Imagine looking out your back door toward the forests and mountains of the Sisters country — and seeing a steel structure the size of a football field and 30 feet tall.
That’s the nightmare facing some Tollgate residents as Central Electric Cooperative gets set to upgrade its Tollgate substation to handle 115 kv power. They’re looking at a significant loss of property values as well as a diminished quality of life. The decline in property values will affect everyone in Tollgate, because their homes will be comparables in any appraisal.
The price of progress? Well...
Nobody really disputes the need for a power upgrade. The more wired our society becomes, the more juice we use and there’s really no arguing that. Enhanced reliability is a benefit.
But it isn’t pretty to see neighbors get royally screwed.
The shame of it is that this facility could be pushed 300 yards to the west, into the forest, and nobody’d even know it was there. A wildfire buffer could be easily created while still retaining a screen that would preserve the neighbors’ quality of life.
The Forest Service won’t allow it, because the rules say the agency can’t sell or trade public lands for such facilities unless there’s no other option. CEC owns land for the substation; an option exists and must be used.
The rules are not irrational. They exist to protect public lands and that’s certainly what most of us want. Precedent can be a real bear — bend the rules for some residents in Tollgate and sure as shootin’ somebody will want the same treatment in Idaho or New Mexico.
But “them’s the rules; tough luck” is hard to swallow when a solution seems so easy at hand. Some flexibility seems in order here.
It probably won’t happen — almost certainly won’t happen. The substation will win county approval, it will be built over the next year and the neighbors will try to screen their view as much as they can with their own landscaping. Their homes will never feel quite the same.
Maybe they’ll get used to it, but I doubt it.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Who says we need a plan?
I have a problem with the "visioning thing."
Call me a cynic. I prefer skeptic. I don't put much faith in "visioning" and community gatherings to plan our future.
That makes some people really angry and I feel kinda bad about that. Believe me, it would be easier to shut up and go along and get along. But I think planning processes like the one that went through another iteration on Saturday are a largely waste of time and resources.
Most of the good things that have happened in Sisters happened because someone or a small group of people had an idea — a vision — and the passion, grit, determination (naiveté?) to push it through, sometimes in the face of outright resistance. The Quilt Show, the Sisters Folk Festival; the new Sisters Brand; the FivePine Campus — all examples of individuals or small groups pursuing a vision and making it happen. There are many more. Yes, I understand that the Community Garden came out of this process. That's a good thing. Yet, I'd argue that the gardeners would have found a way with or without the process.
In my experience, personal initiative is how things get done.
The issue of an economic development plan and an economic development director point to the flaws of the planning model that is currently being pursued. I understand the rationale behind having an economic development leader in Sisters — but what's this person going to do? We've recently seen two major projects that offered the kind of economic development the community says it wants founder and stall against planning delays and changes at City Hall and a suddenly chilly market climate.
When people with a passion and a vision and a vested interest in making it fly can't make something happen in Sisters, what is an economic development director going to do to change things? And if we really need one, why can't a re-energized Chamber of Commerce play the role.
I'm all for people getting involved. But they need to get involved where the rubber meets the road — at City Hall, at the school board, before the planning commission. Or volunteer with one of the multitude of great organizations in the community. Help put on an event or join a service club.
I don't think we need more plans or new layers of bureaucracy. We just need to get out of the way of the people who make things happen.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Call me a cynic. I prefer skeptic. I don't put much faith in "visioning" and community gatherings to plan our future.
That makes some people really angry and I feel kinda bad about that. Believe me, it would be easier to shut up and go along and get along. But I think planning processes like the one that went through another iteration on Saturday are a largely waste of time and resources.
Most of the good things that have happened in Sisters happened because someone or a small group of people had an idea — a vision — and the passion, grit, determination (naiveté?) to push it through, sometimes in the face of outright resistance. The Quilt Show, the Sisters Folk Festival; the new Sisters Brand; the FivePine Campus — all examples of individuals or small groups pursuing a vision and making it happen. There are many more. Yes, I understand that the Community Garden came out of this process. That's a good thing. Yet, I'd argue that the gardeners would have found a way with or without the process.
In my experience, personal initiative is how things get done.
The issue of an economic development plan and an economic development director point to the flaws of the planning model that is currently being pursued. I understand the rationale behind having an economic development leader in Sisters — but what's this person going to do? We've recently seen two major projects that offered the kind of economic development the community says it wants founder and stall against planning delays and changes at City Hall and a suddenly chilly market climate.
