Puerto Rico has narrowly voted to apply to become a U.S. state, a request that now will go to Congress for a decision. Judging by a report in The Week magazine, the majority was at least partially motivated by the prospect of more federal aid, not exactly a big surprise. But if we are going to […]
For two or three years now, the Oregon transportation department has been preparing for an environmental assessment of plans to widen Interstate 5 from Highway 20 in Albany to the Jefferson exit. The process is an example of how the agency, following its own and federal regulations on big projects, wastes both time and money. […]
As usual after decisive elections, the commentariat is writing off the losers as headed for the dustbin of history. Chances are the commentators are as wrong this time as they were a few election cycles ago, when they predicted the Republicans would be in charge as far as the eye could see. Now conservatives are […]
A local story illustrates why there is no hope of reforming our government and reversing the drive for more costly, federal  control. There would have been no hope for such reforms even if Obama had not been re-elected. Albany and surrounding towns are forming a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for transportation planning. Whether they want to or […]
If you thought the political differences between Linn and Benton counties would have diminished by now, the general election would have disabused you of that notion. Just take a look at some of the results. In Linn County, Romney beat Obama by more than 9,000 votes. If the country were like Linn County, Romney would be […]
Things must really be going great in Oregon. How else to explain the results of the general election? At the state level, all the office holders got re-elected. All our five members of Congress will stay in the House. And the Democrats, who have been in charge of state government for years, regain full control […]
Albany’s CARA: In search of direction
Albany’s downtown urban renewal district is working once again to define what it wants to do from now on, and how. Earlier this year the city council, acting as the governing board of the Central Albany Revitalization Agency or CARA, put several pending projects on hold. In October, the CARA advisory board agreed that it […]
Tags: Albany urban renewal, CARA