We've got issues.
• It’s almost too late to mail those ballots buried among the bills on your kitchen table, but white ballot boxes can be found around town. Democracy relies on an informed public, and if you’re reading this you are probably more informed than most of your neighbors, so flaunt that knowledge and put it to work for a noble cause! Continue reading
My mother, Virginia Eivers Gorton, was raised in The Rose City amid Portland’s lush beauty, but her garden was always more of a dream. While she delighted in the natural beauty of flowers, that love never extended to actual hands in the soil. If truth be told, perhaps the interest in gardens was more my interest and although I championed the joys of gardening through the years, she was always otherwise engaged. In 1917, Mother was born into a family of hard-working and accomplished women. Gardens, tea parties and the like were not the customary pastimes of these women. Continue reading
NO, YES, ONE TERM Having just read the city of Eugene Voters’ Pamphlet, here are my opinions. Continue reading
• How could this happen? Four prominent Eugene progressives standing at the City Club podium May 3 arguing about Ballot Measure 20-211, the Eugene city services fee. Alan Zelenka and Steve Johnson support it, Bonny Bettman McCornack and George Brown oppose it. Five of eight city councilors oppose it. Conservatives must be chuckling. We wonder how City Manager Jon Ruiz, his staff and Mayor Kitty Piercy put out this seriously flawed measure. Continue reading
Having worked in two jails and one federal prison, I understand the importance of adequate institutional staffing for safety, security and efficiency. But in conjunction with deliberations about whether to support a tax levy to increase jail funding, I believe citizens would do well to contact their county commissioners about how any short-term funding solution should be coupled with a plan to rein in correctional costs that otherwise will undoubtedly only increase over time. Continue reading
The proposed city fee is the subject of much debate in our community. Many community members remain undecided. Voters deserve some clarity about the proposed fee and a response to the critics who say it is not needed. Continue reading
Recently I volunteered at the Lane Peace Center’s annual Peace Symposium, “Rise to End Gender Violence!” Women's empowerment is essential to cultural progress. And violence toward or objectification of women impedes progress. Yet, I also feel compelled to stand up for that other gender, men. Continue reading
Oregon daily newspapers are hardly worth reading anymore. The bias against public employees, the woeful reporting/analysis of the current legislative session by both The Oregonian and The Register-Guard is bloodthirsty and pathetic. Reporting last Wednesday, the most significant votes of this session — PERS reform and a $275 million tax plan — in their zeal to blast Democrats and Speaker Kotek, both papers lost sight of the pyrrhic nature of the victory the Republicans won in the opening skirmish. Continue reading
DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE Frequently, significant events are supported by a long history of effort. That is true with the upcoming visit of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. In 1998, members of a diverse community formed under the name of the Universal Peace Celebration Committee. Many civic, business and political leaders endorsed our efforts to bring the Dalai Lama to Eugene and to Oregon for a second visit. Our efforts are now coming to fruition. Continue reading
• Ballots should be arriving in local mailboxes this weekend or early next week, and we are concerned that voter turnout might not be very high, even with three money measures on the ballot. That’s a lot of money to ask for in a recession, so it’s time to think hard about what you want to fund. For us, it’s schools. This is an off-year election and the campaigns are pretty low-key compared to the presidential year overload that made small children cry, and even some adults. Continue reading