• The Eugene Parks and Open Space Division is proposing park rule changes that it says “are aimed at increasing enjoyment of the parks and clarifying park use requirements.” Proposed changes include making all Eugene parks alcohol free “unless a special event permit is given for weddings, family reunions and other community activities” or unless allowed by the facility supervisor or the person in charge of parks and recreation facilities at 20 locations in Eugene such as the Amazon and Washington Park Community Centers. Expanding commercial photography opportunities to now include the popular Hendricks Park and Owen Rose Garden is on the docket, along with prohibiting the dismantling and distribution of bicycles or bicycle parts in parks without city permission (you can still make repairs such as fixing flat tires). They would require vehicles to park within the parking lines and only occupy one parking space, unless written permission is obtained from the city and cite unauthorized vehicles in parks after closure. Finally, the proposed changes would prohibit dogs weighing over 25 pounds from being in the “small dog” off-leash dog parks. Parks is seeking feedback from the public by Friday, May 19 via email at POS@ci.eugene.or.us or sent by snail mail to City of Eugene Public Works Department, Administration Division, 101 East Broadway, Suite 400, Eugene, Oregon 97401.
• There will be a Divest Eugene Rally, 6:30pm, Monday, May 22 at Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza, 799 Oak Street. Join 350 Eugene in calling on the Eugene City Council to enact an ordinance for the city of Eugene to divest from US Bank because of its ties to oil pipelines.
• At 7:30 pm, May 23 the University of Oregon LGBTQA3 (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer Alliance) brings Miss Major, a Black transgender elder and activist who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 50 years, to speak in the EMU Ballroom. Tickets are free for UO students and $8 for everyone else, and organizers say that there are a few free tickets available for queer and trans people of color outside the UO community. To reserve those, contact events.qa.uo@gmail.com. LGBTQA3 says that Miss Major is a veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion and recently served as the executive director of the San Francisco-based Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), a grassroots organization advocating for trans women of color in and outside of prison that is also led by trans women of color.
• “The Space Between Us: Immigrants, Refugees and Oregon,” a talk by Manuel Padilla, is 5:30 pm Wednesday, May 24 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 1430 Johnson Lane. Padilla will ask “participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities.”
• At 4 pm, Thursday, May 24, Rich Bartlett and Nati Lombardo from the Loomio team in New Zealand offer a workshop entitled “Tools and Culture for Participatory Organizing.” Loomio is an app for online decision-making built by a worker co-op. The workshop is at RAIN, 942 Olive Street. Organizers invite you to stay and bring a dish with its ingredients labeled for a potluck dinner to follow. Cost is $20 – $50. Go to goo.gl/oXUxKxc for event info.