Letters to the Editor 08/27/2008

To the Editor:

The proposed massive development at the corner of Barclay and Locust Street (Camp Polk Road) is definitely not in Sisters' best interest.

We don't want to lose our small-town atmosphere, and this proposed development seems like it belongs in impersonal Salem or Eugene instead of Sisters.

The very large number of proposed apartments will overwhelm the already limited sewer capacity. The large planned retail space will suck customers away from our quaint downtown, thus hurting the merchants.

Worst of all, it will generate a huge amount of traffic on roads that already cannot handle the present traffic. Sometimes it takes me five minutes to turn left onto Highway 20 from Locust Street and even then I often have to take dangerous chances to make the turn.

Sometimes I give up and turn right instead and try to turn left on one of the side streets then turn left on Hood and come back onto Highway 20. The new post office and industrial space will also add to the burden. People trying to avoid the intersection of Locust Street and Highway 20 will likely take Barclay out to Highway 20, which will add still more traffic to the most dangerous intersection in Central Oregon.

How many more people will get hurt before this intersection is improved?

If the city council is foolish enough to proceed with this project, they should make it a requirement that the developers pay for traffic lights and improvements at both the intersection of Locust and Highway 20 and at the intersection of Barclay and Highway 20.

Drew Berding

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To the Editor:

A quick read of the two articles concerning local school option and drop in enrollment leave me wondering...if the option is approved, does that mean that cost-per-child will go up roughly 10 percent? (Since the option would keep the general fund at the same level and there will be 10 percent fewer enrollees.) It would be helpful to see this fleshed out, especially while so many people are already struggling financially.

Scott Miller

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To the Editor:

Nothing, not one word, has been mentioned in The Nugget about what would happen to our new, million-dollar recycle center that has just recently been built. 

So there's another question to be answered. Does the Bend company buy it? Do we rent it to them? Does it sit there idle and not used at all? 

The council needs not to go off half-cocked. Let's get all the information out there so a rational, informed decision can be made.

Diana Raske Lovgren

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To the Editor:

Thank you Sharlene Weed and Mr. Kellstrom. You should be Mayor.

This High Country Disposal (franchise) should not even be an issue, although HCD is not a bad company. Express concern is an understatement along with an uneasiness used in the financial analysis.

It is true that few people know about franchising out the refuse (garbage) business, but know that the cat's out of the bag and it's only fair that all residents and parties involved should without exception be experts in this subject.

The garbage business is a multimillion-dollar business, not just an old truck with a couple of people providing a service for something we don't want to deal with. Point in fact, take a trip to Knott Landfill or any other large landfill sometime. The equipment you see is far from inexpensive. Seven digit stuff and don't forget about the trucks hauling in. This is big, big business!

Check out Waste Management sometime on your computer and see what they are involved in. It's just a matter of time before they own HCD and they tell us what to do. No votes allowed. This shouldn't even be a topic of discussion for our great town of Sisters.

Keep local people working, upgrade equipment if needed and let Virginia Lindsay do the "bean counting" and carry on.

Mike Osborne

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To the Editor:

Councilor Sharlene Weed should definitely have concerns about franchising our garbage services.  Once the City of Sisters garbage service is gone, it will be gone forever. The cost of starting up the garbage service again after it is lost will be enormous. New trucks and new dumpsters and cans will never be purchased again. Getting out of a 7- to 10-year franchise will be impossible.

Lon Kellstrom's statement that it is the "worst public policy in his 10 years of serving on the council" is correct. Turning the service over to another provider is the easy way out for the city, but at the expense of the businesses and residences of our town.

Plus, no one has ever addressed what will become of our million-dollar recycling center. Money down the drain?

Mayor Brad Boyd said that HCD cannot arbitrarily raise rates. This is not true. HCD can come back to the council on a regular basis and request an increase on rates to cover expenses and replacement of equipment. The council is mandated to grant their request. In a franchise they are entitled to always make a profit at the expense of the residences and businesses.

I hope the council will keep their eyes open and think of long-term consequences. Something smells funny in Sisters, and it isn't the garbage.

Curt Kallberg

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To the Editor:

This may reach you too late, but I'm a resident of Village at Cold Springs, and I could not help but notice 40-plus people from the Oregon Department of Forestry fire fighting department setting up tents and camping out in the Sisters Middle School field in preparation of saving our homes again, like they did before, during the Black Crater Fire.

I stopped by and asked them when do they get up in the morning, to fight the fires? They said about 5:30 a.m. So I went to Ray's grocery store and asked them to prepare five dozen assorted donuts for these people, and have this special order ready for them by 5:30 a.m., Tuesday, August 19. Ray's came to the challenge and made this order for them.

Thank you the people of Ray's!

I was happy to pay my own money to buy these folks some 60 morning doughnuts to give them a morning treat before they start to fight fires. I hope the rest of Sisters will feel the same as I do.

Oh, ... by the way ... a neighbor of mine commented that they wanted to do this for the fire fighters during the Black Crater fire and were told that, if they did, the fire fighters would not receive any compensation for additional meals because "They were being fed by the community!"

Oh, please! Just like the Republican George Bush Administration and FEMA, to save a few bucks and come up with this poor excuse to not contribute. This is just like the response for those poor souls in New Orleans. 

Excuse me! I'm donating a snack treat for these people who are putting their life on the line for our town and our homes.

Jim Doherty