Two Recent Letters-to-the-editor on Corvallis Climate Action Plan

Corvallis Gazette-Times | Corvallis Climate Action Plan (PDF)
Mailbag: Climate plan is troubling (David E. Williams, Ph.D., Corvallis, April 21) - Reading the extensive and ambitious recommendations to the City Council by the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition (Mailbag, April 12) and specifics of plan objectives, I was reminded of the five year plans of the Soviet Union during the last century by Joseph Stalin. Both plans have the common theme of relinquishing individual freedoms for the common good. The major difference is the Soviet Union plans set milestones for achievement in a realistic time frame. Read more...

Letters: Climate Action Plan is vague, unworkable (Charles Nelson, Corvallis, May 1) - I attended the first meeting on sustainability with about 300 others several years ago. The only qualification for being a voting participant was to provide your name. It did not matter where you lived, whether you had any experience in the area, or had any experience or expertise in planning. Everybody had an equal vote. ✧ The results were predictable: unrealistic and conflicting goals. Read more… Read More......

Re: Corvallis "Vlsion/Climate Action Plan"

UPDATE: John Detweiler's letter was published by the Corvallis Gazette-Times on 4/23/15: Letter: 'Climate action plan' misfires; Earth's woes are due to overpopulation

April 16, 2015 - Today, John H. Detweiler shared the following letter, which he submitted to the Gazette-Times Opinion page:

The proposed FY15-16 budget contains a project entitled "Vision/Climate Action Plan". The project proposes to spend $285,000 this year and $735,000 in cumulative costs. That money would be better spent on fixing potholes, capital investments with a high internal rate of return, or simply saved. The last Vision Statement contained fine sounding words that have been used to beat up developers. I expect a new Vision and Action Plan will not be any better. Moreover, unless city government is going to fund the "action", the envisioned projects need to be profitable for developers or they will not happen.

Any action that Corvallis takes to change the climate will just be noise in the earth's thermodynamic system. The real problem is the growing world population -- all of whom want to live the way the developed world lives -- which I estimate will be close to 12Billion early in the next century. Corvallis cannot take any action that will restrain or reduce population growth. For more on this issue, the reader is referred to "Cutting through Climate Change BS" on http://www.peak.org/~detweij.

John H. Detweiler

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A REPORT CARD ON THE CORVALLIS SCHOOL DISTRICT 509J (CSD509J)

(Cross-posted from Benton GOP News) - I am a life long Corvallis Resident. Kindergarten to 12 at Corvallis 509J. A Graduate of OSU in Business Administration. US Army Veteran. A local business owner in Corvallis for the last 37 years. I have served on over 30 local Boards. (CASA, Benton County Mental Health, Rotary, Corvallis 509J, OSU Education Foundation, etc). In January of 2014, I received the Senior First Citizen of Corvallis Award at Celebrate Corvallis.

Since March of 2013, I have attended every Corvallis 509J School Board Meeting, except one. The following is just some of the information, I have learned at these meetings:

1. The total operating Budget for CSD509J for School year 2013 to 2014 is 98 Million dollars.
   
   
2. There are 6348 students enrolled in CSD509J. We will spend $15,437.93 per student, this year.
   
   
3. Approximately 8000 students reside in the 509J district. 1700 or 23 % do not attend public schools. They attend Private Schools or are Home schooled.
   
   
4. In the last five years the graduation rate at CHS and CVHS has dropped from above 80% to 72%. 28% of our High School Seniors did not receive a diploma in 2013.
   
   
5. Enrollment decline. In 2002 we had 7250 students, by 2013 we had 6348. A loss of 900 children. CSD509J receives in State and Federal funds about $6000 per student per year. The 900 times $6000; equals $5,400,000 in revenue lost to 509J.
   
   
6. CSD509J provides All Day Kindergarten in four of the eight Grades Schools in Corvallis. The other four Schools have Half Day Kindergarten. Oregon Law requires Equal Education Opportunities for all children. The district discriminates against many students and families.
   
