President Barack Obama is planning to spend the week pushing Congress to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which is responsible for supporting most states’ transportation costs. But as Congress debates whether to take action, the U.S. Department of Transportation warns that the purse will run dry by the end of August, putting the conditions of roads, bridges and paying for infrastructure projects at risk.
At the center of the debate is how Congress intends to inject future revenue into the fund, which relies heavily on a federal gas tax that has not changed since 1993. The White House argues more funding will only provide a temporary solution, as more Americans embrace environmentally economic vehicles, and lawmakers will need to start thinking of alternative ways to pay for transportation.
One idea is gaining traction in Oregon, where a pilot project is rethinking how we pay for driving altogether. The Vehicle Miles Traveled fee places the burden of paying for road repair on those who are using it rather than concealing it in a fuel tax.
“In 2001, we passed a bill that basically says the legislature needs to find an alternative to the gas tax, recognizing that the gas tax is a declining revenue source,” Oregon state Senator Bruce Starr told the Washington Post. “So we went through a process to look at options. The road-user charge ultimately was the place we settled.”
Drivers have five different mileage-based payment options — including installing an odometer to using GPS through a smartphone to track miles — and are charged a base rate of 1.56 cents per mile driven, but the amount can vary depending upon the type of vehicle (heavy trucks are charged more) and whether or not they’re driving during rush hour.
Drivers can also receive a monthly bill detailing their driving activity, akin to a utility bill, which can help drivers change their driving habits — reducing the amount of road expenses.
The experimentation paid off. Oregon’s pay-per-mile program is not only the first of its kind across the country, but the pilot exceeded expected gas tax earnings by 28 percent, CityLab reports.
Though Oregon has explored more than one concept since 2001, Sen. Starr points to help from the private sector as part of the pay-per-mile program’s success.
“The big piece of that is really because government’s not the ones that are accomplishing all of the recording of the mileage. It’s done by a private-sector company,” he said. “Yes, we have to be able to audit it to make sure that we’re getting paid what we need to be getting paid, but any of the data is not being held by government. I think that the private sector is well able to help to identify how many miles people drive and then collect the dollars from the public and remit them to the [Department of Transportation].”
This year the state passed a bill that will see 5,000 drivers phase in the per-mile charge as opposed to the gas tax, while Sen. Starr expects more partnerships to emerge with other Western states interested in the program.
Though it make take some time to change the federal system, Oregon’s ingenuity demonstrates that Congress should be thinking beyond prolonging a “transportation cliff.”
MORE: Oregon has an Indiegogo Campaign to Give Portlanders a Huge Off-Road Bike Park
Tag: oregon
While Many Ignore the Plight of Veterans, This Motley VW Bug Is Calling Attention to It
Disabled veteran Scott Hicks’s 1965 Volkswagen Bug doesn’t conform to standard notions of automotive beauty. After all, it’s painted in a mélange of greens from mint to olive, has a rusty bumper and in the back window, a note is posted that reads: “Back Off It Doesn’t Go Any Faster!!!”
While the car isn’t your typical coveted hot rod, Hicks is using it to convey an important — and beautiful — message.
In response to his disgust over the recent revelations about the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) delays in treatment, which led to the deaths of dozens of veterans, Hicks launched a project — Inspire Veterans. “I was sick of hearing people talk about helping veterans but not doing anything to fix the problem,” Hicks told Dal Kasi of Fox Carolina.
His plan? The end of June, Hicks set out from Grants Pass, Oregon, in his Bug — named Patina — on a planned 10,000-mile road trip, stopping at veterans’ centers, war memorials, American landmarks, and VW car shows, to talk to anybody who’ll listen about the problems facing veterans today. As he makes his 38 planned stops, he invites local VW Bug owners to rally around Patina.
Hicks wants to call attention to the fact that 22 veterans commit suicide every day, a number he believes is exacerbated by the extensive wait times for appointments with VA doctors. And, as he notes in a video on his Inspire Veterans website, “that is the 2012 number, and the number is probably more like 24 veterans a day that are committing suicide, generally because of depressive disorders related to PTSD. That is a horrible number. I wish it wasn’t even one a day, but it’s a fact, and the government isn’t doing anything to help those soldiers that are coming back.”
