The Local Lens – Episode 3 – Charles Webster Baer Interview

EDITOR'S NOTE: In this episode of The Local Lens, Spencer Sacks interviews Charles Webster Baer who is running for Deschutes County Commissioner.

Spencer Sacks: Thank you, Mr. Baer, for joining us on The Local Lens. It's great having you here. Hopping right in, what is the biggest problem facing the county today?

Charles Webster Baer: Well, we're very blessed here in Central Oregon. We don't have a lot of problems facing us right now, fortunately. But I think that if I'm elected Deschutes County Commissioner, one of my main priorities, if not my main priority, will be depopulationism. Now, depopulationism means that it's illegal for a human being to reproduce a second time. for the first few centuries of this millennium. Depopulationism was created by the Chinese in 1979 and called the one-child policy. And I've been a depopulationist since 1985. It's always been my number one priority. It always will be. And I think that It's time for Oregonians to lead the world by example. It's time for Oregonians to step up. Oregonians have always led the world in progressive politics. And we need to continue to do that because the world needs our leadership now more than ever. And I think it's illegal to kill the planet. I think it's wrong to kill the planet. I'm against killing the planet. And I think that… I think it's time to save the planet, and I think that Oregonians should lead the world in this, in saving the planet, and I think we can, and I think we will, and I think we should start now. And that's my opinion.

Spencer Sacks: Well, so let's expand on that a little bit here. What does that look like on a county level?

Charles Webster Baer: Okay, so let's take a look at the definition of depopulationism. So the definition of depopulationism means it's illegal to reproduce a second time if you're a human being for the first few centuries of this millennium. So if somebody was to break that law, they would be convicted of breaking that law, and then they may be fined. Like a $100 fine or a $200 fine. I would recommend that the male be fined two or three times more severely than the female. And these fines, I think, would increase over time. And, yeah, I think that's what that would look like.

Spencer Sacks: So shifting gears a little bit to some more local issues, land use is one of the big ones that keep getting talked about in this election. If you're elected to the commission, what does land use look like to you?

Charles Webster Baer: I don't know. What do you mean, land use?

Spencer Sacks: How do we continue the… How do we handle the growth that this county has been having over the last decade or so? We're the largest growing county in the last five years.

Charles Webster Baer
Okay. The growth. Well, the growth's coming, and it's gonna keep coming.

Charles Webster Baer: And I think what you're talking about is housing, affordable housing. Now, in my opinion, affordable housing is apartments. Apartments equals affordable housing. So what I would do is I would zone the land for apartments. So if you're a residential developer in Deschutes County and you want to build houses and apartments, you would have to build more apartments than houses because the land would only be zoned for apartments. And that's how I would try to ease the housing crisis.

Spencer Sacks: So another big issue that's facing our area is wildfires. And if you're elected, you'll be on a commission with four other people. How do you plan to work with those other commissioners to make sure that not only are we reacting when a wildfire happens, but prepared before the season begins?

Charles Webster Baer: Well, as I'm sure you know, our country has undergone some terrible, terrible wildfires. Paradise in California in 2018, Maui, 2023. What these fires have in common is that the structures are built so closely that when one goes up, the other goes up. And if you have a fire with a lot of wind, these neighborhoods can go in a matter of minutes. And then entire cities can go in matters of hours. because the fire doesn't travel on the ground slowly. It travels through the air. So that's an issue. We can't build these houses right next to each other, because then they'll all go up like that. So defensible space, zero. I don't think we can have lawns anymore. I think we need to zero scape, have more natural like gardens and things for native plants. And… I think our fire department does a great job. What I would do personally is I wouldn't have any more of that red fire retardant that we drop out of the sky because I think that's toxic and I think that's bad for our water quality.

Spencer Sacks: Shifting gears a little bit, homelessness is another issue that's on everyone's mind. It has risen over the last several years. Just last year during the point-in-time collection, that number was 2,108. How do we reduce the growth that has happened over the last several years, and how do we make sure that these people are getting the help they need?

Charles Webster Baer: Okay, so this is an issue that gets worse every year, okay? This just gets worse every year. Now, what I would do is I would create a facility in Milliken, which is about 50 miles east of town, And this would be one place where the people in Deschutes County who are experiencing homelessness can go to get their benefits and their aid. And this would consolidate it into one place. And I think that would be a win for everybody. I think that would be a win for everyone. I think it would be a win for the homeless people. And I think it would be… Because what… What the Deschutes County commissioners are doing now is they're trying to turn Redmond into the homeless city USA. And I don't think Redmond is on board with that, and I don't think that's going to work. So we need to think of another idea.

Spencer Sacks: I mean, we're seeing projects in both Bend and Redmond. The commission has spent upwards of $600,000 to work on these projects between Bend and Redmond.

Charles Webster Baer: Yeah, but they're pushing most of it to Redmond. I mean, Bends a lot bigger than Redmond. Uh… So, I mean, they're not… I mean, we're… They're trying to push it to Redmond. And they're succeeding. They already have done it. And, uh… I'm not saying that's wrong, I'm just saying that the people in Redmond are like, all right, I think we've had enough.

Spencer Sacks: So in your proposal, you want to build in Milliken?

Charles Webster Baer: Yeah, all of it.

Spencer Sacks: So how do we make sure that these people can get to Milliken and get…

Charles Webster Baer: We can provide them with free transportation to Milliken.

Spencer Sacks: Is that in cooperation with CET?

Charles Webster Baer: Sure.

Spencer Sacks: Is that through county-owned…

Charles Webster Baer: Yeah, no problem.

Spencer Sacks: Where do we get the money for that?

Charles Webster Baer: Well, look, the homeless issue… is going to reach a tipping point where people are going to say, let's resolve this if we can, any way we can. And in my opinion, that's how we can do it. We're already spending tons of money on it. We're going to keep spending tons of money on it. So if we're going to keep spending tons of money on it, and it's going to keep getting worse, then Milliken is my solution.

Spencer Sacks: Okay. One of the last questions I have for you is the county is preparing, or rather it's going to the voters, a proposal to district the county into five districts. What are your thoughts on that?

Charles Webster Baer: I don't have any thoughts on that. The voters will decide in November, and whatever they decide, I'll agree with.

Spencer Sacks: Do you think that we should be districted?

Charles Webster Baer: I don't care.

Spencer Sacks: Okay. Going back to depopulation a little bit, over the last five years, 97% of the people coming to or the people in Deschutes County of that growth came from elsewhere. It's only 3% is from the births over death rate. How would that work with your depopulationist plan if we're still having this massive growth from people who are moving here rather than…

Charles Webster Baer: Okay, so depopulationism is a global issue. All right? But it's also a local issue. It's also a state issue. It's also a national issue. It's the only meaningful issue. It's the only relevant topic. But your question was on a local deal.

Spencer Sacks: So how would we stop people from coming to Oregon?

Charles Webster Baer: Well, I don't know, but we could try. We could try. We could say we're not going to give… drivers, Oregon drivers licenses to out-of-state people. We could say we're going to stop developing. We could say, we could come up with a lot of interesting and creative ways to try to stop people from moving to Oregon. They may or may not work, but it's certainly on the table. It's certainly worth discussing. I don't know how successful it would be, but if you look at California, my home state and you see what they've done to it and you see them coming to do that here it's depressing it's inevitable and uh you know if there's a way out we should look for it find it and go in that direction.

Spencer Sacks: Well that's all the time we have thank you so much for joining us thank you appreciate it.