Oregon Is A Place Of People's Dreams - Kathleen Leppert, Bend

Senators and State Leaders,

Oregon. The name evokes images of towering pines, rushing rivers and bubbling springs, peaceful meadows and powerful mountains. The natural wonders of the Oregon outdoors is what brings thousands of tourists to our beautiful state year-round and what also has made Deschutes County one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. As a local Realtor, one of the first questions I ask people is “what do you like to do?” You see one thing that I know is that people who move to Oregon come here to live close to what they like to do . . . in the outdoors. That may be mountain biking, kayaking, rock climbing, caving, hiking, skiing, rollerblading, hunting, camping, fly-fishing, or just strolling through the woods taking in the peaceful sounds of nature.

Oregon is a place of people’s dreams. I grew up hearing that “Oregon is God’s country”. My family dreamed of Oregon and hoped to move here one day. My husband and I did just that in 1990 and my family soon followed.

Since arriving in Oregon we’ve seen both the natural wonders of the environment and the ugly nature of people. Greed has stripped Oregonians of so much of its heritage due to rampant over-development. My foray into the development arena is due to my strong beliefs in smart growth principles, which are, among other things, to utilize current infrastructure and redevelopment practices to preserve and protect our open spaces and wilderness areas. In the words of Aldo Leopold “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.”

What is deeply disturbing is that it appears that if you have enough money and influence, you can rewrite Oregon’s laws and steal one of our crown jewels turning it from a Wild and Scenic protected habitat into a Disneyesque version of “Wet and Wild.”

What I’d like to ask is that each and every leader in Oregon protect the Metolius River Basin and preserve our heritage. This is what makes Oregon special and unique. Without it, people will stop dreaming of Oregon and we will no longer live in God’s country.

Kathleen Leppert, PC
Principal Broker/Owner, CSP, GRI
Leppert & Associates Realty
Website: www.kathleenleppert.com