Combat Critical Race Theory indoctrination in Schools

August 16, 2921

For Parents and All Citizens of Lake Oswego - Support education and support local students, but do not support corrupt educational practices no matter where they occur.  

My kids graduated from Lake Oswego schools a couple of decades ago, but even then I saw the rot creep into the curriculum - the dumbing down of math and English, and an anti-American sentiment that had crept into history and Social Studies.  I worked to keep my kids out of the classes I deemed to be academic sink holes and lessons I thought ran counter to our family values.  

Luckily I had a background as a teacher and knew what to look for and how the system worked.  I also did a little bit of substituting in LO and nearby districts to see what was happening with evolving education practices.  Luckily there were still older teachers around who did not bend to passing fads and taught a straight academic curriculum. I sought out these teachers, avoided the woke, used PCC and other sources for alternative learning, formed learning groups for grammar and vocabulary taught by friends with experience in the subjects, and taught a couple of art classes in my garage.  When needed I filled in gaps in my kids’ education by home schooling in science, essay and creative writing, math and reading.  I was on various school and district advisory committees and learned the law regarding student rights to an appropriate education.  It was a lot of work.  But I fear the effort would be many times harder today, because instead of just filling in curriculum gaps, I would have to unteach the social indoctrination that has infiltrated the schools.  The older teachers are gone - replaced by those who have a different idea of what public education is meant to achieve.  

Oregon education is a bad joke in the national news.  The complete surrender to wokeness has left Oregon’s public school students without a defense against bad policies and unaccountable teachers and administrators.  As colleges are abandoning standardized tests, grades and demonstrable  academic skills will become more important for admissions.  Oregon students will be entering the fray with a black eye, not through any fault of their own, but because the so-called adults in the room believe that leveling the playing field means lowering the ladder of expectations and success. According to Forbes, Oregon ranks 43rd in quality of public education among the states.  

A few weeks ago I visited the Lake Oswego School District website to see what is being done  regarding Critical Race Theory indoctrination. I had hoped, but did not really expect, that Lake Oswego had somehow escaped the insanity of wokeness sweeping the country and that the site would be filled with information on academic topics touting rigorous standards for all students.  Instead I found the depressingly common references to Diversity Equity and Inclusion (aka  Critical Race Theory),  including a page devoted to books and resources on the subject. All the popular, radical tomes are there, but none of the moderating voices of Black academics and intellectuals who do not agree with the  narrative of America being systemically racist. 

Until 2019 I had no personal experience with DEI instruction.  Then the Metro Master Gardeners’ annual training session introduced a half-day course on White Privilege. It was an eye-opening view into how degrading and racist this ideology is.  I cannot fathom how any organization can justify this kind of racist, hate-filled teaching.  This is not white “fragility” talking, I just don’t have the white guilt that others seem to project.  Numerous studies have proven the damage that teaching White Privilege can have on students and the population at large. 

Then I started reading.  I found that many wise, intelligent black, white and other voices have the same thoughts I do and still believe in the morality and fairness of a color blind society.  Unfortunately, their voices are not being heard and are nowhere to be seen on the LO School District resources website 

I have prepared a list of resources to counter what the mainstream education establishment offers.  I present the list here and invite readers to send me their suggestions for additions to the list or tell about their experiences with CRT or other woke assaults being perpetrated on our kids. 

I encourage parents and district taxpayers to let the school board know what they think about what is happening in our schools and support parents who choose alternative learning for their children when they encounter a curriculum they do not agree with or find inadequate.  I did it 20 years ago, but the task is much harder today.  Government schools don’t have control over the children in their care, parents do.  

The Problem

MSN News

Oregon promoting teacher course on 'dismantling racism in mathematics'

Jake Dima 2/12/2021

The Oregon Department of Education is promoting and encouraging its educators to register for a course that likens modern math instruction to the "toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture..

"White supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms in everyday teacher actions," the course description stated. "Coupled with the beliefs that underlie these actions, they perpetuate educational harm on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics."

The course continued in a section on "white supremacy culture" in math classrooms, saying, "This reinforces the idea that there is only one right way to do math. The history of mathematics, its colonization, and what is deemed as 'acceptable' knowledge is rich and complex, therefore, the way that mathematics is taught in the United States needs to be interrogated because it currently centers Western, Eurocentric ways of processing and knowing information. When students are required to learn in this way, they either have to unlearn their learned native traditions to meet teacher expectations, or they are deprived of learning math in their ancestral history. For teachers, teaching the way they learned also reinforces the right to comfort for teachers because to conform is easier than to challenge themselves to teach math differently."

The program insisted that educators "identify and challenge the ways that math is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views." It added that it is "unequivocally false" to assume math is an "objective" discipline.

"The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so," it said. "Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict."

The course instead encouraged teachers to "come up with at least two answers that might solve this problem." The course is also riddled with guidance to reject "individualism" in favor of "collectivism."

From 2021 Regular Legislative Session, 

Oregon Senate Bill 744:

(d) The determination of whether the requirements for a high school diploma in this state are equitable and inclusive.

(2) Notwithstanding any rules adopted by the State Board of Education, a student may not be required to show proficiency in Essential Learning Skills as a condition of receiving a high school diploma during the 2021-2022 or 2022-2023 school year.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, the State Board of Education may not require a student who has successfully completed the credit requirements prescribed by paragraph (a) of this subsection or by rule of the board to demonstrate proficiency in any skill or academic content area.

The Solution

 

From The Heritage Foundtion Report:  

Rescuing Math and Science from Critical Race Theory’s Racial Discrimination

Critical race theory is overt racial discrimination. Theorists claim that America is systemically racist, despite the Civil Rights Act and state and federal agencies designed to stop and prosecute racist acts. And despite the enormous and obvious progress on race that this country has made.

Educators have used CRT to redesign history, civics, and English instructional content to focus on the critical obsession with oppression and power. Now, school officials are also changing classroom content in the hard sciences and math away from facts and skills and focusing on racial activism. (In math!) Parents, teachers, and policymakers should oppose any form of racial discrimination in schools, and reject these insidious efforts to inject prejudice and racial bias into technical subjects that should be used to help children—of all backgrounds—to develop skills and abilities that will help them to be successful in school and in life.

