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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Obituaries Weather Archive Hot Topics Forum Photo Gallery Past Readers Polls Revels Etcetera Backpage O-Zone Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Online Games Movie Preview September 30, 2006 Letters To The Editors Letter Submissions Letters should be e-mailed in text-only format to [email protected] . Please include your address and a daytime phone number where you can be reached for confirmation. Letters are limited to 250 words. At Length submissions are limited to 400 words. Submissions may be edited for length, content and clarity. The Tidings gives priority to letters on local and regional topics of current interest. It seeks to encourage thoughtful, well-reasoned leters and to discourage personal attacks, repetitive messages and personal disputes. Form letters are not published in the Tidings, nor are letters identified as having been published in other publications. Support for Eric Navickas I want to express my support for Eric Navickas for Ashland City Council for the following reasons: Eric walks his talk. He studies the issues and gets involved. Whether you agree with him or not, he's not afraid to stand up for his beliefs. Eric has been involved for a long time, knows the process and how the city works. His opponent is a newcomer. Eric believes in the same things as I: a diversified economy, affordable housing and social justice. The council needs a perspective beyond grow, grow, grow. I sincerely hope Ashlanders look to a sustainable, environmental future and vote for Eric. Jay Almarode Ashland Conspiracies have some substance I was glad to see Alex Cockburn honor the ideal of looking at actual evidence. Unfortunately his "9/11 Conspiracy Nuts" commentary, didn't offer any evidence. He mostly ridiculed those who disagree with him. So let's look at some facts. The government's own NIST website: http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm admits: ""¦ the building section above came down essentially in free fall, as seen in videos." So what do they claim brought down the towers at free fall speed? "NIST's findings do not support the 'pancake theory' of collapse which is premised on a progressive failure of the floor systems in the WTC towers. Instead, the NIST investigation showed conclusively that the failure of the inwardly bowed perimeter columns initiated collapse and that the occurrence of this inward bowing required the sagging floors to remain connected to the columns and pull the columns inwards. Thus, the floors did not fail progressively to cause a pan caking phenomenon." So the government wants us to believe that several floors with weakened steel tied in with concrete floors sagged and pulled all 236 vertical steel beams around the periphery and the 47 massive vertical steel beams in the center of the towers all the way down to the ground right into the building's own footprint, at the same speed as an object falling through thin air. Hard to believe? Don't believe, look for yourself. Read what's on the NIST website yourself. Then go to http://www.911revisted.com and watch the videos of the towers coming down yourself. The evidence speaks for itself. Eli Dumitru Medford Thursday editorial insults citizen Strange that you would choose to characterize a city council candidate that Alan DeBoer backs as a first responder from Medford. Not only is that insulting to all first responders who put it all on the line daily for the MT/Tidings safety, and myself but elitist. If you work honorable in Medford can you not be qualified to serve for public office in Ashland? Public safety supervisor Lemhouse, whose career start in public safety was in Ashland, a terrible disservice. Why did you not mention that he lives in Ashland with his wife and three children two of whom attend Ashland Public Schools as did his wife? That he cares enough to run for seat two? What does Alan Deboer have to do with anything? Or Cathy Shaw for that matter, I urge MT/Tidings to take time to get to know candidates up close and personal. That would be fitting of a paper you purport to be. I myself can some the above mentioned candidate and elected officials of past in 4 words Honest, Dependable, Educated, Respectful (to all) You will find Lemhouse his own person imminently qualified and putting Ashland first. I can reassure you he will not attend a public meeting in his BD suite. John Sambrano Ashland All 'green' should be legal I'm writing about Robert Plain's story: "Legal green" (Sept. 23). My question is why do adult citizens of a so-call free country need permission from their government to consume marijuana or any other substance — especially in the privacy of their own homes? It seems to me that a free country should be a free country. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. Thanks to Kart from SOU WRC Kudos to our locally owned Shop-N-Kart for allowing the Women's Resource Center of Southern Oregon University to hold a car wash and raise money for the Dunn House safe shelter and SAVS, Sexual Assault Victim Services. Forty incoming SOU students learned about volunteer opportunities in our community and then washed cars and raised over $550! Excellent! Amy Wilhelm, Nicole Trueblood, Deltra Ferguson Ashland Current Comments: I'm not entirely convinced Navickas is REALLY a resident of Ashland. The address on Faith avenue is listed under the name of an older woman (I assume to be his mother) and a man with a different last name. He farms in Prospect, supposedly "every day". OK. Fine. How green is it that he commutes all that distance (if he DOES live in Ashland), likely burning fossil fuels and causing global warming? OR...does he live there and commutes to Ashland to stir the pot and claim to be green????? Yeah! - Ashland - September 30th, 4:59 PM I wondered the same thing "Yeah". Seems fishy to me. If I rent a PO Box in Ashland under my name, use Mommy's address as my "street address" when I need one and own a farm in Prospect where I sleep, does that mean I'm a resident of Ashland? There's a lot of talk about affordable housing for young families, but how many of the council actually have young children currently in the schools? Seems like we should have people on the council who actually are the people we're trying to attract. Linda - Ashland, OR - October 1st, 8:24 AM Now here's something the Tidings can sink its investigative teeth into. Why not find out the truth in this case? The facts simply do not add up to what we are being told. DB - Ashland, OR - October 1st, 2:26 PM How 'bout it, Tidings? There is a grand tradition in Oregon of folks running for office 'establishing residency' by a hairs' breath. Is Eric Navickas simply a Wes Cooley living in a greener trailer? enough - ashland, or - October 2nd, 8:16 AM The way to solve affordable housing in Ashland is requiring 1) all council members to be workers. Must WORK 40hrs/wk here in the valley, with our wages. 