite, but
you know the feeling.
The city is attacking the problem.
It’s recently completed neighbor-
hood safety improvements/green-
ways on more than 5½ miles of city
streets. They include “some firsts
for Bend: two-way parking-pro-
tected bike lanes and an all-way yield
neighborhood traffic circle,” City
Manager Eric King recently told
councilors in an email.
That may be a fraction of what is
needed. But city staff does listen to
public input on what to do first. So if
you have an area or a project that you
believe needs safety improvements,
let councilors know. You can email
them at council@bendoregon.gov.
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin’s editorial board, Publisher Heidi Wright, Editor
Gerry O’Brien and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe.
GUEST COLUMN
Google’s monopoly isn’t a game for newspapers
BY DEAN RIDINGS
I
t is no secret that Google has se-
cured a near monopoly in the
search and local advertising world.
However, the impact on newspapers
hasn’t been quite as obvious.
A number of lawsuits have recently
been brought that call Google to task
for its practices.
These lawsuits sig-
nal the government’s
acknowledgement
of Google’s unfair
practices and initiate
steps to hold them
accountable.
Ridings
The first suit, an
antitrust action filed
by the Justice Department in October,
accuses Google of abusing its posi-
tion over smaller rivals by operating
like an illegal monopoly through ex-
clusionary agreements that have hurt
consumers and competitors.
The second suit, an antitrust suit
filed in mid-December by Texas and
nine other states, alleges that the com-
pany has stifled competition and en-
joys monopolistic power, specifically
as it relates to digital advertising.
The third suit, filed just days after
the second suit by 38 U.S. states and
territories, accuses Google of abus-
ing its market power to maintain its
search engine dominance. The suit
doesn’t seek monetary damages, but
instead seeks broader remedies and
an order to end any agreements or
other behavior that it finds to be ex-
clusionary.
But why does this matter, and what
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP file
Google headquarters in Mountain View,
California in 2015.
does it mean to you or to your com-
munity?
Almost everyone uses Google in
some way or another. It has become
part of our lives, and Google has used
this to its advantage. Google games
the marketplace through search algo-
rithms to its financial gain. The result
is an uneven and often unfair playing
field for small and local businesses.
At a time when local businesses are
struggling to overcome the impacts of
COVID, the need to be able to com-
pete fairly has never been greater.
But what it means to local news, in-
cluding this newspaper, is that Google
uses content from newspapers and
other news providers without com-
pensating the publisher. If you use
Google to seek information about
current events in your community,
chances are, the results will be from
your local newspaper and other news
providers. Google monetizes the con-
tent produced by the publishers, cre-
ating even more problems for an in-
dustry that was already challenged as
a result of changing news consump-
tion habits in an internet-connected
world.
The shift to digital readership has
been inevitable. However, the use of
locally produced content by Google
without adequate compensation has
accelerated a financial crisis in the
newspaper industry — forcing news-
papers to make reductions. If the local
newspaper goes away, Google doesn’t
replace the content. It just has less vi-
able responses to searches for local
information. The ultimate result is
significantly diminished coverage in
local communities on the issues that
matter most — local government,
schools, health, environment and all
the issues that impact local citizens
day-in and day-out.
A successful newspaper is critical
to the health of a local community.
Encourage your representatives in
Congress to support legislative action
to require Google to play by the rules
and fairly compensate newspapers for
the content they develop. If Google is
allowed to continue its unfair business
practices, there is no passing go or
collecting $200 as it continues to mo-
nopolize the board.
e e
Dean Ridings is CEO of America’s Newspapers,
an organization of 1,500 newspaper and
associate member companies. It is committed
to explaining, defending and advancing the
vital role of newspapers in democracy and civil
life. Bulletin Publisher Heidi Wright is a board
member.
Letters policy
Guest columns
How to submit
We welcome your letters. Letters should
be limited to one issue, contain no more
than 250 words and include the writer’s
signature, phone number and address
for verification. We edit letters for brevity,
grammar, taste and legal reasons. We re-
ject poetry, personal attacks, form letters,
letters submitted elsewhere and those
appropriate for other sections of The Bul-
letin. Writers are limited to one letter or
guest column every 30 days.
Your submissions should be between
550 and 650 words; they must be signed;
and they must include the writer’s phone
number and address for verification. We
edit submissions for brevity, grammar,
taste and legal reasons. We reject those
submitted elsewhere. Locally submitted
columns alternate with national colum-
nists and commentaries. Writers are lim-
ited to one letter or guest column every
30 days.
