Save CAHOOTS
Help! We must save CAHOOTS!
It is unconscionable to me that the city of Eugene and our entire surrounding community could allow CAHOOTS to basically go under due to lack of funds (Slant, 3/27). There is no worthy excuse for that to happen. CAHOOTS has played an invaluable role in our community for decades. The way they have operated and their “business model” cannot be replicated by absorbing their role into other agencies and/or departments. Everyone I know loves CAHOOTS and supports the way they have operated in our community. Their work is exponentially important in the world we are currently living in today.
Please let your readers know what we can do to help save CAHOOTS. Give us marching orders, people to call, things to do to reverse this travesty.
Sue Kilber
Eugene
Say That Again, Please?
Do you pronounce it “e-ug” or “u-gee” or something else. The new name (3/27) goes along with your desire to “keep EW funny.”
Don French
Eugene
Editors Note: We pronounce it “April Fools!”
Now the Rest of the Story
Just read the Bricks $ Mortar story “Texan Lassos…” (EW, 3/27).
The headline is misleading and you missed important facts.
Bill Cornog is a Eugenean; graduated from South Eugene in 1982 before heading off to Stanford, then Harvard. Yes, he is a high caliber financier and manager. He’s also philanthropic. Eugene should be glad to have him back, even part time.
Daniel Ambrose
Eugene
The Page 4 Crowd
Last month Tsunami wrote a $1,000 check to Eugene Weekly for up to 52 weeks of advertising on page 4.
We imagine page 4 filled with advertising every week, mostly small or local businesses, and individual supporters of the print version of the Weekly; real folks supportive of the very concept of the 40-plus-year-old Weekly rag.
Ours will be a small ad, similar in size to a “What’s Happening” blurb, with some red, some black, some bold, some italics, simple and ever present, like the Oregon rain back when Eugene was Eugene.
Your ad may be bigger. Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Tsunami, a very small business, has $1,000 to spend for up to 52 weeks of advertising in Eugene Weekly. And this to us is a best-case scenario of how it can be done.
We imagine an appropriate heading to this soon-to-come page 4. Something like “We, the Page 4 advertisers and supporters of Eugene Weekly, are thankful our newspaper has decided that the ethics of this important, small, decidedly local business, including its news and advocacy, its ads and its layout, will reflect the best intentions of its founders and leading lights…,” maybe with more bite and a laugh. Whatever, the pros over at the Weekly can come up with the proper words.
We just want a piece of page 4. If you think you might want to be there, too, contact Sales@EugeneWeekly.com.
Scott Landfield
Eugene
Downtown can be Fun
William Sullivan’s letter to the editor in the March 27 issue was a bright spot in my day. His ideas want me to live downtown, go downtown, bring guests to downtown. I was just at the Farmers Market today, March 29, and the sun was shining and everyone was smiling (Eugeneans and the sun!) Once done with the market we walked around the park blocks, bumped into a friend and sat on a bench and talked. Downtown Eugene is a lovely place to be.
Yes, we need affordable housing, but not a small squat building blocking the sun on the market. Maybe some of that parking lot that used to be city hall could make a nice apartment building and green space.
A playground, a slug queen throne, a giant EUGENE sculpture — imagine!
Thank you, Mr. Sullivan, for reminding us that downtown can be fun.
Maureen McClain
Eugene
Re-Elect Newman to 4J
During my tenure on the 4J School Board, I had the privilege of serving alongside Judy Newman, an exceptional board member who embodied effective leadership, wisdom and ethical conduct. Our school district is exceptionally fortunate to have her re-election bid, particularly in these challenging times.
Newman has demonstrated remarkable courage in standing up against the current federal assaults on public education. She is a member of a pioneering group that has become the first K-12 school board in the nation to join a lawsuit against these attacks on equity and equal opportunity. This commendable action is a testament to Newman’s unwavering dedication to ensuring that all students have access to a quality education.
In addition to her contributions to the school board, Newman co-founded and co-directed the Early Childhood CARES program through the University of Oregon. This program provides support and resources to young children with disabilities, helping them acquire the essential skills for academic success.
Newman’s expertise extends beyond education and special education, as she possesses the necessary leadership skills to manage a complex and large organization. Her collaborative approach ensures that the needs of students, families and staff are consistently considered in decision-making processes. Newman’s unwavering commitment to excellence and her dedication to the well-being of our students make her an ideal candidate for re-election to the school board.
