A8 The BulleTin • Thursday, OcTOBer 21, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Should debate about
transportation be a
one-way street?
S
low the cars. Transit should be ridiculously convenient.
Public sentiment is the biggest obstacle to more people-
centered streets.
Those are some of the ideas of
Charles Marohn in his new book,
“Confessions of a Recovering Engi-
neer,” and expressed on his organiza-
tion’s website, strongtowns.org.
He’s coming to Bend to speak on
Nov. 8 at the Tower Theatre. Build-
ing a Better Bend, a local nonprofit,
is bringing him here. And the Bend
Metropolitan Planning Organiza-
tion voted this week to sponsor his
speech. The MPO hasn’t done some-
thing like that before, apparently.
Should it?
Marohn offers a vision of how
cities can leverage transportation
in new ways. Many of the ideas —
slowing cars down, less parking,
transportation systems that usurp
the preeminence of the car — are
very much the approach the city of
Bend has been taking. He’s one of its
champions. Not all of his ideas may
line up with what the city is doing.
At least from reading through the
website and his new book, it’s mostly
consistent.
We found the most powerful ar-
gument in his book was the way he
used the death of a 7-year-old child,
Destiny Gonzalez, to learn about
roads. She was killed when she tried
to cross State Street in Springfield,
Massachusetts, in 2014. She was
killed, he argued, in part because we
don’t do enough to design streets for
people. We design them for moving
cars quickly. Cars. Speed. Stopping.
Turning. It’s almost a guarantee that
people will die. He wants more done
to slow cars down in towns. He ad-
vocates for more walking/biking/
transit.
Marohn is an engineer by train-
ing and has been the subject of com-
plaints from his board of licensing
for criticizing the profession. Yes,
that can happen. Perhaps also, he
isn’t always neatly predictable. He
argues against a sales tax for sup-
porting transit, because he wants
transit to be used to build wealth in
communities. He wants more traf-
Marohn offers a vision of how
cities can leverage transportation
in new ways. Many of the ideas
— transportation systems that
usurp the preeminence of the car
— are very much the approach
the city of Bend has been taking.
fic enforcement done by mail, in-
stead of police making traffic stops.
He doesn’t like congestion pricing
— raising the cost of using a route
during peak periods to discourage
use — because it prices people out.
We like policy debates. That’s
pretty much a prerequisite to be
involved in editorials. So we are
pleased to see him coming; though,
we may see things differently. That’s
why the issue of the Bend MPO
sponsoring his visit is interesting.
The MPO is a policy board. MPOs
are required by federal law for ur-
banized areas with populations of
more than 50,000. The Bend MPO
is made up of representatives of local
governments, in this case members
of the Bend City Council and the
Deschutes County Commission. It
makes decisions about local trans-
portation projects and funding. It is
supported by federal tax dollars.
So that means federal tax dollars
are being used to have a policy dis-
cussion about transportation. That
makes complete sense to us. But
would the Bend MPO support spon-
soring a speaker with a different
point of view — one that wasn’t as
friendly to the approach of the city
of Bend to transportation?
That’s arguably the prerogative
of the elected officials on the MPO
board. Voters chose them. They then
get to choose how to spend the pub-
lic’s money, right? Should they only
sponsor speakers that represent cer-
tain sides of a public policy debate?
Then there is really not much debate.
Most pharmacies do not
participate in safety program
T
he Oregon Patient Safety
Commission has the same old
problem. If health care orga-
nizations don’t participate in its pa-
tient safety programs, it’s harder to
keep Oregonians safe from medical
errors that injure and kill.
We saw an announcement re-
cently that the commission updated
its website, oregonpatientsafety.org.
It’s nicer. Easier to navigate.
We navigated straight to the orga-
nization’s annual reports. According
to the most recent one, every hos-
pital in Oregon participates in this
program designed to reduce medical
errors. That’s great.
Some 66 out of 93 eligible ambu-
latory surgery centers participate. Of
the 129 eligible nursing facilities, 106
participate. And of the 695 eligible
pharmacies, only 119 participate.
