Letters to the Editor 02/18/2015

To the Editor:

There are some basic reasons why I am engaged with this paved trail discussion. I see alignment here with all levels of government.

Senator Wyden has called out his interest to invest in recreational assets on public lands. He has convened a recreational assets committee in the past and out of it are some new biking connections between communities. Building on Senator Wyden's vision, the Forest Service is exploring how to improve non-motorized access to the Deschutes National Forest, and this trail from Sisters to Black Butte Ranch is one of the more promising possibilities.

On a state level we are hearing from the Oregon Transportation Commission that our transportation system needs to be multimodal, that we connect our communities and promote healthy alternatives for people.

At a Deschutes County level we are finding a lot of interest from locals and tourists who come here to ride our bike routes and spend money in our communities. Sisters and Black Butte Ranch have had a synergistic relationship. The business done in Sisters from Black Butte Ranch has been good for Sisters.

For these reasons, I see a lot of value in this paved trail. It is my understanding that the Forest Service is awaiting a resubmission of a trail proposal supported by the community. I have convened a planning committee to create a process for a community discussion regarding a paved path from Sisters to Black Butte Ranch.

I have asked Oregon Solutions to engage the community through an open dialogue to determine the community's interest in requesting the Forest Service reconsider it's decision to withdraw from construction of the trail that was proposed last spring. Oregon Solutions will come to Sisters and meet initially with community leaders as a step in preparing a process for holding a community-wide conversation that is open, robust and inclusive where we can all come together to listen, learn and talk in a respectful and productive environment.

I am hoping that this can happen in the next few months. I will make sure The Nugget stays fully informed of this work and that everyone, trail supporters as well as objectors to the last trail process, have the opportunity to be involved in the community-wide discussion.

I believe that it is my role as a Deschutes County Commissioner to bring people together, to listen and represent their interests.

Alan Unger

Deschutes County Commissioner

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To the Editor:

Jim Holcomb was one of the finest teachers I have ever had.

He made a lasting contribution to my life and opened my eyes and mind in many ways. From J. Krishnamurti to Carl von Clausewitz, Jim chose-thought provoking material and facilitated significant discussions.

He encouraged me to improve my writing skills and approach assignments with openness and enthusiasm. He teased me about being a "long-hair" and I teased him right back about owning a hot-pink mountain bike.

I loved Jim and trusted that he loved having me a student. Thank you for everything, Mr. Holcomb.

Aaron Barker

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To the Editor:

If someone were to have asked me five years ago: What would be your fantasy addition to Pine Meadow Ranch? I would have said a center-pivot irrigation system that would improve my crop and save water. But I never thought we could afford one - until I talked to folks from the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and Deschutes River Conservancy.

Central Oregon ranchers and environmental groups often have very different perspectives. But last year, Pine Meadow Ranch harvested the best hay crop we have ever seen thanks to a water conservation project on Whychus Creek.

If you ask any farmer or rancher like myself, we would all say the same thing about water: keep it flowing for us and don't let anyone mess with our water rights. That's why I was skeptical when we started hearing about water conservation ideas that would impact our ranch.

But then I realized we agreed on something: inefficient irrigation systems don't benefit anyone. Ranchers and fish both lose. So over the course of five years, many long meetings, and exploration of several potential solutions we worked together and removed the last remaining concrete dam on Whychus Creek, constructed a new point of diversion, and installed a center-pivot.

Everybody wins.

Cris Converse

Pine Meadow Ranch

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To the Editor:

Thank goodness for Chuck Humpreys!

People in the community need to start calling the opponents of the proposed paved trails to Black Butte Ranch and Crossroads by what they really are: selfish individuals who are opposing the trail because they don't want it near their property. We all own the National Forest, but these individuals are treating it as their own private landholding.

The letter from Joanne Anttila, who has written multiple letters to the editor plus an editorial piece, has made it clear her opposition to the trail. She wrote in her most recent letter "Let's learn from these mistakes, stay transparent, find common ground, side-step name-calling and practice respect." I have attended a number of public meetings where there were vitriolic comments made by the opposition - including Ms. Anttila. Yes, Ms. Anttila, I agree with your statement...please start practicing it.

As to the letter from Greg Werts, do you really think that Chuck Humpreys alone choose to allocate $25,000 of Sisters Trails Alliance's money? The Trails Alliance had a board of seven members at the time of that unanimous decision. Having attended the final meeting with the Forest Service, I personally witnessed the trail opponents taking a "winner-takes-all scenario," not Sisters Trails Alliance, who was open to compromise and in fact had already made compromises such as relocating the trail more than 100 yards away from the nearest home in the subdivision.

Repeating falsehoods does not make them true.

As to Mr. Fisher's letter, it shows remarkable ignorance of the Forest Service process. Mr. Fisher, it is not the job of Sisters Trails Alliance to contact Crossroads residents. That was the obligation of the Forest Service, which they have admitted they did poorly in that regard. Again Mr. Fisher writes "Then four STA members, including the STA president at the time, got elected to the seven-member Crossroads board of directors without revealing any STA affiliation."

