• As we wait anxiously for the results of the presidential election, we congratulate Peter DeFazio for securing his spot in Congress for another two years, defeating Republican opponent Alek Skarlatos. “I want to give a heartfelt shout out to my supporters and volunteers. It’s been an unbelievable effort on their part,” the congressman tells Eugene Weekly. The race in Oregon’s 4th district has been a long one, but despite out-funding DeFazio, train-hero-turned-movie star Skarlatos couldn’t snag the win. “I guess money can’t buy everything,” DeFazio says, and we agree. As chair of the committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, we wish DeFazio luck in working on issues like climate change. If you find yourself missing Skarlatos’ dramatic attack ads, visit EW online to see our list of his best Hollywood moments.
• With a big sigh over being done with election-related panels, the City Club of Eugene is sponsoring a virtual forum at noon Friday, Nov. 6, on “Re-Imagining Monuments.” With the pulling down of the Pioneer Mother and Father statues on the University of Oregon campus during Black Lives Matter-oriented protests, as well monuments to troubled historical figures across the country and the world, the panelists will have a needed conversation about the hot-button issue. City Club says “presenters will clarify and challenge mainstream notions of ‘monument’ and ‘memorial.’” Speakers will be David Harrelson, cultural resources manager of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde; John Weber, executive director of the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum; and Michael Geffel, landscape architect and UO instructor.
• The seven-game abbreviated Pac-12 football season kicks off Saturday, Nov. 7 with Oregon slated to host Stanford in front of a robust crowd of cardboard cutouts whose real-life personas paid $50 to $75 a pop and with every hair-raising moment replayed on a ginormous new video board for the cutouts to devour. If you were not fortunate enough to be born a cardboard cutout, there is, at least, TV coverage for the first weekend of play. And TV money is the point of playing college football in the midst of a pandemic. Will it work? The University of Wisconsin-Madison had to declare “no contest” the past two weeks because of a flurry of positive tests for COVID-19 on the team. Other games have been postponed or canceled this season. Oregon canceled a scrimmage in late October because of five positive tests, which turned out to be false positives, but the peril is real, and it is not worth it, even for the TV money.
• At a time when hundreds of people in Eugene are without homes of any kind, a Washington state developer is proposing to build a “resort style community” with 612 units at 3790 and 3800 North Delta Highway. “The vision for this 69+ acre community was to create an amenity-rich resort style experience for residents,” gushes Evergreen Housing Development Group LLC about its proposal. Not what the city needs, you say? Then Zoom into the city’s public meeting on the plan and let officials know what you think. It’s at 7 pm Thursday, Nov. 12, and the link is zoom.us/j/2094812111. You can take part by telephone by calling 301-715-8592; the meeting ID is 209 481 2111.
• As long as this nice weather lasts, go by Civic Park and the Kidsports building at random times and you might be lucky enough to hear amazing sounds of music. Dr. Diane Retallack, artistic director for the Eugene Concert Choir, Eugene Concert Orchestra and Eugene Vocal Arts, tells us that COVID has really blocked singing together, but artists will always find a way. She decided that they need to sing in a stadium where extreme social distancing is possible. Bev Smith, director of Kidsports, helped, and choir members are rehearsing both in the big building and out on the soccer field. We all need those sounds of music.