Opinion: Page 362

Onward Civic Stadium

Viewpoint

I submitted this column at 9 am Monday, July 6. I just got off the phone with Val Hoyle, who has not been recalled … yet. As of 9 am the Oregon Legislature has the capability, but not the will, to be done.  The last major roadblock was the bonding measure that passed on Friday, July 3. The Republicans threatened to skip work that weekend because, after all, they don’t really have to adjourn until July 11, and to work on the 4th of July would be unpatriotic. Republican legislators still get paid you see, not to work, but to work on the 4th of July is unpatriotic.  Continue reading →

Letters to the Editor: 7-9-2015

Letters

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 →

Slant 7-9-2015

Slant

• MUPTE may be going to the voters if the Eugene City Council votes to revive it this week just after we go to press. Opponents of the controversial Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption program were planning to submit initial paperwork to the city clerk this week for two citizen initiatives. Chief petitioner is Paul Conte. Continue reading →

Our Pressing Need

Workforce housing needs to be part of MUPTE

Viewpoint

Our city has a serious housing problem that the Eugene City Council cannot continue to ignore. When I got on the council in 2009, 40 percent of Eugene’s households were considered “rent-burdened” because they were paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Since then the situation has only worsened; yet during the same period, the council has granted millions in tax breaks for upscale student housing projects that did nothing to address our most pressing housing needs. Continue reading →

Pride and Joy

Viewpoint

June 26, 2015, 6:30 am. I drift into wakefulness, my darling Wifey asleep beside me, the window air conditioner whirring in its valiant effort to keep our bedroom cool overnight. The cats are still curled up, too early even for their breakfast yowling. Continue reading →

Orca Plot Fails

Viewpoint

The tension in Salem at the end of any legislative session is attractive if you’re an unrelenting sociopath who loves pain and heartbreak. With the preceding five months of plodding public process behind them, partisan legislators will finally cast their votes in stone in early July. The game will only finish when the budgets are decided. It’s one of the things I miss most about being out of the Legislature for the past 12 years. I loved counting votes. Continue reading →

Letters to the Editor: 7-2-2015

Letters

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 →

Slant 7-2-2015

Slant

• Civic Stadium’s fiery destruction this week is a shocking loss for our community and this disaster is particularly painful since so much money, time, energy and love went into saving the beloved grandstand from the bulldozer. We see on social media that the news of Civic’s destruction went around the world and generated a collective “Oh, no!” from thousands of people who for generations have watched the games, played football or baseball on the field or worked in and around the property. Where do we go from here? Continue reading →

Old-Growth Legal Wars

You can’t see the forest for the lawsuits

Viewpoint

Oregon’s 30-year “Ancient Forest War” has seen scores of lawsuits, big and small, yielding hundreds of court opinions and orders. From Judge Dwyer’s iconic 1991 spotted owl bombshell (“The argument that the mightiest economy on Earth cannot afford to preserve old growth forests for a short time, while it reaches an overdue decision on how to manage them, is not convincing today. Continue reading →

Take Me to the River

Learn about rivers, get away from it all

Viewpoint

In the heat of the day, we found relief standing in shallow water. Seven of us remained after a tour of the farm and the forested edge of the McKenzie River. Parent conversation roamed across trade-offs between herbicide use and the spread of invasive weeds, climate change and personal change, how to be a good father, how to be a good neighbor. Meanwhile the kids swished scoop nets in the ponded side channel, wowing over tadpoles, boatmen, mosquito fish and dragonfly larva. The air continued to warm, and with it the number of adult dragonflies zig-zagging around us increased as well. Continue reading →