Election Day

Every vote counts!

Pie-in-the-sky futurists

Automobile The Next Cigarette
The Resiliant Earth, May 15, 2013  By Doug L. Hoffman

A recent report on the IEEE website claims that the

car of the future is not a hybrid, electric or even hydrogen powered vehicle. In fact, it is no car at all. It seems that a group of pie-in-the-sky futurists have decided that the automobile in any form is a bourgeois abomination. The hope for the future is mass transit and electric bicycles say the urban planning pundits. This shocking bit of utopian navel gazing comes out of the New York "Energy for Tomorrow” conference, which was devoted to “Building Sustainable Cities.” One prognosticator went so far as to pronounce the car the next cigarette, soon to become a pariah to all right thinking lefties. It is unsurprising that a bunch of big city officials and socialist leaning academics would prematurely announce the demise of the automobile, but then futuristic urban planning has a long history of being unerringly wrong.

Writing in the IEEE web column Energywise, Bill Sweet provides a gushing overview of one of the most asinine ideas ever to pop stillborn from a thinktank. With a modest recovery underway in the US and continued growth in Asia auto sales have recovered somewhat in recent years, yet many of the “experts” at the Times's conference have come out strongly anti-auto. Here is how Sweet put it:

Most shocking, perhaps, was the level of hostility expressed by 
many speakers to the automobile as such. Jaime Lerner, a former 
mayor of Brazil's Curitiba, known for the work he did there introducing an integrated mass transportation system that has been copied the world over, expressed the belief that cars some day soon will be seen as noxious as tobacco is today. “The car is going to be the cigarette of the future,” Lerner said.

The distaste Lerner and others expressed had to do not merely with pollutants and gasoline but, first and foremost, with congestion and what you might call human equities. Enrique Penalosa, the former mayor of Bogota, said his transportation reforms emphasized wide use of mini-buses (like the VW “Volksbus” seen ubiquitously in Mexico City), which after all emit pollutants and consume hydrocarbons too. The decisive factor for Penalosa is the amount of urban space consumed by a bus, as compared with a private car. “If we are all equal before the law,” he said, then “a bus carrying 100 people should be entitled to 100 times as much road space as a private car.”

It is totally amazing that those who do not own or drive personal automobiles think the rest of us are willing to adopt their inner-city 
lifestyle, content to use public transportation and share-a-ride bicycles. Don't misunderstand, we have no objection to public transportation in cities—it is outside of cities that the myopic green view fails. In reality, half of humanity lives outside of large urban areas where personal vehicles are not just a nicety but a necessity. Those who live outside of major cities in North America, Australia and elsewhere know this and are not about to relinquish their private vehicles.

The fundamental truth overlooked by the navel gazers is that the automobile freed the common man. In America, Henry Ford's spindly wheeled creations put the nation in motion. For the first time, people were free to pick up and move if times grew hard in 
their area or there were better jobs in the offing somewhere else. And move the people did, sometimes all the way across the continent. There is a reason why California became so car crazy, most of that state's citizens arrived by car.

Will a carbon tax come to Oregon?

Carbon tax, the Cover Oregon of tax reform: Editorial Agenda 2014

The Oregonian, September 17, 2014  Editorial 
Excerpt:  

In the other part of this split universe, lawmakers who'd gathered in Salem this week for committee meetings received an update, some enthusiastically, on a carbon tax study that will be completed later this year. Thus, even as the Legislature decides how to move beyond the failure of one complex and overly ambitious project, there's talk of effecting what one state industry group has called "the most far-reaching tax change since the founding of the state." It's almost as if Cover Oregon, and its lessons, never happened.

There's a simple explanation for this disconnect. Gov. Kitzhaber signed Senate Bill 306, which mandated the carbon tax study, on Aug. 14, 2013. A month and a half later, on Oct. 1, 2013, Cover Oregon famously failed to launch. The carbon tax update lawmakers received this week is an echo of a political reality that disappeared along with all of those perky and hopeful Cover Oregon ads. You'd like to think lawmakers realize that times have changed, but, well, you never know.

