Measure 37

Signs can't speak. And yet, they can. Volumes. I'm going to tell you what I hear these two photos saying. Last Tuesday signs urging a "No" vote on Oregon's Measure 49 sprouted on a Measure 37 subdivision in south Salem. It sits on groundwater limited farmland that would be perfect for growing grapes instead of asphalt. The next day, the signs were gone. Vandalized. I wasn't surprised. And yet, I was. Because our neighborhood is full of law and order-respecting people, not the sort who go around ripping down someone else's political signs. There's a string of "Yes on 49"…

Great news for Oregon. We don't have to feel guilty about exporting our horribly flawed Measure 37 to Alaska. Yesterday voters in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Borough near Anchorage voted down Proposition 1, a Measure 37 clone, by a 2-1 margin. What do you think of that, Dave Hunnicutt and Oregonians in Action? You're always talking about how Measure 37 is a model for other states. Well, in Alaska it was a model for what not to do. Not even one of 34 precincts voted for Prop 1. Hunnicutt and I were each quoted in an Anchorage Daily News story about…

I'm no wine expert, but I know what I like. Which at this very blogging moment is a glass of Oregon's Kings Ridge Pinot Noir 2006. It's a fine wine. That's how my crude palate would describe it. A more refined description is "scads of flavor, character, and really good mid-palate layering." I also like Measure 49. It's a fine ballot measure that Oregonians soon will be voting on. Today a Portland Oregonian editorial offered up a refined oenophile argument for voting "Yes" and fixing Measure 37 – which could destroy our state's wine industry. Measure 37 was supposed to…

A few days ago I spent a pleasant half hour talking with a reporter from the Anchorage Daily News. Rindi White's story, "Land-use debate looks to Oregon," is about Mat-Su Borough's Proposition 1 that will be voted on by borough residents next Tuesday, October 2. My main message to Rindi, and by extension to Mat-Su voters, was: Vote No! Learn from Oregon's mistake! Because Proposition 1 is copy cat legislation from Oregon, and the mangy creature it's modeled on is Measure 37 – which Oregonians are poised to reform through Measure 49 in a special November election. I told Rindi…

The Yes on 49 folks should count a Measure 37 claimant's illegal road construction as a campaign contribution, because a front page story in today's Salem Statesman Journal should lead many Oregonians to vote "Yes" on Measure 49. The story, which quotes me several times, points to several reasons why Measure 37 has to be fixed. Oregonians in Action (OIA) likes to say that no Measure 37 subdivisions will move forward unless there is proof of sufficient water for development. But the Laack subdivision (Leroy Laack is the primary claimant) failed to show this. A Hydro Review report prepared by…

I'll be really happy when November 6 rolls around and I learn that Oregon's Measure 49 has passed by a resounding margin in the special election. Because fighting a Measure 37 subdivision on groundwater limited high-value farmland is taking up an awful lot of my time lately. In my last post I wrote about how Leroy Laack and his co-claimants jumped the gun on road construction and started trashing some beautiful Oregon countryside without a permit. This morning I learned that the stop work order that I'd been told had been issued, actually hadn't. Laack only had agreed to temporarily…

Just as we suspected when D8 Caterpillars started bulldozing on a nearby Measure 37 claim, the road construction work that started Monday and went on for most of the week was illegal. Marion County shut it down yesterday, issuing a stop work order. But not before quite a bit of un-permitted road building took place on high-value Oregon farmland. Why would the Measure 37 claimants – Leroy L. and Jean R. Laack, M. Duane Rawlins, Greg M. Eide, Andrew A. and Margaret Rainone – move ahead on subdivision road construction without a permit? Why would North Santiam Paving agree to…

Not a pretty picture, is it? High value Oregon farmland, 125 acres of it, perfect for a vineyard, being bulldozed into a Measure 37 subdivision. This is the sight that greeted us after we got home today from a long weekend away. Neighbors had phoned and emailed us, saying that large earthmoving equipment was at work. One friend said that he drove a roundabout way home, since seeing an irreplaceable piece of Oregon farmland being torn up by a D-8 was too much for him. As it is for most Oregonians, which is why this Measure 37 claim near us…

Beauty. It's in the eye of the beholder. Portland blogger Jack Bogdanski doesn't like the "Yes on 49" signs that are cropping up around Oregon. He says, they look bad – contributors to visual blight. Well, to me and most of our neighbors, they're gorgeous. Because they're intended to save our state from something really ugly: Measure 37. About a week ago I picked up five bundles of Yes on 49 signs. They're the brainchild of signmeister David Adams, a follow-up to his Measure 37 "Fix It or Nix It" campaign. (The "Yes on 49" campaign also has lawn signs.)…

Courtesy of the Oregon-loving, genuine property rights-respecting folks at Measure 37 in Action: Oregon Measure 37 Claim Maps by County In Oregon, there are more than 7,500 Measure 37 claims filed. In total, these claims cover over 750,000 acres of land and the developer's demands for compensation total around $15 billion of Oregon taxpayer's money. Most of these claims have been filed on Oregon's most productive farmland as well as in our precious, protected forestland. Check out the story, take a moment to 'digg it' and then view the maps of Measure 37 development claims. They show a breakdown of…

There's a debate going on in the blogosphere over whether Oregon's Measure 49 – to be voted on this November – really helps surviving spouses. The subject is mostly of interest to land use junkies or people with Measure 37 claims, but it points up the difference between how pro- and anti- Measure 49 folks address issues. Namely, with reason and logic (pro) or emotion and it's-true-because-I-say-so (anti). Over on a blog that inaccurately proclaims to tell the truth about Measure 49, it's asserted that if you're a surviving spouse "Measure 49 will get ya!" When I came across this…

