CITY TO TRY AGAIN
WITH POLICE STATION
The city of Eugene has twice failed to con-
vince voters to pay for a new police station. The
last time a bond measure failed by a 24 percent
margin. But that’s not stopping the city from
asking the voters again.
The city staff and council last month moved
forward with plans to put a new station before
voters next fall.
The building will cost at least $34 million,
not including millions of dollars more that the
city plans to spend on an adjacent parking
garage to serve the building. The new cop shop
will be double the size of the old police digs but
will cost the average taxpayer more than $1,000
to repay loans for the structure. The city plans to
kick in millions of dollars more into the fund for
the police headquarters by saving money
through reduced services to taxpayers
and through otherwise diverting internal money
that could have been used to serve taxpayers.
The campaign to convince voters to pay for
the building has already begun with a renewal of
shaky arguments that the existing police sta-
tion/city hall could collapse in an earthquake
and can’t be renovated. But the arguments for a
police station may have only grown weaker
with time. The city is already building a spa-
cious new $4 million police building to move
workers from the basement of City Hall.
— Alan Pittman
DECLINE TO SIGN, SAY
CHILD ADVOCATES
Stand for Children, the grassroots child ad-
vocacy organization key to pushing through
local tax measures to support schools both in
Eugene and Portland, is urging people not to
sign the petition to repeal HB 2152.
Oregon conservatives are petitioning to put
a measure on the ballot that would undo the
Legislature’s bipartisan three-year tax hike to
support schools and human services.
“Stand for Children is an army of doers
which up to now in Lane County has been
working under the radar but has produced in-
credible results,” says Steve Barnes of the
group. Barnes says the organization banked
10,000 phone calls during the campaign to pass
Measure 20-67 last year, which will generate
$31.4 million over the next four years for local
education programs.
Stand for Children state Director Joy
Marshall calls the two-year-old non-partisan
group the “AARP for children’s issues” and
hopes the group’s grassroots organizing will
help build pressure to find permanent solutions
to Oregon’s underfunding of education and
human services.
• The city is resuming its recruitment efforts
for a new police chief, and we can expect the
same secretive process as before and proba-
bly worse since city staff is paranoid that
media attention will discourage some candi-
dates from applying. But this hiring decision
has huge implications for the future of
Eugene and deserves to be an open process,
as it is in many other cities. Let’s interview
the top candidates in a public forum and give
reporters a chance to investigate them. And
if the police union has issues, let them be
raised and addressed in public. This is what
democracy is all about.
• McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center is cel-
ebrating a major victory in an antitrust law-
8 NOVEMBER 6, 2003
“We’re doing the right stuff,” she says.
“We’re doing concrete things, we’re organizing,
we’re bringing these issues to the people.”
As part of its outreach program, the group
recently sponsored the appearance of Joshua
Redman and his Elastic Band jazz trio at The
Shedd. OFAM sponsored a reception for the
musicians after the concert, and an opportunity
for Stand for Children to pitch its work. Redman
is a Harvard graduate, law student and civil
rights advocate in addition to being a top-rated
jazz musician.
“Joshua is a wonderful example of what’s
right when the investment is made in kids, edu-
cation and particularly music education,” says
Barnes. Local high school music students were
involved in promoting the concert, and OFAM
CEO Jim Ralph made half-price tickets avail-
able for students.
The group’s latest campaign is called
Decline to Sign and is focusing on educating
voters on the importance of supporting the tax
increase that’s needed to keep classroom sizes
reasonable and keep schools from cutting days
or weeks of instruction.
Decline to Sign literature notes that public
schools have already lost millions in recent
years, high quality education is needed to gener-
ate and keep jobs in Oregon, opponents have no
alternative plan to fund schools and human ser-
vices, and “it is affordable — most taxpayers
will pay $3 a month.”
For more information about the campaign
and Stand for Children, contact Marshall at 912-
2921 or joy@stand.org or visit www.stand.org
— Ted Taylor
CIA SNEAKS IN, OUT
CIA Director George Tenet came to the UO
last week to address attendees of the
Association of American Universities, who met
at the UO for the first time. Approximately 40 of
the 62 member campuses from across the U.S.
were represented, says Harry Battson, UO asso-
ciate vice president for strategic communica-
tions, a position formed a year and a half ago.
The UO is the only Oregon university affili-
ated with the organization, which comprises the
top research universities in the U.S.
But no one knew Tenet was coming.
University personnel were told not to tell — so
they didn’t.
The R-G reported that AAU President Nils
Hasselmo said Tenet addressed “larger policy
issues” rather “than offering specific direction
for research efforts.”
