COLUMBIA CITY — In a unanimous vote, the Whitley County Commissioners approved a moratorium on zoning for commercial solar projects at its March 20 meeting.
The decision came after multiple meetings and responses from the public asking county government to impose a moratorium in order to make adjustments to the ordinance as needed.
Joseph G. “Uncle Joe” Cannon (1836-1926) was a household name — a salty, combative, often comical political genius who called Danville his home.
He served 46 years in the U.S. House, including eight as speaker. He stressed self-reliance, individualism and private enterprise unfettered by federal regulations. He fought reform and the welfare state. He told the 45th Congress: “The function of the federal government is to afford protection to life, liberty and property. When that is done, then let every tub stand on its own bottom, let every citizen ‘root hog, or die.’”
In 1908, Speaker Cannon was eyed as a Republican presidential hopeful. Collier’s magazine ran a two-part profile by William Hard. This column focuses on the second installment, dated May 30.
No one had a greater understanding of how the federal government worked, Hard wrote. As a longtime member of the Appropriations Committee, Cannon exposed waste and showed “unrivaled knowledge of the money side of the national government.”
To Cannon, America defined success. After all, he and his brother started with little and became millionaires. They owned a Danville bank, real estate and the city’s streetcar, gas and electric companies.
In Congress, Cannon’s “first instinctive impulse, when he observes a new idea beginning to shoot up out of the ground, is to hurry and stamp on it,” Hard wrote. “ … He has never … allowed himself to say anything that would make the public set him to work in an agitation for a new idea.”
Typically, when passage of a reform bill was inevitable, Cannon’s opposition morphed into a reluctant acceptance, then enthusiasm. For instance, he initially opposed the Pure Food and Drug Act and federal meat inspection laws, but later claimed them as victories won during his speakership.
“The press and the President, and not Mr. Cannon, were responsible for the success of those bills,” Hard said. “ … The fact is that Uncle Joe is dead-set against all these latter-day extensions of federal authority. He has said so repeatedly.”
“In Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois the United States now possesses the most stationary political object ever exhibited within its boundaries,” he continued. “Not reactionary. That implies movement. Just stationary, fixed, embedded, like a rock in a glacier … The Republican Party has carried Mr. Cannon intact from the period of the (Eighteen) Seventies, the period when he first touched national politics at Washington, the period when the national government first began to be submerged by private interests.”
When the Illinois Republican State Committee met in Chicago in 1906, Hard wrote, Cannon gave “three minutes to acknowledging, perfunctorily, the reforms of the last decade, and then 30 minutes to getting even with the reformers.”
“You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” Cannon once said, “and you can’t change human nature from intelligent self-interest into pure idealism – not in this life; and if you could, what would be left for paradise?”
ENID, Okla. — A bill that would allow Marshallese men and women who live in Oklahoma to obtain a commercial driver’s license to work in the transportation industry has passed the state Senate and will move to the House.
The Senate vote on Senate Bill 682, authored by Sen. Roland Pederson, R-Burlington, was 46-0. The author of the bill in the House will be representative Rep. Mike Dobrinski, R-Okeene.
Under current Oklahoma law, to obtain a CDL a person must be a U.S. citizen or have immigration papers. Because of the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Marshall Islands, Marshallese are not required to have these papers, and Pederson said the law about CDL needs to be changed.
Oklahoma Department of Public Safety supports the bill, he said.
“The Marshallese are a unique population to our area, but local industry cannot hire them to drive commercial vehicles,” Pederson has said. “These are citizens who are here legally and are productive, working members of our local communities,. Removing these requirements will expand job opportunities for this group of citizens and help local businesses who may be experiencing worker shortages. This bill will help many businesses in my district, along with many others across the state.”
News of the Senate passage already has sparked some interest locally.
Pederson’s office received an email concerning a Marshallese man who had gone to an Enid tag agency to apply for a CDL license, Pederson said. He thought the bill passing the Senate meant the process was over. Tag agency employees explained to him the legislation must pass the House and be signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt before it becomes law. Although the bill has an emergency clause, it probably would be June at the earliest before the man could apply for his CDL license, Pederson said.