SB 306, which passed largely along party lines, mandated a study of "the feasibility of imposing a clean air fee or tax statewide as a new revenue option that would augment or replace portions of existing revenues." In other words, tax reform, the global warming edition.

This finished study, to be presented to lawmakers by Nov. 15, will be plopped into the midst of a long-running reform effort by Gov. Kitzhaber. If he and his legislative colleagues are still serious about tax reform, they should put the study on a high shelf somewhere in Salem and move on.

Whether assessed at the producer or consumer level, a carbon tax would act like a very specific kind of consumption tax. It would be a tax on energy – the gas you put in your car, the electricity with which you heat your home – that would be determined by greenhouse gas production.

And for what? It's one thing to tax fuel to pay for roads, but it's another to do so for reasons that are more ideological than practical. The harm would be obvious, especially to those with less money. Meanwhile, the effect of such a tax in a single state on global warming would be negligible, and perhaps nonexistent.  

So shelve it. Instead, lawmakers and the governor should continue the long and difficult process of building up the credibility they'll need to sell Oregonians on even a modest tax reform proposal that doesn't include a sales tax of any flavor, let alone something as exotic as a carbon tax.

Clackamas smart on climate

Their Climate Smart Plan

See letter from Clackamas County to Metro on County website - Item 4 in agenda packet for the CCBC meeting of 10/30/2014  

There is time for Lake Oswego to join Clackamas County in rejecting any mandated, expensive regulations supporting the Climate Smart Communities Plan under Metro (and the state) as not productive, too expensive, and not wanted.  

*

‘Climate Smart’ plan pits Clackamas vs Metro

Steve Becker, KOIN News, October 30, 2014

See KOIN VIDEO

County Chair John Ludlow said relieving congestion with another lane along I-205 -- to reduce congestion and greenhouse gases, is a plan.   

Public provided input to Clackamas County Commission on Thursday

Excerpt:

CLACKAMAS, Ore. (KOIN 6) — Clackamas County officials are questioning Metro’s Climate Smart plan, a program that will eventually be implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Commissioners called the plan “Portland-centric” and said it will 
hurt more than help Clackamas County.


As it’s drafted now — calling for fewer cars and more mass transit —  Metro’s Climate Smart program won’t work in Clackamas County, commissioners said.

The public provided input Thursday to the commissioners, and most did not like the plan.

One person told the commission, “Their Climate Smart plan has nothing to do with climate and it has nothing to do with being smart.”

Another was more succinct. “I’m asking you to do everything in your power as commissioners to reject this.”

Metro will take up all recommendations for the Climate Smart
 plan in December.

Candidates are in the home stretch!

Who's leading the pack?  

With Election Day just 4 days away, most of the ballots are already turned in.  On Wednesday there will be election post-mortems as each candidate and their campaign "staff" figures out what they did right and what they could have done better.  Final revenue figures will be turned in, revelations will come out, and the public will get a better feel for who they voted for and what the next couple of years will bring.  May the best people win!

Fianaces to Date:         Cash                          In-Kind                           Expenses
                                 Contributions            Contributions                         
Ed Brockman             $  3,503                             0                                  $  3,312              

Joe Buck                     $14,810                             0                                  $17,126              

Jeff Gudman              $  3,650                              0                                 $  3,353              

Matt Keenen              $  3,300                        $  9,272                             $  4,117

Jackie Manz               $  5,085                        $    555                              $  4,537

The real value of $100

To see a map of the country's metropolitan areas and how far $100 goes, use this link to see the MAP from the Tax Foundation.  There are more maps and statistics on similar topics within links on this website.  

