THANK YOU, EUGENE WEEKLY
Emerson Brady wrote an article, “The Last Responders,” highlighting the Trauma Intervention Program of Lane County, published in this paper on May 16. Her story was well researched and provided comprehensive information about the program. She wrote from her own experiences and knowledge, not from hearsay. I applaud her journalistic integrity. I have heard wonderful responses about this article and Eugene Weekly as our local publication. The Trauma Intervention Program (TIP) is an amazing asset for our county, and Brady brought this program to life in her article. Thank you and Eugene Weekly for investing in journalistic professionalism to educate our community.
Bridget Byfield
Eugene
CONCERTS AT THE SECRET TEMPLE
Loved Bob Keefer’s article on “The Secret Temple of EWEB” (EW, 5-23). And yes, I’d pay to hear benefit concerts there. I can already hear the gnashing of teeth over safety concerns, but this sounds like a treasure that more than just a handful of people should have the privilege to experience before demolition.
Write/call EWEB.
Onward.
Jay Moseley
Eugene
IT’S PILLION, NOT ‘BITCH’
It is disappointing to hear fellow riders still using terms like “bitch seat” and “riding bitch.” It is misogynistic and dated. For those who also cringed at this paragraph in the May 23 issue “Riding Free” story, there is fortunately a way to refrain from referring to motorcycle guests (including people’s kids along on the ride) as “bitch.” The technical term for the passenger seat on a motorcycle is the pillion, or “riding pillion,” as a verb. Please spread the word, friends.
Bear Berry
Eugene
BLOW OFF STEAM WITH EW
A safety valve is an important release for mechanical things but also for the general public. Since the RG blew its top long ago, thank you for continuing to be the “safety valve” for our area, allowing citizens to blow off steam.
Kim Kelly
Eugene
ADVICE FOR THE NEW MAYOR
Since the Weekly invited us to weigh in on our new mayor Kaarin Knudson’s priorities (Slant 5/23), I’ve decided to step up. Obviously, the situation with our unhoused folk is challenge No. 1, but I’m not qualified to contribute, so I’ll leave that to the experts.
A friend of mine moved to Eugene when we were older teenagers. He eventually returned to California because our long, dark, rainy winters drove him into depression. We’ve stayed in touch and I’d occasionally visit him in California, but he didn’t make it back here for decades. Recently, while driving south from Seattle, he dropped in to visit.
The first thing he said while stepping from his car was, “I’d forgotten what a butt-ugly town this is. And, Wow! It’s gotten so much worse!”
He was referring to the fact that we tore down the uniquely crafted Victorian buildings downtown, replacing them with the soulless modern architecture we’re stuck with. And now, the astonishingly ugly, dominating towers of concrete and sheet steel, have relentlessly turned our little city into yet another generic place lacking any character. A letter in the former Register-Guard once referred to us as “Beaverton South.”
Please, Mayor Knudson, for the sake of our grandchildren, sort out how our building approval system allows such monstrosities, at the expense of the alternate opportunity — to beautify our city rather than degrade it. If the problem is, partly, a lack of aesthetic sensibilities, we have plenty of artistic folk, including me, who’d be happy to advise.
Peter Straton
Eugene
AND NOW THE WORK BEGINS
We voted for you, Kaarin Knudson, congratulations.
I know nothing will happen from this note to you (Eugene Weekly promoted the idea), but, it makes me feel like I’m trying.
Do you tie in the abhorrent situation regarding trash in our once beautiful city to homelessness? I really hope not. There is nothing wrong with their hands or legs. Only their sense of entitlement. After all, a lot of the rules don’t apply to them.
I’ve lived downtown for over 40 years, and there never was the amount of garbage on the streets and sidewalks as there is now (the homeless number, too, has grown). Often, I thank the tent people for picking up after themselves when they leave, always to get the same reply, “Oh, it was here before we came,” or “There aren’t any dumpsters,” when 50 to 100 yards away there is something they could use.
Aren’t you embarrassed to bring out of town guests to downtown Eugene?
Nadine Powell
Eugene
SYMPATHY AND CELEBRATION
I feel sympathy for the great baseball players on the Eugene Emeralds as they’re having a very good season. But I celebrate the resounding no vote on the stadium proposal. If Eugene can’t even afford an emergency room, then the city has no business blowing its future tax revenues on a baseball stadium.
I wish the Ems management the best of luck in finding a city that has tons of extra cash lying around and nothing better to spend it on than a fancy minor league baseball stadium.
Paul Brobst
Eugene
THE LIES ON 20-358
Bond 20-358 went down fast, and the lies that were told insured this to happen.
The billboard that said it would cost taxpayers $100 million was proven to be a lie. The $15 million that would be taken from city services — this, too, was a lie, and it was printed in The Register-Guard, which did not check their facts. There are others.
What is to come people will complain, but their voices will not be heard?
There is talk of raising the stormwater fee $1 dollar a month, and there is talk of a fire protection fee which will be $10 to $12 a month. The county and the city have no means to generate revenue. Fees and taxes are all that is left.
The other lesson learned is one that was first brought up in the 12th century — No good deed goes unpunished. The Ems started in 1955, and it took until 2010 for the Ems to be a part of this community. Allan Benavides from day one made sure the EMS were a part of this community, not just during the season but year around. They were not asked by the county, the city. It was the right thing to do, and this is how you thank him, with friends like this who need enemies.
The Ems presented a means to generate revenue, and this community turned their backs on them. Family Affordable Entertainment is gone.