The only person from the UO, however,
who knows what Tenet actually said is
President Dave Frohnmayer, who was at the
meeting, but out of town this week and could
suit against rival PeaceHealth. Regardless of
how the verdict plays out in the appeals
process, McKenzie-Willamette had its day in
court and PeaceHealth was called to account
for its arrogance and unfair business prac-
tices, all of which affects local medical costs
and choices in health care. PeaceHealth has
a great charitable heritage under the Sisters
of St. Joseph and the organization has done
a lot for our community over the years. But
lately it appears PeaceHealth is doing a lot
to our community — forcing upon us an over-
ambitious development with outrageous hid-
den costs to taxpayers, aligning itself with a
notorious land speculator, and now alienat-
ing other health care providers in the com-
munity. Let’s hope this verdict serves as a
wake-up call for PeaceHealth’s board and ad-
ministration to put away the Monopoly game
not be reached for comment.
Battson says he doesn’t know what Tenet
spoke to the attendees about, only stating strate-
gically, “It was my understanding that he was
invited to discuss the role of universities in the
international context. I don’t know what he said.
I wasn’t there.”
International students comprise 7 percent of
the UO student body. Perhaps Frohnmayer will
reveal Tenet’s points when he returns to town.
—Aria Seligmann
LETTERS SENT TO
SUPPORT BARRY’S
Concerned Eugene residents have under-
taken a letter writing campaign to keep Barry’s
Espresso and Bakery at the Willamette Plaza
site through PC Market of Choice’s expansion
and Rite Aid’s redesign over the next few years.
The letters have been sent to several Eugene city
officials, including Mayor Jim Torrey, as well as
to Trond Ingvaldsen, assistant vice president of
real estate for The Standard Insurance
Company, owners of the Willamette Plaza prop-
erty.
Ingvaldsen, in an e-mail response to Torrey
regarding residents’ concerns, writes, “Barry’s
Espresso and the other tenants located in the
Rite Aid building are subtenants of Rite Aid,
and Barry’s has never leased space from
Standard Insurance Company. Rite Aid will
downsize ….. Unfortunately, the new store will
not be able to accommodate the existing sub-
tenants, including Barry’s Espresso.”
Regarding a national coffee chain replacing
Barry’s, Ingvaldsen writes, “Barry’s is not being
replaced by a national coffee tenant. Standard
Insurance Company has not negotiated with,
nor entered into any leases with any national
coffee tenant.”
However, Ingvaldsen does include,
“Although it is our prerogative to talk to any
tenant interested in the Willamette Plaza, our
own local coffee tenant Supreme Bean, who has
been a tenant in our center for more than 10
years, will have first right to negotiate lease
terms for a full service coffee store in the
Willamette Plaza when space is available.”
Barry’s will remain in the Willamette Plaza
Rite Aid at least through next summer, and
owner Barry Siegel has opened a second shop
on campus. — Bobbie Willis
TWO 9/11 EVENTS
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
A free public symposium on “the other Sept.
11” (the coup in Chile in 1973) began this week
at UO and continues with a keynote address at
7:30 pm Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Knight Library
Browsing Room. The speaker will be Peter
Kornbluh of the National Security Archive. The
topic “The Pinochet File: A Declassified
Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability.”
The title of the symposium is “Democracy
and Human Rights in Latin America: Lessons
from the Past and Prospects for the Future (30
years after Sept.11, 1973).”
The symposium includes a series of lectures
and begin a new era of cooperation, collabo-
ration and partnership.
of at UO? Inquiring minds? Hard questions?
Accountability?
• CIA Director George Tenet was at UO for a
secret meeting with university presidents
last week. He was in and out before the press
and public even knew. What kind of message
does this send to the students, faculty and
community? The university bent over and
agreed not to tell anyone who “didn’t need
to know” about Tenet’s visit. Well, here’s
some news: We all need to know. We need to
know the CIA’s role in decades of disastrous
foreign policies. We need to know if CIA and
FBI coordination has improved since 9/11,
and if so, why was it so bad before? We still
need to know why CIA intelligence was so in-
accurate regarding Iraq and WMDs. We need
to know the CIA’s role in funding decisions
for university research. What’s Tenet afraid
• New rumors in the 2004 election land-
scape: Commissioner Anna Morrison pon-
dering a run for the state Senate in District
24? That’s fellow Republican Ken Messerle’s
seat. Bobby Green may run unopposed for
his commish seat. We hear Scott Meisner has
taken out filing papers for re-election to City
Council Ward 7, but hasn’t filed them yet. He
could see some stiff competition if he de-
cides to run. Councilor Nancy Nathanson
also has state House or Senate ambitions,
we hear. Meanwhile, the Oregon League of
Conservation Voters is busy compiling city
and county voting records on local environ-
mental issues. Want a preview? Work the
crowd at the OLCV fund-raiser party Nov. 14
in Eugene. See next week for details.