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March 17, 2011
The New Clatsop County
If I were to ask you to predict what our county will look like over the next five years what would you say? If you exclude those things you would like to see and base your answer on what you know about the political climate and where opportunities would become realities, what would your best guess be?
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I believe we will see much more "forced" conservation given who put our local politicians in office. They appear to be very inexperienced and are obviously closely aligned with the extreme environmental groups. Unfortunately this does not give us jobs, money for schools, or any further development, but then that's the goal isn't it? They have theirs, so the heck with the rest of us! In the future it should worry all of us about who will hold these offices in the future other than those the newspaper supports, the attacks we have seen waged against many over the years by the editor, and our DA is reason enough not to serve in this community. We will see more of the haves and the have nots here, for now it appears the haves have it!
ReplyDeleteIf you assume that the political climate remains controlled by the Kitzhaber/Betsy/Witt/Boone/Huhtala/Rohne/Lee types, i.e. Democrat-liberals, then the forecast is essentially a NIMBY future as follows: look for as much government-sponsored, government-controlled, government-financed, and government-created non-growth as possible. Infrastructure will be built or maintained to accommodate the visitor but not the manufacturer; to accommodate the student but not the doer; to accommodate public riders but not the independent driver. Financial analysis will be ignored in favor of sustainability (green but not efficient), economics will debate restrictions rather than free markets, and regulations and regulatory bodies will continue to be emboldened, thereby eliminating incentives for private investment unless tied to some government-sponsored priority such as low income housing.
ReplyDeleteGovernment offices or entities will be welcomed of course, but it remains to be seen if any outside government funding will be available for bureaucracies to move here, as most government credit cards have been maxed out due to past decisions by the government leaders listed above. Low income buildings will be in limitless demand because Clatsop is encouraging the low-incomed to permanently move and live here by virtue of supplying them with low-cost housing (if you build it they will come) and because the supply of real jobs will be restricted by what is described in the first paragraph. It’s what amounts to creativity by government leaders: generate low-income communities by ensuring low-income working environments while providing designated housing, all with money mostly provided by non-resident taxpayers, many of which are unborn. If there’s a pony in the future, I’d sure like to have someone describe how it’s going to materialize with this political climate.
The irony remains: the Maritime Museum is filled with nostalgic pictures of hundreds of historic Clatsop men and women who are prominently honored for their historic troubles and durability, but who’s descendants are mocked today when they attempt to follow in their shoes. The faces of our Clatsop predecessors in the museum produced the things we depend upon now--the bridges we cross that would be legally delayed for decades if proposed today, the water and gas pipelines we can’t see that provide us water and heat, or the electricity generated by the dams; none of these things could be permitted today if proposed. But the River would have been Kept by its Keepers. I think the current crop of liberals who occupy Clatsop today would hang Lewis and Clark on the nearest old growth tree (and burn their records) in order to ensure no one else could find out about this place. The old California definition of an environmentalist is someone who already owns a cabin in the woods, comes to mind.
The one exception may be Warrenton, where the controls by the Left are less than they would desire, and where people there seem okay with actually producing things, allowing progress to occur, and prices of goods and services to be world market rather than high market.
But if the Clatsop political climate changes because the arithmetic of financial facts of life finally catches up with the minds of the electorate, then most of the above can be reversed, and the museum images of historic progress can be considered as inspirations to what man can do to be innovative again. We don’t have to destroy the environment in so doing, just simply follow the stewardship of our ancestors by mixing old-fashioned, ordinary common sense along with modern knowledge and conveniences our ancestors would have loved to have had. It’s simple, really.
I believe the County is heading in a good direction and will grow.
ReplyDeleteWith the cancer center/heart center, We'll have new Docter's coming to live "the medical field will be the best"
i think this county will look just about as it does now..stuck in what might have been...fighting any good ideas..wringing our hands over what we can't control.... wanting our kids to stay with us, but fighting any good jobs that want to come in...don't cut the pretty trees...we want to look at them...oh, no, a hidden pipeline, can't have that......idiots all....as long as i have a good seat at the oprah, i won't care or even think about someone other than me... it is the way of a hidebound clatsop county, stuck in the mud flat, dare i say it......progresive democrat.... there, now burn me if you want!!!
ReplyDeleteWell anonymous, I will have to ask the "question".Where are the jobs coming from? Do you really think we are headed in the right direction? Do you see all of the empty building in Astoria?
ReplyDeleteI wish I could share your opinion.
The County Commissioners meeting this Wednesday evening concerning the “Planning Commissioners possible removal” will answer your question where the county will look like in less than 5 years. This fiasco reeks of non open government, exactly opposite of what the sitting commissioners ran on. Looks like another recall may be in the works if written articles and rumors come true.