Hicks is raising money to fund a documentary of this journey, which he says will capture veterans talking about their experiences and speaking about what kind of assistance they need. “Hopefully that will help the public and the government understand better what’s really going on…Most veterans don’t really like to speak out, but generally they’ll speak to another veteran. That’s why I’m doing this.”
So if you see a man driving a Bug of many colors and wearing a red-white-and-blue bandana while you’re out and about this summer, take a moment to listen and learn what you can do to help veterans.
MORE: How Does Running Coast-To-Coast Help Veterans?
When Jobs Are Tight, Immigrants Turn to Microbusiness Incubators
For many workers, the recent economic downturn either forced or inspired them to finally strike out and start the business that they’ve always dreamed of. And that is especially true for many immigrants who may lack education, English skills, or the dependable transportation they need to succeed in the traditional — and still tough — job market.
Paula Asuncion of Portland, Oregon is one such newly-minted entrepreneur. Asuncion immigrated from Mexico decades ago, and since then, held a variety of low-wage, fast-food and farm jobs to support her six children — a burden that grew more difficult after her husband’s death.
But two years ago, she started participating in a program sponsored by Hacienda CDC (Community Development Corporation), a Portland nonprofit that provides housing, education, and economic advancement help for Latinos. Hacienda CDC sponsored a microbusiness incubator that trained Asuncion and others on the ins-and-outs of entrepreneurship.
Now, Asuncion runs her own catering business and was able to buy a home rather than sharing a crowded apartment with other families as she used to.
Janet Hamada, the executive director of Next Door Inc., another Portland-area nonprofit that offers business training told Gosia Wozniacka of the Associated Press, “The biggest concern among immigrants is having stable work. They come to us and say, ‘I want to start a taco stand. How do I do that?'”
People like Asuncion and those who want to open taco stands, for instance, form a major part of the American economy. According to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, microbusinesses with five or fewer workers employ 26 million Americans.
The nonprofit Adelante Mujeres in Forest Grove, Oregon, which offers a ten-week microbusiness class for Latinos, has seen a surge in interest from those who want to start their own businesses. Program director Eduardo Corona told Wozniacka,”Anti-immigration laws have led to people having a really hard time finding jobs, even on farms. Since they have to put food on the table, they’re starting to explore their abilities and thinking of opening a business.”
Interestingly, numerous studies have shown that immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to start their own businesses. One report found that more than half of Silicon Valley tech start-ups were founded by immigrants.
And now with the help of these increasingly popular nonprofit business incubators for low-income people, we’re likely to see even more successful immigrant entrepreneurs in every sector, from tacos to technology.
MORE: This Novel Concept Works to Cook Up Successful Eateries
These Seniors Needed Affordable Housing, and These Kids Needed Love. Together, They’re Beautifully Solving Both Problems
In Portland, Ore., there’s an idea so innovative that it has managed to bring together two sets of people with different problems — and solve them for both.
Welcome to the Bridge Meadows housing development, which helps elders and kids by providing a supportive environment for families that adopt foster kids alongside 27 units of affordable housing for seniors who agree to pitch in for 10 hours a week to help out with the kids. It’s a solution to a problem you don’t hear about often on the news: According to the PBS News Hour, 15 percent of seniors in America live below the poverty line, which often makes them struggle to find affordable housing. Meanwhile, families who adopt foster children face their own difficulties, as they are pressed for time, money and support.
Jackie Lynn, 60, is in the process of adopting her niece’s children because both of their drug-addicted parents are in jail. She works full time and felt she wasn’t able to give the kids the attention they needed until they moved to Bridge Meadows. Her family is partnered with neighbors Jim and Joy Corcoran, the “elders” who volunteer to spend time with the kids. “They are the reason that we thrive,” Lynn told Cat Wise of the PBS NewsHour. “Jim takes the boys every Sunday morning for about three hours. And they come home excited, with all these wonderful stories. You see children running up to them and giving them hugs. It’s just incredible to watch it.”
Meanwhile, the Corcorans experienced financial trouble after Jim lost his construction job, but now they live comfortably at Bridge Meadows with a $500 monthly rent payment. Joy Corcoran told Wise, “It was really difficult to find any decent housing that we could afford in any regard. And so when we had the opportunity to move here, it was just a godsend. It was like a huge relief.”