We Americans live in a representative democracy. That’s a fundamental feature of public life in the United States, a part of who we are as a people. We elect leaders to make decisions on our behalf.
It’s been a year since Russia launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine, and a lot has happened in that time. Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war has caused unspeakable destruction and suffering. At the same time, Ukrainians have inspired the world with their brave resistance.
When the invasion began, some Western officials said privately that they expected a quick conflict, with Kyiv falling within weeks if not days. They were wrong.
But the war has created challenges: for Ukraine, most obviously, but also for the United States and our allies. As the fighting rages on, it will test Americans’ patience and resolve. And it will test the ability of America and our allies to stay united in opposing Russian aggression.
The war has produced well over 100,000 military casualties, and thousands of civilians have been killed, including children and elderly people. Russia has targeted industry and civilian infrastructure with missiles and bombs. We’ve all seen the photographs: destroyed buildings, scenes of desolation, overwhelmed hospitals. Over 2 million refugees have fled the country, according to the United Nations.
But Ukraine’s response has been remarkable. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the 44-year-old president, has rallied his people and won global support. A former actor and political outsider, he was thrown into the role of being a wartime leader and has performed impressively.
And the world has come to Ukraine’s defense, providing monetary aid and an escalating array of weapons while imposing sanctions on Russia. Some leaders initially worried that backing Ukraine could risk a catastrophic conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, but support has held steady. Putin’s recklessness has left Russia isolated.
President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine Feb. 20 to meet with Zelenskyy and show solidarity. NATO has stood by Ukraine, and so has the European Union, even though the war has disrupted food and energy supplies and fueled inflation. At the Munich Security Conference last month in Germany, leaders of dozens of countries pledged unity. Vice President Kamala Harris accused Russia of crimes against humanity: “gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape and deportation.”
Global public opinion has remained consistent, according to an Ipsos poll in January. Two-thirds of respondents follow news of the war, believe in supporting Ukraine and favor taking in refugees. The United States has provided generous support to Ukraine, including $45 billion in a year-end budget measure approved by Congress. After much pleading by Zelenskyy, the U.S. provided a Patriot missile battery and promised 31 M1 Abrams tanks.
Biden has promised to back Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” but U.S. officials have reportedly told Zelenskyy that they can’t promise indefinite support. American public opinion is supportive of Ukraine but divided on how much help to provide. It’s worrisome that the divisions reflect partisan lines.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, only about a quarter of Americans say we are giving too much aid to Ukraine, but the figure has begun to grow. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 40% say U.S. support is too generous. Some 43% of Americans, but only 27% of Republicans, approve of Biden’s handling of the conflict.
With Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, congressional support for Ukraine may weaken. Some conservative members argue we should pay less attention to Ukraine and more to problems at home, like border security and inflation. The 2024 election could widen divisions.
It’s a reminder that, in a representative democracy like ours, foreign policy and domestic policy can never be entirely separate. If the American people lose interest in the war – or if they blame it for inflation and conclude it distracts from problems at home – it may become harder to support Ukraine. This will be a real test for Biden’s leadership and American resolve.
Lee Hamilton is a Senior Advisor for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government; a Distinguished Scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies; and a Professor of Practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.
I’m teaching a class on statesmanship at Southern Illinois University this spring and one of my recurring themes is that statesmanship can take place not only on national and international stages but also in city councils, schools boards, and state legislatures.
Statesmanship, at its essence, is the determination of leaders to look to the long term and a disposition to take difficult and politically unpopular actions to advance the public good.
Illinois’ state budget cries out for statesmanship.
- It’s important to note that there has been substantial fiscal progress in Illinois over the past several years. In late February, S&P Global, a top global rating agency, raised Illinois’ long-term credit rating to A- from BBB.This represented the seventh upgrade the state has received from a rating agency in less than two years. S&P Global cited the state’s “accelerating repayment of its liabilities, rebuilding its budget stabilization fund to decade highs, and a slowing of statutory pension funding growth.”
