Protect the public good. No on Measure 37.
By Jules Kopel-Bailey of Portland, Oregon. Currently, Jules is working for a political campaign in Oregon. (Not the No on 37 campaign.)
The election is only 6 days away and we all are fighting for issues we care about. I am writing to encourage you to put in some extra time to oppose Measure 37. Like many of you, I work on a campaign myself, and I care deeply about the Presidential race. But I truly believe that Measure 37 has the greatest potential of anything on the ballot to damage our quality of life as Oregonians.
Measure 37 is costly, arbitrary, unfair, and it destroys the Oregon legacy of land use planning. If it passes (and current polling shows it passing), it will cost us millions of dollars out of an already stretched budget, while it simultaneously destroys our ability to protect land from environmental abuse and development. Do you like open beaches? They’re gone, if it passes. Do you like having farmland near Portland? It’s gone, if it passes. Do you like having cities that are healthy and contained? Well, say hello to sprawl and business flight from central Portland if it passes.
Measure 37 sets a dangerous precedent as well. Measure 37 says government must pay property owners for the difference in value of their land if there were no laws imposed on it, or forgo enforcement. Many people confuse this government having to pay people to take their land, a right which is enshrined in the US Constitution. What this says is that local government (which means you and I… where else do tax dollars come from?) must pay people for the theoretical value of their land if they could do anything they want. Government can’t pay, and that means no enforcement. If I buy a piece of land in East County, should government have to pay me because I can’t have an open pit leach mine there?
Let’s take this logic to another area. Should government have to pay to enforce all laws that cost people money? Should government have to pay me because I can’t sell crack cocaine? We have laws on the book to protect the public good. Measure 37 says government shouldn’t have the right to protect people, property, and our environment.
I hope you will join me in fighting Measure 37.
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Oct. 27, 2004
Posted in guest column. |
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Oct 27, '04
Gotta agree wholeheartedly with you Jules:
I'm a 5th generation Oregonian who is temporarily residing and voting in Waco Texas while my wife completes her family practice residency here. If you dream of a life without zoning, come take a visit to Texas and I'll show you what no land use planning looks like in real life. Waco is a college town (Baylor) that is about the same size as my home town of Eugene, and it's just spreading like a cancer with all the growth happening on the fringes. The growth is just sucking all the energy out of the central city. Anyone who thinks Measure 37 is a great idea only need visit Waco and compare it to Eugene or Salem on just about any criteria you want to use.
All the big Texas cities (except El Paso) are basically surrounded by endless spreads of flat open land and development is just leaping outwards at light speed with no rhyme or reason. The way that rich Texans deal with zoning issues is to move to the private world of gated communities that no one else can come within sight of without permission. In these communities the homeowner's associations control every aspect of development from what kind of shrubs you can plant and how high your grass can grow and what color you can paint your house. My homeowner's association rules are 20 pages long. So once wealthy Texans have created their own little suburban neighborhood worlds in their own perfect image they are happy to let everything else go to hell in the name of private enterprise. If you pass Measure 37 Oregon will soon look the same.
Oct 27, '04
Never underestimate the innate greediness and anti-goverment reasoning ability of your average Oregonian.