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Support Ray Miao for county library board

We are asking voters to reelect Ray Miao to the Deschutes Public Library Board, District 4. Ray helped found the library district in 1998 and helped the library system grow without any tax increases for 22 years. He participates in the American Library Association and keeps current on library technologies and the future of American libraries. As a board member, he has overseen the building of three new community libraries and remodeling of two others.

Voters recently narrowly passed a $195 million bond to build a new central library. The proposal is for a 100,000-square-foot central library near SE 27th Street. This building would be almost three times the size of the current downtown library and some question how central the location is. Are people from Redmond, Sisters, and Sunriver, La Pine really going to drive all that way to use this building?

Ray has proposed building a smaller central library approximately the size of the existing downtown library and incorporating the central book processing hub at this location. This would save a significant amount of bond money that could be used to build an additional community library as Central Oregon grows. A system of community libraries that can be accessed by walking, biking, or a short drive makes more sense than a large central library.

Experience, knowledge, and dedication count. Ray Miao has demonstrated this and is a good steward of our tax dollars. Please help us to keep Ray Miao working for our Deschutes Public Library Board, District 4.

— Tom Hall and Aelea Christofferson, Bend

Backing sought for food proposal, SB 610

Unite Oregon is a statewide nonprofit organization that is led by immigrants, refugees, Black, indigenous, people of color, people experiencing poverty, and rural communities.

Amongst our membership, food and housing continue to be a luxury, not a right. These are foundational resources needed for our community members to function and participate in society. Today’s rules and guidelines are built on systems that trace back to a long history of racism and white supremacy in Oregon.

We want change. Everyone in Oregon should have access to food and other essential resources regardless of our place of birth, immigration status or other discriminatory factors.

Currently, more than 62,000 Oregonians are excluded from food assistance because of their immigration status. Senate Bill 610, Food for All Oregonians, embraces the solutions determined by those who have experienced hunger and poverty. It will provide families with money for groceries that match federal SNAP food assistance benefits, and ensure awareness of the program through community navigation and improved language access.

Unite Oregon members urge the Oregon Legislature to pass SB 610 because we deserve Food for All Oregonians.

— Khanh Le, Portland

Opposition expressed to Bend-area pipeline

As a Bend resident and young adult who will have to spend the rest of my life adapting to the worsening effects of climate change, I oppose the GTN Xpress fracked gas expansion proposed by TC Energy. If we truly intend to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis, we need to be transitioning away from fossil fuels, not adding new infrastructure.

Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) Xpress is dangerous for the residents of Bend because it increases the amount of fracked gas in the pipeline that runs through our city. Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit promoting pipeline safety, recently wrote comments on GTN Xpress that explain the project’s risks — we need to listen to these pipeline experts.

The comments detail TC Energy’s bad track record when it comes to pipelines. Last year, TC Energy’s Keystone Pipeline spilled more than 12,800 barrels of crude oil into a creek in Kansas, adding to a laundry list of significant incidents on the same pipeline.

GTN Xpress will heighten risks when it comes to pipeline explosions. More fracked gas in the pipeline will result in more leaks, which is especially dangerous during wildfire season. We cannot afford to gamble with pipeline safety in Bend. To approve this pipeline would be to disregard the safety of Bend residents and the other communities that it passes through.

I support the strong stand against GTN Xpress taken by Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, and urge Gov. Tina Kotek to do the same.

— Satya Austin-Opper, Bend