** Local
    --  New Group Opposes Florence Casino
    --  Public Forum March 5 - Casino in Florence
** Oregon
    --  Industrial Lands Report Available
    --  Property Rights Perspective
    --  DLCD Director Resigns
    --  Yamhill County Appeal Fees Rolled Back
    --  Keizer Station Plans Move Forward
** National & International
    --  Living Close to Work Top Priority
    --  New Jersey Maps War Against Sprawl
    --  Conference Focused on Outdated Vision
    --  Smart Growth Attracts Diverse Groups
** Links of Interest
    --  Salemwatch - Weekly e-newsletter
    --  Review of 2002 Ocean Salmon Fisheries
    --  Community, Culture and the Environment
    --  National Library for the Environment
    --  Funds Diverted from Safety to New Roads
** Upcoming Events
    --  CFF Meetings
** Activism Via the Net
    --  Heritage Forests Campaign

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LOCAL
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-- NEW GROUP OPPOSES FLORENCE CASINO -- A newly formed group of Florence residents are organizing to oppose a proposed Indian casino on the outskirts of Florence.  The group, which calls itself People Against a Casino
Town (PACT) appeared at the Florence City Council meeting on March 3.  They asked the council to contact the Governor's office and encourage him to continue with the lawsuit which might prevent the construction of an Indian casino near this town of 7,000 residents. The council decided it could not make a decision that evening, but offered to hold a public forum on Wednesday, March 5, 7:00 pm at the Florence Events Center.

Fact Sheet distributed by PACT at council meeting
Tribe to ask governor to drop lawsuit against Florence casino

-- PUBLIC FORUM ON CASINO MARCH 5 IN FLORENCE -- In response to PACT's requests, the Florence city council agreed to hold a public forum on March 5, 7:00 pm, Florence Events Center.  The purpose of the meeting
will be to decide whether or not the Council will write a letter to the Governor asking that the lawsuit be continued to its conclusion.  PACT is gathering signatures on a petition to be delivered to Governor Kulongoski on Thursday, and the council agreed that the issue was important enough to warrant an expedited handling.

CFF Indian Casino Information Page
City of Florence 2002 letter to Governor Kitzhaber

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OREGON
-----------------------------
-- INDUSTRIAL LANDS REPORT AVAILABLE - There’s been a lot of talk of a lack of industrial lands ready for development.  The issue, however, is not new: a report and recommendations (an 86 page document) on a task force on Oregon’s industrial lands is available.  This is a result of the 2001 session HB 3557 "...in consideration of the connection between Oregon land use planning laws and economic growth....to help ensure that Oregon communities are
providing sufficient buildable commercial and industrial lands." http://www.lcd.state.or.us/LegPage2001.htm

-- PROPERTY RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE - Property rights push in need of perspective - An Op-Ed regarding HB 2137 and similar proposals. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/02/09/b1.col.fodor.0209.html

-- DLCD DIRECTOR RESIGNS - After slightly less than a year, Department of Land Conservation and Development
Director Paul Curcio has announced his intention to resign, following a 4-3 vote of confidence from the Land Conservation and Development Commission in his work.  The Commission will now search for a replacement.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/104496845951660.xml

-- YAMHILL COUNTY APPEALS FEE ROLLED BACK - Responding to a court defeat, the Yamhill County Board of Commissions repealed a recent order which raised land use appeal fees from $250 to $700. Friends of Yamhill County, with assistance from a volunteer attorney through 1000 Friends of Oregon, successfully appealed the fee to LUBA, and a County challenge to the Court of Appeals was not filed in a timely manner. At the hearing where the order was repealed, many citizens spoke up against the increase.  The fee increase may be revisited.

-- KEIZER STATION PLANS MOVE FORWARD - In a move that could decimate Keizer’s business district, the Keizer City Council recently approved rezoning near the Chemawa Interchange at Interstate 5, laying groundwork for a development with up to 975,000 square feet of new retail space.  That's about 1 1/2 times the size of Salem  Center or Lancaster Mall.  But the rumblings of dissent still are heard among some business owners and community leaders, who
believe a massive interstate development will hurt existing businesses.

Sid Friedman with 1000 Friends of Oregon has been opposing the Chemewa plans. Friedman notes that the retail vacancy rate last year for the North Salem/Keizer area was about 20 percent. "It's difficult to see how building close to a million square feet of additional retail space is needed," Friedman said.  He also noted that retail jobs are low-paying, rather than family-wage jobs.

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NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
-----------------------------

-- LIVING CLOSE TO WORK A TOP PRIORITY - The most frequent reason for people moving during the previous
year was to be closer to their work, according to the Census Bureau¹s 2001 American Housing Survey. "It's another indicator that people are getting more and more tired of the effects of traffic on their commutes and their lives," says demographer Alan Pisarski, author of Commuting in America. "We've reached a level of very high frustration."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-12-24-commute-usat_x.htm

-- NEW JERSEY MAPS WAR AGAINST SPRAWL - After Governor James McGreevey made his campaign against sprawl development a centerpiece of his state of the state speech, New Jersey officials moved quickly to add substance to the effort.  They recently unveiled a map that identifies growth zones, areas where uncontrolled growth is undesirable, and an intermediate zone, where development should proceed cautiously. About 2/3 of the state, excluding the already-protected Pinelands, is in the red zone, where the state would like to discourage sprawl.
http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20030121/mtr39901.html

-- CONFERENCE FOCUSED ON OUTDATED VISION - Developers, free market economists, and property rights activists will gather for three days in Washington, DC on February 23 to figure out how to defend a conventional
vision of the American Dream that is based entirely on cars, cheap fuel, and suburban sprawl. The organizers of "Preserving the American Dream" conference have billed the gathering as the starting point of a new battle to advance what they view as their right to build anything anywhere. But according to this opinion piece, they won't be successful because Smart Growth's opponents are trying to perpetuate arrogant social values, wasteful government practices, and harmful economic trends that history is passing by. See the piece here:
http://mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16423

-- SMART GROWTH ATTRACTS DIVERSE GROUPS - The smart growth movement is attracting a diverse constituency, as more and more interests realize how we grow matters to what they are trying to accomplish.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/040/nation/_Smart_growth_expands_its_thinking+.shtml

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LINKS OF INTEREST
-----------------------------

-- SalemWatch - SalemWatch is a weekly email newsletter that tracks environmental legislation during the Session. Oregon Conservation Network.  Subscribe by emailing ocn@olcv.org. More info:  http://actionnetwork.org

-- The Review of 2002 Ocean Salmon Fisheries is available on the Pacific Fishery Management Council's
website at:  http://www.pcouncil.org/salmon/salsafe02/salsafe02.html

-- COMMUNITY CULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT - This new publication claims it is “A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place.” http://www.smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=514

-- National Library for the Environment - Information dissemination program sponsored by National Council
for Science and the Environment.  http://www.cnie.org/nle/

-- REPORT: FUNDS DIVERTED FROM SAFETY TO NEW ROADS - A new STPP report finds roads improving, but funds are being diverted from safety to construction projects. http://www.smartgrowth.org/library/articles.asp?art=533

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ACTIVISM VIA THE NET
-----------------------------
CFF provides these links for your convenience only, and recommends you research any issue before participating.

-- The Heritage Forests Campaign -
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/nfma/forward/ws3sxi4a7837ie

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