    Jonathan Butcher is the Will Skillman Fellow in Education in the Center for Education Policy, of the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity, at The Heritage Foundation.

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RESOURCES 

American History

Book 

The 1776 Report 

The 1776 Report is the official report of The President's Advisory 1776 Commission. Submitted to the President and released as a public document on January 18, 2021, the report explains the core principles of the American founding and how they have shaped American history, considers the leading challenges to these principles at home and abroad, and calls on all Americans to “restore our national unity by rekindling a brave and honest love for our country and by raising new generations of citizens who not only know the self-evident truths of our founding, but act worthy of them.” This edition features the original text with the addition of notes and commentary by Chair Larry P. Arnn, Vice Chair Carol Swain, and Executive Director Matthew Spalding.

The 1776 Curriculum

American History and Civics Lessons for K-12 Classrooms

https://k12.hillsdale.edu/Curriculum/The-Hillsdale-1776-Curriculum/

The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum is a complete collection of lesson plans for teaching American history, civics, and government to K-12 students. Students who study using this curriculum learn about American history from the colonies through the Civil War at four different times during their K-12 years, each time increasing in depth. The curriculum also includes American history since the Civil War and American government and civics for both middle and high school students.

1776 Unites

https://1776unites.com/our-work/curriculum/

Contact:  educate@1776unites.com

The 1776 Unites curriculum offers authentic, inspiring stories from American history that show what is best in our national character and what our freedom makes possible even in the most difficult circumstances. 1776 Unites maintains a special focus on stories that celebrate black excellence, reject victimhood culture, and showcase African-Americans who have prospered by embracing America’s founding ideals.

Created by a team of independent scholars, counselors, and role models, the 1776 Unites curriculum equips students to seize the opportunities afforded them today. These lessons are grounded in the Woodson Center Principles and help educators bring their K-12 students encouragement, enrichment, and the genuine empowerment that comes with personal agency.

As 1776 Unites founder Robert L. Woodson put it, America’s founding generation built the new nation “upon a set of virtues and values that would create a truly free society, the freest the world had ever seen. They even knew at the time it was falling short of truly delivering on that promise for all, but they knew what they were working toward.”

1776 Unites Library

Suggested books to read and to purchase.

https://1776unites.com/library/

Race 

Video

Uncle Tom 

In a collection of intimate interviews with some of America’s most provocative Black Conservative thinkers, Uncle Tom takes a different look at being Black in America. Featuring media personalities, ministers, civil rights activist, veterans, and a self-employed plumber, the film explores their personal journeys of navigating the world as one of America’s most misunderstood political and cultural groups: The American Black Conservative. In this eye-opening film from Director Justin Malone and Executive Producer Larry Elder, Uncle Tom examines self-empowerment, individualism and rejecting the victim narrative. Uncle Tom shows us a different perspective of American History from this often ignored and ridiculed group. Features intimate, candid interviews with some of the leading African American voices in the conservative community. 

 

Video 

Created Equal, Clarence Thomas in His Own Words

Although Clarence Thomas remains a controversial figure, few know him beyond his contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation battle. But behind the headlines, Thomas life is a classic American tale: born poor in the segregated South, only to become one of the most influential justices in the highest court of the land. Created Equal tells Thomas life story truly and fully, without cover-ups or distortions.

Documentary  

Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World, A Personal Exploration 

By Jason Riley

Traces Thomas Sowell's journey from humble beginnings to the Hoover Institution, becoming one of our era's most controversial economists, political philosophers, and prolific authors.

Documentary 

The Great American Race Game 

https://greatamericanracegame.com

It is said that “All Whites Are Racist”. There is still plenty of racial bigotry in America, as there is elsewhere in the world. It is a terrible thing, and should be exposed, fought and condemned. Racists should be attacked and shamed. But is it helpful, or fair, to accuse people of being racist who are not, to find racism where there is none, and to use the accusation of ‘racist’ indiscriminately as a lazy political insult?

Book

Black Eye for America: How Critical Race Theory Is Burning Down the House 

By Carol M. Swain and Christopher Schorr  

In schools and workplaces across the United States, Americans are being indoctrinated with a divisive, anti-American ideology: Critical Race Theory (CRT). Based in cultural Marxism, CRT bullies and demonizes whites while infantilizing and denying agency to blacks, creating a deep racial rift. As Abraham Lincoln famously observed, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." CRT aims to divide the American nation against itself and burn down the house.

In Black Eye for America: How Critical Race Theory Is Burning Down the House, Carol Swain and Christopher Schorr expose the true nature of Critical Race Theory, and they offer concrete solutions for taking back the country's stolen institutions. They describe CRT in theory and practice, accounting for its origins and weaponization within American schools and workplaces; explain how this ideology threatens traditional American values and legal doctrines, including civil rights; and equip everyday Americans with strategies to help them resist and defeat CRT's pernicious influence.

Book

Discrimination and Disparities 

By Thomas Sowell

“In this provocative book, Thomas Sowell turns the tables on those who automatically link disparate outcomes to discrimination. He begins by focusing instead on the myriad of factors that need to come together for success. Before we can explain why people fall behind in life, we must first understand what life demands for success…. Native intelligence by itself does not guarantee success. Hard work is important, but nature can be capricious. Who knew that being first born is a persistent factor for success in life? The book is chock full of such pertinent observations, none of which reflect discrimination by anyone. The book is a wonderful short introduction to the thought of one of our most important social thinkers.”―Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr., Senior Fellow, CATO Institute

Book

White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era  

By Shelby Steele

 “With his characteristic honesty, clarity and hard-won wisdom, Shelby Steele exposes the social hypocrisies and racial lies that transformed the once promising post-civil rights era into a period of cultural decadence and mediocrity. We owe Citizen Steele our thanks. On questions of race in America—white guilt, black opportunism—he is our twenty-first century Socrates: the powerful, lucid and elegant voice of a refreshingly independent thinker who desires only to see us liberated from sophistry and self-destructive illusions.” -- Charles Johnson, author of MIDDLE PASSAGE, National Book Award winner 

Book

Red, White, and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers 

By Robert L. Woodson Sr.

