Page 34 RAIN March/April 1984 KGON-FM Hacks A radio station in Portland, Oregon, KGON (KGON ROCKS is its slogan), mostly labeled as a hard-rock or even heavy-metal-rock station, is claiming to be the first, or one of the first, radio stations in the country to support a computerized community bulletin board for its listeners. You can call the system from any computer or terminal that is equipped with software and modem for communications by calling 503/657-9526. On-line, you can post public bulletin-board messages or look into many different "pages” of information. There is a list of top-40 hits, celebrity news, computer news, and more. In the story morgue file for December 29, these items were found; On this day, in 1863, the state capital in Oregon was seriously damaged by fire. It was thought that arson was the cause, probably the work ofsome Corvallis malcontent still smarting over the return of the seat ofgovernment to Salem. Also on this day, Andrew Johnson was born in 1808, along with Ray Thomas of the Moody Blues, while Tim Hardin died in 1980 of a heroin-morphine overdose. So it goes in the world of computer communications. Creative Co-op Financing Why would wealthy individuals spend $10,000 apiece to rehabilitate older houses and then lease them to a cooperative of low-income people? For the tax breaks, of course. At least that's why they're doing it in Portland. A neighborhood group called REACH Community Development has put together an innovative arrangement in which investors will spend $400,000 of their personal wealth to buy and rehab about 50 units of housing. Other money will come from foundations, private donors, bank loans, and loans from the city's development commission. The investors will own and operate the housing through a limited partnership, a form of corporation often used for tax- shelter investments. They will lease the properties to the housing cooperative for 10 years, after which time the cooperative will have the option to buy the houses at a predetermined, affordable price. The investors may claim the losses of the partnership as their individual losses, thereby decreasing their individual taxable income. The losses are expected to be large, because of recent tax laws that allow for rapid write-off of housing investments and even faster write-off of rehab costs that are related to low-income housing. "We're just taking advantage of the Reagan tax laws for a good cause," says Dennis Gilman, director of REACH. Property sellers may donate part of the value of a house by selling it to REACH at a bargain price. The property seller gets a tax deduction for the donation, and REACH is able to turn around and sell the house to the limited partnership at the higher, full market value, thus acquiring instant equity (actually, instant debt, since REACH takes a mortgage from the partnership). This instant debt will help make it possible for the cooperative, with the help of REACH, to buy the houses back after 10 years. With this daring strategy, REACH hopes to create a perpetual supply of affordable, good-quality housing, close to the city center. Not a bad deal. REACH is at 317 SE 16th #7, Portland, OR 97214 —Scott Androes Scott Androes, a former RAIN intern, works for an insurance company in Portland. Clearcuts at Bull Run? Thirteen clearcuts have been proposed for Portland's lower watershed. The pending timber sales lie on Forest Service land in the Little Sandy River area of the Bull Run water reserve. The city has chosen to ignore the potential soil-damaging and water-polluting effects from logging the area, even though the State Water Bureau has stated the 22-square-mile reserve should be protected for Portland's future water needs. Oddly enough. the city stands to gain no revenue from the sales. Members of the Bull Run Interest Group and the Portland Audubon Society have filed appeals with the Forest Service to halt the logging, but broader expression of opposition is immediately needed. We encourage you to send letters to the editor of The Oregonian (1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201), with copies to Mayor Frank Ivancie (1220 SW 5th, Room 303, Portland, OR 97204) and the City Water Bureau (1120 SW 5th, Portland, OR 97204). Also, you can call or write Representative Ron Wyden in Portland: PO Box 3621, Portland, OR 97208; 503/231-2300. To stay up-to- date, send your address and a contribution to the Bull Run Interest Group Newsletter, PO Box 6886, Portland, OR 97228 or call Joe Miller at 503/668- 4497. Sweet Reason, Issue 2: How Human a Yardstick, Oregon Essays, edited by Carolyn M. Baun, 1983, 76pp., $7.95 from: The Oregon Committee for the Humanities 418 SW Washington Street Portland, OR 97204 Sweet Reason is an annually published collection of essays by Oregon writers in the humanities. Issue 1, The Ethic of Abundance in an Age ofAusterity, was reviewed in RAIN IX:3. Issue 2, How Human a Yardstick, focuses on what it means to be hurnan. At first glance. Issue 2 seems to be a collection of academic essays by academicians. But then, that seems to be the purpose. Poet Gary Miranda comments, "The guiding principle behind a collection of essays such as Sweet Reason . . . assumes that the contributors are not so much specialists that they cannot share whatever knowledge they have with those who care to listen. Indeed, if the term 'humanist' [or 'common humanity'] means anything, it means that we must foster not only the willingness but the ability to share.” The essayists share their thoughts on aspects of our humanity: appreciation of time and place, reason and passion, the need to move and to be moved, a sense of destiny, and freedom. What makes this issue well worth reading is the trait expressed by all of these writers, the essence of humanness: self- examination. —JS
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