Recently, I went to the last of the five Eugene Climate Change Action Plan 2.0 presentations only to find it didn’t happen. I knew about it because someone from 350 Eugene sent me an email. For something so important (is it?) on the City Council agenda, there was zero publicity about these events.

The city heavily promotes its Eugene downtown events. Does the end of civilization as we know it not rate with music on the plaza? It’s outrageous! What does the City Council take seriously? Developer tax breaks to build overpriced hotels and crappy student apartments?

There’s been no headway on homelessness, or “missing middle” housing, and what little they do get done only benefits downtown. 

Sure, there’ll be lots of slide shows with lots of “staff” talking, talking, talking, but when does anything actually happen? Especially, taking charge of how this one small city handles its climate change obligations.

Four years of solid scientific input by civil society groups, and council never even considers using some of these knowledgeable citizens in the “stakeholder groups” that supposedly will make the important decisions to save us all from the very obvious climate changes we are experiencing, which they are largely responsible for.

Robin Bloomgarden

Eugene