   
7. Fairplay School Sale. At the August 19, 2013 School Board Meeting, Mr. Steve Nielsen, Business Manager for CSD509J, announced the Sale of Fairplay School to Waldorf School. The terms were: Sale Price $476,000. $100,000 down payment, 6% interest, with a 4 year balloon. This is for a School and 11 acres. The previous year of the minutes of the 509J Board Meetings, make no mention of this property being for sale. The Board gave no public notice the property was for sale. Nor did they get an appraisal or do a Market analysis as to its best use or value. The School is surrounded by single family residences. Waldorf was unable to obtain financing. The CSD509J Board decided to become the lender with Tax payer money. Waldorf competes for Students with CSD509J. This sale closed on August 29, 2013. The next day, August 30, 2013, the Benton County Assessor placed a value of $3,592,197 on the Fairplay/Waldorf property. More than 7 times what the School Board sold it for. They gave away a Tax payer asset. School Board members are all elected officials, and have a fiduciary responsibility to the Tax Payers of 509J to exercise due diligence as they perform their duties. I testified to the Board, that if handled properly; The Fairplay Sale should bring 3 Million plus. Ten minutes after my testimony, Ann Schuster made a motion to sell FairPlay for $476,000 and it was seconded by Vincent Adams. The board vote was unanimous. I commissioned a Title report which shows the Property has a Warranty deed and the Assessor’s evaluation at $3,592,197. I gave a copy to the School Board.

If these results concern you, please get involved and start attending the School Board meetings. The School Board and the Administration must be held accountable as to how they perform their duties.

Al Hutchinson
Corvallis Resident Read More......

Debate? There is a debate about stopping child sex traffickers?

On Sunday, March 30th the Corvallis Gazette-Times published an article regarding child sex trafficking, Online sex sting sparks debate. For those who are critical of this sting operation, one must ask, What would you do to stop sex predators from victimizing our children?

Thank you, Corvallis Police Detective Bryan Rehnberg. Read More......

BCRW Bag Ban Forum - Support for repeal grows

On Monday, March 25th, the Benton County Republican Women held a Bag Ban Forum at the Comfort Inn Suites in Corvallis with representatives from local businesses, the Corvallis City Council and Voters for Effective Environmental Policy (VEEP). The audience was welcome to ask questions and express their views on the ban on single use plastic bags and related issues. See story and videos at Corvallis TidBits: Plastic Bag Ban Challenge Closer to Becoming Reality. ✧ Visit Voters for Effective Environmental Policy (VEEP) online: https://sites.google.com/site/veepcv/".

BCRW offers its appreciation to Susan McMahon, owner of Donna Bella Lingerie; Catherine Mater, civic, business leader with sustainability expertise; Wiatt Kettle, Milt Weaver and Bruce Harmon of VEEP and; Corvallis City Councilor Biff Traber of Ward 8.

UPDATE NOTICE: Representatives from Voters for Effective Environmental Policy (VEEP) will be the guest speakers at a special meeting of Benton County AFP on Saturday, April 13th, from 11AM to 1PM at King Tin Restaurant, 1857 NW 9th St., in Corvallis. VEEP is circulating a petition to repeal the bag ban ordinance. Read More......

City spending, analytics & setting priorities

John Detweiler has submitted a letter to the editor regarding the City of Corvallis' desire to reopen Fire Station #5. The letter reads:

As I have said many times, there will never be enough money to fund everything. Therefore, we need to set priorities and make choices. Moreover, we need to support those choices with appropriate analytical work.

The City Council is considering reopening fire station five. Yet, the Corvallis Fire Department Response Time Simulation Study, dated April 25, 2012, tells us that we gained an average ten seconds in EMS response time and lost eleven seconds in average fire initial response time when we closed station five - a trivial amount of time. Are we conveniently ignoring this study now?

The Police Department is still trying to justify more officers by saying comparable cities have so many sworn officers per population, therefore Corvallis should have the same number. The underlying assumption being that the demand for service in the comparable cities is equal to that in Corvallis. Nothing is being said about the demand for service in Corvallis that Matrix Consulting Group quantified in 2008. Considering the growth in demand for service because of the OSU expansion, that quantification needs to be updated. Moreover, we need to establish the current relationship between the response time and the number of officers we deploy as I did in 2009 with the Matrix data - see my web site: www.peak.org/~detweij.

