There are short sighted, holier-than-thou weenies everywhere that want to
vote down every facility that smacks of fun, particularly if it uses
petroleum and makes noise. What they fail to understand is that the large
majority of people will not wear a hair shirt for long. If they really want
to change how the world works they need to do it in ways that don't feel so
much like voluntary deprivation and self discipline. The "ecology" movement
lost general support very quickly in the US because no one wants to listen
to zealots. To paraphrase Bill Bryson, some loser in hemp clothing driving a
dung-powered VW Microbus couldn't talk me into getting out of a burning car,
never mind committing myself to their cause.
There is a substantial movement here in Portland to shut down PIR and put
something "less intrusive" there, perhaps a nice landfill, or an outlet
mall. The main reason I'm working to make the CRC into a serious event is
that it could help prevent that. We're spending a lot of time with the
neighborhood association in St. Johns to make sure they see a benefit from
the event. We had an entry in their parade this year (we won second!), we
have the block party in downtown St. Johns. I don't know if this will all
work, but it's the best thing I could come up with.
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