This is positive and most budget experts agree that Illinois’ fiscal future is better than it has been in some time. However, this is a low bar.
The state still faces formidable budgetary challenges. If the economy weakens significantly, today’s surpluses will be quickly transformed into deficits. The state’s long-term pension challenges remain enormous, and Illinoisans continue to want more state services than they are willing to pay for.
In my discussions with members of the Illinois General Assembly, I often hear that there is more bipartisan cooperation in Springfield than the public assumes but that this cooperation largely occurs on narrow issues.
On budget policy, there is a familiar and dispiriting pattern. The majority party examines revenue estimates, tallies up spending requests, and assembles a budget that satisfies as many in its party as possible while remaining in balance, at least on paper. The minority party typically sees the budget not as opportunity to present an alternative vision but as an opening to criticize the majority.
It would be inspiring and important if a small group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers formed a bipartisan Future of Illinois caucus that worked thoughtfully and diligently on a long-term budget plan. This group would carefully examine the medium- and longer-term budget outlook and probe revenue projections and spending programs. It would not just “cut and paste” ideas from past budget cycles but contemplate major reforms of taxes and spending. It would honestly frame alternatives for Illinois voters.
This Future of Illinois project could accomplish two significant things: generate substantive and creative fiscal proposals and establish a habit of bipartisan cooperation on large issues.
The group might begin its deliberations by reviewing a recently issued report by the Civic Federation that persuasively argues that a successful fiscal plan for Illinois should eliminate structural budget deficits for the foreseeable future, reform pension funding, and set a goal of Illinois achieving an AA credit rating in five years.
How would the public react to this budget caucus? Would members get a hearing? Would they get a primary opponent for the impertinence of working with members of the other party?
I don’t know. However, I can make this modest pledge. They will be invited to the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute for a public event and offered a platform to present their ideas and explain the state’s fiscal predicament.
Paul Simon understood that sound and future-oriented budget policy was the foundation of successful governance. “Anything worthwhile requires sacrifice. The worst course is drifting,” he once wrote. Policymakers, he said, should “be builders of the future, not simply custodians of what we inherited from the past.”
John. T. Shaw is the director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois Carbondale. Shaw’s monthly column explores how Illinois can work toward better politics and smarter government.
ATLANTA – A watered-down version of legislation increasing the weight limit on commercial trucks in Georgia cleared a state House committee this week.
The original version of House Bill 189, which the House Transportation Committee approved last week, would have raised the legal limit on commercial truck weights on Georgia roads and highways from 80,000 pounds to 90,000.
But the legislation was sent back to the committee after Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) officials, representatives of local governments, and traffic safety advocates complained during a marathon hearing that heavier trucks would damage roads and bridges, crippling local highway department budgets and forcing the DOT to divert resources from needed new construction to maintenance work.
The committee went back to the drawing board and reduced the scope of the bill to allow the higher weights only for trucks hauling agricultural products – including poultry – timber, granite, concrete, or solid waste. Lobbyists for Georgia farmers, poultry producers, and loggers were the legislation’s main supporters.
“We have significantly pared back the number of vehicles that would be allowed to run over the limit,” Rep. Steven Meeks, R-Screven, told committee members Wednesday.
The scaled-back version of Meek’s bill the committee approved by a 12-7 vote also would prohibit commercial trucks from traveling with the higher weight more than 250 miles from the farm or other processing facility where the load originated. Heavier trucks also would not be allowed on interstate highways, which are subject to federal regulation.
The revamped bill now moves to the House Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A watered-down version of legislation increasing the weight limit on commercial trucks in Georgia cleared a state House committee this week.
The original version of House Bill 189, which the House Transportation Committee approved last week, would have raised the legal limit on commercial truck weights on Georgia roads and highways from 80,000 pounds to 90,000.
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s senators approved a bill earlier this week blocking cities and towns from banning the retail sale of dogs by state-approved sellers. It was a win for a frustrated national pet store chain but went against the wishes of animal welfare advocates.