2)1 retiree of any age, 1 SOU student on Council. 3)all homes/condos must be owner-occupied. This speculation buying of land & homes has driven the cost up most & is unsustainable. (Not the Zero Population Growth religion which benefits only the wealthy class). All rentals to be sold by 12/31/07 except apartments to be fairly rent-controlled. wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 2nd, 8:41 AM Dream on, Wanna. Again, the desire to live in the UNreal world! We need representatives who understand how the real world works, not just this silly utopian thing of "no rental property". Do you want families who cannot afford to buy a single family house to be forced to live in a apartment? No yard. No pets. No individual property rights? Sounds like a workable solution to me! Yeah, right! Yeah! - Ashland - October 2nd, 10:58 AM Watch out, Eric! There's a swift-boat campaign against you. Read that, "smear". Thomas W. - Ashland, OR - October 2nd, 12:42 PM "Yeah"- my point exactly. The reason people can't afford to buy a home in this town is because the wealthy class here buy up multiple homes driving up the prices away from the working class. What do you think the price of a home here would be if all those "investors" had to suddenly dump them within 16 months? The prices would be honest, just what the lot and house construction costs, not all this fat speculation crap that keeps families out and closes schools, "talkin bout a revolution..." wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 2nd, 3:27 PM Your point, Wanna, is to eliminate any rental homes other than apartments. This is not going to make home prices lower. It will only force families out of homes that they are now renting, into apartments. Your "point" is absurd! Yeah! - Ashland - October 2nd, 4:54 PM All Eric has to do is prove he really does live in Ashland. There's no smear campaign going on. It is simply a search for the truth. The "truth" Eric puts forth about his residency is not supported by the facts. He's either: 1) Not green because he commutes at least an hour each way daily, needlessly burning fossil fuels that will cause more global warming than the Mt A expansion ever will, or 2) Not a genuine resident of Ashland. C'mon Eric...which is it? Can't be both! DB - Ashland - October 2nd, 5:02 PM Respectfully don't agree with Yeah! I think this is the only chance a home renter will ever have of actually owning the home they are making the payments for in the name of "rent". "Rent" is a feudalistic concept used to keep the workers down. Investor class keeps them artificially high is the game. It is just as unreal for a young Ashland family to think they can ever earn enough, to save enough for a home in this town as a southern black sharecropper at the turn of the century. wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 2nd, 9:06 PM The City of Ashland doesn't really want affordable housing....the city gets way too much tax money from the property values here. Exactly what is "affordable" anyway? Homeowner - Ashland, OR - October 2nd, 9:48 PM Affordable Housing: the median earnings of this area will qualify a buyer for a median priced home in our area. The Medford region is the 3rd worst off region "as over-valued" in the United States according to a recent report in Money Magazine, even worse than San Fransisco or any other Calif city and only behind a couple retirement cities in Florida as I recall. It's not rocket science, other communities have solved it, we don't need to hire Prtld. consultants to reinvent this wheel... wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 3rd, 7:53 AM People that don't think that affordable housing is imp for every community seem to be the same ones who think that every community needs police & fire protection or their library. It really brings out one's true colors when they say, "oh let Medford have them"...a) as if having your servent class commute in from out of town is somehow more sustainable than sprawl? Or Ashland's "Affordable Housing Owner" who simply owns a bunch of substandard rentals around town to rent, so they have to work! wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 3rd, 8:11 AM So, at the median income level, is that considering a 30 or 40 year mortgage? I think what your really against is a free market economy that sets the prices according to supply and demand. I would love to have a house in many of the sought after places (Hawaii, Santa Cruz, etc), but I don't feel like I have a *right* to a certain price for the commodity. Put your energy into finding a way to make more capital and less into complaining and you will be able to get your dream someday. Homeowner - Ashland, OR - October 3rd, 1:14 PM dear "Homeowner": Isn't that what the white conservatives told the blacks in 1960 about owning property? "They don't have the right to buy a home here"...