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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1996)
VIEWPOINTS < OlTQWlAl S QPiHiQWS t« ! It M$. ?0 !HI f 0f»OR Rail line would answer transportation demands ■ OUR OPINION: Oregon should suppor t the proposed high speed ran Far a nation that consid er* itself to bn the leading itipurpowBr in the world, (he United Slain* certainly isn't making much pragmas in improving the transporta tion system While other nations such as France, Jajmn and Swe den have all implemented high speed railway systems, some that have existed for 16 years without one fatal accident, we have automo biles, buses and airplanes that produce air pollution and cause congestion and fatalities With the passing of the 1992 Surface Transportation Act, federal funds have finally been allocated to cre ate mom efficient forms of transportation, such as high speed railway systems, across the nation Cities in Florida, New York. Texas and Washington have already started building high-speed railways to test their effectiveness. With the rec ent failure to gain support in the state laogislatum. Oregon is now moving further away from making this long-awaited trans|K>rtation improve ment. Fortunately Cov John Kitzhaber refuses to allow this rail line, which is planned to run from Eugene to Vancouver. BXI. to lose its status as a federally rec ognized high-speed rail cor ridor. If the federal funding it revoked due to lac k of sup port, the PM) million project will be too costly to imple ment. Them is no reason the legislature should turf cup port line profiM t Though n eppMn they have deddied that improving transports lion is not Ibir responslbilt Iv. it l* undeniably an issue that is nut going to go sway With ihr increasing popu lation in Urns and Benton counties and the Willamette Valloy causing massive con gestion in I he Interstate 5 corridor, wo t annul afford to allow this project to lose its funding An «* pension of 1-5 wit) not solve pollution prob lems Any student who has espwrienood this stretch of highway during rush hour or holiday traffic would benefit from a high speed rail system that would not only lie untouched by poor weather conditions, but will make the trip from Portland to Eugene in a quick hour and 22 minutes. This cuts the amount of time it takes to travel to Portland from Eugene via Am Irak by two hours. The state of Washington i>«» found $50 million to pul into the project along with the $40 million that Salem. Eugene and Marion County have pledged Even though Ballot Mea sure 5 prevent* Oregon from u*mg money from property taxes to match federal fund* for co*t-effective transports lion, action can still be taken to provide the funds for this prefect If Willamette Valley cities and counties support this project by pledging the nec essary St5 million to match federal funds, it will ensure this project's success, mak ing it impossible for Con gress to ignore Oregon's need and desire for more efficient and cost -effective transportation I GRIEVANCE A«x/r waco Oft. SOME SOCM COMPLAjNT plan n> KILL oft /NX»RE *>NINVOLVED AMTRAK PASSENGERS Major Derailment IU' *M« M 2 *V CAW w( Pw#UJW jo *>t* HAW*t$TO? ~~ j J —■i ^ tV Wild Duck lays huge egg, goes lame If you're looking for * groat place with good food and wonderful live mutn . forget th* Wild l)ol If* a i r**h court* in how not to da*ign < brvwnry A friend and I want downtown cm April 6 to hoar John Hammond and Duke RobilUrd at the Wild Sihmutk Wa ll iwwr go hack, and unlmt you're into mpantive *t»uw I *u$g«Ht you avoid tha place, too Th* cover charge, even at 114. didn't intimi data u» If* worth thru (or mora) to bnar good tr<u»» *11 m fjwwu iihk » wrni goad food — whn h u what w» wore emptm-fin# Wa planned i« arrive «n bout early. find a good mmt. onl«*r dinner and wttle in fot a Rrwai ahow NOT W* (Mid out I2H and walked into what look* Itlu* a weird ttma between a miniature mu via theater and black uymtuuumi There are no chair*. |u*t hat •tool* with no arm* and no back* OPINION I Ms t% weird Miough, foul you can t even imi voui elbow* on the table Why? Because the table*' are really little lew he* and they're iboiw than the siuoU. So you sit on a Moot and can't quite reach vmir t**r on the heath below your knee*, and twforB ym» know it you're peering around six loot tail guy* who haw* no idea how tall and aue they are You're trapped on an unroot tile (tool with your beer in your lap and no view And about that great food? Well, they don't **rve any in the bar Why anyone would not want to *erve food in their bar t* beyond me — I pu rated over thi« a* my friend laved my bantool *o I could leave the bar and walk over to the restaurant portion of the building My friend fended off caah offer* for my (tool while I inquired and made sure there wu no possibility I could eat in the musk bar I scanned the menu and derided on the "arti choke and Parmesan bread.“ A number of restaurant* in the area serve different versions of this, and norm of them are bad None of them except the Wild Duck's that is. Instead of crusty homemade bread. I got what appeared to ha SLICED HOTDOG BUN. A paper thin layer of something they think is artichoke spread sat on top of the "bun* * I'm pretty sure the only artichoke in there was artificial artichoke flavoring. On top of that were shaved piece* of dry cheese — not even melted On top of that rested six darling little specks of tomato The tab was $5 75 So then I have the ultimate dining experience standing outside the music lounge, leaning against a lamp pol* and munching down mis incredible (oust I went beck in and assured my stool guarding friend that I hadn’t ditched him. then ordered a couple of drinks Because I did n’t want to fight my way back to the bar for a while. I ordered doubles Seventeen dollars I don't know what they charge for good orgnat. but $17 for two mixed drinks is unreal 1 expect that sort of shaft at the Denver airport, but not downtown Eugene! Seventeen dollars' worth of alcohol at Ren me * will get you four people passed out under the table On top of that, they were served in plastic cups! For seventeen dollars I expect to drink from a GLASS By now we've contributes! over $50 toward the cost of the Star Wars cash register system and the nifty radio headsets worn by the door attendants The headsets are in case of an emer gency. such as people attempting to smuggle good hard in from Cafe Soriah or Mona Lixza's My only consolation was that our $50 was also helping pay fur the space-age sound system In a oast life. 1 mixed sound for a rock n roll band I know a killer system when I see one. and 1 was REALLY looking forward to hearing killer blues on a killer system Guess again Hammond opened with an acoustic solo set, and his vocals weren't even mixed in lo the main speaker* We sat there li* tening to Hammond sing through the monitors, staring at each other and wondering if it was a bad dream But it gets worse Hammond finishes hi* set, and because all the equipment and instruments are set up for the Duke Robillard band, we figure we're facing a ten minute break right? FORTY FIVE MINUTES LATER, when the band finally takes the stage, the sound man experience* tech nical difficulties. As in no band As in another 10 minutes 1 had to be physically restrained to keep from walking out in disgust When the band finally DID start. I expected that the sound would be so good that we'd ail be levitated to blues ecstasy and everything would be okay again You tone-deaf folks who were there might think that was good sound, but with a system like that, believe me. Robiltard's guitar (even a stinkin' Falcon) should have sliced right through the hubbub and knocked you up against the wall If you like the idea of forking over 50 bucks for two drinks and some dry cheese on hot dog buns, listening to bush-league sound mixing while you hunker over on a bar stool or stand up with no table, head right down to Sixth and Chameltnn If you like that sort of abuse, the Lame Duck will dish out all you can take. telly Andemon, a mtuar maporing in poumalatm. it a columnitt for the Emerald. Email: boonirltoregon uoregon edu