In the rush to redefine the place of black Americans in contemporary society, many radical activists and academics have mounted a campaign to destroy traditional American history and replace it with a politicized version that few would recognize. According to the new radical orthodoxy, the United States was founded as a racist nation—and everything that has happened throughout our history must be viewed through the lens of the systemic oppression of black people.

Rejecting this false narrative, a collection of the most prominent and respected black scholars and thinkers has come together to correct the record and tell the true story of black Americans in all its complexity, diversity of experience, and poignancy. 

Book

Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe 

By Dr. Voddie M. Baucham Jr.

“I believe we are being duped by an ideology bent on our demise.   This ideology has used our guilt and shame over America’s past, our love for our brethren, and our good and godly desire for reconciliation and justice as a means through which to introduce destructive heresies.”

“I want this book to be a clarion call. I want to unmask the ideology of Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality in hopes that those who have imbibed in it can have the blinders moved from their eyes, and those who have bowed in the face of it can stand up, take courage, and ‘contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.’”

See also YouTube videos of lectures by Dr. Voddie Baucham:

“Biblical Justice vs Social Justice”

“Cultural Marxism”

Article

What Does Teaching ‘White Privilege’ Actually Accomplish? Not What You Might Think (Or Hope)

By Zaid Jilani

https://quillette.com/2019/05/23/what-does-teaching-white-privilege-actually-accomplish-not-what-you-might-think-or-hope/

When activists and academics invoke the phrase “white privilege,” they typically are speaking of advantages that whites, on average, have over members of other ethnic minority groups in our society. But there is a danger that, by talking about this inequality as an all-consuming phenomenon, we will end up creating a flattened and unfair image that portrays all whites in all situations and all contexts as benefiting from unearned advantages. Indeed, it’s possible that we will cause people to confuse a structural inequality that exists on the level of group average with the circumstances of every individual within a particular racial group.

Article

The Fallacy Of White Privilege — And How It’s Corroding Society

By Rav Arora

https://nypost.com/2020/07/11/the-fallacy-of-white-privilege-and-how-its-corroding-society/

None of the statistics in this piece discount racial prejudice, unequal opportunities or the privilege of not experiencing racism. They simply point to the glaring fallacies of the all-consuming white-privilege narrative which has degraded our national discourse into identity politics and racial tribalism. White people are now one-dimensionally seen as an undifferentiated mass of privilege and wealth whereas minorities are seen as powerless victims oppressed by a society ingrained with white supremacy and racial bigotry.

Article 

Language and Thought

By Walter E. Williams

https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/09/23/language-and-thought-n2576593

Seventeenth-century poet and intellect John Milton predicted, "When language in common use in any country becomes irregular and depraved, it is followed by their ruin and degradation." Gore Vidal, his 20th-century intellectual successor, elaborated saying: "As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate." Sloppy language permits people to get away with speaking and doing all manner of destructive nonsense without being challenged.

Article

The Devil and Karl Marx

By Walter E. Williams

https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/09/16/the-devil-and-karl-marx-n2576177

The world's intellectual elite readily focus on Adolf Hitler's murderous atrocities but ignore those of the world's socialists. Keep in mind that one does not have to be in favor of death camps or wars of conquest to be a tyrant. The only requirement is that one must believe in the primacy of the state over individual rights.

Website 

Critical Race Theory

https://www.heritage.org/crt

Critical race theory (CRT) makes race the prism through which its proponents analyze all aspects of American life, categorizing individuals into groups of oppressors and victims. It is a philosophy that is infecting everything from politics and education to the workplace and the military. 

Many Heritage Foundation Reports on CRT on this website.

 

View the Critical Race Theory Legislation Tracker to see what's happening in your state.

 

CRT: Knowing It When You See It and Fighting It When You Can

Rescuing Math and Science from Critical Race Theory’s Racial Discrimination

Climate Change

Book

Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts 

Us All 

By Michael Shellenberger

“We must protect the planet, but how? Some strands of the environmental movement have locked themselves into a narrative of sin and doom that is counterproductive, anti-human, and not terribly scientific. Shellenberger advocates a more constructive environmentalism that faces our wicked problems and shows what we have to do to solve them.” -- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Enlightenment Now

Book

Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters

By Steven E. Koonin

“Essential reading and a timely breath of fresh air for climate policy. The science of climate is neither settled nor sufficient to dictate policy. Rather than an existential crisis, we face a wicked problem that requires a pragmatic balancing of costs and benefits.”

—William W. Hogan,professor of Global Energy Policy at Harvard Kennedy School 

Don't bet the farm on green

If your city or state does spend taxpayer funds on green schemes, it most likely isn't worth the money, but, you can feel green about spending more on renewables - like on Lake Oswego's PGE bill.  Spending additional taxpayers' money on an unnecessary item is merely a gesture that signifies this noble act is important to our city's "brand."  How many other city councils spend needlessly, burnishing their brand?

At some point there will be a resurgence in (modular) renewable, nuclear energy (fuel recycling) regional plants and ways to store power generate by wind, wave and solar power.  Right now, pouring too much time and money into today's technology is a huge mistake.  Read articles by Swedish ecologist, Bjorn Lomborg for his take on large-scale energy conversions. (Search this blog and the internet.)  America (and Oregon) doesn't need to follow German down an economically destructive rathole.

Unfortunately, some extreme greens in Oregon, Oregon cities and the USA continue to push for increasingly steep and expensive carbon reductions and GHG, and restrict automobile use.

