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This week Willamette Week featured excerpts from their former reporter’s book. Taylor Clark wrote Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture (Little, Brown and Company, 304 pages, $25.99). Clark got an advance to write the book after he wrote a story for Willamette Week that “examined the charges commonly lobbed at Starbucks and found some of them had scant grounds.” Continue reading
So I can’t blog about last night’s Heroes episode because the men’s basketball game ran long and I haven’t watched it yet. Alas. Continue reading
I lose at blogging. But Heroes has been losing at TV, to be honest. Uninteresting new characters, unconvincing romances and a scattered storyline are combining to break down my interest, which breaks my nerdy little heart a little. But all is not lost; the show’s creator, Tim Kring, recently told Entertainment Weekly that he knows the show’s been sucking (my word, not his). Continue reading
The No on 49 campaign warned before the election that if the measure passed: “If the government wants your property for open space, a scenic view, wildlife habitat, or some other government use, M49 allows them to take your property for free.” After the overwhelming vote for the measure, does this now mean that citizines can add the Wildish Land to Mt. Pisgah park for free? Can citizens now get a park in the Amazon headwaters for free? Can we now seize the timber baron and land speculators’ mansions for homeless shelters? Continue reading
Disgusted that big tobacco bought the Measure 50 vote against kids’ healthcare? Progressive author Frances Moore Lappe says money doesn’t have to rule democracy. Check out her video on publicly financed “clean elections” in Maine, Arizona and Connecticut. Continue reading
Urban Renewal Defeated Local vote upsets scheme to divert taxes to developer subsidies By Alan Pittman The city of Eugene’s controversial urban renewal plan to subsidize downtown developers with parking garages and other handouts totaling more than $40 million was rejected overwhelmingly by voters on Nov. 6. In unofficial final results, 64 percent voted no on Measure 20-134. Continue reading
So, yeah. I dropped the ball on the Heroes recaps. In short: The show got really stupid. Then it got a lot better. Then it got stupid again. Now, lord knows what it’ll do, as the Writers Guild of America strike will take its toll on this and every other show (note: I’m not complaining! I’m on the side of the writers, of course. But it’s a fact that this is going to disrupt programming all the same). Continue reading
Portland just got featured in the New York Times for cultivating a strong bike culture. Here’s the story and here’s the video. Continue reading
The city of Eugene withheld the purchase options list for property downtown until after Eugene Weekly went to press with its last issue before the election on Measure 20-134. The list now shows that the city’s land purchase costs have increased from earlier estimates of about $16 million to about $19 million now. The purchase prices average about double the real market value the Lane County Tax assessor has set for the properties. The city has offered some owners up to four times the real market value. Continue reading
A few weeks ago — or maybe it was more like a month, but it’s unimportant — I went to one of these lovely Music Industry of Eugene events, where writers, booking folks, venue owners, radio people, studio owners, PR folks and more (I’m sure I forgot something pretty key) get to meet face to face to chat and mingle and simply find out who we all are. I kind of love this; it just always helps to actually know who someone is. Continue reading