Not sure about other people, but this sounds like one of those communist plots to take over the government. Mr. Fisher: are the only members of the Crossroads board allowed to be persons who are opposed to the trail? Are Crossroad board members required to reveal various affiliations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, Boy Scouts, etc.?

Ken Serkownek

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To the Editor:

My kids and I frequently visit Cliff Clemens Park, especially lately as this unseasonably warm weather has allowed. It is the perfect park for my kids (other than lack of bathrooms, but that is not the reason for my letter).

What I am disturbed by is the number of irresponsible dog-owners who do not clean up after their pets. My kids have stepped in dog poo not once, not twice, but three times in the past few weeks directly inside the bark-chipped play structure area. And I've seen it happen to others, too.

What is worse, is that once stepped in, if not noticed right away (which is the case usually with kids) it gets tracked up and around the whole play structure, leaving a trail of poo for others to step in or touch. Completely unsanitary. What upsets me more, is that this park provides free doggy bags and a receptacle in which to dispose of dog waste. So it comes down to just plain laziness.

Please, take pride in the beauty and cleanliness of our town. Don't be "that" dog-owner. Take responsibility and clean up after your own pets. Realize that little feet play in and around the playground and shouldn't have to worry about stepping in it.

Karissa Bilderback

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To the Editor:

I have observed with dismay the noisy furor that has unfolded over the last year regarding the proposed paved trail to Black Butte [Ranch]. Astonishing claims have been made as to why this trail would be so terrible, as anyone who has followed along will remember. The approval process was flawed, granted, but what do you actually have when the layers of catastrophic imagination are stripped away?

All of us know paved paths; there are 18 miles of them in Black Butte [Ranch] - smooth, curvaceous, compelling. No cars. Lots of smiling hikers and runners and cyclists, old and young, enjoying their surroundings and each other. There's a well-loved paved trail in Tollgate itself, though initially it too was bitterly contested. A subset of every community assumes the duty of imagining and asserting fearful outcomes.

The smothering of the paved trail initiative has been a NIMBY success, if you think of it like that. A loud and dogged minority faction from a neighborhood along the proposed route has prevailed. If you think, as I do, that a solid majority of the wider Sisters community would favor such a beautiful, useful and compelling community amenity, then indeed the smothering has been "a victory of selfishness over the best interests of the community."

Is this the best we can do?

Whatever negative impact to the natural world there might be from 10 feet of asphalt through the forest is dwarfed to insignificance by the adjacent major highway, four times as wide and full of traffic, within clear sight and earshot of the entire proposed route. I wish for some kind of official referendum, so we could once and for all gauge the public will and proceed accordingly.

John Rahm

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To the Editor:

I was one of Mr. Holcomb's students at Homer High School.

I remember being late to his class (U.S. History, right after lunch) a couple of times in my first week at HHS. I received a stern, "You're not off to a very good start, young man." Suffice to say, I was never late to one of his classes again, through two years of high school, and two semesters of college courses.

Mr. Holcomb had a profound influence on my views of history and government, and how to carry myself as a human being. He taught me that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but not to be slavishly devoted to it, blind and unconsidering; and should you learn more about a matter, don't be stubborn and afraid to change that opinion.

Since those days, Mr. Holcomb has always been missed, obviously more so now. My warmest thoughts and deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Jason Doscher

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To the Editor:

The merits of food carts are not the issue yet. We have not yet followed the proper procedure. The merits have not yet been reached.

What is at issue is the city's administrative decision to treat food carts as restaurants for purposes of the zoning code. Maybe this is a good idea or at least defensible. But it is a huge change to make without public input, a hearing or any adopted findings of fact based on such input and hearings.

The city also failed to notify all of the stakeholders about this issue. Many business-owners were not notified because they don't own the land they occupy. But these business-owners are present on a day-to-day basis and land-use matters affect them as much or more than the absentee property-owners. The business owners are important stakeholders in this issue. They should be notified.

There is also a conflict-of-interest issue, or at least the appearance of one. This has not been dealt with, either. The city should avoid the appearance of insider manipulation. Public hearings and review would help here, too.

Many citizens have voiced concerns or objections to treating food carts the same as restaurants. Those writing for Sisters Voice have raised similar concerns. A public hearing is the best place to air these objections. Perhaps these points will ultimately be shown to have no merit. If so, the planning commission will explain this in an appropriate fact-finding.

It is possible that after proper hearings have been held and written findings of fact adopted, that the same result might be obtained. But hearings and fact-finding make it more likely that a good result is obtained. For those dissatisfied with the result, there is still the satisfaction in knowing that a spectrum of ideas and positions were considered even if they were not adopted.

I urge the holding of hearings before the planning commission so that this commission can determine whether food carts should be treated as restaurants for purposes of the zoning code.

Tom Parks