Jobs pay for our quality of life

Corvallis Gazette-Times, LETTERS, May 13, 2008

When I read about the choices for Corvallis City Council Ward 7, my humble opinion is that Jeannie Raymond couldn't be more wrong for Corvallis.

Her idea that we need to worry about Corvallis' "carbon footprint" seems entirely irrelevant given Hewlett Packard Co.'s pending layoff of 300 people.

We're all concerned about our "carbon footprint," but we need to put first things first.

The bottom line, at least to me, is that a high quality of life is not possible unless people have jobs.

In order to have a thriving arts community, a tax base that supports sustainability initiatives, clean water, paved roads, bridges that dont fall into the river, and so forth, people first have to be employed.

I appreciate Rick Schroffs more balanced approach. As a service-oriented businessman who is conscious about sustainability, I think hes going to be able to make the necessary intelligent tradeoffs that can help us retain the high quality of life that perhaps too many of us take for granted, while helping Corvallis keep and attract high-quality jobs.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Jeff Limon, Corvallis