The 29-18 vote was close for a chamber that usually has larger margins. The bill has now gone to the House.
Ordinances in communities like Crown Point and Columbus prevent pet shops in those municipalities from selling dogs, and sometimes other animals, sourced from breeders and brokers. Instead, pet stores can only collaborate with animal care or rescue organizations to show adoptable pets.
“If the pet store meets or exceeds these standards, their business is protected from local regulations,” said author Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen. He’s maintained that the bill would still let communities crack down on abusive puppy mills while freeing compliant sellers to do business.
Bill gets pushback
But other lawmakers said Senate Bill 134 still goes too far. It’s retroactive to Jan. 1, 2023, so that it would invalidate any local bans passed on or after that day.
The bill would originally have taken effect at the beginning of 2024, but Doriot said that once the draft was public, communities “rushed in to ban the sale of dogs, thereby restricting free commerce.” The deadline was instead bumped up but still grandfathers bans adopted earlier.
A proposal banning dog, cat and rabbit sales — introduced just this month — is making its way through the Indianapolis City-County Council, for example.
“This bill pre-empts local control and interferes with market economics,” said Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis. “… In this instance, the market is working. Communities that like to have these pets for sale from puppy mills, they’re doing it. And communities that do not like it, it has been banned.”
The bill would introduce new quality standards for pet stores to meet — if not, local ordinances passed even after the cutoff would still apply.
A pet store would have to source from dog brokers and breeders that are:
• Registered with Indiana’s Board of Animal Health
• Certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a clean record for at least two years
• Certified by a national “science-based” breeder standards program
• Audited by an independent firm following specific international standards.
A pet store would also have to tell customers full, fee-inclusive prices, information on vaccinations and other medical treatments, breeder or broker information and other basic information on dogs for sale.
And a pet store would have to pay up for consumers who unknowingly buy sick or dying dogs. Customers could return the dogs for full refunds, exchange them, or get reimbursement for medical expenses.
Not enough
Some opponents wanted more.
“I have received multiple calls from constituents, animal rights activists, that have extreme concern about the lack of safeguards in this bill on … ensuring health and safety for animals,” Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, said.
Multiple advocates testified in committee that shelters are overflowing with adoptable dogs.
But Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, said the bill is about “choice,” adding that people who want to know dogs’ histories or want specific breeds may live too far from breeders.
“Give Grandma a choice,” she said. “Because grandma might not be able to travel all the way down here … to select that little puppy that she always wanted.”
DES MOINES — In a bout of déjà vu, lawmakers again took to the floor of the Iowa Senate to debate capping cash awards by juries for pain, suffering and other non-economic complications — this time in lawsuits against the owner or operator of a commercial vehicle for incidents resulting in personal injury or death.
The Iowa Senate voted largely along party lines, with Democrats opposed, to cap non-economic damages at $2 million in such cases. The bill does not cap jury awards for economic or punitive damages, and allows all punitive damages to be paid directly to plaintiffs.
The measure also shields trucking companies from liability over an employee’s harmful conduct due to “direct negligence in hiring, training, supervising, or trusting the employee,” excluding cases where the driver is under the influence of drugs, alcohol or other substances.
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Republicans said the bill will help Iowa businesses that rely on the trucking industry by preventing overzealous and crippling verdicts that award tens of millions of dollars in injury and wrongful death lawsuits against trucking companies. They also argued the bill would keep insurance rates for businesses down and provide predictability to commercial vehicle owners on their level of liability.
Opponents, including trial lawyers, the Iowa State Bar Association and justice-based groups, said high-dollar verdicts are not an issue in Iowa, which they said has the nation’s fourth-lowest commercial vehicle insurance rates.
Senate Democrats argued there is little evidence that Iowa is plagued by overzealous damage awards in these cases. And they said the right of Iowans to have their day in court and seek just damages for harm caused by a tragic accident vastly outweighs the desire of trucking companies to keep their insurance rates down and make their liability levels more predictable.
The bill, Senate File 228, now heads to the Iowa House, where it failed to pass last year.