 

The Real Value of $100 in Metropolitan Areas

By 

Alan Cole, Lyman Stone, Tom VanAntwerp, Richard Borean

  

We recently published a map showing how far $100 would take you in different states. For example, in states with low costs of living, like Arkansas, $100 had the same sort of purchasing power that $115 would have in an average state.

We got a lot of requests – particularly from upstate New Yorkers - for a map of purchasing power that separates out cities from non-metropolitan areas. Fortunately, that data is available from the BEA’s interactive tables, and we have created an interactive map of purchasing power down to the city level.

Is this the people's house?

No wonder politicians continually proclaim their humble roots and struggles to make it.  How well can economic and educational elites truly represent the(ir) people?

The People's House

Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2014  By Randy Yeip and Casey Miller

The U.S. House of Representatives was envisioned as a house of the people, directly elected by voters and reflecting their will. But what if Congress also reflected its constituents’ demographics? Explore how members of the House compare with residents of each of the 435 congressional districts, based on the predominant characteristics within each. Then see how your district stacks up.

Click HERE to see the interactive graph. 
Check also to see how the 5th District compares to national statistics. 

This is your brain on drugs

I'm veering off of my usual topics to post a link to an article I read on the NYT website today.  I believe we should have laws that criminalize the use of marijuana for a variety of reasons - mostly to protect children and young adults.  I have heard the arguments that kids will get the drug anyway, but legalizing it takes it a step further.  Newer research is showing what serious, long-lasting harm the drug can do. No matter how you feel on the subject of marijuana legalization, I hope you find this interesting.

This Is Your Brain On Drugs 
New York Times, October 29, 2014   By Abigale Sullivan Moore

Excerpts - Read the entire article on the NYT website.

Dr. Gilman was reviewing a composite scan of the brains of 20 pot smokers, ages 18 to 25. What she and fellow researchers at Harvard and Northwestern University found within those scans surprised them. Even in the seven participants who smoked only once or twice a week, there was evidence of structural differences in two significant regions of the brain. The more the subjects smoked, the greater the differences.



But it has long been known that, with the brain developing into the mid-20s, young people who smoke early and often are more likely to have learning and mental health problems. Now researchers suggest existing studies are no longer sufficient. Much of what’s known is based on studies conducted years ago with much less powerful pot.

All smokers showed abnormalities in the shape, density and volume of the nucleus accumbens, which “is at the core of motivation, the core of pleasure and pain, and every decision that you make,” explained Dr. Hans Breiter, a co-author of the study and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern’s medical school.  

Similar changes affected the amygdala, which is fundamental in processing emotions, memories and fear responses.  

What is already known is that in casual users, THC can disrupt focus, working memory, decision making and motivation for about 24 hours.  "The fact that we can see these structural effects of THC are longer lasting than we previously thought," said Dr. Gilman, an instructor in psychology at Harvard's medical school. 

Image Description:A Harvard-Northwestern study has found differences between the brains of young adult marijuana smokers and those of nonsmokers. In these composite scans, colors represent the differences — in the shape of the amygdala, top, and nucleus accumbens. Yellow indicates areas that are most different, red the least.Credit The Journal of Neuroscience

Granfalloons and Groupthink

Granfalloons..Groupthink ... Hypnotism ... Persuasion 
  

Changing Minds

"How we change what others think, feel, believe and do."  

In so many cases One has to wonder why people do what they do, why trust is so important, how groups and individuals act alone and together, etc.  You might want to check out this website and re-live that Social Psychology 101 class you had in college.  
Status, In-Groups, Work Groups, Sequential Requests, Conspiracy, Propaganda, Happiness...  and much, much more!  Example:

Status Values: 

I must maintain or advance my status

Higher status people must be obeyed and admired Lower status people must be kept lower than me Members must advance or maintain the status of the group

New Zealand admits what America won't

NEW ZEALAND SEEKS TO AVOID "GENERATION RENT"

