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refugee's comments:
on Farmers Market Economy
And so, Scottmil, I'm thinking a lot of low-income people like myself, think the farmers market phenomenon is just elitist friviolity that is totally irrelevant to their lives--just more self-righteous entertainment for the rich. Low income people fully realize that it is NOT about the entire "community." Backyard growers of any economic level realize that as well, because the upfront and weekly fees to set up at the market are more than their smaller amounts of produce are worth. I would rather give mine away to neighbors and friends.
I might add that the farmers markets appear to be designed to benefit the local landed aristocracy who are not big enough to compete with larger enterprises or are just carving out another status supported marketing niche.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Making Public Records Public
Well, "Think Out Loud" and A.G. Kroger were a bust today. They spent almost an hour being politic, and saying very little that would help the public get information. But then the laws are a whole lot more about presenting the image of transparency and citizen access, than they are about bringing it to fruition and actual practice. Hope springs eternal. The one silver lining on that front is that at east the AG, under pressure from a university professor (Bill Harbaugh, who had already posted it), put the old $25.00 "blue book," the Attorney General's Public Records and Meetings Manual, online.
posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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on Making Public Records Public
This is a very important point, and as Peter points out, is an easy and inexpensive way to make a big difference. Our city administrators make one page agendas available in a searchable PDF document, but many pages of minutes and any supporting documents are unsearchable PDFs, little more than photocopies. If one can afford Acrobat professional, it allows a pretty fair optical character recognition routine on them that will make them searchable, but why don't they just post them as searchable PDFs? Another question is, in this day and age, why isn't a video record of public meetings required instead of the written subjective summary minutes version of what occurred?
posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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on Making Public Records Public
2:
More importantly, the city wanted to charge me to provide the names of those who lease publicly owned property subsidized by the Federal Government and city taxpayers. To avoid the charge, I asked the operator of the airport. The reason I wanted the information is that the average citizen has no idea whether a City Councilor or member of another administrative governmental body, like the Airport Commission, has a conflict of interest when making decisions that affect the airport. My thought was that we ought to know whether governing officials were using the airport for private use, such as leasing a hangar there. The FBO refused to give out the names of those sub-leasing city owned hangars that he leases from the city.
So, there is a question about what information is available from the private portion of public/private partnerships. There is another example locally involving a private non-profit corporation that receives the bulk of their funds from public dollars to administer a previously public function.
Please ask Attorney General Kroger to comment on these situations, and how a citizen may proceed to collect information that is perceived to be in the "public interest" from private contractors in charge of public assets.
posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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on Making Public Records Public
Part one:
I tend to agree with Jerry Cressa for a few reasons.
Governments are often hostile to to citizen efforts, even City Council efforts, to get adequate information so as to understand issues and decisiins. If you are poor, the financial obstacles they raise can become significant. Recently, the City of Baker City wanted to charge me $108.00 for information that one might reasonably expect would be information they would have already collected to explain their efforts to enforce a property maintenance law. Later, they produced much of the information I requested in a police "dog & pony show" for the City Council."
Most recently, I asked for information concerning the public versus private benefit of the Baker City Municipal Airport, a $20 million dollar facility owned by Baker City, which, according to the latest reported budget, is using $85,288 this year from our General Fund, to help finance the airport. I requested information that would reflect how much use was related to obvious public interest like public safety and fire, and how much use was related to private use, such as recreational flying or charter flights. I was told "these records are not kept by the City. The Fixed Base Operator does keep track of the number of flights, but most likely not the category (public, private, medical, etc.)." The FBO operator's wife confirmed that the record on this is not recorded. No record, no need to report. What can be done about that?
posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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on Main Street Oregon
There are some aspects of historic preservation and redevelopment that are not spoken about by their promoters. When these historic places and the downtown districts are renovated, it changes the character of the town by bringing in the cappuccino crowd from larger cities. Many City resources are funneled to Main Street, historic preservation and the arts, while basic infrastructure like street maintenance goes begging. These people often don't like the way some residents in the poorer communities live. The see them and their "eye sore" rsidences as obstacles to attracting new residents and businesses so thy create property maintenance ordinances to force them to live according to the values of the well off. Problem is, they are often too poor to do much about their situation even if they wanted to, and many do not. It is called gentrification. There is money to be made and the poor are standing in the way.
Several years ago PBS aired an online discussion about gentrification and the community tensions it brings:
" [rural] gentrification is primarily an issue of class. Wealthy whites have migrated to amenity-rich rural enclaves to avail themselves of the natural beauty and resources these rural communities have to offer. . . . [some poor rural] residents who are pressured by gentrification and the dynamics that typically occur (e.g., rising housing [and rental] costs) would be forced to leave the county to escape these pressures.” Unfortunately, for many low-income people, there is really nowhere else to go.
posted 4 years ago
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on Cows v. Elk v. Wild Horses
This isn’t just about cows, elk and feral horses, its about the unraveling and destruction of an entire ecosystem by poorly managed cattle grazing and uncontrolled feral horses. The benefits go to corporations and a small group of rural aristocrats called ranchers. The costs are paid by threatened native steelhead, birds and other animals who are dependent on streams and forest, by taxpayers who subsidize the grazing, and by future generations who will inherit an impoverished natural world.
Unfortunately Mr. Stout misrepresents the degree of damage done by cattle versus the damage done by feral horses. Many areas on the allotment he manages were in better shape in 2008, the year cows were not allowed to graze.
For a comparison at one of these sites, please go to:
Cattle grazing will be the photo on the left, no grazing photo is on the right.
Thanks for checking it out and discovering the reality.
posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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