Any reduction in, or failure to increase, services will have adverse effects on public safety. But, since we can't afford everything, risk needs to be balanced against costs. That is what good governing is all about.

John H. Detweiler

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Corvallis wins "Porker Award"

From Oregon Capitol Watchdog Foundation - On October 1, the second Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation "Porker Award" was bestowed upon the City of Corvallis for spending $500,000 on encouraging people to use compact flourescent bulbs and ride their bicycles.

Corvallis Gazette-Times, 10/5/2012: Foundation hands 'pork' award to city (plus comments) - Public Works Department Director Mary Steckel defends money spent and money yet to be spent. Read More......

Corvallis bag ban & tax survey

OREGON CATALYST, 3/17/2012 by In the news - Hilex Poly

The Corvallis City Council is considering installing a ban and tax on all shopping bags, both paper and plastic. In exploring options, the City Council has asked for comments from the public in this survey. ✧ Please take a few moments and let the Corvallis City Council know your thoughts on bag bans and taxes on shopping bags. ✧ Hilex believes that the answer lies within common sense legislation that preserves Oregon’s manufacturing and recycling jobs, rather than increasing costs for local residents.  Despite misconceptions, plastic bags are 100% recyclable and made in the U.S., using domestic natural gas and support American jobs.

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Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife: Positions open for experienced hunters or wildlife conservationists

Hunter position open on advisory council (Democrat Herald Online) - CORVALLIS — ODFW is looking for someone with experience in hunting and/or wildlife conservation to serve as a hunter representative on the Access and Habitat Program’s South Willamette Advisory Council. ✧ Individuals living in Linn, Benton, Lincoln, Lane, Polk and southern Marion counties with an interest and experience in hunting and/or wildlife conservation are encouraged to apply. ✧ Applications are available online and due at the Corvallis ODFW office by Feb. 17, 2012. For more information or for application materials by mail, contact David Stroppel at 541-757-5237. Read More......

Corrected local Town Hall Schedule for Rep. DeFazio

Here's the correct information for U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio's local town hall meetings:

Thursday, August 25, 2011
1:30pm-2:30pm, ALBANY (Senior Town Hall) - City Council Chambers, Albany City Hall, 333 Broadalbin St. 5:30pm-6:30pm, CORVALLIS - Main Meeting Room, Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 NW Monroe Ave.

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Moody’s affirms city’s bond rating (Corvallis)

Moody’s Investors Service has affirmed the city of Corvallis bond rating of Aa2 for unlimited tax general obligation bonds and Aa3 for limited tax bonds and assigned a negative outlook. Read more at InBusiness...

(Hat tip: John H. Detweiler)
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Detweiler on voter turnout in Corvallis regarding measure 02-74

LETTER TO THE EDITOR submitted to the Corvallis Gazette-Times today, June 4, 2011 by John H. Detweiler

On May 17, 2011, Corvallis voted on measure 02-74 - a levy to fund various programs that does not solve our financial problems. The numbers describing voter participation on the Benton County web site are at the county level and do not describe participation at the city level. They need to be massaged to get participation numbers at the city level.

The voter had three choices: Yes, No, or Abstain. Many people abstained and the levy passed by a wide margin -- by an almost 2 to 1 ratio. However, only 48% of the 27,678 voters bothered to vote. The rest abstained. In other words, the levy was passed by only 31% of the total voters in Corvallis -- an abysmal performance by the Corvallis voter.

At the sub-precinct level, the performance is both better and worse. Some sub-precincts voted in greater numbers and other sub-precincts voted in lower numbers. In the sub-precincts with the best turnout only 32% of the voters abstained. In the sub-precinct with the worst turnout 95% of the voters abstained. The definition of sub-precincts and details on performance of all Corvallis sub-precincts can be found at www.peak.org/~detweij

My conclusion is that not enough people care about local government to bother to send in their ballot -- which is sad. As always, we get the government we deserve and not necessarily the government we need.