STATE GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION: Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to realign state government passed out of the Senate’s state government committee on a 12-6 vote.
Under Reynolds’ proposal, the number of state agency directors who report directly to the Iowa governor would be reduced from 37 to 16. The proposal streamlines the executive branch of state government by consolidating existing agencies and programs.
Reynolds and her staff have said the reorganization will be done without laying off any state workers, and will save the state more than $200 million. She notes such a sweeping reorganization of state government has not been conducted in 40 years, and that it is necessary in order to streamline government services to make them work better and more efficiently for Iowans.
Some critics have expressed concerns about some of the proposed changes, and some have charged that the proposal gives too much authority to the governor.
Senate Study Bill 1123 is now eligible for debate by the full Senate. Lawmakers in the House this week started their legislative process on the proposal.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY REPEAL: Iowa law would have no energy efficiency requirements for new buildings under a bill that advanced in the Senate.
Senate File 334 repeals a number of provisions in Iowa law that require buildings and residential housing to comply with standards to reduce the amount of heating and lighting that buildings use.
Lobbyists representing homebuilders and realtors backed the bill during a subcommittee hearing. They said energy efficiency standards drive prices for new homes up, which in turn drives up the cost of existing housing. But representatives for architects and environmental groups said energy efficiency standards keep energy costs low for homeowners and the savings outweigh the costs over enough years.
The bill passed the subcommittee with only Republican support. Rep. Cherielynn Westrich, R-Ottumwa, said she thinks the bill would bring down housing costs and increase availability in the state.
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME: Iowa would be in permanent daylight saving time if a bill lawmakers advanced becomes law.
House File 242, which would require federal approval to take effect, would mean Iowa would permanently “spring forward” and not switch between daylight saving time and standard time. Two other states, Arizona and Hawaii, are in permanent standard time, but federal law does not allow a state to make daylight saving time permanent.
Last year, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to make daylight saving time the permanent time nationwide, but it did not pass in the House.
Rep. Jacob Bossman, a Republican from Sioux City, introduced the bill and said he chose daylight savings as the permanent time because it would provide more light in the evenings. He also cited difficulties children have in adjusting sleep schedules to the time change.
The bill advanced out of the subcommittee with only Republican support.
COMPENSATION BOARDS COULD BE OPTIONAL: Counties would have the option to get rid of their compensation board under a bill House lawmakers passed through the chamber.
Iowa law currently requires counties to have compensation boards that set the salaries of elected officials. Under the bill, if a county board of supervisors decides to get rid of the compensation board, the supervisors would perform that duty.
House File 314 also requires compensation boards to provide data on how they decide salaries. If a county has a compensation board, the board of supervisors could lower the recommended salary for an elected official individually rather than across the board, and could also choose to increase salaries beyond the recommendation. Salaries could not be set lower than the previous year.
The bill was amended to require a board of supervisors that does not have a compensation board to make the salary for the county sheriff comparable to salaries paid to police administrators and police chiefs in cities of similar size.
The bill passed the House mostly along party lines, 62-33.
Facing the possible reality of having her home pulled out from under her like a rug, Jan Leonard began to research and advocate for tenant rights in manufactured home parks.
For the past year and a half, Leonard alongside other residents of Golden West Estates, has attended City Council meetings, prepared reports and letters, and publicly commented to bring attention to the plight of rising rents at another manufactured home park in Walla Walla.
And on Feb. 8, Leonard and other tenants saw their work pay off when Walla Walla leaders changed the law to protect their livelihood.
Future at stake
Unbeknownst to residents, Rancho Villa manufactured home park quietly changed hands, and the tenants have been paying the price since. The manufactured home park sold for $16.1 million to First Commercial Properties NW.
Rental prices immediately began to rise by about 10%, which tacked on about $30 to all tenant bills. The park is a 55-and-older community with many residents on a fixed income.
When she heard about the tribulations that residents of Rancho Villa residents were experiencing, Leonard said she wanted to bring as much attention to it as possible and wanted to support other manufactured home park residents to create more protection for tenants across the state.
