City and county looking to state and federal partners
Cities and counties routinely seek help from their state and federal big brothers with larger projects for the constituencies they serve. And with new legislative and congressional sessions getting underway, ...
Oregon has lost its way on the educational front
A series of national public school learning assessments released recently paint a bleak picture for Oregon, despite an 80% increase in funding since state test scores peaked in 2013. Driven by such a ...
Rec plan review needs to reflect what's gone before
It was encouraging to see the way the reconstituted post-election city council came together to pause work on a major new municipal recreation complex for some soul-searching reassessment. The council ...
We need to all pull as one to solve our housing crisis
Oregon has been caught in the grip of an escalating housing crisis for at least 10 years now. As a result, it has become one of the least-affordable states in the nation for both home ownership and apartment ...
Trying to draw some lessons from Robert Pamplin demise
It’s easy to celebrate the downfall of a liar, cheat, bully and philanderer — an evil force setting out to trample anyone getting in the way of his wanton plundering. But Robert B. Pamplin ...
Dayton Landing transfer would best serve public
For centuries on our nation’s Eastern Seaboard and Midwest Heartland, cities tended to treat rivers as gritty industrial alleyways out back instead of scenic recreational boulevards out front. And ...
Record revenue projected, but record need lies in wait
Oregon’s December revenue forecast — which the Legislature will be using as a budgeting guide during the long odd-year session set to convene 11 days hence — promises to support a $39.3 ...
Looking back instructive, looking ahead constructive
In Monday’s news space, we indulged in the deeply rooted newspaper tradition of looking back on the past year to assess its challenges, breakthroughs, warnings and revelations after the fact, in ...
Oregon's new laws call more for fine-tuning than retooling
Every new year ushers in a gusher of new laws, all across the country, from West Coast to East. It just comes with the season, as surely as pumpkins at Halloween and turkeys at Thanksgiving. Like New ...
Danger signals on rec bond suggest a pause to reassess
There’s always a good time to lock up land for future development, and it’s always right now, as far in advance as possible. If you don’t, you’ll inevitably find on down the road ...
County's OMI purchase promises big dividends
The lead headline on last Friday’s front page, “County to buy OMI campus,” serves to answer an editorial call we’ve been sounding for more than 20 years now. If we had to reduce ...
To fluoridate or desist rises to the fore again
A movement fueled by dentists and dental health researchers in the 1930s and ‘40s led the Michigan city of Grand Rapids to begin fluoridating its water in 1945. By 1960, 50 million Americans were ...
Supermajorities in the offing: let's see they aren't abused
Marion County’s House District 22, which encompasses Woodburn, Gervais, Brooks and the northern reaches of Salem, is arguably the most distinctive legislative district in the state. It has also been ...
YCAP performs key function demanding support from all
The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners appeared to solve a major interagency communications problem last week — at least for the immediate future — with allocation of $650,000 in federal ...
Floodplain hue and cry much ado about very little
A July notice from the Federal Emergency Management Agency imposed a Dec. 1 deadline on Oregon cities and counties for adoption of updated flood management regulations. The local jurisdictions are saying ...
