Unfriendly
Fire
As the showdown over the big gun-control bill
loomed in Salem this week, a couple of Oregon gun lobbyists
took aim at each other.
Kevin Starrett, executive director of the Oregon Firearms
Federation, amped up his screed against "anti-gun zealots,"
including his former allies at Oregon Gun Owners.
Starrett, whose group is affiliated with the national
Gun Owners of America, has long made it clear that he
thinks the only good gun bill is a dead gun bill. As House
Bill 2535, the omnibus gun bill, came up before the House
Tuesday (the House had not voted as of press time), Starrett
seethed. He fired off an e-mail to state lawmakers and
the approximately 5,000 Oregon members of Gun Owners of
America, accusing OGO of selling out the interests of
gun owners by hopping into the political sack with state
Sen. Ginny Burdick, whom he describes as an "anti-freedom
bigot."
OGO lobbyist John Hellen returned fire in an e-mail to
state lawmakers and OGO's 10,000 members, charging Starrett
with lying about the bill. "I wanted to let them know
the mail they're getting is using misinformation," he
says.
Hellen has repeatedly stated that the bill is the best
way to head off a November ballot initiative by gun-
control advocates.
Starrett could not be reached by WW for this story,
but in an interview last month he made clear his disdain
for OGO. "John is a lobbyist," Starrett said. "He's never
had a handgun in his life. How much passion does he have?"
--Patty Wentz
Taking
Down The Ritz
It was never exactly fancy. In fact, it was
downright decrepit. But for decades, the 51-room New Ritz
Hotel provided cheap housing for Portland's low-income
citizens until it was gutted by fire in January 1996.
Last week, the New Ritz finally admitted its final guest:
the wrecking ball.
The building is owned by the Goodman family. The parking-lot
moguls got a notice from the city that the hotel, on Southwest
11th Avenue and Washington Street, was a dangerous building.
"We had to take it down," says Greg Goodman.
The demolition of the New Ritz, built in 1907, underscores
the steady erosion of cheap housing in Portland's central
city. Since 1995, the downtown area has seen a net loss
of 847 low-income units, according to Susan Emmons of
the Northwest Pilot Project. "You have to expect the population
in homeless shelters and on the streets to grow if you
keep having this kind of net loss," says Emmons. "Where
else do the people go?"
It remains uncertain what the Goodmans will do with the
site, which is valued at $446,000, according to county
records.
"We'd like to do something positive for the neighborhood,"
says Goodman. "If that means low-income housing, it means
low-income housing."
Few will mourn the New Ritz. Its heyday belonged to the
distant past, and in the last few years of its existence
it developed a decidedly unsavory reputation. Still, it
was a neighborhood landmark. It provided cheap housing--an
increasingly scarce commodity in the city.
Today the building stands half-destroyed, a twisted mass
of bricks and rubble, a mute testament to the changing
face of the city.
--Chris Lydgate
Failing
the Laugh Test
House Republicans struck up a game
of political hardball on Capitol Hill last week, and Oregon
Democrat David Wu hit the dirt.
The debate was over a crime package crafted in the wake
of the recent spate of school shootings. The bill was
intended to combat juvenile crime, but by the time it
came to a vote on June 17, it had been overloaded with
amendments aimed more at helping GOP candidates in the
2000 election than at curbing teen violence. For example,
the changes would allow customers to sue their drug dealers
and schools to post the Ten Commandments.
The idea behind the amendments was to put Democrats in
a bind: They could either support the GOP goodies or vote
against school safety and protecting kids.
While Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio stood their
ground and voted against the bill, fellow Democrats Wu
and Darlene Hooley voted in favor of it, as did Republican
Greg Walden.
Wu, whose election to the 1st Congressional District
last year was hotly contested, concedes that the bill
wasn't perfect. However, he says, "I still feel the core
of it is additional support for juvenile justice and prevention."
Moreover, he points out, the bill will be reworked and
will probably come to another vote in the House. Wu is
hopeful that by that time the "very troubling filigree
will drop away."
How much did fear of being painted as soft on crime enter
into his calculations? "I don't think there was political
pressure," he says. "This was a vote-your-own-way kind
of thing."
DeFazio, whose 4th District seat includes Kip Kinkel's
home town, saw things differently. In fact, he was so
appalled by the spectacle that he made a brief but biting
speech on the House floor after the bill's passage. "After
66 amendments and dozens of hours...we have done nothing
to add to the services to serve at-risk youth and their
families and prevent them from getting into violence.