& by the way, I do have ("a" singluar) home in this town now I'm making payments on, I want my kids to have half the chance my wife and I did at living here also =sustainablity! I don't give a rip about buying more homes driving up prices so they can ride the immoral appreciation wave and not work. What is wrong with only owning one house? wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 3rd, 4:30 PM Your historical references are out of context with what's happening here and what you suggest, Wanna. But whatever. You will obviously not be changed from your bizarre approach. Thankfully you are not one of our "progressive" candidates...at least I hope not. So you'll not be part of the problem, when you eventually sell your home, will you sell it for a price exactly equal to the cost of living increase over the time you've owned it, or less if the median income is lower? ...yeah, right Yeah! - Ashland - October 3rd, 6:41 PM Yeah! When we retire were going to sell our house for $1.5m, go to another little AARP town that is cheaper-say on the Coquille River...then I'm gonna buy up as many rental houses as property w/ my investment friends, drive up the values so the ignorant workers can't afford them, buy a Prius, get on Council and educate the locals on "New Urbanism"; ZPG; etc...tell them how their town should look so my property values escalate. The ol dumb locals need to be enlighted, CUZ IT'S ALL ABOUT ME! wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 3rd, 7:51 PM "Wanna": I too am a single house owner. What does race have to do with any of this?? I work and make my payments like you. Don't you think your kids can do the same someday? I am sure you will sell you house for way less than it is worth when the time comes.....or your "morals" when you realize a house is an investment as well as a place to live. No trustfund here either. I started working when I was 13 years old in Austin, TX. I learned to start saving at an early age, and it worked. Homeowner - Ashland, OR - October 3rd, 10:33 PM Wow! He gets cornered and turns into a snarling dog. Typical of the "progressives". Put out an argument, no matter how weird, then when they can't rationally defend it, start throwing epithets. Sure you aren't Red Dog/Eric Mr. Wanna? Red/Eric hasn't been here for a while and you sound just like him. Yeah! - Ashland - October 4th, 7:06 AM I'll try to keep this discussion more civil and back to original question of why isn't one house per family in Ashland enough? Would it not therefore considerabley lower the housing prices? Do U not care that this town has become so unaffordable? No staff housing specialist to administer the developement of a palrty few units/yr., doesn't increase anyone else taxes to subsidize housing, doesn't discriminate, allows upward mobility to a nicer home if so desired in the free market, etc. Why not? wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 4th, 8:13 AM Beside the fact that your plan, Wanna, would not lower housing prices, I think it would be found unconstitutional to tell people they can only own one home. (Of course, unconstitionality hasn't stopped Bush!) Your plan restricts a free market and the right of people to purchase whatever they want. Affordable housing is a noble goal but as long as Ashland is such a desirable place, even if it were possible to restrict ownership to only one home, demand would be high and so would prices. Yeah! - Ashland - October 4th, 11:57 AM to Yeah!:I am baffled by the logic that if whatever percentage, 25, 50, 75%? of Ashland homebuyers are not buying homes to live in-but merely for investment gain-how taking that demand away would not lower housing prices? to dismiss the idea as unconstitutional? Not like somebody is denied buying "a" home in Ashland, any home, so how is that unconstitutional? Ex: Legally we are allowed only one spouse @ a time- Again, how many homes do you need at a time driving up demand therefore prices? wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 4th, 2:19 PM You'll NEVER be able to have a law limiting people to the purchase of one house. Simply will not happen and will not stand court challenge. Where are you finding your outlandish percentages of non-resident ownership? Even if such a law could work, you will not find $350,000+ homes coming down to $150,000 without such a severe depression that NOBODY will be able to afford a home. You need to take an economics class, Wanna. You're living in a fantasy world. Yeah! - Ashland - October 4th, 6:12 PM I have researched the amount of non-owner occupied housing in 2 neighborhoods considered "affordable" for a research project. Chataqua Trace and Quiet Village. It is astonishing at over 50%! Note I'm not attacking you personally, but a discussion with some of differing opinions. I respect your opinion much, I hope you can do the same with those of us w/ Oregon median incomes who see a gentrification as Ashland's largest problem which can't be solved @ 6 subsidized overly-beauracatic units/yr wanna b a trustfunder2 - Ashland - October 4th, 9:33 PM I think part of the problem regarding affordable housing is that Ashland continues to define it only as owner-occupied single family residences. We can use zoning and incentives to encourage (demand?) apartment development. Partly why rental SFRs make a good investment is because if you want to live in Ashland, and you have a family, or a dog, that is primarily where you can go. Of course, NIMBYs don't what an apt. near their house, and the height limits mean you can only build two floors. enough - ashland, or - October 5th, 3:46 PM Anyone investigating these allegations of Mr. Navickas not living in the city limits?I know he grew up here and his mother and family live here,but that's not good enough.He needs to be a full time member of the community.If he wants to run off and protest logging,ride the ships with Green Peace,work and live in another farming community;he is not a member of Ashland any longer.His choice, that's fine. But he is not eligible to participate in the city govt.-even part time. Who verifies this? Steve L. Iverson - Ashland, Jefferson - October 7th, 9:35 AM I'd like to know if it is verified too Steve. I have a feeling it is NOT. Probably start with wherever the candidates submit their paperwork; city recorder's office???? It looks like they can put pretty much anything they want on the forms...Randy Dolinger's occupation is a "chess teacher". Oh really? Does he get income and pay taxes for this??? I thought his occupation was "homeless." Linda - Ashland,OR - October 7th, 4:32 PM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising Inkjet Printers Student Loans Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Advertisement: Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.