NOTE: USC is all for carbon reductions wherever they are realistic, beneficial on a large scale, and do not harm middle and low-income families. A great idea has been the CAFE standards for cars and light trucks.  Today, with more cars on the road and more vehicle miles driven than ever, the total amount of carbon-based fuel used is lower than in 1995.  Increasing CAFE standards will continue to improve gas consumption in the future as cars achieve better MPG, and more people use electric cars.  Some regular gas cars can now equal the 40+ MPG I get from my Prius. A bad idea is requiring ethanol be used in winter gas.  We turn American fields into gas farms, use coal and oil-based energy creating the biofuel, and take farmland out of food production. give farmers government subsidies to grow indelible corn, and it's crummy gas!  My mileage goes way down with the ethanol mix - rather counterproductive. Bad ideas are not exclusive to Germany; however Germany's virtuous extremism should be a warning.

Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2017
REVIEW AND OUTLOOK
Editorial Board
Germany’s Green Energy Meltdown
Voters promised a virtuous revolution get coal and high prices instead.

Amer­i­can cli­mate-change ac­tivists point to Eu­rope, and es­pe­cially Ger­many, as the paragon of green en­ergy virtue. But they ought to look closer at An­gela Merkel’s po­lit­i­cal strug­gles as she tries to form a new gov­ern­ment in Berlin amid the eco­nomic fall­out from the Chan­cel­lor’s fail­ing en­ergy revolution.

Berlin last month conceded it will miss its 2020 car­bon emis­sions-re­duction goal, hav­ing cut em­sions by just un­der 30% com­pared with 1990 in­stead of the 40% that Mrs. Merkel promised. The goal of 55% by 2030 is al­most surely out of reach.

Mrs. Merkel’s fail­ure comes de­spite as­tro­nom­ical costs. By one es­ti­mate, busi­nesses and house­holds paid an ex­tra €125 bil­lion in in­creased elec­tric­ity bills be­tween 2000 and 2015 to sub­si­dize  renewables, on top of bil­lions more in other hand­outs. Ger­mans join Danes in pay­ing the high­est house­hold elec­tricity rates in Eu­rope, and Ger­man com­pa­nies pay near the top among in­dustrial users. This is a big rea­son Mrs. Merkel un­der-per­formed in Sep­tember’s elec­tion.

Berlin has heav­ily sub­si­dized re­new­able en­ergy since 2000, pri­marily via feed-in tar­iffs re­quir­ing util­i­ties to buy elec­tric­ity from re­new­able gen­er­a­tors at above-mar­ket rates. Mrs. Merkel put that effort into over­drive in 2010 when she in­tro­duced the En­ergiewende, or en­ergy rev­o­lu­tion.

En­ergiewende en­thu­siasts say the pol­icy is rack­ing up suc­cesses de­spite the prob­lems. That’s true only in the sense that if you throw enough money at something, some of the cash has to stick. In electric gen­er­ating ca­pac­ity, for in­stance, re­new­ables are now run­ning al­most even with tra­ditional fuel sources.

Yet much of that ca­pacity is wasted—only one-third of Ger­many’s elec­tricity is ac­tu­ally gen­er­ated by re­new­ables. Berlin has in­vested heav­ily in wind and so­lar power that is eas­i­est to gen­er­ate in parts of Ger­many that need the power the least, es­pe­cially the north. Berlin will need to spend an­other huge sum build­ing trans­mis­sion lines to the in­dus­trial south.

The other costs re­late to pro­vid­ing elec­tric­ity when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, which is of­ten in Ger­many. The tra­di­tional plants needed to fill in the gaps are over­whelm­ingly fired by coal, on which Ger­many still re­lies for roughly 40% of its power.

No won­der vot­ers are in re­volt. Sur­veys say that in the­ory Ger­mans like be­ing green, but polls about house­hold en­ergy costs say oth­er­wise. The right-wing Al­ter­na­tive for Ger­many (AfD) won a surprising 13% vote share in part on a prom­ise to end the Energiewende im­me­di­ately. A new study from the RWI Leib­niz In­sti­tute for Eco­nomic Re­search finds that 61% of Ger­mans wouldn’t want to pay even one eu­ro­cent more per kilo­watt-hour of elec­tric­ity to fund more re­new­ables.

Will Gov ever "Get" business?

Willful Ignorance.

“”Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

—Aldous Huxley

"Central Planners plan.  Human behavior has no standing in their beliefs."

                                                                            -- USC  

USC Diaclaimer: I have been the owner of Class C apartments for about 20 years and have a great deal of experience with the multifamily industry and low-income housing.

Government runs on policy and popular opinion - emotion - not logic, fact, and unpopular acts.  So when it comes to making financial decisions and policy dealing with businesses, the results are often negative, and sometimes disasterous.  Disastrous to businesses, yes, but also counterproductive to the goals they want to achieve and people they want to help.

The City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability commissioned the PSU Toulon School of Department of Urban Studies and Planning to do a study of housing options in the Southwest Corridor - especially SW Portland and Tigard.  This is in advance of the new light rail that is to be built from a Portland to Tualatin.

Understanding (intending) that communities that are in the path of light rail will (should) experience increased density and (new, expensive) multifamily housing (and gentrification), government agencies responsible for transportation planning and land use are now realizing their plans have an ugly downside.  Perverse consequences follow wherever Central Planning goes.

Transportation funds have flowed toward light rail and streetcars for years, butchering what was once a good bus system, deconstructing area roadways, and intentionally causing congestion on major roads.  But build they must, despite a noticible decline in transit ridership overall.  Why do they build?  To encourage development.  Why is housing expensive?  One reason, new rail construction increases demand for land at transit stations, and area gentrification follows.

Is all the effort worth it?  Especially when affordability and stable neighborhoods are at stake?  Idealogues are running the system.  Government types spew propaganda without understanding the complicated, interwoven dynamics of the  economy that go with their decisions.  They are playing a complex game of chess with only one move - put government in control!

The Antiplanner, 9-29-2017 By Randall O'Tools, CATO Fellow

Portland’s Transit Experiment Has Failed

It is interesting to note that two of the region’s policies for boosting transit — densification (which makes housing expensive) and congestification (which makes buses late) — are now suspected of hurting transit. Of course, no one at TriMet would ever suggest that these policies be reconsidered.

