Viewpoint: Page 77

Low Risk, High Gain

Keeping Civic Stadium in public hands makes sense

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The Eugene City Council has a decision to make about Civic Stadium and it will be made very soon. The question is: Will the city put in an offer, using the city parks bond funds, and allow Friends of Civic Stadium (FOCS) to refurbish and reopen it for use, or will it step back and allow Civic to be demolished? As a longtime citizen of Eugene, I consider demolition to be a mistake. Both the YMCA (which plans to build housing as well as a new facility) and Fred Meyer, the only current bidders, have plans in place that call for tearing down the 75-year-old building. Continue reading →

Ecological Growth

Expansion can be, and needs to be profitable

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It has become an a matter of widespread belief, as Giesen asserts, that economic contraction not economic growth is essential for an ecological future. I would like to offer another prospective based on the pursuit of sustainability and making economic growth mean ecological improvement. It is a fundamental error to conflate all economic growth with ecological pillage — for example, trading information in cyberspace on a renewably powered internet is a sustainable practice. Continue reading →

DeFazio’s Devolution

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After I’d heard that a hedge fund manager was spending big bucks in 2010 to convince voters to toss out Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, I wrote a check for thousands of dollars to DeFazio for Congress. I was terrified that Republican candidate Art Robinson would pillage the public’s forests, waters and wildlife. It turns out I should have also feared the incumbent on that score. Continue reading →

The Civic Solution

Growing south Eugene needs more park facilities

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There seems to be an excellent option for the 10-acre Civic Stadium property: Use it to help expand the city of Eugene’s park system. We have witnessed unprecedented residential development in the greater south Eugene area with an astonishing number of new multifamily and student housing units springing up. This pace of construction is resulting in a rapidly expanding local population. Unfortunately, public facilities and services are failing to keep up. Continue reading →

What Is It Good For?

War and how to avoid it

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As I go around giving talks for Here on the Edge, my book about how a small group of World War II conscientious objectors on the Oregon Coast helped plow the ground for the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s, I sometimes encounter people who ask if I am a conscientious objector. Others ask if I believe that we should all refuse to fight any war under any circumstances. Continue reading →

Redacted Evidence

Bozievich’s role remains in question

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I’ve been having a month-long email conversation with West Lane Commissioner Jay Bozievich regarding the termination of former county administrator Liane Richardson, the role she alleges he played in the activities leading to her firing and the now famous 29-plus pages of redaction of the Olson Report, which was the basis for the Richardson termination. May I share some information and some opinions based on that email conversation? Continue reading →