When people with a passion and a vision and a vested interest in making it fly can't make something happen in Sisters, what is an economic development director going to do to change things? And if we really need one, why can't a re-energized Chamber of Commerce play the role.
I'm all for people getting involved. But they need to get involved where the rubber meets the road — at City Hall, at the school board, before the planning commission. Or volunteer with one of the multitude of great organizations in the community. Help put on an event or join a service club.
I don't think we need more plans or new layers of bureaucracy. We just need to get out of the way of the people who make things happen.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Art gives back
“Art gives us back what our living takes away.” Don’t remember who said it first. I’m stealing it from Tom Russell.
For some people maybe art is just decoration to hang on the wall. For some people music is just background noise. I don’t understand that. For me, art and music are food and drink; without them I’d starve and waste away.
Good thing I live in Sisters.
Art of all kinds is all around us here. Thanks to the vision of people like Kathy Deggendorfer, art is becoming an economic engine for the community. The schools nurture art and art supports the schools — literally.
Just this month alone artists and musicians will inject tens of thousands of dollars into the school system through My Own Two Hands and Starry Nights.
Art soothes and uplifts; art challenges and disturbs. Art mends your heart and breaks it. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Sometimes it’s perfect and right to simply entertain.
The more you respond to art, the more alive you become.
The well is deep in Sisters and getting deeper and richer all the time. That’s a lot of life given back.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
For some people maybe art is just decoration to hang on the wall. For some people music is just background noise. I don’t understand that. For me, art and music are food and drink; without them I’d starve and waste away.
Good thing I live in Sisters.
Art of all kinds is all around us here. Thanks to the vision of people like Kathy Deggendorfer, art is becoming an economic engine for the community. The schools nurture art and art supports the schools — literally.
Just this month alone artists and musicians will inject tens of thousands of dollars into the school system through My Own Two Hands and Starry Nights.
Art soothes and uplifts; art challenges and disturbs. Art mends your heart and breaks it. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Sometimes it’s perfect and right to simply entertain.
The more you respond to art, the more alive you become.
The well is deep in Sisters and getting deeper and richer all the time. That’s a lot of life given back.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Friday, April 11, 2008
Mt. Rushmore is coming to town
If somebody ever decides to create a Mt. Rushmore for great American songwriters, Rodney Crowell is going to up there. Right there next to his mentors Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, just over to the right of Steve Earle (everybody is to the right of Steve Earle), a couple of spots over from Bob Dylan. No kidding.
Rodney Crowell is one of the great ones, the real deal, the rare breed of cat who has had both great commercial success and profound artistic integrity. A singer and songwriter who can make hits and make art, who can sell but not sell out.
He’s coming to Sisters for a Starry Nights Concert on Saturday, April 26. If you hurry, you can still get a ticket.
Seeing an artist of this caliber in an intimate acoustic setting is an unbelievable privilege (especially considering that Crowell, along with all the other Starry Nights artists is donating his time). Once again, Sisters is providing an opportunity out of all proportion to its size.
I first discovered Rodney Crowell when I was about 15 years old, when I heard Emmylou Harris’ version of his “Leavin’ Louisiana in the Broad Daylight.” Crowell was the leader of Emmylou’s Hot Band and she did a bunch of his songs.
I thought “Leavin’ Louisiana” was such a cool song, it may have been the first time I looked at a songwriter credit. I had to know who wrote that thing. My band, The Anvil Blasters, keeps that song in our set list, so I’ve been playing it for, what, 27 years.
Virtually every one of my favorite artists has covered a Rodney Crowell song for the simple reason that he’s produced a huge body of great work, song after song that makes you laugh, makes you stomp your foot, makes you think or just rips your heart right out of your chest.
He made it big as a performer in his own right in 1985 with a record called “Diamonds & Dirt,” which produced five number-one hits on country radio. This was during what Steve Earle calls the Great Nashville Credibility Scare of the mid-’80s during which labels were signing real songwriters who were producing songs of lasting value that also happened to turn into radio hits.
Rodney Crowell is still turning out hit songs for other artists, some of the rare gems to be found on heavily-formatted country radio today. More importantly, he’s still creating fine records of his own.
The autobiographical “The Houston Kid, the social commentary and wrestling with creative and personal growth on “The Outsider” and “Fate’s Right Hand,” stand up with his best work and showcase an artist who, far from resting on his laurels, keeps pushing, taking rhyme, rhythm and melody into new territory with torrents of wild but knife-sharp imagery.
The guy can write — and he’s also a soulful and engaging performer.
