LETTER: On buying local

Corvallis Gazette-Times: Letters to the Editor, 6/17/2009 by John Detweiler

Buying local is not always the best deal for Corvallis (June 17) - The Corvallis City Council seems to be discussing sustainability a great deal these days. However, before the council forces costly programs or regulations on the voter, the council may wish to find out what the voters actually think before doing so. ∴ I suggest that spin-free questions be asked in the next citizen attitude survey that addresses the benefits and costs to individual voters of specific actions in the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition (CSC) action plan.

One of the CSC goals is to encourage people to buy from local firms. However, if local firms cannot compete with non-local firms, the voter will incur additional costs if they buy locally.

If Oregon State University is forced to buy from local firms at higher prices, someone will pay those extra costs. A question should address the marginal costs a voter is willing to incur for the marginal benefits of buying locally.

Another CSC goal is to revive Corvallis watersheds to conditions that provide healthy habit supporting reproducing populations of cold-water native fish.

A question should address the costs of providing that habitat. Will the taxpayer, or the people living next to these streams, be willing to incur the costs of improving the streams?

It appears to me that the council is assuming that the CSC speaks for all the voters in Corvallis. We need to find out if that is true.

John H. Detweiler
Corvallis