Bridge Meadows is funded by rents and donations from corporations and the community, and it provides a myriad of ways for kids and elders to interact every week. Elders lead story times, teach music lessons, tutor kids in school subjects, give them lifts to school and more. Derenda Schubert, the executive director of Bridge Meadows, said that there have been a few families who moved in and found the togetherness a bit too much, but for most of them it’s a perfect fit, and several seniors reported that their health improved through so much interaction. “Connections across the generations is critical, absolutely critical for aging well,” Jim Corcoran told Wise.
Plenty of people agree with Jim — which is why another intergenerational housing development like Bridge Meadows is currently under construction in Portland. But there’s good news for those who don’t live in Oregon, too: The staff of Bridge Meadows is consulting with people across the country who want to start their own such housing projects.
MORE: These Startups Offer Sleek Technological Innovations for the Elderly
This City Has Taken a Very Important Step in Protecting the Honeybee
By now you probably know that honeybees aren’t just pesks that you should swat away. Besides making delicious honey, bees are responsible for pollinating a big portion of foods that we like to put in our mouths, from apples to zucchinis.
We’ve mentioned before that honeybees pollinate approximately $15 billion worth of produce in the country each year — or about a quarter of the food we consume. But to the horror of beekeepers from coast to coast, honeybees have been disappearing in startling rates. The long-suspected culprit? Scientists have linked bee colony collapse disorder to a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, a product that’s chemically similar to nicotine.
Now, in a first for the country, the city of Eugene, Oregon has taken a major step in protecting not just the honeybee but other insects as well, including bumblebees, butterflies and moths, after passing a resolution that bans products containing this highly suspected insect-killer on city properties such as parks and schools.
MORE: Help Save the Bumblebees With Nothing but Your Smartphone
You might think that farms and other rural areas are the only places experiencing bee die-off, but it’s definitely a problem in cities as well. According to TakePart, after trees at a Target in Wilsonville, Oregon were sprayed with neonicotinoid dinotefuran to control aphids, a heartbreaking 25,000 bees (later upped to 50,000) were found dead. Although this may be an isolated report, it seems like a good enough reason to take this specific pesticide away as far as possible.
Encouragingly, the Oregon city might not be the only bee-friendly community. Paul Towers of the Pesticide Action Network told TakePart that other cities like Minneapolis, Berkeley, El Cerrito and Santa Barbara might follow in Eugene’s footsteps. Now that’s bee-ing a part of change.
If You Want Your Daughter to Dream Big, Have Her Play With This Classic Toy
Walk down the aisle at your local toy store that houses Barbie, and you’re apt to see Mattel’s signature female toy dressed for all sorts of aspirational careers — from astronaut to entrepreneur. But do the job choices of the popular blonde influence girls that play with her? Two researchers wanted to answer this question.
Aurora Sherman of Oregon State University and Eileen Zurbriggen of the University of California, Santa Cruz randomly assigned 37 girls between the ages of four and seven to play either with a Doctor Barbie, an identical Barbie in sexualized clothes, or a Mr. Potato Head doll for five minutes. Next, they presented the girls with pictures of the backgrounds to various occupations that did not feature any people in the image. One career depicted was gender neutral (restaurant worker), five were of jobs that a higher concentration of women work (librarian, daycare worker, teacher, nurse, and flight attendant), and five were of jobs that a higher percentage of men work (police officer, construction worker, pilot, doctor, and firefighter). After presenting each picture, the researchers asked the girls if they could do that job and if a boy could do that job.
The results, published in the journal Sex Roles, were startling: Girls that played with either Barbie (which had the same unrealistic body type, regardless of how she was dressed), saw fewer career options for themselves than boys. Girls who played with Mr. Potato Head saw about the same number of career options for themselves as boys. In an email that Sherman wrote to Megan Gannon of Live Science (a website featuring the latest in scientific news), she said, “One psychological theory indicates that adult women who are given cues of sexualization (through dress or pictures) perform worse on academic tasks. My co-author and I speculate that Barbie might work as the same kind of cue for girls, but more research is needed to fully test this speculation.”
