Eugene Weekly

• Phil Knight and Nike are hot topics following revelations about the absurd opulence of the new football facilities at UO. Letters are pouring in to local papers, but we don’t hear much about where Knight’s billions came from. Nike’s business model is quite simple, and Uncle Phil has been brilliant at monetizing it: Contract with factories in the poorest parts of Southeast Asia to manufacture high-end shoes and other apparel and threaten or cajole governments to allow those factories to pay workers less than minimum wages. Continue reading →

• Police Chief Pete Kerns has likely sprouted a few new gray hairs from the recent sexual harassment and abuse conviction of officer Stefan Zeltvay and, not long ago, a scandal involving gross mismanagement of EPD’s evidence lockers. Kerns has been proactive in damage control in both cases, much more so than any of his predecessors in the chief job. But we are left wondering what other bad behavior has been going on for years in the cop shop? Continue reading →

• Lane County Administrator Liane Richardson has gotten herself into more than just a public relations pickle this time with a self-serving financial maneuver that appears to be a violation of her contract and the public trust. It’s best that she repay any excess remuneration, if so determined by an investigation, if there is one, and resign if she’s not fired. She’s probably a decent lawyer in the private sector; she’s just not a competent administrator in the high-profile public sector. Continue reading →

• Those of us who are skeptical of biomass burning plants such as Seneca’s wood incinerator in west Eugene can celebrate, just a little, even as Seneca applies for a permit from LRAPA to emit a couple tons more of particulate matter. A U.S. Continue reading →

• On July 17 LRAPA is holding an informational meeting about Seneca Sustainable Energy biomass plant’s permit application to emit tons more particulate matter into west Eugene air. That’s more small particles that kids breathe into their lungs and more pollution into our airshed. Buying carbon credits  Emission Reduction Credits (ERCs or offsets) for PM10 from International Paper in Springfield doesn’t help the two elementary schools that are within two miles of the biomass burning. Go to the meeting; find out more. Continue reading →

• Eugene’s City Council will vote Monday, July 8, on suspending the enforcement of a 5-cent charge for paper bags. To change the ordinance before people have a chance to adapt is ludicrous. Without the incentive, people who don’t care about the consequences of their own actions on the planet and our descendants won’t change their behavior. Continue reading →

• The Incredible Shrinking Oregonian in Portland is cutting home delivery to four days a week, moving from its iconic building, letting more than 90 people go from all floors and levels, already advertising for cheaper, less experienced staff, becoming a “truly digitally focused media company,” as Publisher N. Christian Anderson III puts it in an op-ed piece. The paper will continue to print seven days a week, but parent company Advance Publications Inc. of New Jersey has cut back print days in other cities, often with bad results. Continue reading →

• Props to the three city councilors who objected to the rushed vote on the Core Campus tax exemption (see News this week). Councilors George Brown, Betty Taylor and Alan Zelenka held their own in the debate. The majority of councilors seem to doubt Eugene’s ability to attract less extravagant housing projects — ones that could be built without a multi-million dollar tax break. Didn’t Eugeneans just vote down a city fee measure, based in part on their objections to such tax breaks? Continue reading →

• Envision Eugene, the community process that gathered public input on how Eugene should grow over the next 20 years, won a planning award from the Oregon chapter of the American Planning Association May 30. That’s great but we’ve been skeptical about this process that has gobbled up thousands of hours and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the past, citizen-involved plans have gathered dust on shelves while developers do whatever they want. Continue reading →