A new light-rail line will in fact be counterproductive. Increasing property taxes will make housing even more expensive. Increased congestion from trains running in and crossing streets will delay buses even more. Rail’s high operating costs will probably mean higher bus fares. But this is typical of Portland’s light-rail mafia, which cares more about inputs than results.

Portland is so blinded by the urban planning vision of what a transit mecca should look like that it fails to see that cities no longer fit that vision. 

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Below is what the PSU Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning has to offer.  (Why didn't the CoP go the
Real Estate and Business Department instead?  Not enough ideology?).   "Preserving the stock of NOAH housing" and "preserving rents" is a pipe dream.  Rents are stabilizing now and in the future may go up or down, but unless government wants to buy or assist non-profits to buy existing, older multifamily housing, they don't have control over sales, pricing, renovations, "upscaling" and rents.  When rents are "stabilized" for older buildings that need constant maintenance work, insufficient funds can further degrade the property.  It doesn't take very long for affordable housing to look shabby - after all, it's nobody's baby.

It makes just as much sense to control the price of single family houses in order to preserve their affordability.  Perhaps government should prohibit remodeling, upgrades, flipping houses and apartments, renting a dwelling space for more than it costs to own and operate it, and generally making any money from a physical asset.  That kind of control of personal property is called socialism.

The irony of all of this hand wringing is that government deliberately causes gentrification, then wants to solve the problems of the people they hurt along the way.   Once people get below-market rents, they will be trapped in that place making rents for new residents much more expensive.  More government help to come?  They can't help themselves and are unwilling to learn.

"Social scientists don't do math - supply and demand concepts are not understood."

                                                 --- Government Council on Economic Development

Preserving Housing Choice and Opportunity

A STUDY OF APARTMENT BUILDING SALES AND RENTS 

November, 2017
Prepared for the Southwest Corridor Equity and Housing Advisory Group

Conclusion:

The great majority of the Portland region’s low and moderate income renters do not receive government subsidies or live in regulated affordable housing. They live in Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing — here defined as apartments with lower quality ratings that are usually older and with fewer amenities.

As the population grows, and higher income renters move to the area, preserving the stock of NOAH housing is important for the stability of these low income renting households. As new transit lines are planned, loss of NOAH also means a reduced ability to access opportunities in neighborhoods near transit.
This report focuses on the inventory and market for NOAH type multifamily buildings. 

While the region still has a substantial amount of two and three star buildings compared to newer, luxury type apartments, these lower cost units are under pressure. Rents are rising; and sales of buildings have been rising since the recession. With increasing demand to live in the area, the market moves towards investing in and upscaling these NOAH buildings, which could lead to the displacement of thousands of residents. 

Keeping up with Californistan

PDX:  So insecure it has to be "first" - even if it is for doing stupid things.  Stupid, oppressive and nanny-state things.  Pretty soon people won't know that they are (were) supposed to be responsible for making their own mistakes.  It's as if progressive governments think the people are so stupid, lazy and weak that we need more and more laws to keep us from drowning in our own drool.

What ever happened to home inspections?  Buyer beware?  Before one buys a house, they get a home inspection that determines insulation, types of windows and age and type of HVAC equipment?  And don't forget to ask for the printout of the last year's energy use (see your PGE and NWNG bill for information).

How much do you think this will add to the cost of a home?

The most affordable homes are those that are already built.  This program targets these homes.  Government regulations always makes things more expensive, but not always better.  Government regulations give government control over your life, your money and your city.

Maybe low-income home sellers with low-scoring homes will have to sell at a discount, while those with high-scoring homes will make more?  Ah yes, perverse incentives.

And anyone who thinks this law is only for the homebuyer's sake is not thinking clearly.  The law required people proficient in doing home energy inspections.  This is not a jobs program - it is a precursor to requiring every home in the city, for sale or not, to have an energy score.  Then... tax or fine those who don't achieve a compliance rating.  Inspectors will have permanent employment keeping all those homes up to date.  Think I'm wrong?  You might need to live in Portland in order to see how opressive and arrogant government can be.

City of Portland Home Energy Score requirement beginning soon

Program provides new insight into energy use and costs of Portland homes

Know the score. Outsmart energy waste. www.pdxhes.com  

PORTLAND, Ore. – The City of Portland Home Energy Score ordinance will take effect on January 1, 2018, requiring sellers of single-family homes to disclose a Home Energy Report and Score at time of listing. Portland City Council unanimously adopted the policy (Portland City Code Chapter 17.108) in December 2016. This new policy will require people publicly selling single-family homes to obtain a Home Energy Report (which includes a Home Energy Score) from an authorized Home Energy Assessor. Complying with the policy takes two simple steps: getting the Home Energy Score and showing the Home Energy Score in any listing or public posting about the house.

Like a miles-per-gallon rating for a car, a Home Energy Score is an easy way for sellers, buyers, real estate professionals and builders to get directly comparable and credible information about a home's energy performance across the housing market.

In advance of the policy taking effect, the City of Portland Home Energy Score website is now live at www.pdxhes.com.

Climate alarmists continue regrettable history

How is climate change related to acid rain?  Bert Bolin.

This article is shocking.  Because the WSJ is difficult to access, this article needs to be discussed.

The practice of science starts with the application of the scientific method. A hypothesis (guess, theory) is posited and then tested.  Tests must be replicated by others to validate the theory and proof.  Overwhelming evidence is still conjecture and does not reach the level of proof.  Climate change theorists and activists rely on the concensus (general agreement, but still not proof) that global warming is taking place and that carbon emissions are the major cause.

Climate realists (skeptics, doubters) have been demanding proof for the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  This article reveals the history behind the big lies.  Propaganda masquerading as science has degraded science to something less honest than the truth, and certainly nothing to be relied upon.  Not if government policies pushing for major and costly changes in our way of life are based on mere theories, and when the theories are disproved, government continues to cover up and expand the big lie.  Skeptical scientists are all we have to keep the scientific community and government agencies honest.  Praise and thanks goes to these brave souls.

Wall Street Journal,  October 26, 2017. By Rupert Darwall
Climate Alarmists Use the Acid-Rain Playbook
The parallels between the two environmental frenzies are many, but the stakes are much higher now.

