Monday Mailing - April 6, 2020

Monday Mailing

Year 26 • Issue 30 6 April 2020 1.

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Quote of the Week:

“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

- Nelson Mandela

Oregon Fast Fact

The largest population of wintering bald eagles can be found in Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex

The Coming Age of Dispersion We Need a Rural New Deal (Erica Mooney) 10 Rural Community Projects Get a Boost from Business Oregon Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Bans Commercial Evictions, Strengthens Protections for Residents (Katie McFall) Outdoor Recreation in Oregon is Effectively Closed, Here’s How the Decisions Were Made (Michael Hoch) The Evolution of the American Census Rural Stores are Oases in Food Deserts Can a New Voting System Improve Our Fractured Democracy? A County in Oregon Decides to Rank Its Voters’ Choices PODCAST – Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Respond to COVID-19 RESOURCE – Rapid Response: Tools for Cities

1. The Coming Age of Dispersion As of this writing, the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic remain uncertain. But one possible consequence is an acceleration of the end of the megacity era. In its place, we may now be witnessing the outlines of a new, and necessary, dispersion of population, not only in the wide open spaces of North America and Australia, but even in the megacities of the developing world. Much of this has been driven by high housing prices and growing social disorder in our core cities, as well as the steady rise of online commerce and remote working, now the fastest growing means of “commuting” in the United States.

Pandemics naturally thrive in large multicultural cities, where people live “cheek by jowl” and travel to and from other countries is a fact of international tourism and commerce. Europe’s rapidly advancing infection rate is, to some extent, the product of its weak border controls, one of the EU’s greatest accomplishments. Across the continent, cities have become the primary centers of infection. Half of all COVID-19 cases in Spain, for example, have occurred in Madrid while the Milan region, with its cosmopolitan population and economy, accounts for half of all cases in Italy and almost three-fifths of the deaths.

To access the full story, click here.

2. We Need a Rural New Deal

COVID-19 is a combined health and economic crisis poised to further devastate rural communities already suffering severe economic stress.

Already, rural health care systems are strained by the outbreak, and workers across the country are facing increasing precarity as the crisis unfolds.

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The outbreak exposes an already uneven geography of development. Large swaths of rural America had already been left behind by our last economic recovery: 86 percent of U.S. counties that are in persistent poverty are rural. While the overall population living in distressed zip codes has declined since 2007, it has increased in rural areas. This “ruralization of distress” has taken a tremendous human toll. Rural counties have higher rates of premature death, with one in five getting worse. Rural residents also incur higher healthcare costs, and nonwhite rural residents face even greater health disparities.

As we move into our new reality with the COVID-19 pandemic and its rippling economic effects, these disparities are on track to become even more stark. Clearly, we need new approaches to economic development to reverse these longstanding trends.

To access the full story, click here.

3. 10 Rural Community Projects Get a Boost from Business Oregon

Business Oregon announced investments in ten rural community projects throughout the state under the Rural Opportunities Initiative (ROI).

The ROI is an initiative that works with communities to cultivate local environments that support entrepreneurs and small businesses. Through financial support, innovative partnerships, network expansion, and access to business development resources, ROI helps strengthen and consolidate entrepreneurial support within and across Oregon’s rural communities.

“We piloted this program with four communities in 2015, to empower local rural leaders to create and implement collaborative strategies that elevate entrepreneurship in rural economic development,” said Business Oregon innovation and entrepreneurship manager Kate Sinner.

“We didn’t want a cookie-cutter program. Oregon is made up of a collection of unique regional economies, and this program now has a track record of working with communities to stand up what works for them.”

To access the full story, click here.

4. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Bans Commercial Evictions, Strengthens Protections for Residents Oregon businesses unable to pay their rent because of the coronavirus are temporarily safe from eviction under a new executive order issued Wednesday by Gov. Kate Brown.

Under the emergency order, commercial tenants who offer proof that they can’t pay rent because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic cannot be formally evicted or have their lease terminated, but must make partial payments if able.

Brown also strengthened a March 22 order banning residential evictions for nonpayment, ensuring that landlords cannot initiate eviction proceedings on their tenants or charge late fees if a tenant is unable to pay because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“During this unprecedented public health crisis, too many Oregonians have found themselves with no way to pay the monthly rent for their homes and businesses,” Brown said in a statement. “These are difficult times. This order will help Oregon small businesses stay in their locations without the threat of eviction.”

