• We asked for some to-dos for our new mayor Kaarin Knudson when she takes office. We reported the earlier suggestion we received, that the sidewalks be repaired, especially in high traffic areas. Now we hear folks want to maintain our city’s urban growth boundary and prevent sprawl (some local NIMBYs may not like that). What other suggestions do you have for incoming Mayor Knudson? Let us know in an email to Editor@EugeneWeekly.com — or Letters@EugeneWeekly.com if you want it in print.
• OPB recently broke the news that the two new leaders of Oregon’s Planned Parenthood affiliates are pushing to dissolve the political arm of their organization, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. Sara Kennedy, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, and Amy Handler, Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon president and CEO, provided this statement:
“Advocacy remains a top priority for Planned Parenthood in Oregon — and there will be no changes to our advocacy efforts prior to the November election. The board of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon has hired a facilitator to lead us through a process that considers the structure and policy agenda of future advocacy efforts. The shared goal is to build and strengthen a Planned Parenthood advocacy organization that aligns with the evolving needs of our patients, the core health care mission of our organizations, and the need to preserve and to expand reproductive rights across the state of Oregon and Southwest Washington.”
• Pacific Northwest baseball fans are jumping on the Mariners’ boat. Seattle’s Mariners are red hot and way ahead of the West division of the American League. Catch Amtrak from Eugene to the stadium and take in a game. It’s fun.
• The November election coverage already has us really freaking stressed. A weird moment of humor was in the recent New York Times article about “Robert F. Kennedy’s Conspiracy of Ravens.” The fringe candidate has tamed a couple ravens but apparently couldn’t take his pet emu that liked to attack his wife. Our favorite line? When setting up an interview over the phone, the reporter writes of hearing a raven caw in the background. “I had many questions, the most pressing of which was: ‘Can I meet the ravens?’ (Another, left unspoken, was: Are they after the brain worm?)”
• The U.S. Olympic Team Track and Field trials are June 21 to 30 — in case you were wondering why hotel rooms are crazy spendy right now. We hear folks are organizing a “No Olympics during a genocide” protest. Interested? Head over to Washburn Park 5 pm Friday, June 21.
• The Black Pioneer Monument Project at Alton Baker Park “seeks to have the foundational pioneering Black families, their lives, legacy and neighborhood’s destruction properly acknowledged by the city of Eugene and Lane County — by erecting a sizable monument in Alton Baker Park. The monument will be a marker of the Black community’s collective history in Eugene and Lane County during the 1940s.” Search “The Black Pioneer Monument Project” on Facebook to take a survey on the project. The People’s Collective writes on the survey that at 2 pm July 21 there will be a ceremony at Alton Baker Park where the “public will be informed more about the monument project, the history behind its creation, provided an opportunity to see a model of the statue, and be in community.”