A ma­jor­ity of sci­en­tists might say a sci­en­tific the­ory is true, but that doesn’t mean the con­sensus is    reli­able. The sci­ence un­der­pin­ning en­vi­ron­mental claims can be fun­da­men-tally wrong—as it was in one of the big­gest en­vi­ron-men­tal scares in re­cent decades.

The acid-rain alarm of the 1970s and ’80s was a dry run for the cur­rent panic about cli­mate change. Both be­gan in Swe­den as part of a war on coal meant to bol­ster sup­port for nu­clear power. In 1971 me­te­o­rol­o­gist Bert Bolin wrote the Swedish gov­ern­ment’s re­port on acid rain to the United Na­tions. Sev­en­teen years later he be­came the first chair­man of the In­ter­govern­men­tal Panel on Climate Change.

There are many par­al-lels be­tween acid rain and global warm­ing. Each phe­nomenon pro­duced a U.N. con­ven­tion—the 1979 Geneva Con­ven­tion on Long-Range Trans­boundary Air Pol­lu­tion in the case of acid rain, and the 1988 Frame­work Con­vention on Cli­mate Change. And each con­ven­tion led to a new pro­to­col—the 1985 Hel­sinki Pro­to­col and the 1997 Ky­oto Pro­to­col.

Pub­lic alarm sur­round­ing acid rain was far more in­tense, es­pe­cially in Ger­many, where pop­u­lar reaction to me­dia sto­ries about acid rain reached a pitch of hys­te­ria not yet seen with global warm­ing. A 1981 Der Speigel cover story fea­tured an im­age of smoke­stacks loom­ing over a copse of trees with the ti­tle “The For­est Is Dy­ing.”

The most strik­ing par­al­lels are the role of sci­en­tific con­sen­sus in un­der­pin­ning en­vi­ron­mental alarm and the way sci­ence is used to jus­tify cuts in emis­sions. The emis­sion of sul­fur diox­ide into the atmosphere “has proved to be a ma­jor en­vi­ron­men­tal prob­lem,” Bolin wrote in his 1971 re­port. National sci­en­tific acad­emies across North Amer­ica and Eu­rope were in com­plete agree­ment. “We have a much more com­plete knowl­edge of the causes and con­sequences of acid de­po­sition than we have for other pol­lu­tants,” a re­port by the Na­tional Acad­emy of Sci­ences’ Na­tional Re­search Council said in 1981. Ac­cord­ing to the NRC, the cir­cum­stantial ev­i­dence was “overwhelm­ing.” Many thousands of lakes had been af­fected, rivers were los­ing salmon, fish­eries in the Adiron­dacks were in a bad way, red spruce were dy­ing, and pro­duc­tion from Cana­dian sugar maple trees had been affected. Acid rain was a sci­en­tific slam dunk.

Politi­cians duly parroted what the sci­en­tists told them. “Acid rain has caused se­ri­ous en­vi­ron­mental dam­age in many parts of the world,” Pres­i­dent Jimmy Carterwrote in his 1979 en­vi­ron­men­tal message to Con­gress. He signed an agree­ment with Canada to es­tab­lish five acid-rain work­ing groups, and Con­gress set up a 10-year Na­tional Acid Pre­cip­ita­tion As­sess­ment Program, which went by the catchy acro­nym Na­pap.

To Cana­dian anger, Pres­i­dent Ronald Rea­gan was more skep­ti­cal than his pre­de­ces­sor. The head of Cana­da’s Fed­eral As­sessment and Re­view Of­fice ac­cused Mr. Rea­gan of “bla­tant ef­forts to manipulate” the sci­ence be­ing done by the work­ing groups. A for­mal note of protest from Ot­tawa pointed to the more than 3,000 sci­en­tific stud­ies on acid rain yield­ing “suf­ficient sci­en­tific ev­i­dence” for policies to cut emissions.

Vice Pres­i­dent George Bush promised Canada that if elected pres­i­dent, he would act on the prob­lem. But as acid-rain cap-and-trade leg­is­la­tion was mak­ing its way through Con­gress, the En­vi­ron­mental Pro­tec­tion Agency en­coun­tered a ma­jor prob­lem. Na­pap’s draft re­port con­cluded that the sci­ence was wrong. Yes, powersta­tion emis­sions make rain more acidic—rain is nat­u­rally acidic, and more so dur­ing thun­derstorms—but changes to ecosys­tems, the re­port said, were mainly caused by changes in land use. The felling of trees and the burn­ing of stumps in the Adiron­dacks had re­duced the acid­ity of the for­est floor. Af­ter con­ser­va­tionists put a stop to it, the soil grad­u­ally re­turned to its pre­vi­ous acidity.

Rather than ad­mit it had the sci­ence wrong, the EPA set about sup­press­ing the in­con­ve­nient find­ings. The Na­pap re­port was de­layed un­til af­ter key pro­vi­sions of cap-and-trade leg­is­la­tion had been agreed to in Con­gress. As out­lined in a 1992 ar­ti­cle in Rea­son, the EPA then waged a dirty-tricks campaign to dis­credit Ed­ward C. Krug, a soil ex­pert and the lead­ing dis­si­dent Na­pap sci­en­tist. It as­sembled a group of com­pli­ant sci­en­tists to con­duct a sham peer re­view and con­clude that Mr. Krug was a bad sci­en­tist. The episode ended with an as­sistant ad­min­is­tra­tor of the EPA, William Rosen-berg, apol­ogiz­ing to Mr. Krug to avoid a threat­ened li­bel ac­tion.

To this day, the zom­bie sci­ence of acid rain lives on at the EPA’s web­site, which falsely states that acid­i­fi­cation of soil, streams and lakes is caused by emissions from power sta­tions. The EPA reck­ons the an­nual cost of anti-acid-rain mea­sures in the U.S. will reach $65 bil­lion in 2020, but it no longer claims that the money will pre­vent ecosys­tem dam­age. Now it just claims to be im­prov­ing pub­lic health.