ReplyDeleteI suspect we will continue to be involved in relative minor crises that will appear major because of slow news days. We will also appear to be against almost everything, not because most citizens are against progress but because the few, but loud,are given inordinately great coverage by the media and the rest of us really don't care enough to create a greater noise.
ReplyDeleteUndoubtedly, Josh Marquis will be the District Attorney and both continue his unsuccessful efforts to become a national big deal and run his sham office and website where he only hears what he wants to hear and deletes the rest. Likewise, Patrick McGee will continue to make an name for himself by simply being nasty. Media magnate Steve Forrester will uplift us with tales of (and tax deductions for) his family doing things that we poor folk will never be able to do, like riding the train to Seattle, as well as venting his spleen against anyone who offends him. The the New Northwest Broadcasters will increasingly do everything on the cheap and slim and argue that they must continually reduce their watt output and nothing is its fault.
We will continue to have good people run for office, cross swords with the anti everything folks, be labled corrupt and run out of office merely for doing what they feel best for the county.
Our Sheriff will continue to transfer his responsibilities to places like the human resources department and hide in his office, only comeing out to offer folksy humor to the Rotary Club, on groundhog day and to collect his 100 grand a year.
In other words, Clatsop County will remain the same.
I attended the board of commissioners meeting in Astoria this evening, absolutely shocking that in a 3 to 2 vote the Clatsop County Commission fired all the volunteers on the planning commission as of June 30th....to disrespect hardworking volunteers like this publicly is an embarrassment for all of us....Clatsop County deserves better than this...I wonder if the hate campaigns will ever stop, and maybe we could get back to civil, intelligent governance for the greater good, not just a chosen few...
ReplyDelete.
Pretty tough question, Tom, because the big guess--political climate--is the key assumption. As an optimist, I think logic and facts ultimately win out. However, if you assume that the political climate remains controlled by the Kitzhaber/Betsy/Witt/Boone/Huhtala/Rohne/Lee types, i.e. Democrat-liberals, then the forecast is essentially a NIMBY future as follows: look for as much government-sponsored, government-controlled, government-financed, and government-created non-growth as possible.
ReplyDeleteInfrastructure will be built or maintained to accommodate the visitor but not the manufacturer; to accommodate the student but not the doer; to accommodate public riders but not the independent driver. Real financial analysis will be ignored in favor of a favorite word, sustainability (green but not efficient), economics will debate restrictions rather than free markets, and regulations and regulatory bodies will continue to be emboldened, thereby eliminating incentives for private investment unless tied to some government-sponsored priority such as low income housing.
Low income buildings will be in high demand because Clatsop is encouraging the low-incomed to permanently move and live here by virtue of supplying them with low-cost housing (if you build it they will come) and because the supply of real jobs will be restricted by what is described in the first paragraph. It’s what amounts to creativity by government leaders: generate low-income communities by ensuring low-income working environments while providing designated housing, all with money mostly provided by non-resident taxpayers, many of which are unborn. And all the while, eliminating the incentives for private businesses to move here.
The one exception may be Warrenton, where the controls by the Left are less than they would desire, and where people there seem okay with actually producing things, allowing progress to occur, and prices of goods and services to be world market rather than high market. But look for clashes, such as the LNG battle, to continuously impose upon their growth pursuits.
The end of Josh's latest "above the fold" article regarding this ridiculous DUII controversy he has now created states at the end, 'it should be interesting". I believe that begs the question who's next, maybe the ruination of Karen Mellin via the daily astorian and the DA, and of course others in the community, there seem to need to be casualties and the destruction of the integrity of anyone who does not agree with him, gotta wonder when the eastern oregonian board of directors will wake up and see that the daily astorian is used time and time again as a cheap trick for the bidding of the district attorney and extreme environmental groups outside our county that have parties, and give awards out to our local activists, it is APPALLING!
ReplyDeleteYouu think maybe one reason all the LNG companies gave up is because there is no market as the Wall Street Journal reports, not just the darn Democrats?
ReplyDeleteI believe in the years to come we will see Josh Marquis District Attorney, RULER of Clatsop County, associate of the River Keepers, and guy under Attorney General Kroger's cape saying my name is sneak, not snake...riding the streets of Astoria on a white horse with a golden whip and we will bow our heads in respect or actually intimidation as he passes us on the street with his head held high, so high that he still does not see how destructive he is to our community...
ReplyDeleteOur community would be better off without the DA! Somehow he has fooled many voters!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe DA in our county runs the whole show!! He has to much power, voters must like his power. I don't!
Name..... one thing he has improved on or done to gain so much power. Mcgee is always giving him a standing ovation...yet Mcgee never says what the DA has done GOOD! Same only line "he's still here isn't he"?lmao