Get over to Leavitt’s and get a ticket for this show. The fact that you’re helping keep arts and music programs in Sisters schools is gravy.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Rodney Crowell is one of the great ones, the real deal, the rare breed of cat who has had both great commercial success and profound artistic integrity. A singer and songwriter who can make hits and make art, who can sell but not sell out.
He’s coming to Sisters for a Starry Nights Concert on Saturday, April 26. If you hurry, you can still get a ticket.
Seeing an artist of this caliber in an intimate acoustic setting is an unbelievable privilege (especially considering that Crowell, along with all the other Starry Nights artists is donating his time). Once again, Sisters is providing an opportunity out of all proportion to its size.
I first discovered Rodney Crowell when I was about 15 years old, when I heard Emmylou Harris’ version of his “Leavin’ Louisiana in the Broad Daylight.” Crowell was the leader of Emmylou’s Hot Band and she did a bunch of his songs.
I thought “Leavin’ Louisiana” was such a cool song, it may have been the first time I looked at a songwriter credit. I had to know who wrote that thing. My band, The Anvil Blasters, keeps that song in our set list, so I’ve been playing it for, what, 27 years.
Virtually every one of my favorite artists has covered a Rodney Crowell song for the simple reason that he’s produced a huge body of great work, song after song that makes you laugh, makes you stomp your foot, makes you think or just rips your heart right out of your chest.
He made it big as a performer in his own right in 1985 with a record called “Diamonds & Dirt,” which produced five number-one hits on country radio. This was during what Steve Earle calls the Great Nashville Credibility Scare of the mid-’80s during which labels were signing real songwriters who were producing songs of lasting value that also happened to turn into radio hits.
Rodney Crowell is still turning out hit songs for other artists, some of the rare gems to be found on heavily-formatted country radio today. More importantly, he’s still creating fine records of his own.
The autobiographical “The Houston Kid, the social commentary and wrestling with creative and personal growth on “The Outsider” and “Fate’s Right Hand,” stand up with his best work and showcase an artist who, far from resting on his laurels, keeps pushing, taking rhyme, rhythm and melody into new territory with torrents of wild but knife-sharp imagery.
The guy can write — and he’s also a soulful and engaging performer.
Get over to Leavitt’s and get a ticket for this show. The fact that you’re helping keep arts and music programs in Sisters schools is gravy.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Monday, April 7, 2008
We don’t need a hero
This endless presidential campaign has worn me out. I tuned out weeks ago — or at least tried to. It’s hard to avoid.
The cable news channels are busily picking lint out of their navels and examining it under a microscope, filling their voracious 24-hour news cycle with any bit of political trivia they can conjure, desperately waiting for some real action in Pennsylvania.
Hillary Clinton keeps “misspeaking” (“did I say ‘under sniper fire?’ I meant ‘in a country where snipers have fired’”). McCain keeps offering “straight” talk (“I don’t understand the economy.” “I never said that”). Obama keeps delivering masterful speeches. Tastes great, less filling.
And yet people latch onto a candidate with enviable passion and commitment. For some, Obama is a kind of savior. Clinton partisans will do anything for Hillary. McCain... well, McCain doesn’t seem to inspire much passion. The right can’t stand him. That may mean trouble for him in November.
But anyway...
We want so badly to believe in real leadership .... and we are so consistently disappointed.
Gregory Rodriguez wrote a great column in the LA Times about all this. Here’s a sample: “...the practice of idealizing politicians, of putting presidents or any other elected official on a pedestal, is a little like repeatedly nominating a used-car salesman to the Better Business Bureau. How many Eliot Spitzers does it take before we stop being even a little bit surprised that these people are not only human, they’re wildly ambitious, which makes them especially prone to the big fall?” (Read the column here: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rodriguez31mar31,0,5098203.column).
We’ve given the President massive power — too much. And we expect the President to bring “change” to cure what ails us, to remake the world. It ain’t gonna happen folks. The candidates are politicians, with all the human frailties and then some.
We don’t need a hero; we need somebody with smarts and common sense who won’t make too many big mistakes.
The President won’t lead us to the Promised Land. That’s up to us.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
The cable news channels are busily picking lint out of their navels and examining it under a microscope, filling their voracious 24-hour news cycle with any bit of political trivia they can conjure, desperately waiting for some real action in Pennsylvania.
Hillary Clinton keeps “misspeaking” (“did I say ‘under sniper fire?’ I meant ‘in a country where snipers have fired’”). McCain keeps offering “straight” talk (“I don’t understand the economy.” “I never said that”). Obama keeps delivering masterful speeches. Tastes great, less filling.