“Even though our landlord has no intention to sell, and has always maintained that, we thought it’s just not right for the other people around who are going through this,” Leonard said.
There has been a wave of mobile home closures across the country, with many being purchased by large conglomerates who redevelop the space into condominiums and apartments.
Leonard’s fear of becoming economically displaced is extremely real. Just last year seven mobile home parks were closed across Washington, and four are already slated to close in 2023.
Leonard said her concern is more than just a local outcry, but a national call for reform of zone coding for manufactured/mobile home parks.
“We’ve done a lot of work with the council, and we’ve given them a lot of information about these changes,” Leonard said. “This is a nationwide epidemic, it’s not just Washington and it’s not just Walla Walla.”
Greg Sterling, who has lived at Rancho Villa for 12 years, said he loves the quaintness and safety of the neighborhood. He does not worry when he leaves town for a couple of days because he knows neighbors will keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.
“It really is a great community to live in,” he said.
Sterling has been attending City Council meetings for more than a year to remind the council about the importance of the issue. He said he wanted to make sure council members heard his concerns.
“When we started, we were unsure as to what the City Council reaction would be,” Sterling said. “They were a little bit skeptical at first.”
Sterling said it was a group effort to represent the seriousness of the situation.
“We put out the word that everybody needed to show up to the council meeting where they would consider a (redevelopment) moratorium,” Sterling said. “A lot of people showed up, and we all told our stories as to who we are as human beings and neighbors.”
More than a dozen park residents commented in an emotional testimony that pushed council members to vote for a moratorium on the redevelopment of mobile and manufactured home parks in Walla Walla.
There was still much more work to be done as the city worked to find an answer to the concerns of the tenants.
“This protects our lives,” Sterling said. “It’s not really just an investment, most of the people who move there plan to stay the rest of their lives. If they had to leave, many of them wouldn’t know where to go.”
Night of the vote
At the Feb. 8 Walla Walla City Council Meeting, city leaders had a big decision to make that would impact the livelihood of those living on fixed incomes in manufactured home parks.
The room was packed with park residents as they waited to hear what City Council members would decide.
Ruth Ann Broman, a Rancho Villa resident, brought a white sign that said “AFFORDABLE HOUSING” in bold blue letters to flash at council members. That sign would echo the theme of many public commenters who had spent more than a year fighting for tenant rights.
Collectively, there are about 600 residential units among the city’s eight mobile/manufactured home parks. Not all of the parks are 55-and-older communities.
The council meeting room was called to order and residents of Rancho Villa and Golden West Estates sat on the edge of their seats waiting for their turn at the microphone.
Pat Leamer, a Rancho Villa resident for 30 years, urged council members to adopt the code change for the sake of keeping housing affordable for the 55+ community.
“Under the new ownership, our rent has increased 68% in two years from $290 to $487 per month,” Leamer said.
Before First Commercial Properties took hold of Rancho Villa, residents had their utilities added into their rent payments, now they had been pulled and billed separately.
Increasing rents across Walla Walla isn’t a new trend though. Sharp rent hikes are being felt by different income levels, according to recent reports about rising rents in Walla Walla and other smaller cities.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau data, the median gross rent in Washington was about $1,500 in 2021, ranking it among the top five U.S. states. Only Hawaii and California had considerably higher rents — along with Washington, D.C. — and Colorado and Massachusetts were a few dollars higher.
During the meeting, Leamer noted his niece’s experience at Rancho Villa to illustrate just how costly the rent hikes have been. Leamer said she is using 55% of her income to pay for rent, only leaving her $603 a month to live on.
“How can she do it,” Leamer asked the council. “She can’t. Her mother and her aunt and uncle are having to help her so she can continue to live there.”
The proposed zoning code amendments added development regulations for the mobile and manufactured home park community, a section on eviction notice standards for the change of use or closure of a park, and a section requiring a notice of sale to tenants. The amendment includes adding a “Manufactured Home Park Community” as a new land use type to the city of Walla Walla 2040 Comprehensive Plan map.