In its ap­proach to the sci­ence of global warm­ing, the EPA un­der cur­rent Ad­min­is­tra­tor Scott Pruitt couldn't of­fer a greater con­trast with the acid-rain coverup per­pe­trated by the EPA dur­ing the late ’80s and early ’90s. In­stead of at­tack­ing dis­si­dent sci­entists, Mr. Pruitt’s pro­posal to hold red-team/blue-team ap­praisals would put dis­senters on the same foot­ing as con­sen­sus-sup­port­ing sci­en­tists. This will en­able proper de­bate be­tween both camps to re­veal the strengths and weak­nesses of the sci­en­tific con­sen­sus on global warming.

Open de­bate is as cru­cial to sci­ence as it is to democ­racy. Cap­ping sul­fur-diox­ide emis­sions is an eco­nomic pin­prick com-pared with the mul­ti­tril-lion-dol­lar cost of cut­ting emis­sions of car­bon dioxide. If peo­ple’s way of life is to be forcibly changed in an ex­pen­sive at­tempt to de­car­bonize so­ci­ety, at the very least it should be done with their in­formed consent.

Mr. Dar­wall is au­thor of “Green Tyranny: Ex­pos­ing the To­tal­i­tar­ian Roots of the Cli­mate In­dus­trial Com­plex” (En­counter, 2017).    

When politicians try to be developers ..

... you can pretty much guarantee it won't work the way it should, and that it will cost much more than it should.  But you have to admit, they're cute.

I call it the Hobbit Effect.  Or maybe the Doll House se or Cabin in The Woods or the Kidz Klubhouse on wheels.  Tiny Houses seem to appeal to our youthful fantasies of building a fort and hiding away from the world (parents).  Whatever the reason, they are popular enough to have a TV show devoted to the style..

What, How, Where and Why? Solving or making problems?

In real life, how would you like one of these in your back yard?  How about your next door neighbor's back yard?  Or the yard behind you?  How small is too small? How many people can live in one of these tiny houses? Would they be solely for one's family or friends, or rented to strangers - and who would screen the tenants and enforce rules (if there are any)?   How many Tiny Houses can fit onto one lot?  In which residential area do they belong?  Can they be placed singly on their own lot, or in clusters on a lot?  Do Tiny Houses belong in established neighborhoods at all?  Do they get plumbed like a real house?  What would this do to zoning and density, neighborhood and city character, parking, noise, livibility, etc.?

Reality and magical thinking 

Some people believe that the smaller a dwelling is or if the dwelling units are in apartments that are very dense, the resulting housing will be affordable.  (Silly idea.). Maybe less expensive than a large house on a large lot, but Affordable isn't always measured by the size of a dwelling - it's the cost of the land stupid!  All over Lake Oswego (and the Metro area within the UGB) affordable homes are being torn down to make room for unaffordable new ones.  Apartments are going in, but heavy demand, expensive land (especially n desirable locations) and cost to build are making new dwellings unaffordable.

If location and the cost of scarce buildable land (up to $550k for a lot down the street and not on water and no view!) are climbing, how could anything, tiny or otherwise be affordable in LO?  Without government subsidies.  When taxpayers are footing the bill for anything, 3 things happen - a very few people get lucky, the price of the commodity goes up, and taxpayers get poorer.  Oh yeah - and progressive'oliticians feel better about themselves.

Government makes a stab at affordable housing 

During the 2017 State Legislative Session, the State passed a bill that requires the Department of
Consumer and Business Services to adopt construction standards for building small dwellings, under 600 square feet. The thinking is that these small homes will be affordable homes for people who can't afford or don't want to buy a regular sized home. Tiny houses are not now legal anywhere in the state except as RVs or mobile homes and most are not built to any code.  .

Still not affordable 

Given that it is the land that is the most precious part of home buying in urban areas, consideration must be given to the affordablity of the lot the houses will sit on.  In Lake Oswego, that would be about $400,000.  At that price, it doesn't matter how much the structure costs, it will still be unaffordable.   Unless - it is an accessory dwelling on an existing lot, or the city approves the creation of tiny lots, or several houses are put together on one lot as unique condo units.  So why are Attached y houses even being considered ?  (Special interest groups...)

What do residents of Lake Oswego want?

What will City planners want and what will the City Council agree to?  Whatever the citizens and Planning Commission want is immaterial.  The City has no minimum dwelling size in its CDCs now and has never made a move to create one. I think citizens would be surprised to learn that, and shocked to see Tiny Houses pop up in their neighborhood.  A bohemian, anything-goes atmosphere is not the character that most neighborhoods identify with.    What type of housing do you want to see in Lake Oswego - in your neighborhood or someone else's?

Legislators (Planners, City Councilors, etc.) suck as builders and developers

The biggest problem with creating building standards for such small houses for permanent residency is that they are inherently unsafe. Building codes are written to make houses safe for occupants and neighborhong structures.  International Building Codes require Easily accessible emergency egress from every sleeping area that is of a certain size and placement to be useful.  The small home codes are being written to get around these requirements because most of these houses have sleeping areas in lofts that don't have legal ceiling height, walkable space to get to a window, no window in the loft, and stairs that are not to code and may be just ladders. If a fire broke out on the lower level, there would be no escape.   Other codes dealing with plumbing, fixtures, heating and cooking appliances, minimum space requirements, energy erefficiency, building strength and structure, glazing, sanitary hookups, heating, open flame source appliances, electrical wiring, etc. may be affected. 

Safety sacrificed for olitical agenda

The push to adopt building codes for small houses is not supported by organizations that deal with

 building and fire safety.  However. only politicians get to make laws - even careless and dangerous ones.  For political reasons they can ignore good advice, normal code review processes, and proven methods, and do stupid things.  Among other things, politicians should not try to be builders - the list of what government is not good at is endless.   Some mistakes can be fatal, while others can disrupt lives and hurt people they intend to help.  The more laws they make, the more opportunities to screw up.   

Experts slam tiny house codes

Read Testimony from other state agencies and consultants.   Read this one!

