There seems to me to be no doubt that some of Oregon’s land-use laws are too stiff or poorly worded, and some are out of sync with the reality of the places that they address. It also seems clear to me that government sometimes abuses its power (all together now, “Say it isn’t so!”) and misuses eminent domain and other tools of force.
These are all problems that need to be solved, but Measure 37 is an incredibly blunt tool for this job; pulling out a tooth with a jackhammer is the image that comes to mind.
The fact that we live in a society and not an anarchy means that we have a governing body responsible for regulating the effects of individuals’ actions upon the rest of society. As this is true for what we do with our own bodies, so it is also true for what we do with our property.
I no more have the absolute right to do whatever I want with my land than I do with my hands. If I build 50 houses where research has proven that such density and farmland removal will negatively impact my community, or if I put my property to a highly polluting use that increases the city’s costs to clean the water and/or negatively impacts fish populations, or if I destroy a wetland that provides crucial habitat and flood protection, then I am acting in a way that directly and negatively impacts everyone around me.
This is why the law has always upheld the notion that governments have “police power” to regulate what people can and can’t do with their land (and other property).
Measure 37 erases that police power and effectively creates a vacuum in which property owners can subject their surrounding communities(at varying levels from local tointernational impact) to anything they please in the name of making as much money as possible.
The law has also historically upheld one property owner’s right to “peaceful enjoyment” of his land as being just as important as another owner’s right to make a killing off of hers. Measure 37 constitutes yet another victory in this country for greed over the values of neighborliness and consideration for others. Truth be told, it’s a victory over all other values that I can think of.

Joy Gipson, University Student