By Wendell Cox, New Geography, 10/29/2014 

The political leadership and others in New Zealand are talking about the consequences of its land use policies. Under the "urban containment" land use policy (also called by terms like "smart growth," "growth management," and "livability") in effect in every urban area, house prices have doubled relative to incomes over the last 25 years. The principal causes have been the restrictions inherent in urban containment policy, such as making most suburban land off limits for housing development, (which raises its price, like rationing oil raises the price of gasoline), and requirements for upfront payment of large development impact fees (which can also be higher than they need to be). The association between urban containment policy and unaffordable housing is consistent with both with both economic theory and also considerable economic research. The title of a report by Paul Cheshire, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics best indicates the reality: "Urban Containment, Housing Affordability, Price Stability - Irreconcilable Goals." 

New Zealand Housing Unaffordability and Consequences 

According to the 10th Annual Demographia Housing Affordability Survey, Auckland, the nation's largest city is now the 7th least affordable out of 85 major metropolitan markets rated. Obviously, when houses cost more than necessary, households have less discretionary income. The second consequence is greater poverty. When the price of housing rises, discretionary income can fall enough to force lower income households into poverty. 

Land Use Policies Blamed for Poverty and Greater Inequality

Minister English had previously expressed concern about the extent to which land use policy had driven up house prices, in his preface to the 9th Annual Demographia Housing Affordability Survey: "It costs too much and takes too long to build a house in New Zealand. Land has been made artificially scarce by regulation that locks up land for development. This regulation has made land supply unresponsive to demand (see: "Unblocking Constipated Planning" in New Zealand").

Other business support comes from ANZ Bank New Zealand Chief Executive Officer David Hisco. In expressing concern noting that" "The elevator of economic progress in New Zealand has always been home ownership for everyone - right across the socioeconomic spectrum. But at the current pace of house price rises we risk creating a generation of disenfranchised, second class citizens – ‘Generation Rent.’" 

In noting that the poor are the "biggest victims" of Auckland's land use policies, Eric Crampton (on Kiwiblog) says that Auckland should be allowed "to build both upwards and outwards: which would be a great step in reducing child poverty." Moreover, the Prime Minister, John Key, has expressed a particular interest in reducing child poverty.

The New Class Conflict

USC has not read this book, but is a fan of the author, Joel Kotkin.   The subject is intriguing and timely - and suggests some solutions that may rewrote the yeomanry to a central position of power in American life.  This book is offered as an idea to investigate and an ideal to pursue.

Amazon Books

The New Class Conflict  Hardcover  September 1, 2014

by Joel Kotkin  (Author) 

In ways not seen since the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century, America is becoming a nation of increasingly sharply divided classes. Joel Kotkin's The New Class Conflict breaks down these new divisions for the first time, focusing on the ascendency of two classes: the tech Oligarchy, based in Silicon Valley; and the Clerisy, which includes much of the nation's policy, media, and academic elites.

The New Class Conflict is written largely from the point of view of those who are, to date, the losers in this class conflict: the middle class. This group, which Kotkin calls the Yeomanry, has been the traditional bulwark of American society, politics, and economy. Yet under pressure from the ascendant Oligarchs and ever more powerful Clerisy, their prospects have diminished the American dream of class mobility that has animated its history and sustained its global appeal.

This book is both a call to arms and a unique piece of analysis about the possible evolution of our society into an increasingly quasi-feudal order. Looking beyond the conventional views of both left and right, conservative and liberal, Kotkin provides a tough but evenhanded analysis of our evolving class system, and suggests some approaches that might restore the middle class to its proper role as the dominant group in the American future.

Joel Kotkin

Joel Kotkin is the Roger Hobbs Distinguished Fellow in Urban Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, and the Executive Editor of the widely read website NewGeography.com. He is the author, most recently, of The New Class Conflict, as well as The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, The City: A Global History, and The New Geography: How the Digital Revolution Is Reshaping the American Landscape. An internationally recognized authority on global economic, political, social, and technological trends, Kotkin is a regular contributor to The Daily Beast and Forbes.com, and he writes a weekly column for the Orange County Reigster, where he serves on the editorial board. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, City Journal, Politico, the New York Daily News, and Newsweek.

