Skip to main content
A few broad generalizations about Portlanders because nobody’s gotten very mad at us in at least three days: Portlanders like to be cozy. The only thing cozier than a warm, crackling fireplace is a wood-burning stove surrounded by a sauna. Portlanders like to be healthy. Wood smoke, as released from a wood-burning stove in a sauna, is bad for the lungs. Portlanders avoid confrontation. The owner of Secret Sauna and the next-door neighbors complaining about the smoke it produces are engaged in a battle conducted via phone, social media, letter, the newspaper, and one hand-lettered sign posted in a tree (“Sweat Equity,” WW, May 13), but they have never spoken face to face. The fight continues in our comments:
MountScott Rumpot, via Reddit: “Starting a wood-burning business in what looks like it’s going to be the worst fire year in decades is just amazingly stupid. Multnomah County should regulate these saunas (and wood-burning pizza ovens) out of existence.”
D. Katz, via wweek.com: “Until you’ve been smoked out of your home yourself, it’s impossible to comprehend how sick-making and distressing it is. I really feel bad for these neighbors.
“OSU’s Professor MacCarty is like a wood-burning industry equivalent of a tobacco-funded scientist. She gets grant funding for wood stove development and supports the industry. If even she thinks the sauna is a problem, you know it’s bad!
“The article, unfortunately, ends on a misleading note. Just because the smoke isn’t visible, it doesn’t mean it’s harmless. The most toxic components of wood smoke are invisible to the naked eye. An ‘efficient’ fire with little visible smoke can emit large amounts of ultrafine-sized particles and carcinogenic toxins.”
David Hickey, via Facebook: “The owners should go with a Kuuma BluFlame; it’s a much more efficient stove. Also, the chimney on that stove was very short. If they upgrade the stove and add a tall, triple-walled stove pipe, I’m sure they could make the neighbors happy.”
derpinpdx, via Reddit: “YOOOOO and at the end of the article it says everyone involved has never met face to face, even though they’re a block away from one another.
“This is a case for Portland Judge Judy if I’ve ever seen one.”
Irwin Mainway, via wweek.com: “Every night when I get home and step out of my car, I’m greeted by my neighbors’ stinky weed smoke; when I’m in my yard or on my deck, stinky weed smoke. Just like everywhere else I go in this town. But yeah a sauna chimney is a crisis. Wood stoves are causing cancer clusters and accelerating climate change, right? Funny, all of us who grew up with wood stoves are fine. But this is an environmental justice issue too, probably—need to cut another PCEF check to Verde for “restorative sauna justice.” Every second in this town is worse than the one before it. Pray for an asteroid to hit.”
assasinine, via Reddit: “I like how saunas are the Portland equivalent of the Austin BBQ pit issue.”
TAKE THE HIGH ROAD TO PROSPERITY
Nigel Jaquiss’ May 14 article about Gov. Tina Kotek’s Prosperity Council [“Confidential Draft Recommendations From Kotek’s Prosperity Council Suggest Tax Cuts and Reforms,” Oregon Journalism Project] was as one-sided as the council itself. Made up of 14 business representatives and two labor representatives, there was no doubt that the results would be the same old talking points out of the chamber of commerce and business lobbyists.
The three paragraphs that briefly mention the input and remedies proposed by the two labor representatives did provide an important link to their report to the council: “The High Road to Prosperity for All Oregonians” presentation at the April meeting that rejected the negative. Please read it!
Two strategies: High Road vs. Low Road
2.1 High Road: high skills, high wages, high productivity, high innovation
2.2. High Road: helping businesses be more productive and grow vs. luring them in through tax breaks (support quality education and training, great quality of life, predicable and efficient regulation (without surrendering health, safety and environmental goals)
2.3 Low Road: cut taxes, slash services, compete on cost with Alabama, India, Mexico
2.4 Low Road is a trap—grows the economy temporarily but doesn’t improve lives; undermines assets needed for long-run growth.
Think about it. As suggested in the “High Road” presentation, we need to amplify the support for quality of life to attract and retain talented workers, i.e., affordable housing, health care, child care, public transportation. Gov. Kotek’s charge to the council, “to accelerate Oregon’s economy,” is missing the main actors in the economy, consumers and labor.
Twila Jacobsen
Eugene
CORRECTION
Last week’s feature on the Hollywood neighborhood (“Hollywood With Jeme Brelin,” WW, May 13) included an inaccurate quotation of Jeme Brelin. The local business Brelin was referring to was Thu Fashion, not Alteration Station. WW regrets the error.
Letters to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to:
P.O. Box 10770
Portland, OR 97296
Email: amesh@wweek.com