Oregon Building Officials Association

"Allowing “tiny homes” to be built to a lesser standard and occupied on a permanent basis could be interpreted that it’s acceptable for anyone who occupies them to have a lesser MINIMUM standard for life safety than those that have a traditional home built to the Oregon residential specialty code."

A Coalitian of 17 Building Associations and Professionals  

"Writing codes at the legislative level undermines the system that has placed Oregon as a leader on building code compliance and has the buy off of key stakeholders. Putting code provisions in statute would undermine the professional and technical expertise of Oregon’s statutory boards and the experts who serve on those boards."

AN ACT OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2017 Regular Session

Enrolled House Bill 2737

Sponsored by Representatives BARNHART, BYNUM; Representatives KENY-GUYER, NATHANSON, POWER, Senators MANNING JR, MONNES ANDERSON (at the request of Tom Bowerman, Oregon Housing Alliance)

CHAPTER .................................................

AN ACT 

Relating to construction standards for small homes; and prescribing an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
       SECTION 1. Section 2 of this 2017 Act is added to and made a part of ORS chapter 455.
       SECTION 2. (1) As used in this section, “small home” means a dwelling that is not more than 600 square feet in size.
       (2) The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall adopt con- struction standards for prefabricated and site-built small homes for incorporation into the state building code. The construction standards for small homes must include, but need not be limited to, standards that:
       (a) Allow sleeping lofts; and
       (b) Allow the use of ladders or alternate tread devices as the primary means of egress from a sleeping loft.
       SECTION 3. The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall complete the adoption of initial construction standards for small homes under section 2 of this 2017 Act in time for the standards to become effective no later than January 1, 2018.
       SECTION 4. The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall report to a committee of the Legislative Assembly relating to construction in the manner provided by ORS 192.245 no later than March 1, 2019, regarding the implementation and use of construction standards for small homes adopted under section 2 of this 2017 Act. The re- port may include, but need not be limited to, any recommendations of the director regarding construction standards for small homes.
       SECTION 5. This 2017 Act takes effect on the 91st day after the date on which the 2017 regular session of the Seventy-ninth Legislative Assembly adjourns sine die.

Enrolled House Bill 2737 (HB 2737-B) 

Big government

All politics are not local.

The author is from California and has a first hand look at the oppressive, progressive California state legislature and governor.  As a blue state, Oregon's runaway progressive legislature can be lumped in with California's war on freedom.  Would local politics be any different?  Do people have to move to cities and states to maintain their freedom?  Or will newcomers destroy it there too?  Wasn't all of America supposed to stand for maximum freedom for the individual?  Where do we go next when all our freedoms have been claimed by the government?

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yeild, and government to gain ground."

--- Thomas Jefferson

 

Orange County Register, July 30, 2017  By Joel Kotkin

State governments can be as oppressive as Washington 

... increasingly, the clearest threat to democracy and minority rights today comes not just from a surfeit of central power concentrated in Washington, D.C., but also from increased centralization of authority within states, and even regional agencies. Oppressive diktats from state capitals increasingly seek to limit local control over basic issues such as education, zoning, bathroom designations, guns and energy development

This follows a historical trend over the past century. Ever since the Great Depression, and even before, governmental power has been shifting inexorably from the local governments to regional, state and, of course, federal jurisdictions. In 1910, the federal level accounted for 30.8 percent of all government spending, with state governments comprising 7.7 percent and the local level more than 61 percent. More than 100 years later, not only had the federal share exploded to nearly 60 percent, but, far less recognized, the state share had nearly doubled, while that of local governments has fallen to barely 25 percent, a nearly 60 percent drop. Much of what is done at the local level today is at the behest, and often with funding derived from, the statehouse or Washington.

Diversity vs. regimentation

This trend is particularly notable in the country’s two megastates: California and Texas. Each is increasingly controlled by ideological fanatics who see in their statehouse dominion an ideal chance to impose their agenda on dissenting communities. In California, Jerry Brown’s climate jihad is the rationale for employing “the coercive power of the central state,” in his own words, to gain control over virtually every aspect of planning and development.

 Yet, in a nation — and in states — ever more divided, it seems imperative that more leeway be given to communities. A policy that may seem fine in Malibu should not unnecessarily be imposed on Modesto. Nor should something like bathroom laws — affecting, at most, 0.6 percent of the population — be used by activists to ban travel to entire states, often hurting most those places with a more progressive worldview.

If he accomplishes nothing else, President Donald Trump has opened the door for radical localism. Progressive loathing of a putative blow-dried Caesar may be tediously overdone, but the point has been made: The presidency, the apex of government control, is not owned by one party. The progressive notion of inevitable triumph over all comers has been at least delayed in most of the country.

This is not to say that radical localism can be easily accomplished. Even as people disperse to increasingly distinct communities, the concentration of corporate power — the Fortune 500 companies’ share of GDP has more than doubled to over 70 percent since the mid-1990s — favors the large state. Narrow, often single-issue lobby groups increasingly dominate legislatures — whether in Austin, Albany or Sacramento — and are often more obsessed with imposing their agendas than allowing for differences in communities.

Yet, a political constituency for radical localism exists. As the American Enterprise Institute’s Sam Abrams has pointed out, whatever their party or ideology, people generally favor local government over federal government for most issues. The notion of radical localism may not be popular among those in both parties who crave to exercise unchecked power, but it represents perhaps our last, best hope to preserve a democracy worthy of the name.

Joel Kotkin is the R.C. Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange and executive director of the Houston-based Center for Opportunity Urbanism (www.opportunityurbanism.org).

USC NOTE:  In an ideal world, if small communities could agree on social issues, there would likely be better acceptance of minority views at the state level too.  Lake Oswego is now similarly divided and a new, unabashed partisan group is bringing its agenda to the whole city - even if a large segment of the population doesn't agree. Add to that the ever-increasing slew of special nterest groups that represent only a fraction of  people, and many citizens have lost any power to influence the course of their town.  

  It isn't only people of color or those suffering some inequity  who are disenfranchised by the majority .  More local control might help in some places, but not all cities, and not for long, and not in Oregon.