To access the full story, click here.

5. Outdoor Recreation in Oregon is Effectively Closed, Here’s How the Decisions Were Made The first day of spring was beautiful in Oregon. Blue skies and warm sun greeted the state on March 19, tempting people out to beaches and hiking trails, snowy mountains and waterfall viewpoints.

A week later, virtually all outdoor recreation in Oregon had closed, including every national forest, all state parks, most national parks and a growing number of local parks across the state as officials responded to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a population that just couldn’t stay away from nature.

The closures coincided with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order banning all nonessential travel outside the home until further notice. The order also shut down playgrounds and closed all public and private campgrounds in the state.

The sudden wave of closures left many Oregonians reeling, wondering if there was some way to keep our cherished outdoor spaces open while maintaining public health. How and why were these severe decisions made?

To access the full story, click here.

6. The Evolution of the American Census

The census is an essential part of American democracy. The United States counts its population every ten years to determine how many seats each state should have in Congress. Census data have also been used to levy taxes and distribute funds, estimate the country’s military strength, assess needs for social programs, measure population density, conduct statistical analysis of longitudinal trends, and make business planning decisions.

We looked at every question on every census from 1790 to 2020. The questions—over 600 in total—tell us a lot about the country’s priorities, norms, and biases in each decade. They depict an evolving country: a modernizing economy, a diversifying population, an imperfect but expanding set of civil and human rights, and a growing list of armed conflicts in its memory.

What themes and trends will you notice?

To access the full story, click here.

7. Rural Stores Are Oases in Food Deserts

Gabe Salvage was on the phone when the cook from the local senior meals program approached the counter. Seeing he was busy, she held up two packets of Fleischman’s Active Dry Yeast and continued out the door.

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Salvage, who’s operated the Wheeler County Trading Co. in Mitchell for two years, didn’t miss a beat. “Two at $2.25, $4.50,” he said, and explained to his caller that he was filling out a paper invoice that he uses with his 26 charge accounts. He knew the cook and she knew him, and they’d settle up later. Fridays are senior meal day in Mitchell and the cook needed to get busy.

Which Salvage also knew, and that may be the point about rural grocery stores, the people who run them and the people who depend on them for food and more.

“Yeah, we’re very connected in small communities,” Salvage said.

For many rural Oregonians, especially in the long, empty spaces of Eastern Oregon, the local store is among the “anchor” institutions, said Bruce Weber, professor emeritus of Oregon State University’s Rural Studies program.

To access the full story, click here.

8. Can a New Voting System Improve Our Fractured Democracy? A County in Oregon Decides to Rank Its Voters’ Choices

James Morales’ job is to make sure people know how to vote. Recently, that task has become harder than simply reminding them to use the right pen to fill in the bubble for their favorite candidate. That’s because Morales, the county clerk of Benton County, Oregon, is setting up an entirely new election system: ranked-choice voting, where individuals rank candidates in order of preference. This summer, Morales will help host community events at local libraries and the county fair to teach residents how to fill out the new ballots. “We want everybody to get some practice before November,” he said.

For proponents of ranked-choice voting, which passed in the county in 2016, it’s been well worth the four-year wait. “Voters aren’t stuck choosing what feels like the lesser of two evils,” said Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon, a public interest group that promotes ranked choice. Titus and other supporters argue that the current practice of plurality voting, in which voters can only choose one candidate, limits voter choice, increases polarization and results in poor political representation.

To access the full story, click here.

9. PODCAST – Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Respond to COVID-19

More than 3 thousand people live on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders are urging all residents to comply with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s "stay at home" order. We talk with Chuck Sams with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation about how the community is doing and the work being done by the Tribes’ incident command team.

To access the recording, click here.

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10. RESOURCE – Rapid Response: Tools for Cities

Cities and transit agencies are taking action now to address the most critical impacts of the coronavirus and ensure that essential services operate in their communities. To help city and agency staff plan responses to the pandemic, NACTO is regularly updating a summary of rapidlydeployed responses.

To access the resource, click here.

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