And yet people latch onto a candidate with enviable passion and commitment. For some, Obama is a kind of savior. Clinton partisans will do anything for Hillary. McCain... well, McCain doesn’t seem to inspire much passion. The right can’t stand him. That may mean trouble for him in November.
But anyway...
We want so badly to believe in real leadership .... and we are so consistently disappointed.
Gregory Rodriguez wrote a great column in the LA Times about all this. Here’s a sample: “...the practice of idealizing politicians, of putting presidents or any other elected official on a pedestal, is a little like repeatedly nominating a used-car salesman to the Better Business Bureau. How many Eliot Spitzers does it take before we stop being even a little bit surprised that these people are not only human, they’re wildly ambitious, which makes them especially prone to the big fall?” (Read the column here: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rodriguez31mar31,0,5098203.column).
We’ve given the President massive power — too much. And we expect the President to bring “change” to cure what ails us, to remake the world. It ain’t gonna happen folks. The candidates are politicians, with all the human frailties and then some.
We don’t need a hero; we need somebody with smarts and common sense who won’t make too many big mistakes.
The President won’t lead us to the Promised Land. That’s up to us.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Saturday, April 5, 2008
What's in a (political) label?
I have always hated labels. I have never wanted to be put in somebody's little box, defined by categories and caricatures.
Political labels particularly get under my skin. Over the years I've been called a right-winger, a left-winger, everything in between. Maybe that's because I don't toe an ideological line. I've always subscribed to the belief that both ends of the political spectum threaten freedom. The left wants to control your money and your guns; the right wants to police your bedroom. I've been told more than once that I have to choose a side. No, I don't. Neither side represents me.
Philosophically, I' guess I'd define myself as a libertarian (although I like the term Romantic Anarchist). I want to be left alone.
On the other hand... I am a member of a community and I have to think about a "greater good" beyond my own personal "don't tread on me" attitude. That has created some throny questions about policies — how we should make things work better.
And labels like "liberal" or "conservative" don't help.
I opposed the Iraq war from the beginning because I believe that attacking a nation that has not attacked us violates a fundamental principle of the Republic. I believe in the American Republic, not in an American Empire. But I'm no pacifist. Sometimes, we have to fight and I believe in being good at it. Liberal? Conservative?
I believe strongly in public education. A well-educated and engaged public is the safeguard of the Republic. We should pay teachers enough to attract the best into the field. But I also believe that we need to inject more accountability and competition into the system. Liberal? Conservative?
I believe in universal healthcare. Every person in the richest nation in the world should have access to quality healthcare that doesn't break the bank. But I don't much like the idea of subsidizing people who eat McDonald's three meals a day and smoke three packs a day. Liberal? Conservative?
The labels are useless. We've got a lot of work to do and if the rednecks and the bluenecks don't quit calling each other names and get down to it, it'll never get done.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
Political labels particularly get under my skin. Over the years I've been called a right-winger, a left-winger, everything in between. Maybe that's because I don't toe an ideological line. I've always subscribed to the belief that both ends of the political spectum threaten freedom. The left wants to control your money and your guns; the right wants to police your bedroom. I've been told more than once that I have to choose a side. No, I don't. Neither side represents me.
Philosophically, I' guess I'd define myself as a libertarian (although I like the term Romantic Anarchist). I want to be left alone.
On the other hand... I am a member of a community and I have to think about a "greater good" beyond my own personal "don't tread on me" attitude. That has created some throny questions about policies — how we should make things work better.
And labels like "liberal" or "conservative" don't help.
I opposed the Iraq war from the beginning because I believe that attacking a nation that has not attacked us violates a fundamental principle of the Republic. I believe in the American Republic, not in an American Empire. But I'm no pacifist. Sometimes, we have to fight and I believe in being good at it. Liberal? Conservative?
I believe strongly in public education. A well-educated and engaged public is the safeguard of the Republic. We should pay teachers enough to attract the best into the field. But I also believe that we need to inject more accountability and competition into the system. Liberal? Conservative?
I believe in universal healthcare. Every person in the richest nation in the world should have access to quality healthcare that doesn't break the bank. But I don't much like the idea of subsidizing people who eat McDonald's three meals a day and smoke three packs a day. Liberal? Conservative?
The labels are useless. We've got a lot of work to do and if the rednecks and the bluenecks don't quit calling each other names and get down to it, it'll never get done.
Jim Cornelius, Editor
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