So to all those who wanted the Ems gone, you got your wish, and I want to thank you all for the taxes and fees to come, not only from the city but the county, also, and a vote will not be needed, since the majority of people don’t vote.
I just can’t wait to see what other shoes will drop.
Steven Hunnicutt
Eugene
SHARE THE ROAD
Is it too much to ask that the right-turn-on-red at Franklin and Walnut be adjusted?
I’ve lived on Fairmount my entire life. Franklin and Walnut has been a right-turn-on-red, and thus a gamble for pedestrians, for at least the last 40 years.
I get it: drivers can go wide open on Glenwood (as fast as your car will go when you put the pedal to the metal, most times from a stationary, standstill position). I also understand any changes would be inconvenient. But would those changes be any more inconvenient than hitting someone?
I’ll close with a suggestion: Move the stop sign (and crosswalk) back into Walnut (even five or 10 feet would give me enough lead time). Oftentimes, cars are already encroaching into the current walk zone, looking left to determine if there is enough distance to make it, flooring it and not looking right to see if someone has the walk symbol.
Even a little attentiveness goes a long way, and courtesy (and eye contact) is always appreciated.
Let’s share the road. Thanks, drivers!
Adam Howard
Eugene
WE HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON?
I’ve discovered something that people of all political persuasions, gender identifications and economic status have in common. Sounds promising, right? Wrong! What they have in common is their disgusting habit of running their vehicles while texting, eating, sitting, waiting, talking — you name it. Exhaust flying into people’s windows and the atmosphere in general.
Think we’re going to “solve” the climate catastrophe? We’re not. Because people are clueless, selfish and checked out. Why do you think we have a climate chaos in the first place?
Alex Li
Eugene
THANKFUL FOR DEATH WITH DIGNITY
As I get older, I find myself more and more thankful for those who worked so hard to install Oregon’s Death with Dignity law. We don’t owe our suffering to the Pope, and even though the Catholic Church fought against that right, Oregonians made it the law.
I do hope that sooner or later, there is another initiative campaign to expand that law, to include other conditions that make quality of life a real issue, degenerative diseases included.
If I were boss, we would include aging, being over age 70, as a qualifier as well, though I understand that would stand little chance of passing. If Trump gets back in and destroys the Affordable Care Act, perhaps weakens Social Security and Medicare, old age would become the nightmare that it was in the 1930s.
Hugh Massengill
Eugene
EDUCATE YOURSELF ON WILDFIRES
Wildfire season is swiftly approaching, and education surrounding wildfire prevention is lacking. As an Oregonian, I worry each year when fire season begins, and I have no idea if the fires will reach the homes of my friends, family or my own.
There is a common misconception that most wildfires are caused by natural events such as lighting, but in reality 70 percent of wildfires in Oregon are human-caused. Such fires are often caused by cigarettes, unattended campfires or the burning of debris, all of which are easily preventable. Wildfires need three things to burn: oxygen, fuel and heat. This means the risk of causing wildfires increases during the summer months when it’s hot and dry and outdoor activities grow in popularity.
This month, May, is Wildfire Awareness Month, and we as Oregonians need to do our part to spread awareness about wildfire prevention. Although it is true that some wildfires have been caused by natural events, like the McKenzie River Fire, which was caused by lighting, that does not excuse the extreme number of fires that are caused by humans. There is no reason so many acres of forest, homes and infrastructure should be destroyed because of simple negligence. So this fire season, while you are enjoying the beautiful Oregon outdoors, please check the Oregon Department of Forestry website to make sure you are not engaging in activities that could start a wildfire.
Rosemary Ruiz
Eugene
DECEPTIVE MESSAGING FOR EMS
According to the on-line version of The Register-Guard, it looks like the bond measure to fund a new Ems baseball stadium is being defeated handily. The RG reports that bond measure supporter Steven Hunnicutt criticized the opposition campaign for using “deceptive messaging” in their effort to defeat the measure. “The people were not going to pay $100 million for the stadium.” Perhaps not, but in my opinion, the folks in support of the bond measure employed some deceptive messaging themselves. The flyers I received in the mail in support of the bond measure listed Emeralds’ baseball dead last, behind emergency services, jobs and redevelopment and concerts/local events, as a reason to vote for the bond measure. As if trying to keep Emeralds’ baseball in the Eugene/Springfield area wasn’t the whole reason the bond measure was on the ballot to begin with. I dislike manipulative, “snow-job” advertising from any quarter. Even from candidates and measures I support.
As a lifelong baseball fan who has taken in many games at PK Park and the old Civic Stadium, the last thing I want to see is the Ems leave Eugene. But I need more private money invested, and a long-term “guaranteed” commitment from MLB to keep minor league baseball in the area, before I vote to spend public money to build a baseball stadium for the Ems.
Ben Bonner
Eugene
CAN EUGENE BE GREAT?
I was just elected as a Precinct Committee Person for the Democratic Party. Thank you for your vote. Here is the platform I wish to enact — MEGA: Make Eugene Great Again.
Conversely to the MAGA movement, MEGA seeks to push the political discord in the opposite direction, toward the progressivism that defined Eugene a generation ago. With a huge caveat to the social injustices against every minority at the time, many Eugene residents of the 60s and 70s were enacting radical new ideas and testing the limits of the status quo.
The legends of Odyssey Coffeehouse, Saturday Market, The Hoedads, Eugene Weekly, The Odyssey and Nancy’s Creamery compelled me to move to Eugene in 2004. The hope that we’ll continue to be a community of forward-thinking visionaries compels me to stay. Thank you for 20 great years, Eugene!
Brett Moser
Eugene
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