| View from Sherwood - November/December 2001 |
 |
 |
 |
| Tuesday, 13 January 2009 09:29 |
|
By Frank Nims President Oregonians In Action November/December 2001 Recent acts of terrorism requires new and clear thinking about the basic concept of Oregon land-use and transportation regulations and policy, both of which are geared to concentrating people and businesses into highly confined areas. This, of course, creates ideal targets for terrorists. As Stephen Ambrose, noted author and WWII historian, said: the real lesson behind the terrorist attack is, "Don’t bunch up." In New York City, businesses and people have begun an exodus from the center of the metropolitan area; there is talk of doing the same in Chicago, and other cities are certain to follow suit. Most other state and local land-use regulations allow people to move out of crowded cities to less vulnerable areas. However, Oregon’s highly restrictive urban growth boundaries prevent this. It’s hand tailored to the needs of terrorists. People are being crammed into high density housing, and virtually prohibited from moving to low density rural areas. Worse yet, taxpayer funds are being used to subsidize even higher density development. Light rail, which relies on high concentrations of people, is also a tempting target for terrorists. In Japan, a rail center was the target for bioterrorism a number of years ago. It is time for Oregon to take a fresh look at our land-use and transportation laws and regulations. What is wrong with people being allowed to build on and move to rural and suburban areas when they feel unsafe where they are living or working? Let’s look again at the concept and need for urban growth boundaries, the need to restrict people from dividing rural land into buildable lots, and redirecting transportation money to building better roads and highways instead of light rail. Failure to act sensibly could needlessly result in a heavy loss of lives at any time. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Site design and hosting by WebNation and Direct Northwest