Nothing. Zero.
"Mr. Speaker, I hope my constituents and my colleagues'
constituents were watching," DeFazio continued. "What
we did here does not even meet the common-sense laugh
test. It was a disgrace for this House of Representatives."
--Maureen O'Hagan
PacifiGored
Ignore for a moment the eye-glazing details
of energy deregulation being argued in Salem this week.
Instead, imagine a huge pot of money--say,
$1 billion--sitting on a table next to Senate Bill 1149,
which would deregulate Oregon's utilities.
On one side of the table sits PacifiCorp. On the other
side is an unlikely coalition of 41 groups, representing
poor people (Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon), entrepreneurs
(the Oregon Restaurant Association), consumers (the Citizens
Utility Board), big business (Industrial Customers of
Northwest Utilities) and even PacifiCorp's chief competitor,
PGE.
Ask PacifiCorp spokeswoman Jan Mitchell why the company
opposes SB 1149, and she'll give you a list of customer-friendly
reasons, chief among them that deregulation will force
some customers to pay a 3 percent surcharge to fund renewable
energy while allowing others to avoid the charge.
Deregulation advocates say PacifiCorp is cloaking greed
in pro-consumer rhetoric. "What else are they going to
say? 'This bill doesn't allow us to rip you off, so we're
against it'?" asks Jason Eisdorfer of CUB.
Eisdorfer notes that in the past PacifiCorp has supported
a public-purpose surcharge; now it is painting the surcharge
as that most hated of policies: a new tax. He says the
real reason for PacifiCorp's about-face--the company was
until recently a big proponent of deregulation--is that
SB 1149 gives the Public Utility Commission the authority
to decide who will benefit from PacifiCorp's low-cost
generating facilities.
Many utilities around the country are shackled with obsolete
or high-cost generators (think Trojan); in those cases,
regulators have forced ratepayers to foot the bill for
decommissioning. In PacifiCorp's case, if the sale of
a generator were to result in a windfall profit or the
continued operation were to result in low prices, the
PUC would want the benefit to accrue to ratepayers, not
to PacifiCorp shareholders. Industry experts have estimated
the "stranded benefits" on PacifiCorp's assets to be worth
$500 million to $2 billion.
"When PacifiCorp envisioned restructuring, they envisioned
doing it on their terms," Eisdorfer says. "Over my dead
body is the Legislature going to give them money that
rightfully belongs to customers."
--Nigel Jaquiss
Why,
There Oughta Be a Law...
HOUSE BILL 4021
* RELATING TO PERSONAL WEB PAGE BUILDERS
SPONSORED BY ADELAIDE TURNER
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OREGON:
SECTION 1: Whereas socially challenged individuals
should not clutter up the Internet in vain attempts to
prove they have a life:
(a) It shall be unlawful for self-indulgent domestic
Web page designers to take up valuable Web space with
graphic displays of ego compensation.
(b) As defined by this law, "domestic Web page designers"
are those who create Web pages that deal entirely with
personal lives of: the terminally single, aficionados
of obscure subjects, over-21s still living with Mom, couples
with spoiled dogs and neglected children, derelict spouses
and ugly people who post portraits.
(c) Actions that violate this law include:
i. Using phrases like "who we are," "what we do,"
"check it out" and "e-mail if you want me to design YOUR
personal web page."
ii. Posting 5,000 megabytes of photos despite
the fact that everyone who might possibly want to see
them already have copies.
iii. Posting children's pictures and personal
information for Internet-pedophile convenience and then
teaching the same children it is dangerous to talk to
strangers.
iv. Advertising Web page design for hire, not
based on graphics or technical training, but on 1,000
hours designing one's own page.
SECTION 2: Any person person violating this law
shall be forced to:
(a) Socialize for extended periods with people other
than the church group, Mom or the Klingon Club.
(b) Attend rehabilitation sessions that include hours
of old family slides.
(c) Actually do what is listed under the "what we do"
section of their Web pages.
This week's amateur legislator, Adelaide Turner of
Beaverton, wins dinner at Captain Ankeny's Well.
Corrections
Last week's cover story about high-school seniors
("The Graduates") stated that Lincoln High School is the
city's oldest high school. In fact, it's the oldest public
high school. St. Mary's Academy was founded in 1859, 10
years earlier than Lincoln. WW regrets the error.