Our guess is that now, a lot of parents are going to encourage their daughters to play with the goofy-looking spud instead of the trendy lady from Malibu.
MORE: Why Are These Female Scientists Tweeting Photos of Their Manicures?
Inside the Movement for Free Community College
With the rising costs of a college degree, our country’s total student loan debt has soared past a staggering $1 trillion. We’ve read the stories of crippling debt and the consequences it carries. So, in an effort to buck this worrying trend, lawmakers in three separate states have proposed big plans for higher education: free community college.
Tennessee
In his State of the State Address, Gov. Bill Haslam proposed that all of the state’s high school graduates could attend Tennessee’s community and technical colleges for free for two years. The plan, called the “Tennessee Promise,” would be funded by $300 million in state lottery money. “We are fighting the rising cost of higher education, and we are raising our expectations as a state,” Haslam said. “We are committed to making a clear statement to families that education beyond high school is a priority in the state of Tennessee.” If the plan passes, Haslam said that Tennessee would become the only state to offer this guarantee — unless these next two states don’t beat Tennessee to the punch.
Mississippi
Although it didn’t make a big splash in the news, Mississippi also has plans for free community college. Their state legislature passed a bill that would make all 15 of the state’s community colleges tuition-free for high school students who enroll within 12 months of graduation, Inside Higher Ed reports. The bill still needs approval from the Appropriations Committee and the full House, but if it passes, the program would cost less than $4.5 million per year for the 75,000-student system. The catch? Mississippi would only step in to cover a student’s tuition after they tap out federal and institutional financial aid.
MORE: The Surprising University That’s Educating a Huge Number of Olympic Athletes
Oregon
Lastly, the Oregon senate unanimously approved a bill that would study the idea of free community college in the state. The study would help determine whether or not the state should take up this issue next year. Lawmakers suggested that two years of tuition for the state’s 32,000 high school graduates would cost between $100 and $200 million, so the study would help determine where funding would come from, Oregon Live reports. Granted, Oregon has taken a small first step, but it’s an important one to get things going. As Sen. Mark Hass said after the bill’s approval, “Next year when you see this concept hopefully on the floor, the homework will be done, the rules will be in place and the options will be clear.”
When Veterans Couldn’t Get Their Pay, This Hero Stepped Up
When John Bartholf learned that a businessman had allegedly failed to pay some veterans the wages they were promised, he decided to do something about it. More than two-dozen veterans worked for $15 an hour renovating apartments in Salem, Oreg. But when payday came around, their employer was allegedly $10,000 short. Veteran Brian Piatt said that as a consequence, he was being evicted from his home. That’s when Bartholf, the CEO of Coverall of Oregon, donated $10,000 to make things right. He explained some of his motivation to KATU, recalling that when he first heard the story, he thought, “How can this be happening? Where are we in society that this can be happening?”
This Simple Management Strategy Makes Workers More Productive
Green Rising is an Oregon-based marketing firm that has taken a new approach to managing its staff. Instead of having everyone come into the office and work 9-5, people get to determine their own schedules and ways of working. The only focus is on results. As at any company, workers are responsible for achieving high standards by certain deadlines and within certain budgets, but how they accomplish their tasks is completely up to them. Green Rising founder Holly Hagerman says her management style involves “treating employees like adults.” This strategy seems to improve worker productivity at Green Rising, and could perhaps have the same effect at other companies. Besides boosting productivity, it can make workers happier, and also solve a whole host of other problems, including time-wasting rush hours—a byproduct of too many people having roughly the same working schedule.
Source: Sustainable Business Oregon
Is This the Tree That Revitalizes Oregon’s Lumber Industry?
Oregon is known for its lumber, which supports a multitude of other industries in the United States, from the production of paper pulp to couches. Unsustainable tree harvesting would mean the eventual end of what is, for Oregon, an extremely vital trade. An innovative logger, GreenWood Resources, is attempting to revitalize the foresting industry with its fast-growing hybrid poplars, which reach maturity in about 10 years. Poplar monoculture may not be environmentally optimal, but this certainly represents a step toward maintaining the viability of foresting in Oregon. Sustainable Business Oregon has a photo gallery of GreenWood’s operation.