Good advice for citizens: Establishing the performance-target ethic

How can citizens determine whether their government is performing well?

One way is to compare its current performance with past performance, but this has some obvious shortcomings.

Another way is to compare its current performance with that of similar agencies in similar jurisdiction. This approach, however, also comes with some flaws.

Another possible approach is to compare a jurisdiction's or agency's performance with the targets it has set for itself. For this to work, however, public officials will have to accept the responsibility for setting such targets.

Consequently, Bob has focused the November issue "On why citizens need to establish The Performance-Target Ethic." You can find it at:

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/thebehnreport/November2008.pdf

Survey re: Cherriots Cuts (do before 12/8)

Please take this survey to help us decide what services are important to you!

The Public Hearing on proposed service reductions will be held at the Board of Directors meeting on December 11, 2008, at 6:30 PM, at 555 Court Street NE, Senator Hearing Room, Salem, Oregon.

This survey will help us make the best choice for you.

The last day to take the survey will be Monday, December 8, 2008

Opportunity to Help Shape Cherriots Cuts

Dates and times for four (4) Open Houses to receive input from the community about service cut options. 

These events will be held in the Senator Hearing Room:

·       Dec 1, Monday from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM 
·       Dec 2, Tuesday from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
·       Dec 2, Tuesday from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
·       Dec 5, Friday from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

The Senator Hearing room is the main meeting room at Courthouse Square Transit Center (Court St. @ High St.)

There will also be a public hearing on December 11.  

(503) 588-2424 x2328

Salem-Keizer Transit

Where was Ted?

Governors' Climate Summit.

The Appalling Crisis

A story about teen pregnancy states that Marion County has the highest teen pregnancy rates in Oregon, a state with nearly twice the teen pregnancy rate of the lowest state.

Here's a brief summary of an excellent book on population and our misconceptions about it (now out of print, available for free download in pdf at the link below):

Misplaced Blame

The Real Roots of Population Growth

Misplaced Blame argues that much of the population growth overrunning parts of North America originates from five rarely noted root causes: poverty, sexual abuse, underfunded family planning services, subsidies to domestic migration, and ill-guided immigration policy.

By Alan Thein Durning and Christopher D. Crowther

"In Misplaced Blame, the authors have assembled the statistical data from hundreds of sources and combined them into a story of how the growing Northwest is growing in all the wrong ways." - Ed Hunt, Tidepool

Note: Misplaced Blame is out of print, but you can download the pdf version for free with registration.

Misplaced Blame argues that much of the population growth overrunning parts of North America originates from five rarely noted root causes: poverty, sexual abuse, underfunded family planning services, subsidies to domestic migration, and ill-guided immigration policy. Along the way, Misplaced Blame uncovers one revelation after another. Some examples:

• The population of the Pacific Northwest is increasing almost 50 percent faster than global population.
  
  
• 83 percent of American teen mothers come from poor families.
  
  
• 62 percent of teen mothers have been raped or molested as children.
  
  
• 36 percent of babies born in the Northwest are conceived by accident.
  
  
• Long-distance moving is subsidized by taxpayers.
  
  
• Excessively high national immigration quotas hurt both the North American poor and immigrants' home countries.

Read Misplaced Blame and you'll see that when we take care of people, population growth will take care of itself.

Here are a few links to key fact sheets from Misplaced Blame.

• Misplaced Blame - Excerpt
  
  
• Ensure Every Child is Wanted: A key principle of sustainability.
  
  
• Make Emergency Contraception Widely Available: The Northwest can curb unintended pregnancies by ensuring easy access to emergency contraceptive pills such as Plan B.

Reducing local government energy costs

http://is.gd/8Dmr

Be Present in Your Own Life

Turn off your TV.

It's amazing how much time you have to participate in your community, to garden, to read, to connect with your family, when you put the box in a closet and only bring it out for things you specifically plan and schedule time to watch.

In the upcoming difficult period we will be experiencing for the indefinite future, one of the most important things you can is your own thinking, something that's next to impossible if you've got the TV on.

If you have kids, getting them weaned from TV is one of the best things you can do for their future, and your own stress levels.

How do we get into that chicken outfit?

What chicken outfit is that?

That's the outfit of cities who have decided, sensibly, that people smart enough to pay taxes are smart enough to be allowed to own chickens.

Like Ann Arbor, Michigan (among others, including Portland, Ore.)

If you read the Must-Read Essay on Our Energy Future, you know what a great idea some food independence and relocalization is. And chickens are about the perfect small animal husbandry project for urban environs. [And if you didn't, please do so now.]

Waste Incineration: The self-inflicted wound

Sid Friedman of 1000 Friends writes:

Physicians for Social Responsibility sent along this information about a planning meeting they're having on Thursday about the Brooks incinerator. I'm sending it along in case you're interested in attending or know anyone who might be interested in attending. If so, please pass it along:

Planning meeting- November 20th, 6:30-8:30 at Willamette University, Olin Science Center 214

The League of Women Voters of Marion/Polk Counties, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), Waste-CAN supporters and possibly other interested parties in Salem plan to sponsor three community forums in the Winter of 2009 on Marion County's Solid Waste Management Plan with particular attention to the waste incinerator in Brooks, Oregon.

Our goal is to share tangible information on the current waste management plans in Marion County, alternatives to burning of municipal waste, the continuation of the waste incinerator, the promotion of waste prevention, and several vital issues related to the incinerator's environmental and financial sustainability.

We must have considerable help to carry out the large-scale public awareness and community empowerment project. We collectively need to learn and apply tools for making positive impacts on the County's waste management decisions, including the ability to focus attention on public health outcomes of waste management policies.

Another goal is to invite Professor Paul Connett, an international expert on "zero waste" and the toxic effects of waste incinerators to be a keynote speaker and educator for our community.

Join us in this adventure to protect each other and our State.

Please respond with your availability and interest in joining this valuable cause to info@oregonpsr.org. Thank you for your time!

Sid Friedman - Willamette Valley Advocate.
1000 Friends of Oregon - 189 Liberty St NE, #307A - Salem OR 97301
(503) 371-7261 phone - (503) 371-7596 fax - www.friends.org

If you aren't aware of why waste incineration is such a bad idea, here's a short video to help you get the idea.

The MUST_READ essay on our energy future

http://is.gd/7WSD