Another editorial disguised as news...

Changes to Oregon land use laws not as sweeping as feared
...Hood River Valley should be ground zero for the land-use planning bomb enacted by Oregon voters as Measure 37.
Obviously the 60% of Oregon voters who said yes to 37 are not trembling in "fear" over this "bomb."

Oregon led the nation when it enacted statewide land use planning laws in 1973 that strictly limited development of farm and forest land and forced urban growth to stay close to cities.
Oregon is so far ahead in it's "leadership" that no other state has followed!

The Measure 37 campaign's poster child, 92-year-old Dorothy English, has won permission from Multnomah County to subdivide her land so she can pay for her retirement and give her children places to build their own homes.
Read that one twice. She "won permission" so she can do something with her own land and pay for her retirement.

Though Hood River County voted in favor of Measure 37, County Commission Chairman Rodger Schock figures now that people know more about how it works, they would vote it down if given the chance because they don't want to see the place they love turn into something else.
Oh yes, we Oregon voters are a bunch of idiots who have no idea what we voted on. We just need the Daily Dead Fishwrapper and government elites to tell us what to think.

As more houses go in, they create another brake on growth by demanding new schools, roads and police.
"It's really doubtful the public will say, `We'll pay for the infrastructure so you can develop your land," Fridley said.
Apparently Mr. Fridley doesn't get the connection between "new houses = increased property taxes" which pays for increased infrastructure.

Grower Mike McCarthy's biggest fear is that if too many growers turn their orchards into homesites, it will be tougher for those who remain.
Newcomers complain about pesticide spraying and the noise of frost inhibitors going off in the night. If farmland dwindles, the OSU Extension Service could leave. Packing houses would close. And growers would have a harder time buying land to expand if it becomes easier to sell for houses.
"There are a lot of people in the community who don't speak to each other any more," said McCarthy.
Look at the havoc we have wreaked. The construction industry has increased jobs, people are buying and selling property, and by gosh, neighbors who think they can tell adjoining property owners what they can and can't do with their land aren't speaking to each other.

Another article that doesn't mention the voter margin (60% - 40% in favor) when the outcome doesn't match the writer's beliefs.