Here’s a Dream
To reduce air pollution and prevent injuries to pedestrians and bicyclists, all non-commercial SUVs and full-size pick-up trucks are banned from driving within city limits.
Brad Stewart
Eugene
Another Dream
I dream of Eugene waking up to the gentle sounds of the Willamette River floating peacefully on a warm summer day near the I-5 bridge. The gentle sounds of the river are broken by a violently crashing noise.
What could it be? It’s the rushing-swirling water slamming from side to side against the Millrace low-head dam concrete abutments. The Millrace low-head dam is a nightmare that is a death trap. I know because two years ago I was tubing peacefully floating down the Willamette River when I went over the Millrace Dam. I would have drowned if I hadn’t been wearing a life vest.
I dream that the city of Eugene, which purchased the Millrace in 1947, will make a serious decision to remove the dam. Maybe Eugene can get some pointers from the city of Florence, which gained experience with dynamite when they blew up the whale on the beach on Nov. 12, 1970? It was a massive “Blubber Blunder,” but they learned from their mistakes.
I’m sure the city of Florence will take on this whale of a problem and help Eugene blow up the Millrace low-head dam. It’s time to wake up!
Frank Harper
Springfield
We Got Through the Year
Congrats to Eugene Weekly on making it through a very difficult 2024! I’m sending good vibes that this coming year will be a bit easier and, who knows, perhaps even more productive and expansive.
Keep those donations coming in!
On that topic of a rough year, would it be possible to update readers on the criminal investigation regarding the paper? I know the arc of justice bends slowly, but surely, after a full year, some progress has been made. All your readers would enjoy knowing something about where we stand in the case and what it all might mean for you and your staff.
Lou Caton
Eugene
Editor’s Note: Thanks for the vibes! We try to update our readers whenever we get an update — we are as impatient as anyone for a resolution to this. We have handed over all our documentation to the Eugene Police Department and it is in their hands.
Play the Kazoo
While I am hoping that Eugene coalesces to form an anti-inauguration event, I also want to pass along three simple action items put forth by geopolitical analyst Malcolm Nance on Substack: “You asked for it and now you got it. This is the first in a series of substacks on how you can form a resistance movement that will be small, local and have a huge impact nationally. We have ways to resist tyrants and you will need them all.” He points out that German occupation of France in WWII mobilized a non-compliant underground. He suggests FAFO — Focused Action with Focused Objectives — for a present-day upgrade.
Right now, three steps: 1. Do not watch/read any inauguration-related social media or news media events, at all, for the first 100 hours; 2. Copy and download your X posts and prepare to delete your account at high noon Jan. 20; 3. The moment after you delete X, create a video of you playing “The Imperial March” on a kazoo. That’s right, a kazoo. Splash your videos during your week-long inaugural blackout onto social media. It’s not much, but it’s not nothing. Share with 20 million friends. Onward.
Rebecca McCroskey
Eugene
Rewrite!
Let me help rewrite “Sadness, Despair and Anger” (EW, 12/26) for your staff.
Mayor Lucy Vinis was assaulted with a bowl of food thrown by an unnamed, ungrateful, unwanted homeless person at an overburdened local shelter.
Eugene does better than most cities. This place has a big heart, but there isn’t an unlimited budget for anything.
As a retired LTD bus operator, I can tell you empathy is running on fumes for people who throw food at our mayor or turn their backs in protest against local government officials who at least show up.
Eugene has become a drop zone and sanctuary city from everywhere else. Take Bend, for example: zero accommodation, no “remembrance day,” no hot bowl of chili.
I suggest “Barefoot Defenders” take a barefoot adult homeless person or two home with them. Improve a life.
Many “expecting” accommodations have worn out their own families. Sorry, but this is the end of your line. Did you make yourself unwelcome at every last location? No ID, no money, no clue? Smoking meth? Being disruptive? No attempt at self improvement? Stealing bicycles? Wandering into traffic barefoot wearing a dark hoodie?
Asleep in broad daylight next to a massive pile of debris, sprawled in the middle of a sidewalk? Throwing a chair through the window of the ER waiting room? Is that you? Is that what you bring to the table? OK, good luck with that, mister.
Glenn Jones
Eugene
Doing the Sensible
A Subway restaurant stands vacant near the Washington Jefferson Bridge. The former Highway 99 Pub, in the parking lot of Albertson’s on 18th near Chambers is also vacant.
Both of these sites are not surrounded by homes and children but are loosely surrounded by businesses, streets and open space. So it would be sensible and doable to rent one or both of these empty buildings and allow one of several volunteer organizations, such as Neighbors Feeding Neighbors, to feed Eugene residents who are hungry.
Since food is a human right, the least we can do is protect the impoverished and hungry members of our community. Can we seek a way to rent one or both of these buildings, or at least the parking lot in front of the Subway, to allow responsive neighbors to give food and dignity to 100 or more of the 3,000 people who live without homes in Eugene?
Katherine Bragg
Eugene
The Health Care Crisis
The murder of a CEO demonstrated the frustration and anger of millions of people fed up with our for-profit health insurance system. They delay, deny and depose to increase their profits. If it weren’t for Obamacare, they would deny pre-existing conditions, and their administrative costs and profits would soar above their 20 percent limit. Most people would like a public option to provide competition and lower prices, but the Trump administration will do the opposite. They want to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid and turn it all over to for-profit insurance companies to help pay for their tax cuts for the rich.
The rest of the developed world provides universal health care at half the cost with better health outcomes. Why can’t we, the wealthiest country in the world, do the same? The Republicans in Congress oppose any government programs or oversight that would limit corporate profits, but the states can do something.
Canada’s universal health care system started in Saskatchewan, and then when the other provinces saw how well it worked, they adopted the system nationwide. We should do the same. We could start a regional universal healthcare system in California, Oregon and Washington. This would save billions in administrative costs. We could also change our education systems to provide free medical education in exchange for two or three years of service in rural communities, where health care is becoming rare. We need many more doctors and nurses. If Cuba can provide them, why can’t we?