Too early to vote no on heritage area proposal

To The Eagle:

Regardless of being Democrat or Republican, representatives in Congress work to bring home the bacon. In this case, it’s $10 million with this thing called a National Heritage Area (NHA) -- a federal program supporting local history, culture and natural beauty.

Commissioner Blair Brady has looked at this gift-horse. Even though he “has found no downside” Brady will still vote no -- only because he wants to represent his constituents.

But who are these constituents? As far as I can tell, it’s a very vocal group of partisans ideologically opposed to federal programs.

Good people can oppose federal spending, fiscal deficits and the role of the feds in local affairs. However, the forum for this is the upcoming election when you can vote for a US Senate and US House candidate who claim they’re going to cut back the feds. Considering the recession and local budget cuts – let’s think hard before turning away our county’s share of $10 million in federal pork. I believe opposing the NHA won’t save the US treasury one cent. It will only be squandered elsewhere – so why not here?

The proposed NHA is part of Clatsop County, part Pacific and all of Wahkiakum. Instead of setting up a regional board of directors to administer the federal money, the private non-profit ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia (SBEC) will manage the program. SBEC will loan money to projects that banks don’t deal in. There’s already stuff they’re funding like a locally-caught seafood restaurant, sustainable forestry efforts and renovation of an old cannery pier.

I can appreciate good people like Cathlamet town officials and the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce wanting to support the proposal. It’s as plain as day – they want a share of the $10 million for local projects. Let’s respect that.

There are also good people in places like Grays River that have legitimate concerns over the impact of habitat restoration on neighboring private properties. Let’s respect that too.

Of course SBEC wants this deal to go through – it’s a big chunk of change! To try and address the unease over property issues, SBEC says the NHA bill in congress can be written to meet the concerns about property acquisition / land use.

There’s also going to be an advisory board as part of the NHA management structure. According to the proposal, “Advisors would inform and approve multi-year strategy, annual work plans, budget and performance.” Commissioners from the three counties will recommend advisory board members. I’d hope that the advisors from Wahkiakum would be attuned to the needs and values of our county.

Commissioner Brady has taken a nuanced position that could still mean a yes vote. As the door is still open let me ask; who would the commissioners appoint to the advisory board? How would the commissioners like to see the NHA bill in congress drafted / amended? Are there specific projects the county would want funded?

Let’s set the partisanship aside and give the NHA proposal a good look to find out if we could make it work for us. If not – then OK, let’s hang it up. But we’re not at that point yet.

Krist Novoselic

Deep River