Good news for Oregon. A federal judge, Ann Aiken, has refused to strike down the ballot language for Measure 49, the much-needed fix for Measure 37. Interestingly, the decision came shortly after the case was reassigned from Judge Hogan to Judge Mosman, and then further reassigned to Judge Aiken. I don't know what this means or how it came about, but the final decision was fair (and expected, by me at least). The AP story says that Oregonians in Action plans to lawsuit their way on with a challenge in Marion County District Court. Suggestion to OIA: why don't you…

Lots of Oregonians take the water that comes out of their faucets for granted. But if you rely on a well, you don't. Measure 37 opened up farm and forest land for development that lacks enough water for subdivisions. Fortunately, Measure 49 is riding to the rescue of people like us and our neighbors whose rural water supply is threatened by Measure 37 claims in groundwater limited areas. Maybe you think that Oregon already has protections against subdivisions causing surrounding wells and springs to go dry. If so, think again. My wife and I know whereof we speak. As do…

Whew! I feel a lot better now about the chance of the Oregonians in Action lawsuit against Measure 49 being rejected by federal Judge Hogan. I just did a quick read-through of the Oregon Attorney General's response to the lawsuit (thanks to Peter Bray of Land Use Watch, who made it available on his blog). You can read the 31 PDF'd pages yourself. Download oia_lawsuit_response.pdf Some points that leapt out at me: --(page 5) Yes, it would cause voter confusion if Measure 49, which fixes many of the flaws in Measure 37, were to go on the ballot without a…

Bad choice. The Salem newspaper is leaning toward giving a "Tossup" to The Nature Conservancy for contributing more than $350,000 to the Yes on Measure 49 campaign. Measure 49 is a much-needed fix for Measure 37, which trashed Oregon's land use system and gave special rights to a few privileged property owners. The Statesman Journal editorial board is asking for comments on their planned Winners and Losers piece that will run tomorrow (Monday). This is what I told them: Come on. The Nature Conservancy should get a big thumbs-up, not a tossup, for contributing $350,000 to the Yes on 49…

Just got this. It's way too late for me to read 60 pages of Oregonians in Action B.S. about why the Measure 49 ballot language is bad, bad, bad (not to mention unconstitutional). But maybe there are some insomniac land use lawyers surfing the net right now. So here you are: a Memorandum of Law in Support of Application for Temporary Restraining Order and Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Download oia_lawsuit.pdf Yawn.

It’s going to cost my wife and me $500 to put a “Vote YES” argument in the Measure 49 section of the Oregon voter’s pamphlet. So please read the 323 words that I crafted this afternoon (see continuation to this post).

Every additional person who peruses this electoral work of literary art makes me feel better about the check I’ll soon be writing to the Elections Division.

If you want to follow in my politically active footsteps, click on this page and find the link to SEL 405, the cryptically numbered PDF form for filing a measure argument for the November 2007 special election.

(For some reason the form still refers to “2006 Voter’s Pamphlet Filing Fees and Deadlines, but I was told by the Elections Division to use it anyway).

We’ve never paid for a voter’s pamphlet argument before. But then we’ve never cared so much about a ballot measure before.

Our neighborhood’s wells and commonly owned lake are threatened by a Measure 37 subdivision. That’s made a whole lot of people around here into land use activists and Measure 49 supporters – even many who voted for Measure 37 and have come to see what a mistake that was.

It’s nice to see that a poll of Oregon voters by Riley Research found that 58% said they were likely to vote “Yes” on Measure 49, while just 12% opposed it.

Hopefully this will put a sock in the mouth of Oregonians in Action and other die-hard Measure 37 supporters who keep blathering about how voters shouldn’t be asked to express their opinion on Measure 37 again.

It sure looks like their opinion has changed, now that Oregonians have learned that large subdivisions on farm, forest, and groundwater limited land are the true face of Measure 37, not sweet old Dorothy English.

Here’s our argument in favor of Measure 49. It might change some before I submit it along with our check. The truth of which we speak is unalterable though: Our groundwater is threatened by the proposed 42-lot Measure 37 subdivision. And Measure 49 is our best hope for keeping our wells and lake from drying up.

The Portland Business Journal is reporting that a poll to be released Monday shows Oregon voters strongly support Measure 49, a fix for the seriously-flawed Measure 37, but are more "if'y" about Measure 50, which raises the state tobacco tax and earmarks it for children's health care. Guess this shows why Oregonians in Action, the main Measure 49 opponent, seems to be putting all of its effort into a federal lawsuit that challenges the description that will be on the ballot. If voters are given honest information about what Measure 49 does – protect farm land, forest land, and groundwater,…

Me thinketh Oregonians in Action (OIA) doth protest too much about Measure 49, a balanced effort to fix Measure 37 – which trashed Oregon's land use laws and threatens our state's vaunted livability. Most Measure 37 claimants are going to make out better under Measure 49. If OIA really cared about their constituency, they'd be urging a YES vote this November. As I said in "Measure 49 truth and lies," deception is the only avenue open to OIA and other Measure 49 opponents. They aren't fighting fair because they know they'll lose an honest fair fight. Oregonians don't want more…

Figures. Those who brought Oregon the unfairness of Measure 37, which elevated the property rights of a few over the rights of the many, are at it again – fighting Measure 49 unfairly. This is a much-needed fix for Measure 37 that's going to be voted on in November. It limits large subdivisions and protects our state's farms, forests, and groundwater. The ballot measure language drafted by the 2007 legislature says just this. But truthfulness isn't part of the Oregonians in Action game plan. So they've filed suit in federal court challenging the language that'll be on the ballot. I…