Mike Bookey

This week's letter comes from former city councilor John Schubert who
asks a question that's been on a lot of people's minds lately: "What's
with the massive urban growth boundary expansion proposal?"
An
advocate of smart growth and alternative transportation planning,
Schubert questions whether the city's past subsidies to the building
community have led to the current fiscal crisis in Bend. Thanks for the
letter, John. You can claim your prize for this week's winning letter
at the Source headquarters, 704 NW Georgia.
I recently I flew from Frankfurt, Germany to Moscow and marveled at how
clearly the land use patterns unfolded below me. Compact town led to
open agricultural land led to forest land, and then the pattern
repeated, over and over, mile after mile. No rural sprawl as in
Deschutes County; no fuzzy boundary between city and farmland as in
Bend; no homes in the forest. Later in the trip I remarked on my flight
observations to a German acquaintance I met. I asked why he thought
this was so. Without a second hesitation, he said, "It is most
certainly because to do anything else is incredibly wasteful of
government money and natural resources."

Thank you for sending a reporter to our recent Town Hall event. We would like to add some clarity that would give your readers a more detailed picture of the purpose of Bend 2030 and of the highlights of the evening event.
The Bend 2030 Board is designed to be a public/private partnership that will foster support for and oversee implementation of the Bend 2030 Action Plans. Bend 2030 is a legal 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. We work with the City of Bend, a Lead Partner, but Bend 2030 is independent from the City of Bend.

In preparing a nation for war, imperial war leaders have to create a
visible and highly charged emotional sense of injustice and
righteousness to secure national cohesion. Their challenge is to
overcome the natural human opposition to early death and the
destruction of civilian life.
The need to invent a cause for war
is especially important with imperialist countries, because their
national territory is not under threat. There is no visible occupation
army oppressing the people in their everyday life nor does the "enemy"
disrupt normal life.
The task of imperial rulers is to fabricate
a world in which the enemy to be attacked is portrayed as an "invader"
or "aggressor." Since all US imperial wars are fought overseas - far
from any immediate threats, attacks or invasions - US imperial rulers
have the special task of making the reasons for war immediate, dramatic
and self-righteously defensive.