John H. Detweiler
www.peak.org/~detweij

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Detweiler submits another letter to the editor regarding levy

Via email: 4/27/2011 - John H. Detweiler submitted another letter to the editor (untitled) regarding the Corvallis Local Option Levy 02-74:

The levy that will appear on the May ballot will not solve our financial problem. What it will do is restore cuts that have been made to lower priority services - the Osborn Aquatic Center is the lowest priority service -- leaving the cuts to higher priority services stand. If the levy passes, next year we will be told that if we want higher priority services - fire and police - funded, we will have to pay more taxes. Details on priorities can be found at www.peak.org/~detweij.

Our problem is that expenditures have been above revenues in property tax funds since FY07-08 and we are running out of reserves. We knew that this was going to happen many years before it did happen but we did not do anything about it. If the levy passes, it really won't give us an opportunity to decide how to reshape our city government because the City Council won't take that opportunity because we don't elect people to the City Council who will say "NO". Our City Council has to be pressured to make good financial decisions and voting against the levy will increase that pressure.

Join me and others who worry about the financial sustainability of our wonderful city in voting against the levy - entitled Local Option Levy 02-74.

John H. Detweiler; web page => www.peak.org/~detweij

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Tax Levy 02-74 Discussed at City Club

CORVALLIS TIDBITS, 4/11/2011 - "Monday April 11th the Corvallis City Club hosted a forum on the proposed tax Levy, measure 02-74, scheduled for a vote on May 17, 2011. John Detweiler, statistician and former candidate for Corvallis City Council presented the case for voting no on Measure 02-74. Karyle Butcher, Corvallis Budget Commission member and retired Oregon State University Librarian, presented the case for voting yes on Measure 02-74." Read more at Corvallis TidBits...

John Detweiler spoke at the Benton County AFP Special Community Meeting tonight and he will repeat his presentation for the Benton County Republican Women on Monday, April 25th. Read More......

Detweiler offers more on the Corvallis levy (02-74)

Research and letter by John H. Detweiler - submitted to the Corvallis Gazette-Times 3/21/2011 (Published by the GT on 3/25/2011 as Letter: Passing city’s levy won’t solve Corvallis’ real fiscal problems.

The levy that will appear on the May ballot will not solve our budget problems. Local households and local business cannot support our local government. Therefore we must reduce costs. Personnel costs, amounting to 55% of current costs, are good place to start.

The mean total compensation (salary and benefits) per full time equivalent for the FY 10-11 budget year is $100,000. In five years, the mean total compensation has gone from $80,000 to $100,000. The total salary and benefits increases over this period are: 5.29% and 7.44% per year respectively.

In 2008, the ratios of Corvallis employee salary to Corvallis citizen salary and Salem government worker salary were 1.57 and 1.31 respectively -- higher than I had thought they would be. The notion in setting pay rates is to pay sufficient compensation to attract and retain qualified competent employees. The total package does not have to be excessive.

Negotiations need to be conducted with our unions to constrain and reduce total compensation. And, if we have to take a strike, so be it. If reasonable contracts cannot be worked out, we can contract with private business to perform the commercially oriented functions and lay off employees - foregoing their services -- we can't afford. Details and the sources of these numbers can be found at www.peak.org/~detweij.

This levy, and the ones that will be required in the future if we don't get our costs under control, will not solve our budget problems. Join thinking citizens in voting against this levy.

John H. Detweiler
Corvallis
www.peak.org/~detweij

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Re: Corvallis Levy

Research and letter by John H. Detweiler (submitted to the Corvallis Gazette-Times 3/13/2011) - The levy that will appear on the May ballot funds the lower priority items but not the highest priority items. If the levy passes, we will fund: the Osborn Aquatic Center - the service with the lowest priority, the Senior Center - part of the Parks and Recreation Department which has a priority just above the Aquatic Center, some social services, and marginal cuts in library services - which have a priority just above Park and Recreation.

On page III-13 of the Financial Plans, given to the Budget Commission, shows that the ending budget fund balance is a negative $3.1M. On the reduction possibilities-matrix, also given to the Budget Commission, there are three groups of services -- A-Levy services, B-Remaining Order of Magnitude Packages, and C-Alternate Order of Magnitude Packages -- listed in the order, by group, which they would be cut.

