EDITORIAL
LTD salary dispute
not right for ballot
It's not often that citizens have the chance to vote on
a proposal to cut thousands of dollars of existing spend
ing However, when the union representing the Lane
Transit District employees tries to cut the pay of the
LTD general manager, it s obvious that something more
than budget cutting is intended. Someone's out for
revenge.
A petition has boon circulating for several months that
would cut nearly $30,000 from the pay of the LTD Gen
eral Manager Phyllis Loobey. Plans for the initiative
were to Ik* tiled at lame County Elections late last week,
with a vote possible by September.
The initiative is wrong for the same reason that Hal
lot Measure 8. a measure to cut state contributions to the
pension plans fur state employees, was wrong Citizens
do not fully understand why an official is paid a certain
sum of money and will nett discover the truth in a heat
ed political campaign. Salaries of public officials should
ta* decided by the agency or legislators, but don't belong
00 the ballot.
LTD serves among other places the second-largest
city in Oregon. To he able to recruit and retain qualified
and experienced personnel, LTD must bo able to offer its
executive staff competitive salaries
However, the issue goes beyond cost-cutting The
motives of the union trying to cut the salaries of high
level LTD employees must be questioned.
Some who support the initiative claim executives get
bettor benefits than lower-level employees. What could
be wrong with this? Executives, who generally have
more responsibilities and experience than other employ
ees, generally get paid more and warn more benefits.
It is impractical and idealistic to think that all of
I.'l'D's problems would be solved if the executives were
treated like lower-level employees.
It seems that there is a fair amount of friction between
the union representing LTD employees and the LTD
administration If there are problems between the union
and the management, they should be settled by those
two groups. No purpose is served by taking the issue to
the voters and asking them to do the union's dirty work
Fortunately, the LTD administration is fighting back
bv supporting a bill in the Oregon Legislature that
would prevent citizens from changing salaries of public
transit employees through the initiative process. By
passing House Bill 3218. legislators would take the first
step to keeping salaries off the ballot, where they don't
belong in the first place.
The childish game the union is playing only helps to
increase tension between the two groups and in the end
everyone loses
Citizens don’t fully know why this measure is being
proposed. Don't drag the public into the squabble by
asking citizens to i ut the general manager's pay. Pay
shouldn't bo decided at the ballot box
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...WAIT A MlNOTE_
OJON'T W§ WIN?
■ LETTERS
Inappropriate
We found the advertising sup
plement promoting pro-life to l»>
inappropriate and offensive We
don't think the Oregon Daily
Emerald should distribute such
propaganda We believe in free
speet.h. hut a 12-page paper
devoted to pro-life without intel
ligently expressing the views of
those who support choice is
insulting
Fare Musser
Art History
and three co-signers
Cold-hearted
Does tlte Constitution have to
mandate something basic like
affordable housing until we
a<. ept it as human rights? Why
tan other civilized countries do
it (Austria)' What is America? A
"deiiHH cm v" — not retogriizablo
which tramples that right and
has turned cold-hearted and
mean spirited The |>oor deserve
better, especially the workers.
The U S minimum wage is
ridiculous and Congress is fulh
aware that workers end up under
the poverty level and in need
Haven't any politicians ever been
poor in their lives or are they all
bom on the manor and now- have
illusions of grandeur*
How long can we go on falling
over the homeless and see whole
families "tamping" in their cars'
I hey have lousy jobs (if any) anti
cannot make it They need hous
ing. not ridicule and persecution
It all startl'd with Reagan, who let
the wealthy and the corporations
off from (laying their fair share of
taxes. at the same time raising
defense spending and going over
board with crazy schemes like
Star H ors, He Balancing the bud
get be< ante impossible then as
it is now — no matter what the
Gingrichers promise
We are not broke and tan well
afford building low cost housing
for our people. Eugene is going
about it in a peculiar way; the
city says they have "nomecha
nism to make developers
include low cost housing in
their plans It is successful in
other communities, so why not
start to w rite it in? We cannot
continue to build only luxury
homes while tearing down Ama
zon housing with nothing to
replace it The University does
not have any building plans
ready, vet it feels compelled to
raw the complex right now!
Tins is unhealthy lor a college
town and divides the communi
ty into ru h and pix>r Then then*
is the NIMBY effei t. which
implies that oil poorer people
are criminals ana drug addicts
(not the rich?}.
Mm all the bigots and their
kids remain wealthy and in no
need of sympathy
Hilde K Cherry
Eugene
Keep Amazon
I am a World War II veteran
and native Oregonian who
would hove been unable to
attend college had it not been
for Amazon Student Housing.
As a long-time conservative
Republican businessman. I
believe in fiscal responsibility
and social programs that pro
mote self-reliance I haven't
heard any good reasons for
destroying Amazon, a self-sup
porting public housing resource
that s helped thousands of Ore
gonians like mvseif.
! believe the poor maintenance
and neglect of Amazon by the
University in ns ent years is rep
rehensible and worthy of the cur
rent investigation I read the State
Audits Division is currently con
ducting but it does not justify
demolition Mv own recent vis
it to Amazon and the fact that dif
ferent developers stand ready to
move and rehab Amazon build
ings on other sites have lead me
to conclude the buildings are
structurally good enough to live
in and repair right w here they
are.
1 observed the fine old growth
wooden floors we enjoyed are
still in the apartments And
many folks may not remember
that half the complex was
rewired and their foundations
and roofs replaced in the early
lftHOs Why on earth would we
be destroying state property that
still has so mud) use for the less
advantaged among us and
rebuilding them with what
young folks won't be nble to
afford?
It's unfair to take away the
opportunity for access to higher
education through Amazon low
cost housing that people like me
have used for almost 50 years
Woody Cowan
Eugene
Override
As an alumnus of the Univer
sity of Oregon ('84). I am alarmed
at the recent vote to defund
OSPIRG. The Student Senate
should override this ridiculous
decision.
If the Student Senate allows
OSPIRG s funding to be cut, it
will be ignoring the will of those
65 perc ent of students that voted
last year to continue a long tra
dition of supporting OSPIRG
Those who oppose student fees
to support OSPIRG should cam
paign against it in the next stu
dent election that will consider
the matter.
As a student. I appreciated the
many benefits OSPIRG produced,
such as the Renter's Handbook
whic h 1 used to confidently and
succ essfully assert my rights as
a tenant with a negligent land
lord OSPlRG's legal information
was critical
As a student and alumnus !
Ixmefit from the Citizen’s Utility
Hoard, which has saved all Ore
gon ratepayers, including stu
dents, millions of dollars in
excessive charges that have been
refunded by utilities
Most importantly, OSPIRG
empowers many students to learn
about and engage in the democ
ratic: process. This is a critical les
son in civics, a subject that high
school curricula has all but aban
doned. To defund OSPIRG will
further disenfranc hise students
I urge Student Senators to over
turn this outrageous and foolish
decision to defund OSPIRG.
which continues to operate on
behalf of Oregon students in a
multitude of ways.
Cl. Orsinger
Eugene
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