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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 2004)
bookstore’s four employees and two co- managers were given letters of termination. According to co-manager Cheryl RiversHailey, the letters said it was neces- sary to let the current staff go in order for Mother Kali’s to “implement a new man- agement staff model.” No word at this writ- ing as to what the new model might be, but Rivers Hailey did note that about three weeks ago Mother Kali’s board informed staff that they would be advertising soon for a new full-time manager. Staff were also in- formed around that time that their medical benefits would be terminated. “Things have been very tenuous the last couple of months,” says RiversHailey. “We’ve just been waiting to see if we were going to be able to stay open or not. But now, to stay open without the employees — I’m not sure what that could mean” for the future of Mother Kali’s. “I love this store,” she says with measured emotion. “It’s been here so long.” She cites “patriarchal and hierarchical systems” as the interference in Mother Kali’s • The election deadline for Measure 30 is upon us. We have until 8 pm Tuesday, Feb. 3 to get in our ballots. For every reason to vote no on this measure, we can think of a dozen reasons to vote yes. If you or some- one you know is on the Oregon Health Plan, a yes vote will keep OHP from cutting up to 85,000 people from health insurance. Unpaid ER visits raise hospital costs for all of us, and as Rep. Barnhart says, “for every dollar Oregon spends on health care for the poor, the federal government pays $1.71. These federal taxes will be spent somewhere else and will not help boost the Oregon economy as they do now.” If you have children or grandkids in public schools, a yes vote supports smaller class sizes, keeping 8,000 teachers and maintaining the full school year. If you are worried about crime and violence, yes means more police, judges and parole officers on the job. If you care about people who are disabled, mentally ill and homeless, Measure 30 funs more than $6 million in Lane County services for the truly needy. If you care about fiscal responsibility, a yes vote translates to better bond ratings, a responsibly balanced budget and more federal revenue sharing. If you care about fairness in taxation, Measure 30 puts the biggest tax burden on those who can most afford to pay. Oregonians made a big mistake in voting down Measure 28 last year. We slashed services and bor- rowed $450 million to keep basic government func- tions afloat. Let’s not do it again. Vote yes on Measure 30. • Kitty Piercy filled two conference rooms at the library with several hundred supporters when she cooperative mission. After receiving the termination letters, staff contacted their union representative to discuss their options. “We faxed in an unfair practices claim with NLRB and asked for an injunction” against the terminations because Mother Kali’s board failed to go through the collective bargaining process with employ- ees. At the time of this writing, staff had a demonstration planned to coincide with the board’s executive session on the evening of announced this week that she’s running for mayor. This is great news for Eugene in that we finally have a candidate who has not only a strong environmental record, but also proven leadership in education, social services and business. Her five years in the state Legislature and her time on numerous state and national boards make her a formidable candidate. Let’s not forget how important this position is, partic- ularly with a split and polarized council. The mayor can do a lot of good or a lot of damage with tie- breaking votes, agenda setting, committee appoint- ments and working with county and state agencies. The mayor sets the tone for city government and it’s time to crank it up an octave or two. • Mitzi Colbath’s decision to seek the District 8 House seat instead of a City Council seat means Ward 8 is up for grabs. So far only Chris Pryor has filed, but we’re likely to see some late entries in the race. In Ward 7, Scott Meisner has filed for re-election and his only opponent so far is Andrea Ortiz, who has a solid record on human rights and social issues, but she’s been silent on land use and the environment — by far the biggest issues facing the council. We expect this to be at least a three-way race in this weirdly drawn ward that includes the Whiteaker and areas north around River Road. • Does anybody out there still believe that Iraq was bristling with weapons of mass destruction when George Bush decided to take them out? Oregon’s largest daily is not sure. This week The Oregonian editorialized that “the search for them (WMDs) needs to continue in earnest until fair-minded people can be satisfied that it is complete.” We suggest that “fair- minded people” and Oregonian editorial writers take Jan. 27. If the firings go through as planned, some staff could be out as early as Feb. 6, with others following by Feb. 13. Mother Kali’s has experienced more than it’s fair share of labor conflicts since the late 1990s. This blanket firing will rep- resent the second time in two years that Mother Kali’s has undergone a complete staff change. For more info see “Union Maid” (EW 8/14/03) or visit www.eugene- weekly.com/archive/08_14_03/views.html — Bobbie Willis a look at Uncovered: the Whole Truth about the Iraq War, the video produced by MoveOn.com. It will be shown at 7 pm Wednesday, Feb. 4 at the EWEB train- ing room, 500 E. 4th ; at 7:30 pm Sunday., Feb. 8, in Room 100, Willamette Hall, UO; and at 7 pm Thursday., Feb. 19, at the Church of the Brethren, 1072 Main St. in Springfield. Mary O’Brien will talk at the Feb. 4 showing. Progressive Responses, a program of CALC, is organizing all three showings. • The city’s Charter Review Committee back in 2002 recommended some excellent revisions to the way we do business in city government, including hiring a performance auditor to systematically examine each of the city’s departments — independent of the city manager. Two city managers in a row, Jim Johnson and Jim Carlson, fought the proposal and it never made it on the ballot. Citizens never got a chance to hear how performance auditors have saved cities mil- lions through boosting efficiencies and avoiding law- suits. But now we can see what we’re missing. Portland performance auditor Gary Blackmer, who spoke eloquently before the Charter Review Committee in 2002, is returning to speak at noon Feb. 20 at City Club at the Hilton. This presentation will hopefully revive discussion of how we can add accountability, transparency and efficiency to our city government. • Plan on watching the Super Bowl this Sunday? You’ll see beer ads, tobacco ads and even a Bush White House ad, but CBS has refused to run the winning ad in MoveOn.org’s “Bush in 30 Seconds” ad contest, even though the ad simply shows children working in labor-intensive jobs to pay off Bush’s $1 trillion deficit. The ad can be seen at www.moveon.org/cbs/ad/ JANUARY 29, 2004 9
