We've got issues.
THE NEW REALITY The West Coast is experiencing extreme drought and heat this year. The question too few are asking: “Is this the new normal?” Politicians and planning bureaucrats in the service of construction companies and developers keep bleating the “growth is good” mantra with little thought of future generations and the planet. The destruction of the old City Hall and trees cut down for the new Hilton are but a few examples. Continue reading
OUR SWEET OLD WORLD Thanks for the information-rich cover story “Extinction Sucks” July 16 issue. As our planet continues to move inexorably toward its sixth mass extinction, we Homo sapiens who acknowledge our collective responsibility for the unfolding tragedy look for ways to express our great guilt and boundless sorrow. Continue reading
THE BIGGEST MYSTERY Continue reading
MUPTE IS MISDIRECTED I appreciate George Brown’s call [Viewpoint, July 7] for modification of MUPTE to include a meaningful and significant workforce housing component. But I would prefer that we end MUPTE all together. In my view, MUPTE is as unnecessary as it is misdirected. Typical of these programs, it lacks robust compliance oversight. It robs our community of needed tax revenues for the benefit of well-heeled developers. The evidence of an out-of-control program is all around us (see the Capstone site, if you can stand the sight). Continue reading
The Pitcher’s Mound Celebrating the life of a Civic Stadium In the city of Eugene, in the valley of the Willamette River, on a warm summer’s eve, a ball cracks on a bat. Tension builds in the shifting legs of the catcher and in the strengthened stance of the outfielder. But nothing explodes the valley into joy as does the swelling sound of the crowds cheering, sound moving through the air, undulating like the swarm of honeybees into a new morning. Continue reading
CIVIC WILL RISE AGAIN This is hard. We know all things must pass — but the way they pass matters. My young children ran the bases at Civic Stadium on Sunday nights. We watched fireworks on the lawn over many a Fourth of July. My son took the field as a Kidsports player and then played four years at Civic at his high school's home field. I coached a game once on that field. My heart beats stronger recalling those hallowed grounds. Continue reading
FRIENDLY SOCCER Continue reading
A RIVERFRONT VISION Following the UO Foundation’s disappointing renege on its winning bid to be the project manager for the Willamette riverfront EWEB development, I am encouraged by new voices promoting again the notion of a last chance for the city of Eugene to “take control of a project that will affect us forever” and buy that property from EWEB. Continue reading
DE-GREENING EUGENE I haven’t read anything about the trees downtown that are slated to go down this summer. The one by the Eugene Public Library on Charnelton is doomed, but there are 10 trees on 11th and Olive, across from The Kiva, that will go when the bulldozers come to demolish Musgrove Mortuary. One of them has already been dug up and moved. Continue reading
ONLY ONE OF MANY I am writing to applaud Camilla Mortensen’s as always thorough, informed and situated story May 28 about sexual assault survivors and the UO. The article demonstrates how sadly typical it is for something truly terrible to happen before anything is done that could prevent future tragedies. The UO, caught between worries about perceptions of prospective students, their parents and, above everyone else, donors, hoped this would just go away. It did not. Continue reading