The property tax fund amounts for group A, group B, and group C are $1.8M, $1.0M, and $1.6M respectively. The first two groups (A&B) will be cut for total of $2.8M and $0.3M cut from the third group (C).

If the levy passes, the cuts contained in group A will be restored but the cuts contained in groups B and C will not be restored. Groups B and C include cuts to the fire and police departments - the services with the highest priority.

My analysis of priorities is based on the 2010 Citizens Attitude Study and the survey conducted by Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall and can be found at www.peak.org/~detweij.

John H. Detweiler
Corvallis
www.peak.org/~detweij Read More......

Sustainability in our backyard

Important articles at BIG GOVERNMENT by James M. Simpson

• Agenda 21 Part I: A Global Economic Disaster in the Making
  
• Agenda 21 Part II: Globalist Totalitarian Dictatorship Invading a Town near You–With Your Permission
  
• Agenda 21 Part III: Maryland County Abolishes Agenda 21 – Now it’s Your Turn

Corvallis is on the list. --bc Read More......

Maryland County Abolishes Agenda 21

CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY, 2/23/2011 dljholt posts article by James Simpson (Hat tip: Steve) - "The November elections marked a sea change in the political landscape at every level of government nationwide. Right now, all eyes are focused on the Wisconsin standoff between Governor Scott Walker and the public employee unions. But under the radar, completely overlooked by the mass media, is the unprecedented move recently taken by newly-elected Carroll County, Maryland Commissioners Richard Rothschild, Robin Frazier, Haven Shoemaker, Dave Roush and Doug Howard, who abolished the County’s Office of Sustainability. They then voted unanimously to drop out of the UN’s International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). They are the first governmental organization to do so." Read more and learn more about Agenda 21...

Note: Corvallis is one of 600 cities that has signed on. WE need to learn as much as possible about ICLEI and Agenda 21. --bc Read More......

GT: 'Market people' flock to fairgrounds

IMAGE: Patty Robidart and her mother, Betty Robidart, shop at the Corvallis Indoor Winter Market Saturday morning at the Benton County Fairgrounds. (Andy Cripe/Gazette-Times)

We think it's kinda neat that Patty and Betty, aka. 'Market people,' were prominently shown on the front of the Local/Region section of Sunday's Corvallis Gazette-Times! Read More......

JHD Comments for City Budget Committee

A big thank you to John Detweiler. I meant to post this earlier but the information John submitted to the Corvallis Budget Committee on 12/10 is still pertinent and important. --bc

To: Budget Commission
From: John H. Detweiler
Subj: Comments for 12/13/10 Budget Commission meeting.
You are about to go through the agony of establishing priorities and deciding what to cut from the Corvallis 2011-2012 budget. You will hear the advocates of the library, aquatic center, senior center, police, fire, and other services tell you that the service they are advocating is more important than any other service and that Corvallis can't live without that service.

I encourage you to put more weight on the results of the Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall, Inc. (DHM) telephone survey of voters conducted in October than the words of individual service advocates because the survey represents the priorities of Corvallis as a whole, not the priorities of the noisy few. The priorities of Corvallis as a whole, extracted from DHM are, in order: public safety (fire and police), social services and the library, followed by parks & recreation with the aquatic center being of lesser priority than other parks & recreation programs. The details of my
analysis can be found at: http://www.peak.org/~detweij.

Any cuts made to lesser priority services should be made in addition to cuts resulting from more efficient operations and reductions in personnel compensation. Moreover, user fees - not taxes cleverly disguised as user fees - should be charged so that the people who actually use the service pay for the service. For example, the entrance fees to the aquatic center should be raised enough to replace the subsidy from property taxes.

You are also going to consider putting a levy on the May ballot to fund city services. If a levy is put on the ballot, and is not too high for the likely voter - who has a higher household income than the population of the Corvallis MSA -- it will probably pass. However, if local taxes are increased, the increase will hurt many people with lower incomes. Moreover, the number of people with lower incomes has increased between 2008 and 2009. The details of my analysis of Corvallis household incomes can be found at: http://www.peak.org/~detweij.
--
John H. Detweiler; web page => http://www.peak.org/~detweij Read More......