Oregon daily emerald., May 17, 1994, Page 2, Image 2

EDITORIAL
Swanson Gribskov
better pick—barely
Voters in Eugene's Word 4, an area encompassing most
of the city east of Coburg Road and Agate Street, should
be pleased to find two outstanding candidates vying for
that ward's position on the City Council.
Both Laurie Swanson Gribskov and Peter Wotton
demonstrate the skills and dedication needed to serve the
city effectively. Both have a broad range of support, within
and out of the city. But of the two candidates. Swanson
Gribskov offers the greatest potential for flexibility and
consensus-building, and thus should be the choice of
voters May 17.
The race between Swanson Gribskov anti Wotton has
been characterized, often inaccurately, as a competition
bat ween a liberal-minded environmentalist (Wotton has
boon endorsed by tho Sierra Club and the Oregon league
of Conservation Voters) and a “business-ns-usual"
moderate. The issues that have caused this
characterization — notably, the proposed expansion of
the Ferry Street Bridge and the Ozone Protection Initiative
— are not sufficient to justify this pigeon-holing.
Swanson Gribskov's public support for an expanded
Ferry Street Bridge does not necessarily indicate an
attitude of anti-enviromnentaiism. Detailed plans for the
proposed expansion have not been finalized: those plans
do include a separate pedestrian and bicycle bridge, and
could very well include provisions for spocial auto lanes,
restricted to high-density traffic, suc h as buses orcarpools.
It will be the voters, not the city council, who will
decide on the Ferry' Street Bridge in November. Whatever
the result of that vote. Swanson Gribskov appears well
prepared to accept it.
Tho same could probably las said for the ozone initiative,
which will be decided by voters today. Swanson
Gribskov’s opposition to this measure is also not
necessarily anti-environment. Swanson Gribskov has said
that she supports a more flexible ozone ordinance,
possibly with more relaxed deadlines, which would carry
many of the advantages and far fewer of the risks
associated with an amendment to the city charter.
Swanson Gribskov gained valuable experience from
1985 to 1992, as executive director of tho Willamette
Private Industry Council, an organization that facilitates
cooperation between business, local government and
social services. In addition, she is currently pursuing a
doctoral degree at tho University In interagency problem
solving — providing her the student’s perspective — and
has served in a variety of local public service
organizations.
Wotton's support base, including the leaders of every
neighborhood association in the ward, is a point in his
favor. Surely, ho is strongly connected to the part of tho
city he hopes to represent. Hut Swanson Gribskov satisfies
a greater noed on the council — that of conciliation and
compromise — which makes her the stronger of two strong
candidates.
Swanson Gribskov's experience, combined with her
stressed intention to seek “common ground," will be of
tremendous use to the city council, which on occasion
has been divided into hostile camps. Elect Swanson
Gribskov to tho Eugene City Council. Ward 4.
Oregon Daily
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COMMENTARY
Initiative needed to save ozone
By Gary Housor
Ii ts unfortunate* that the?
Emerald tins editorialized
against Measure 20-0.1 with
out giving proponents a i.hance
to respond Although this com
muntary will not appear until
election day. we hope some stu
dents will hear out our side
l>efore voting
The? Emerald expresses two
concerns. One is the cost of
implementation to the i its and
the other is com om that a char
ter amendment is not appropri
ate In order to effectively
address each com urn. we must
first address the overall context.
Opponents of Measure 20-03
have out.spent proponents 1 ti to
t.
Eugene is currently witness
ing on unprecedented level of
spending m on attempt to defeat
this citizen initiative.
By May 12. $50,000 had
already been spent and will
surely in* increased by a contin
-^imv (unUielentjea*media blitz
in the final (lavs before tft# elec
tion The S3.000 in spending by
the all-volunteer, grass-roots
proponents translates to an
unbelievable 16-1 disparity The
Register-Guard has now docu
mented that a significant portion
of the opposition spending is
coming from out-of-state ( orpo
rations with strong vested inter
ests in the continued use of the
chemicals in question
Headers of the Emerald need
to know where this money is
coming from because this
knowledge might cause them to
question the so-called "objectiv
ity” of the information being
presented DuPont Corporation
has become keenly interested in
this initiative for one reason
only. It has lobbied the federal
government hard to obtain a
huge loophole that allows it to
produce ozone-depleting HCFCa
all the wav to the year 2030! We
say that in light of the extremely
serious and growing danger of
ozone depletion to all life on
earth (the seriousness of which
Ihe Emerald is apparent^ in
agreement). it is morally inde
fensible to continue to product;
more' DuPont is not only pro
ducing "more." but is eyeing an
extremely large and lucrative
market for refrigerators in the
Third World
When profits of this scale are
at stake, corporations will spare
no expense in trying to destroy
grass-roots opposition And
often truth is the first ( usually
This is w hy there has been such
a ruthless media blitz to confuse
voters and distort the meaning
and impar t of the measure.
Measure 20-03 is not redun
dant because federal law has
not been enforced.
The first line of disinforma
tion has been a claim of redun
dancy.
We have reported some feder
al phase-outs only Inn ause they
have not been enforced Envi
ronmental groups have been
forced to sue the Environmen
tal Protection Agency for proper
enforcement of existing laws
One lawsuit has been won
against the EPA for failure to
implement SO phase-out dead
lines' Wo want the chance to
enforce these laws effectively at
the local level, and also to close
the immense HCFC loophole
Costs of Measure 20-03 are
greatly exaggerated.
The second line of disinfor
mation concerns cost. The oppo
sition has used one blatant scare
tactic: after another to confuse
people. So-called "vigilantes"
will not clog the courts with
frivolous claims when they find
out their liability for court
expenses. The real-life track
record in other cities with ozone
legislation — only one court
case — indicates that businesses
would rather comply than go to
court The so-called “costly"
election to change initiative lan
guage that the Emerald refers to
is not necessary The city can
simply put the question at no
cost onto a regularly scheduled
spring or fall Imllot
Only a charter amendment
will survive city council poli
tics.
The third line concerns the
need for a charter amendment, a
primary focus of the Emerald
editorial. We need to ask you to
shine the spotlight of naivete on
yourselves for this one. It would
in fact be quite naive to plat e
much hope in a law this strong
and forthright being able to sur
vive the politics of city council
After the incredible opposition
from chemical corporations to a
ban on IlCF’Cs in this measure,
is it not reasonable to assume
they would also put pressure on
city council? What assurance do
we have that the measure would
not Iki considerably weakened?
A mayoral veto could stop the
HCPCban dead in its tracks, We
do not want this strong ozone
protection to go the route of the
Nuclear Free Zone in Kugene,
which was watered down by
vested interests. It is unfortunate
that vested interests have so
much power It is because they
do that we must take the legal
route that bus the greatest
( banco of succeeding in protect
ing this precious Earth.
Measure 20-03 is workable
and fair to business Compara
bly-priced alternative products
are immediately available for
every category of product
restricted (including fiberglass
and refloctrix insulation to
replai e Ht.Ft.' spray foam) Mea
sure 20-03 is fiscally responsi
ble The cost estimate to the city,
if you take away all the wildly
hypothetical scare tactic bluff, is
only $3,000 to $18,000 per year.
translating to a miniscule 5 to 20
rents per resident' Consider the
health care cost of just one skin
cancer! Or consider that the
money spent to oppose the mea
sure could actually have paid
for at least four years of its oper
ation! Vote yes for Measure ZO
OS!
Cary Houser is a member of
Save Our Ozone, sponsors of the
Eugene Ozone Protection Initia
tive