One aspect of the code change allows for an opportunity for tenants to purchase their park. If a park owner decided to sell, tenants would 60 days to state whether they would want to make an offer on the park at a market price. They would then have 120 days to generate the funding. Tenants would have 180 days in total to purchase a manufactured home park from the owners.
“Maybe it’s a little pie in the sky but if residents could form a nonprofit corporation to buy the park, we could control the rents because we don’t have to make profit, we just need to make sure that things are in order,” Leamer said.
Richard Aurili, a Rancho Villa resident, echoed Leamer’s comments concerning affordable housing for seniors. Aurili painted a grave picture to the council about what could happen if these parks are not protected.
“If current zoning remains in place, there is no question that they will continue to extract ever increasing rents and other charges from residents,” Aurili said. “When they receive an offer to buy from a redeveloper, which further enriches them, they will sell out every senior and put them out on the street without a second thought.”
It was not just residents who voiced their concerns at the meeting. Steve Wheeler, the operations manager at Golden West Estates, said he wanted the city to protect the people who reside in manufactured home communities.
“I have 160 homes with hundreds of seniors with the average age of 74,” Wheeler said. “What you are doing to protect this zoning is imperative to these seniors. These are folks that have worked their lives and paid their taxes. We have many veterans. They deserve protection. These are good people.”
Many of the residents in these parks own their homes but not the land they sit on. It may sound like a viable option but moving a mobile home is not as easy or affordable as it seems.
As operations manager, Wheeler said he is responsible for when mobile homes are brought in and removed. “These homes are not easily removed,” Wheeler said. “In some cases, they cannot be removed, they have to be demolished in place because the county and the state will not allow us to move them.”
Wheeler, who has lived in multiple places, recalls all the times he has seen manufactured homes destroyed so a commercial operation could take the place of housing. While in Canada, he said, he saw a manufactured home community demolished for the sake of a Safeway. While in Idaho, a mobile home park was destroyed for a convenience store.
“All those families were displaced,” Wheeler said.
Council’s vote
After an hour’s worth of public comment and deliberation a stillness filled the room as Mayor Tom Scribner announced it was time to vote on the two code amendments.
The motion was moved and seconded to approve ordinance 2023-01 that adopts amendments to the Walla Walla 2040 Comprehensive Plan map. The motion carried unanimously.
Residents stood and cheered for a brief moment as Scribner reminded the group the work was not over yet, and silence overtook the room again.
“What is the pleasure of council with respect to ordinance 2023-02?” Scribner asked.
Council member Ted Koehler answered in moving to adopt the ordinance 2023-02 that adopts amendments to Titles 15 and 20 of the Walla Walla Municipal Code. The motion was seconded. The council members smiled as they said “aye” to unanimously carry the motion.
Cheering erupted in the room as park residents knew their fear of becoming economically displaced drifted a bit farther away.
Long-awaited win
On the night of the vote, Leonard said she was cautiously hopeful about the result.
“I felt that there would probably be a majority who would vote in favor, but I didn’t expect unanimous,” Leonard said. “My initial thoughts were total relief and gratitude. There was gratitude that people in Walla Walla didn’t have to know how close they could have come to disaster.”
Walla Walla is the third city in the state to enact code changes for manufactured park homes with College Place being the first. Leonard hopes the change will have a national impact for residents in manufactured and mobile home parks.
“This is what you want to see with your own local government,” Leonard said. “It’s wonderful.”
Leonard was not alone in her appreciation for the council’s consideration.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Sterling said. “The City Council really came through. It’s clear they care about all citizens of all income levels and ages.”
Sterling said it took a long time and a lot of effort on behalf of both residents and the city to help protect their lives. He is hopeful that the win will continue to push other cities in the state to advocate for tenant rights.
“These laws affect all of the (manufactured home) parks in Walla Walla, not just Rancho Villa,” Sterling said. “I think a lot of people outside of our area have seen what we have done, and we have given them some confidence. I hope it will help other people, too.”