To the editor:
I’m voting yes on Measure 21-233, the operating levy for the Central Coast Fire & Rescue district.
Fellow Waldport and Tidewater residents, I’ve heard the opposition. I’ve read the pamphlet. They’re right to demand accountability, as we all should. But accountability isn’t sabotage. If you think the house needs remodeling, you don’t burn it down first.
Our fire department responds to over 1,000 calls annually, covering fires, medical emergencies, and rescues. That’s nearly three calls every single day. Three times a day when someone in our community needs help they can’t give themselves.
Voting yes on this measure is not blind trust. It’s a declaration that we refuse to let our neighbors wait longer for help, that we refuse to gamble lives over $0.60 per $1,000 of assessed property value, and that we believe in building a community that saves lives first and debates process second.
Measure 21-233 is not just about numbers on a ballot. It’s about who we want to be as a community when the sirens go off at 2 a.m., when someone’s chest tightens on the kitchen floor, or when the smoke rises behind the tree line.
For years, Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue has stretched every dollar, showing up for us without fail. But no organization can outrun gravity forever — the weight of rising costs, more calls, more people moving in, more extreme weather. This levy doesn’t double taxes. It doesn’t break our backs. It replaces an expiring levy and adds a modest increase — about $150 a year on a tax assessed $250,000 home.
That’s 40 cents a day to keep firefighters on shift, ambulances rolling, and insurance rates from spiking when our ISO rating collapses.
We are at a crossroads. One path shrinks us. The other calls us to rise.
I urge you to vote yes on Measure 21-233. Because when it’s your loved one, or your home, or your life on the line, you’ll want to live in a community that chose the path of courage.
Let’s stand up for each other.
— Ron Oliver/Tidewater
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