Telling the truth about Climate Change

Truth-telling about Climate Change.  Why believe fiction when there are facts?  

October 27, Kelly File, Fox News. (Click link for video)

'Bad, Bad Science': Weather Channel Founder Says Climate Change Is a Myth

Many officials in the Obama administration - including Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama himself - have repeatedly hammered home the message that climate change is one of mankind's greatest threats.

According to Weather Channel co-founder John Coleman, however, there is no scientific proof that supports man-made climate change.

"It's very difficult for anybody to be against it because the media has told the nation day after day for 20 years that the oceans are rising, the polar bears are dying, the ice is melting, that storms are going to sweep the Earth and we're all going to die of a heat wave," Coleman said.

He added that he's not alone in doubting the science behind man-made climate change: 9,000 experts with PhD's and 31 scientists have signed a petition stating that carbon dioxide is not a significant greenhouse gas and that much of the research behind climate change is "bad, bad science."

And contrary to statistics given by climate activist Al Gore in his film "An Inconvenient Truth," the ice caps at both poles are at high levels, including record highs in Antarctica, according to Coleman.

"Not only is the ice not melting, more polar bears are alive and happy today than we've had in 100 years," Coleman concluded.

"Life is good, Mrs. Kelly. I gotta tell you, life is good."

LUBA Appeal going forward

Those who testified at the Wizer Block hearings were mailed a copy of the Notice of Intent to Appeal that was sent to LUBA.  The fight is not over.  The developer, Patrick Kessi, stated in a newspaper article that he would proceed with getting building permits and starting demolition and construction as soon as possible.  Timing of the appeal will be critical.  Starting any construction might be a gamble for the mega-block investors.  Stay tuned.  

 

BEFORE THE LAND USE BOARD OF APPEALS

  

OF THE STATE OF OREGON

                   LO 138, LLC; SAVE OUR VILLAGE
                   and EVERGREEN NEIGHBORHOOD
                   ASSOCIATION,                                                         LUBA No. 2014-________
  
                                                      Petitioners,
                               vs.
  
                    CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO,
  
                                                      Respondent
______________________________________________________________________________

NOTICE OF INTENT TO APPEAL

_____________________________________________________________________________

I. 

                                    NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Petitioners LO 138, LLC; Save Our Village and Evergreen Neighborhood Association. ("Petitioners"), intend to appeal that land use decision of Respondent City of Lake Oswego ("Respondent") described by the City as:  "On October 7, 2014, the City Council adopted Findings, Conclusions and Order finalizing the City Council's tentative decision to reverse the Development Review Commission's decision and approve LU 13-0046," and which became final on October 7, 2014.  The land use decision is attached as Exhibit "A".

Skyscrapers

This Oregonian article has photos and statistics of many of Portland's most striking buildings.  When you finish this article, you might also be interested in more great websites on skyscrapers.

See also:
skyscraperpages.com
skyscrapers.com

The Oregonian, August 4, 2014  By Mark Graves

Portland's skyline: Measuring and comparing the city's tallest towers (info graphics and slideshow)   

Serving the less well off

Sounds logical, but it's not ethical

"Workforce Housing" is a type of publicly subsidized, low-income housing.  Your tax dollars go into building workforce housing, along with the taxes of the working poor who live in market-rate housing, and still find a way to scrape by.  Or not.  Sometimes he working poor don't qualify for workforce housing because they don't make enough money.  

"Workforce Housing" is defined as income-restricted housing for those making 80% of Median Area Income or less. Workforce housing was started to assist workers in very wealthy areas where an average salary for needed workers like police or teachers would not cover the local rent.  The concept has expanded across the country so that now "low income" includes those who can make their monthly rent obligations, though perhaps not in their preferred neighborhoods.