Alicia Hays
Eugene
Connect the Dots, Connect the Paths
Can the city of Eugene begin the condemnation process on the south bank of the Willamette River between the Knickerbocker footbridge and the Frohnmayer footbridge? If the city can annex this riverfront property, we can then complete the Greenway paths project. Eugene will then be able to allow access for residents and visitors to all of the riverfront within the city limits. Recent litigation in Lake Oswego has demonstrated that nobody has exclusive access rights to waterfront property in Oregon.
Michael Ryan
Eugene
Land for Housing besides Park Blocks
As someone who has not even lived in downtown Eugene for two whole years, I agree with the letter opposing developing the Park Blocks (3/27).
Recently, I noticed that Footwise closed its location because of a lack of foot traffic, probably, and the art supply store across from the Timbers Motel is gone. Something needs to change dramatically, and fairly soon. Increasing the population density in the downtown could be a real plus.
I have noticed in my short tenure here that the old Greyhound bus station has been up for lease or sale for a couple of years at least, or maybe even longer. And behind it is an enormous mostly unused parking lot. Here is a mostly vacant half block in the downtown near the Eugene Hotel, a new Asian grocery store and Whole Foods, The Shedd Institute, among other facilities. If a property in the downtown district remains vacant for several years, shouldn’t the city be able to use its powers of eminent domain to latch onto it? If that is not possible, then tax the daylights out of property owners who want unreasonable sums of money for long-term vacant properties that then lower the values of the surrounding properties, and impoverish their owners.
F. Zula
Eugene
Support the Fee
Eugene appears to be formulating its own menacing Department of Government Efficiency through the Chamber of Commerce. Several big donors of the Voters Against Forever Fees Campaign, led by the chamber, contributed to gather signatures to overturn the Fire Services Fee, which council voted to support in order to balance the budget.
The founder of Summit Bank, Chamber Management Co., Sno Temp Cold Storage, Broughton and Giustina Lumber, an EWEB Commissioner and several others donated over $63,000 to get a referendum on the ballot so “voters could decide.” Voters already decided when they elected city councilors to represent the public in their various wards after the council received a well researched budget committee’s findings. Will the chamber start dictating what services and staff are cut next?
Now, more city tax payer dollars must be spent on a special election because these donors and the Chamber of Commerce don’t like the council’s decision. This smells of a recall several years ago to remove a Ward 7 councilor because folks did not like her decision on public transit.
The fire service fee will keep fire and police staffed as well as providing services from CAHOOTS, the library, animal welfare, parks and other city services.
Please support the fire service fee.
Jim Neu
Eugene
Reduce and Reuse
I have two ideas on how to reduce and reuse.
The first is where to go for patchwork fabrics. Patchwork began as a way of using fabric scraps from sewing and reusing the better parts of old garments. My grandmother, born in 1890 in rural, pre-electric Missouri, made my brothers each a “quilt” (in quotes because they were tacked, not quilted) from their old pajamas. She used old pajamas for the batting, too, as she also did with the “quilt” she and I made together of my old cotton dresses.
I know of people who have used old jeans and other denims to make quilts for the needy and homeless. And scraps of velvet and silks from fancy dressmaking were used (and still are being used) for crazy quilts. Only the quilt backings were ever specially purchased material.
The second is about broccoli. Why, oh why, are stores (even some natural food places) selling only the crowns of broccoli? I only buy them if they have their stalks. Those stalks are not only edible, but tastier than the florets. They’re great steamed or in soup. You just have to peel them, and not even that if the stalks are about the size of a quarter in diameter. An added advantage of using the whole stalk and not the florets is that, if the florets are buggy — as they sometimes are this time of year — you will still be able to use what you got.
Siri Kirpal Kaur Khalsa
Eugene
The End of the Line
The Eugene Emeralds, 70 years of family affordable entertainment and, like all things, it must come to an end.
The way this came down was no support from city leaders, no support from the people. So the fat lady has sung, and I leave you with this: The Eugene Emeralds have been here 70 years, but they were never a part of this community. They were here each summer and then gone, no community involvement.
In 2010, the Ems moved to PK Park. Allan Benavides was the new general manager and from day one, he had the Ems be a part of this community. He and his staff just were not around during the summer, but all year.
If they continued to be just around during the summer it would be no great loss, but it is the fact that it took 55 years and one man for the Ems to be an important part of this community.
Oscar Wilde coined the phrase, “No Good Deed goes Unpunished.”
Forget 70 years — in the past 15 years under Benavides the Eugene Emeralds supported this community in so many ways and Eugene thanked them by turning their backs.
I’ve known the reasons. I know people who called Benavides their friend turned their backs on him. I know, but with what Benavides and his staff contributed to this community — to see it all end, I will never understand.
Family affordable entertainment in Eugene is never going to be again.