Very Little Theatre got unexpected new skylights when ductwork collapsed in the storm but expects to open Hello Dolly on schedule March 29.

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Slant by Editorial BoardPosted on

• The snow was pretty the first couple hours it fell last week. Then tree limbs fell, roofs collapsed, power lines went down and the light and heat were gone. Thank you to The Register-Guard, KLCC and the local TV news for braving the roads and dealing with lost electricity and phones of their own to keep us posted on storm damage and the ceaseless work of the power companies and road crews to get us going again. 

• Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley has bowed out of the presidential race, but if you’re desperate for another enviro-friendly socially conscious white guy from the West Coast, there’s always Jay Inslee. The Washington state governor has been forward-thinking on the environment and clean energy, and while he might be obscure to the rest of the country, so was Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas — and whoever thought Donald Trump would be president?

• Eugene plans to put up a parking lot where City Hall used to be — where plans were canceled to create a camp for the homeless — and Eugene’s city parking manager, Jeff Petry, described a downtown parking crisis in a Feb. 17 interview with The Register-Guard justifying the plan. “Downtown Eugene’s parking demand is one of the highest it’s ever been in decades,” he said. “Every parking garage has a waiting list (for monthly permits) and every parking garage is full.” We found plenty of spaces when we visited one of those “full” lots — the Parcade Garage at Seventh and Willamette — several times on Feb. 19. Petry responds, “That is good to hear there is parking availability for our hourly and daily parkers. The Parcade Garage is a key downtown location.” Does that mean we can build a homeless camp now instead of a parking lot?

• Kelsey Juliana and Our Children’s Trust may not win their climate case against the federal government in the court of law, but they are already big winners in the court of public opinion. The March 3 coverage on CBS’s 60 Minutes was a compelling segment of these kids in Eugene and all over this country feeling the impact of extreme climate change and trying to do something about it. Couple that with the kids’ climate marches scheduled for March 15 worldwide. Where are the so-called grown-ups in this fight? It’s past time to throw the climate deniers out of office and vote in adults to work with these kids.

• Speaking of climate deniers, Art Robinson already has announced that he is once again running against Congressman Peter DeFazio, probably with the help of the deep pockets of the Mercer family, buddies of Donald Trump. We would like to brush Robinson aside but better take him seriously, despite the whole collecting pee and a little nuclear radiation is good for you thing. The country and Pete cannot lose in 2020.

• During Lane Arts Council’s First Friday ArtWalk March 1, we dropped by the New Zone Gallery, now located — at least temporarily — in the elegant space that once housed the defunct Opus VII. New Zone, with work from PhotoZone at the back, was a gallery transformed, and we hope the collective can stay in the new space a long time. Around the corner, a new show of paintings by the late Oregon artist Charles Heaney at Karin Clarke Gallery and She Flies With Her Own Wings: Celebrating Female Artistry at White Lotus transformed downtown into a happening art scene that we hope continues to grow.

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