If public housing is a good idea, how far up the income ladder should the more advantaged pay for the housing needs of the less advantaged, and how should it be done?

• For every subsidized unit that is occupied by any but the most needy, there is someone worse off that isn't being served.
• Newly-built housing in prime locations that is out of reach for those with more resources is backwards. Those who work and struggle to get by are paying taxes so those with better incomes can live in better housing.  
• New, government-subsidized housing costs more to build than private housing.  Section 8 vouchers are less expensive per housing unit, can serve more families, are preferred by the majority of low-income renters, and stay on the tax rolls employing people with private funds.
• Subsidized housing is not a program to shelter the needy.  It is a program to_________ ____________________________________. (fill in the blank)

Photos: Passive House going up in Hillsboro 

By: Sam TenneyDaily Journal of Commerce, in News, photo slideshows October 24, 2014

Walsh Construction is building a highly efficient, transit-oriented workforce housing project in the Orenco Station neighborhood of Hillsboro for owner/developer REACH CDC. The 57-unit project, designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects, is the first phase of the Orchards at Orenco development, which over the course of three phases will total approximately 150 units. 

The $14.5 million project is being built to Passive House standards with the goal of reducing tenants’ monthly energy bills. Green Hammer is serving as a consultant on the building, which will be the largest multifamily Passive House project in the country when completed. Work on the 12-month project is slated to wrap in June 2015.

The project contains 40 one-bedroom units and 17 two-bedroom units, and is located adjacent to the Orenco/Northwest 231st Avenue MAX station.

Rocks need lawyers too!

You can't make this stuff up.  

But then, you had to see it coming, it just sounded too goofy for anyone to take seriously.  

Especially not your city, or any government!  

Have you heard of a legal theory called, the Rights of Nature?  Neither had I.  A non-profit group I had never heard of, The Oswego Lake Watershed Council, turned in proposals for Sensitive Lands code changes and referenced this movement as part of their mission.  Their talking points to the Planning Commission on 10/13 sound like the warm, fuzzy eco-centric stuff we have all gotten used to.  On their website I saw that the City of Lake Oswego and both LO junior high schools are partners with the organization.  And then I read about the "Rights of Nature."  

The legal theories are pretty wild, but there it is, on pg. 53 of 66 of the Staff Report for the 10/13 Planning Commission meeting. 

The Oswego Lake Watershed Council is not a group that speaks for most everyone in the city.  However, by attempting to control or protect private land within the watershed, they are arrogant and highly intrusive.  Since the ecosystem is their major concern, to criticize the group seems somehow politically incorrect.  It isn't. One can care about the earth AND property rights at the same time.  The OLWC should be clear about it's agenda concerning the Rights of Nature and Mother Earth.  

NOTE: USC presents this for information only and does not support or agree with organizations and theories mentioned below.

Rights of Nature is the recognition and honoring that trees, oceans, animals, mountains have rights just as human beings have rights.
-    Rather than treating nature as property under the law, rights of nature acknowledges that nature in all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles.
-    We are individuals and organizations committed to creating human communities that respect and defend the rights of Nature.
-    We know that when we disrespect and harm Nature we diminish ourselves and impoverish our children. A human right to life and dignity is meaningless without water and wilderness.  

Rights of Nature Ethics Tribunal 
"We the people assume the authority to conduct an Ethics Tribunal for the Rights of Nature. We will investigate cases of environmental destruction, which violate the Rights of Nature.”   Prosecutor for the Earth at the first Permanent Rights of Nature Tribunal in Quito, Ecuador.   

Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth
(5)  Mother Earth and all beings are entitled to all the inherent rights recognized in this Declaration without distinction of any kind, such as may be made between organic and 
inorganic beings, species, origin, use to human beings, or any other status.

See also Wikipedia, Rights of Nature.