Quick Hitters II: M37 Remorse; One City Opts to Pay Instead

[There are all kinds of interesting things going on right now, as I suppose you would expect in the height of what veteran pols call "the silly season." So I'll make a departure from my typically verbose style and give you more links and facts, less solipsistic analysis in a series of quick-hitter posts. Here's another...]

One of the most unfortunate things about the passage of Measure 37 in Oregon in 2004 was that it spawned a whole raft of similar and extending iniatives around the country, including Prop 90 in California and I-933 in Washington. For the final two weeks left before the election, however, opponents in both states can use this poll commissioned by Defenders of Wildlife and conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research earlier this month:

• Oregonians are well aware of Measure 37 as most voters have heard something about the measure (83 percent);

• If an election were held today and voters had the opportunity to redo the vote on Measure 37, Oregon voters would now reject Measure 37 by a wide margin (48 percent no to only 29 percent yes), and the margin is even wider among voters who have heard a lot about it (66 percent to 26 percent);

• Oregon voters now have an unfavorable view of Measure 37 (45 percent unfavorable to only 27 percent favorable) and believe that it has generally been bad for Oregon;

Specifically, Oregon voters believe Measure 37

• was “a mistake” – 62 percent of voters who have heard a lot about Measure 37 agree, and a plurality of all voters (48 percent) agrees,

• has created chaos and uncertainty (66 percent and 72 percent of all voters agree, respectively),

• could cost taxpayers millions of dollars (61 percent agree), and

• will lead to increased development, including previously protected open space
(61 percent) [emphs mine]

It's a commissioned poll for an advocacy group clearly against M37, so take it with a grain of salt--but it takes a whole lot of skew to erase a 20-point advantage for the remorseful.

One smaller city also may have had enough, or just wants to make a statement with a lower-cost claim, as today's O declared:

Almost two years after Oregon voters approved Measure 37, this Central Oregon city ringed by dramatic rimrock has become the first to decide to pay cash to offset the devaluation of private property because of development restrictions.

The Prineville couple who want to build a retirement home on that protected rimrock, however, want nothing of the money. Instead, Grover and Edith Palin are hoping still to find a way to build their house while refusing the city's check of $47,750.

To all those supporters who said it's not about developing previously controlled land, it's about fairness: fuck you. If it were about being fair, the Palins would take their money and shut up.