Is that good enough for Oregon
patient safety?
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.
My Nickel’s Worth
Inequity in our schools
We need Build Back Better Act
In regards to the editorial on Oct.
15 about equity in Bend-La Pine’s
magnet schools, I commend the
school board and editor for raising the
question of equity.
As a community, we should be ask-
ing if our programs and actions are
just.
However, I find the editorial to be
too narrowly focused. Instead of crit-
icizing popular programs, such as
those at Highland and Bear Creek,
perhaps the bigger question is if
neighborhood schools (the way our
entire district is organized) serve chil-
dren equitably?
Having spent time in both east- and
west-side schools, I can say that it is
not simply the inequity of magnet
schools, but a larger issue of inequity
within our community that is echoed
in all of our schools.
We have sought an answer to that
larger question for more than 50 years
and have made little progress. How-
ever, there are some solutions that
could make all schools more equita-
ble.
For example, research has proven
long summer breaks have a negative
impact on education.
While they hurt almost all children,
the long break is especially conse-
quential to our children with the few-
est resources.
If we want more equitable schools
— and that seems like a good place to
begin creating a more just commu-
nity — then perhaps we should look
beyond a few magnet programs and
into holistic changes that would best
serve all children, regardless of ZIP
code.
— Amy Bahrman, Bend
I encourage our elected officials,
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merk-
ley, Rep. Cliff Bentz, and our poten-
tial future congressman, Rep. Kurt
Schrader, to get together and pass the
Build Back Better Act including clean
energy provisions. Congress must in-
vest for future generations and those
investments must consider our cli-
mate, clean energy, justice and jobs at
the scale that science demands. Clean
energy is the fastest-growing industry
in the United States, and it provides
an enormous opportunity to offer
high-quality jobs — many that don’t
require a college education — and
help rebuild the middle class.
Clean energy is the economic and
healthy path to a prosperous future.
The U.S. should be the global leader,
providing a 100% clean energy path
in the transportation and power sec-
tors. As the country takes a clean en-
ergy path, we must prioritize justice
to the communities most harmed by
toxic pollution; the low-income com-
munities of color should be ensured
the benefits they desperately need, in-
cluding quality education, clean water
and high-speed internet. This plan
will provide good-paying jobs for the
building trades, teachers, researchers
and more. The cost of inaction is too
great, and the price will continue to
get higher. I appreciate the strong cli-
mate leadership of Senators Wyden
and Merkley, and encourage my cur-
rent Representative Bentz, and poten-
tial future Representative Schrader to
vote in favor of the Build Back Bet-
ter Act. We have a moral obligation
to provide a safe, clean, and healthy
planet to future generations.
— Joe Craig, Bend
Teach my grandchildren
a fuller history
I fully agree with the sentiment
that we have been woefully and sadly
mis-educated about many things in
our history.
And I agree that it is likely that ev-
ery person of color in this country has
been victimized in some form or fash-
ion and not just once.
Regarding the teaching of CRT
(critical race theory), I accept that fear
might be the driver of many that are
resisting the teaching of this theory.
What might also be the driver is the
fact that almost every issue that is on
the front pages of our papers and is
the first story on all of our news out-
lets, seems to desire to create some
type of fear, as opposed to informing
us in a neutral manner so we can ab-
sorb and come to our own conclu-
sion(s).
I have two grandchildren that I
hope will be taught our history in a far
more complete and comprehensive
way than previous generations were
taught.
My major concerns are: Who will
be their teacher(s) and what will be
their textbooks and other teaching
aids? We have all had experiences
with teachers that shaped who we are
today.
On such a critical topic, how will
these special teachers be selected and
trained to introduce and teach what
may be the most important classes in
a child’s school-life?
I don’t have the answers but of-
fer that demonizing people that love
their children isn’t a productive way
to drive the process to a fruitful and
meaningful fulfillment.