Please address your submission to either
My Nickel’s Worth or Guest Column and
mail, fax or email it to The Bulletin. Email
submissions are preferred.
Email: letters@bendbulletin.com
Write: My Nickel’s Worth/Guest Column
P.O. Box 6020
Bend, OR 97708
Fax:
541-385-5804
Central Oregon Crossroads: Bend’s Community Climate Action Plan a helpful guide
T
he goal of the Bend Community
Climate Action Plan (CCAP)
is to achieve a 40% decrease in
fossil fuel emissions by 2030 and a 70%
decrease by 2050. The plan is a bal-
anced and comprehensive document. It
is a helpful guide to focus on what Bend
can do to address the climate crisis.
Changing climatic patterns will
affect salmon
Skiing, fishing, paddleboarding and
farming all depend on snow and the
pattern of snowmelt. According to the
CCAP: Warmer average temperatures
will cause dry seasons to last longer
and become more extreme. Summer
is expected to be hotter with lower
rainfall. Winter will arrive earlier in
the year and precipitation will fall in a
shorter time frame. The precipitation
will gradually become rain instead of
snow, which will decrease snowpack
and water supply during the hotter
months of the year.
Salmon will be affected. Cold-water
fish species are sensitive due to their
SCOTT
CHRISTIANSEN
seasonally timed migration upstream
to breed. Higher winter stream flows
and earlier peak flows due to climate
change will damage spawning nests,
wash away incubating eggs, and pre-
maturely force young salmon from
rivers. Lower summer stream flows
and warmer water temperatures means
that by the turn of the century much of
the current habitats may be too warm
for these species. What impact will a
decline in fishing have on tourism in
Central Oregon?
Emissions profile
To put it in simple terms, about two-
thirds of our local fossil fuel emissions
can be attributed to energy consump-
tion for residential, commercial and
industrial buildings and one-third can
be attributed to emissions from trans-
portation. Bend generated roughly
1 million metric tons of local emis-
sions in the baseline year of 2016, but
when externally imported products are
added, the sum of emissions almost
doubles. That makes the choice
of what we buy and bring to
our community important. We
can choose to buy goods and
services from companies out-
side Bend that strive to reduce,
reuse and recycle portions of
their products.
The good news is that Bend
has a CCAP and that we are in a state
that has progressive policies on climate
change, but there is also bad news –
due to rapid growth, Bend is outpacing
the average emission reduction goals
calculated for the state as a whole.
Reducing emissions
Like the federal government, the lo-
cal government has a budget that can
demonstrate leadership in reducing
emissions. The U.S. military, the world’s
largest consumer of fossil fuels, can do
things like converting to electric vehi-
cles and investing in battery research
and development. It will take a while
for the U.S. Air Force to fly battery
powered jets, but it might not take long.
As evidence, note that the bat-
tery powered nine-seat Cessna
Caravan is being commercial-
ized in Washington state.
Nevertheless, major break-
throughs by scores of compa-
nies working on electric planes
probably depend on reducing
the weight of batteries before
large planes can fly significant distances
on electric power alone. According to
Rewiring America, in the electrified fu-
ture, short–haul flights (less than 500
miles) will be electric, enabled by in-
creases in the power density of motors
and batteries. Long–haul flights will use
biofuels to get enough range.
At the city level
The city of Bend is planning to buy
electric vehicles and will incentivize
energy saving retrofits in residential
and commercial buildings. A strong
equity component in the CCAP will
help poorer households and histori-
cally disadvantaged communities find
affordable housing along public transit
corridors and provide better access to
loans and other incentives for home
insulation and installation of photovol-
taic panels.
In conclusion, Bend has about
100,000 permanent residents and
around 2.5 million annual visitors. We
are surrounded by world-class outdoor
recreation venues that drive our local
economy. Tourism helps employ resi-
dents, provides a market for local goods
and services, and generates tax revenues
for reinvestment in Bend. All these as-
pects of the economy will be affected by
climate change, and the risks of forest
loss, reduced snowpack and wilder for-
est fires puts these economic opportuni-
ties and our quality of life at risk.
e e
Scott Christiansen is an international agronomist
with 35 years of experience. He worked for USDA’s
Agricultural Research Service and the U.S. Agency
for International Development.