The Boot

Deceptiveness is an admirable quality in a baseball pitcher, but not in a political leader. When Gov. Ted Kulongoski sold his green energy tax credit plan to the legislature, he threw a sinking fastball that any major-leaguer would be proud of.
The tax credit, officially known as the Business Energy Tax Credit, is the core of Kulongoski's campaign to transform Oregon into the green energy capital of America, and in the process to create lots of jobs. To accomplish that, it offers tax credits to developers of projects such as wind farms and solar energy installations.

People hate paying to park, and they can display incredible ingenuity when it comes to finding ways to avoid it.
In the two parking lots next to Mirror Pond, for example, some people who work downtown have invented a clever dodge. They park their cars and take advantage of the first-two-hours-free deal. Then they come back and buy a parking sticker for $1. That lets them park a total of five hours for a measly buck.
How many downtown employees are working this scam? We don't know, but city officials and Diamond Parking – which enforces downtown parking restrictions and gets a cut of the revenue from parking fines and the pay parking lots – say it's a significant number. And what they propose to do about it is to eliminate the two free hours.

Having a big business in Oregon is a pretty sweet deal, tax-wise. The corporate minimum tax is $10 a year – no, we did not mistakenly leave off any zeroes – a figure unchanged since our last Great Depression in the 1930s.
Contrary to conservative propaganda, Oregon is not exactly a tax hell for businesses. The Tax Foundation, a pro-business group, puts Oregon at Number 14 overall in its latest rankings of state tax climates for business.
So it makes good sense for this revenue-strapped state to enact a moderate tax increase on businesses. And the measure adopted by the legislature last spring, along with another one raising personal income taxes, fits any definition of “moderate.” Sole proprietorships would see no increase in their tax rate. Certain others types of businesses (ordinary partnerships and S, LLC and LLP corporations, to get technical) would have their minimum increased to $150 a year.

On its website, Pahlisch's Deschutes Landing development describes itself “as the next step in authentic Northwest living” with “unparalleled views of the Three Sisters Wilderness, the historic Old Mill District, and the heart of downtown Bend.”
Apparently, one prospective buyer thinks his unparalleled view would be ruined by the sight of – how gross! – a dog park across the river. And thanks to him, and Pahlisch, the fate of the park is in jeopardy.
Pahlisch has complained that the Bend Metro Park & Recreation District didn't go through the proper paperwork for getting the park approved. As a result, Park & Rec has had to file a formal application that will go before the city planning and zoning commission sometime later this month.

Many areas of law are murky, but the law governing access to Oregon rivers and their banks is a veritable Okefenokee Swamp. We can't blame state legislators for wanting to clear the waters a little, but the approach they're taking could end up seriously limiting recreational users' rights – while leaving the legal situation as muddy as it is now.