Eugene Weekly

• The city of Eugene spent $20,000 to remove a low ledge at the corner of Broadway and Willamette where people often stopped to sit, people with “undesirable behaviors” according to a recent KVAL news story on the wall’s demolition. KVAL quoted a business owner as saying the wall was a “magnet for drug dealing, and drug use, alcoholism.” The city is apparently looking to replace the wall with bike racks … or, interestingly enough, seating. Let’s start with the fact that places to sit are a needed part of the urban environment. Continue reading →

• Nearly a foot of snow followed by an ice storm created chaos in Lane County this past weekend and shows us how unprepared we are for disasters large and small, whether brought about by climate or earthquakes. This week we heard an audit of the Oregon Office of Emergency Management indicated the agency has not completed its statewide disaster plan, among other deficiencies. We need to demand better performance from local, state and national agencies, but we also need to be better prepared in our neighborhoods for climate weirdness and seismic events. Continue reading →

• Packed audiences at the local Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations heard speakers from Rep. Peter DeFazio and the UO’s President Michael Gottfredson to Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad honoring MLK’s legacy. Less honorable were the folks who showed up at the Springfield celebration holding a sign that read “‘Diversity’ is a code word for white genocide.” We posted the picture on our blog, which became inundated with defenders of white pride. Continue reading →

• City of Eugene public hearings on budget options are coming up Jan. 21 and 29 (see Activist Alert). Once again this year, popular city services are on the chopping block, and we don’t really know why. The alleged $3 million budget gap is based on assumptions made by the city manager and his staff, and we don’t even know what all of those assumptions are. Just this week the city released its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for 2013 and it looks like city net assets increased by $7.3 million over 2012.  Continue reading →

• No shock that Fred Meyer came in first in a revenue analysis of three proposals for the Civic Stadium site, up for sale or lease by Eugene School District 4J. The analysis got a big headline in the daily rag (slow news day), but it was pretty predictable. Yes, Fred Meyer has more money to spend, but the question is what will give the most long-term  benefits to the community — we’re going to say a place for people to exercise rather than another big corporate store to shop in. Continue reading →

• Looks like before playing the Alamo Bowl, the UO Ducks football team missed the memo on the nationwide boycott of SeaWorld. After the documentary Blackfish called attention to the plight of SeaWorld’s orcas, acts including Barenaked Ladies, Martina McBride, Heart, Cheap Trick, Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson and REO Speedwagon all canceled appearances at the marine parks. The Ducks however went on a little field trip to SeaWorld San Antonio Aquatica Dec. 27 and mugged with some marine mammals. Continue reading →

• Dreaming about Eugene? For this issue we asked a couple dozen local folks with a mix of interests what they would like to see happen here in the next few years. We expected half to respond, but instead nearly all did, often with great enthusiasm. It appears we are a community of big ideas and big dreams. We didn’t have enough pages this week to run all the responses, so we plan to continue next week. Keep dreaming! And we welcome letters on this theme as we enter the New Year. Continue reading →

• Rumors of a homeless person freezing to death during the cold snap were false, says Doug Bales, director of the Egan Warming Center. The official cause of that death is a drug overdose. “Not many freeze to death since Egan, but over the past five years there have been some deaths of exposure on nights we were open,” Bales writes. Continue reading →