— Bill Gregoricus, Bend
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Afghanistan is in need of assistance; it also must educate girls
BY SHABANA BASIJ-RASIKH
special to The Washington Post
F
urniture being sold on the streets
of Kabul by desperate, cash-
strapped families. Farmers in Af-
ghan provinces walking a T.S. Eliot-es-
que waste land of withered crops and
soil turned to dust. Afghanistan, my
homeland, is staring into the eyes of its
worst humanitarian crisis in well more
than a generation — a monster with
multiple heads.
Our people are enduring an eco-
nomic meltdown spurred by the Tali-
ban’s takeover in August, coupled with
an ongoing drought some experts clas-
sify as our worst in 35 years, one that
has already put third of our popula-
tion into a state of food insecurity. One
that is prompting some parents, out of
work and out of options, to sell their
daughters to pay off debt.
Imagine writing that last sentence
about your own country. Imagine
what that feels like.
Last week, I watched the members
of the Group of 20 pledge humanitar-
ian assistance for Afghanistan to the
tune of more than $1 billion. Although
the pledge-makers will not recognize
the Taliban’s government, they ac-
knowledged that there is no realistic
way to get this full assistance to the Af-
ghan people without involving the Tal-
iban in some way.
This is the same Taliban whose re-
turn brought about this financial ruin.
The same Taliban that opened schools
for boys in grades 7 and up, but not
for girls.
I listened to powerful language from
leaders such as German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who said “to stand by
and watch 40 million people plunge
into chaos because electricity can’t be
supplied and no financial system ex-
ists, that cannot and should not be the
goal of the international community.”
No, it cannot. The goal must be to
give a nation’s people the necessary as-
sistance to allow them to build equita-
ble and self-sustaining structures of re-
silience that can then be strengthened
by the alloy of international will.
In this geopolitical “Sophie’s choice,”
it is difficult to see the G-20’s decision
as anything other than an abhorrent
but necessary one. But I also see it as
one that must encourage global poli-
cymakers to seek out new solutions to
head off economic and environmental
crises before they can metastasize.
My suggestion to them is two
words: Educate girls.
Extremists know the economic
power an educated girl can wield; pol-
icymakers know — or should know
— it too. A girl who completes sec-
ondary school and enters the job mar-
ket can earn almost twice as much as a
girl who never receives an education.
This girl becomes a woman with a
true level of financial independence: a
woman with agency in any male-dom-
inated society.
Educated girls are far less likely to be
married at early ages and are far more
likely, when they do marry, to raise
smaller and healthier families with
a smaller environmental footprint.
Their ability to weather and with-
stand the shocks of climate change in-
creases, and they pass these skills on to
their children. Climate scientists have
known these facts for years, and activ-
ists, including me, have written about
them regularly.
Educated girls can heal economies
and heal the planet. They can spin
the world in new directions, becom-
ing teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs.
Sometimes they can become the chan-
cellor of Germany.
In Afghanistan, families with noth-
ing to fall back on are ripping them-
selves open, selling their daughters
because these girls are the last valuable
asset they have. It’s not due to the em-
ployment they may someday hold or
the societal change they may someday
make. It’s due to the children they may
someday bear.
Tell me: What is the value of a girl?
What is her education worth?
U.N. Secretary General António
Guterres recently warned that if the in-
ternational community did not “help
Afghans weather this storm, and do it
soon, not only they but all the world
will pay a heavy price,” adding that he
was “particularly alarmed to see prom-
ises made to Afghan women and girls
by the Taliban not being honored.”
I share that sense of alarm. This
storm may be weathered with human-
itarian assistance, but future storms
will be diverted by ensuring those
promises are kept.
When we educate a girl, we create
economic and environmental benefits
that go beyond the boundaries of her
family. They go beyond the boundar-
ies of her nation. They are benefits that
all of us, every woman and man, every
citizen of Earth, can share.
Millions of girls are out of school in
Afghanistan. At least 130 million girls
are out of school worldwide. This can-
not continue.
Educate girls. Two words that must
become a central pillar of global pol-
icymaking. Two words to change the
world.
e
Shabana Basij-Rasikh is co-founder and president
of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan.