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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2004)
TO THE EDITOR A BIG THANKS Thank you, Eugene Weekly, for your en- dorsement and a huge thank you to all of you who worked so hard on the Kitty Piercy for Mayor campaign. I am so grateful and humbled by the outpouring of support for canvassing, phoning, volunteering, tabling, endorsing, planning, writing and all the pieces that made a great campaign. It was a nexus of so many dif- ferent parts of Eugene and a very special mo- ment in time. We did this together for all of us and for our community and we should all be proud. We have before us the opportunity to make this wonderful city even better through encour- aging innovative and smart growth, supporting our educational institutions and social service infrastructure, continuing to revitalize our downtown, caring for our neighborhoods, and preserving the environment we love. We can do this in a way that capitalizes on our talents and respects our differences, where we really listen to each other. It is an exciting prospect. Kitty Piercy Eugene FOR THE BIRDS As difficult as it must be to present a bal- anced view of any given subject, the recent arti- cle denigrating wind power (“Blowing in the Wind,” 4/22) fails to even consider other causes of bird deaths nor does it try to put wind power related bird deaths into perspective. Nearly any activity humans engage in re- sults in an impact on nature and corresponding wildlife losses. Let’s consider some of the more common forms of activities that result in mil- lions of bird deaths per year. Electrical utility lines: 130-174 million; col- lisions with automobiles and trucks: 60-80 mil- lion; tall building and residential house win- dows: 100 million to 1 billion; lighted commu- nication towers: 40-50 million; agricultural pesticides: 67 million; cats, both feral and do- mestic: 8 to 127 million; jet engines, smoke stacks, bridges and any number of other human structures and activities: 1 to 4 million per day. The National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) completed a comparison of wind farm avian mortality with bird mortal- ity caused by other man-made structures in the U.S and found that commercial wind turbines cause the direct deaths of only 0.01 percent to 0.02 percent of all those bird deaths. Next time EW tries to write a full-page arti- cle about something of which it has no under- standing, I hope that the writer will take a few minutes to research the subject, rather than sim- ply echo the press releases of wildlife activists. As well-meaning and important as the goal may be, sending an emotionally charged tor- pedo into the blades of commercial-scale wind facilities is the wrong tactic. Perhaps it would be better to dam up a few more rivers and grind salmon into paté to make electricity? R. Sparks Scott Eugene JWN’S VITAL VOICE I want to set the record straight regarding the Jefferson-Westside Neighborhood (JWN) in response to allegations by EWEB candidate Paul Conte in EW’s endorsements (5/6). JWN is one of the oldest neighborhood groups in Eugene. While other neighborhoods have suf- fered from flagging attendance and support, JWN has remained a vital voice for neighbor- hood concerns. Just last month, Mayor Torrey publicly stated that JWN is one of the best neighborhoods in Eugene. Paul is quoted as saying that “the JWN has for some years been dysfunctional and poorly supported by area residents.” Actually Jefferson Westside is one of four Eugene neighborhoods that meets all the city’s criteria for full activity and has every year that the measurement has been in place. Paul also said, “Meetings are rarely attended by more than a handful of people.” All neighborhoods strive to increase the involvement of their constituents but the reality is that in 2003 JWN held nine neighborhood meetings that were attended by 232 neighbors, an average of 26 per meeting. If the same percentage of Eugeneans attended City Council meetings, the average attendance would exceed 575. The elected Board is made up of experi- enced community volunteers including a teacher, two attorneys, retired union leader, leg- islative staffer, business owner, drug-dealer watchdog and former Neighborhood Leaders Council co-chair. In my opinion, as a board People Power E ugene has a new mayor, Kitty Piercy. At this turning point in the city’s his- tory, it’s worth considering what this means for the future of Eugene. Piercy and council candidates Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman and Andrea Ortiz won election last week because the majority of people in Eugene want a more progressive government. They want government that serves the people, that strives to do the most good for the most people by protecting the local environ- ment, quality of life and human rights. Piercy and the elected council candidates were backed by more than 700 volun- teers and small donors working for what they believed in: a better city. Nathanson and council candidates Maurie Denner, Tom Slocum and Scott Meisner were finan- cially backed by only a relative handful of big developers and businesses who profit from weak regulation, taxpayer give-aways and environmental destruction. People power won. Eugene’s new mayor is not a radical liberal as some local conservatives would claim. Piercy was the true moderate in the election. Nathanson was the conserva- tive with a voting record out of touch with the values of Eugene. That’s why she lost. During her campaign, Piercy made an effort to cross political lines with her eco- nomic plan to promote jobs. Nathanson made no similar effort to reach beyond her narrow constituency. 4 MAY 27, 2004 member for the last year and a half, and as past chair (1984-86), the JWN is fortunate to have committed and hard-working board members who bring a variety of perspectives that are rep- resentative of various neighborhood interests. Attend a meeting of your neighborhood or- ganization and become involved in your com- munity. Marilyn Odell Board Member JWN VOTE GEORGIE OUT I want my money back. I was promised en- tertainment with spectacular special effects while the “bad guys” were to receive “shock and awe.” It was promoted as “Godzilla U.S. Meets Bambi THEM” inbred with “A Holier Than Thou High Noon.” Instead, it’s the bastard child of Platoon meets Pulp Fiction. Iraqi prisoners have been photographed being humiliated, abused and tortured. The American public is shocked and the entire de- bacle is God-awful. In the neo-con wet dream, greed, power and overweening ego-tripping were given full reign. George W., primed by messages from God, puppet-handed by Dick, and aided and abetted by Rummy, Ashy, Condi, Pearle and company, would flick the military equivalent of his silver spoon and the Middle East would come up hearts and flowers in two shakes of the proverbial lamb’s tail. Turns out the flowers are on the graves of Americans brought home in government-en- forced silence and the darkness of a govern- ment-enforced media blackout. Turns out the tail is attached to a tiger of frightening proportions. Now the misguided ideologues are doing their best to spin while dancing a backtracking Texas two-step, all the while counting on gen- eral attention deficit in the American populace to keep them in control after the coming elec- tion. Tell you what — keep my money. Just vote Georgie out of the White House where he does a dangerously lame job pretending to be presi- dent and send him back to Texas where he can pretend to be a rancher. Morgan Songi Eugene As a moderate, Piercy will likely compromise on many of Eugene’s thornier issues. The right certainly won’t like everything she does, but, then, neither will those on the left. Ironically, a moderate mayor may mean action on many conser- vative causes, albeit with compromises, that would have been bogged down with a more divided mayor and council. With a potential 5-4 council and mayor majority, progressives will now be able to advance causes that have been stymied. Eugene’s environment, quality of life, human services, human rights, as well as government fiscal responsibility, open- ness and fairness will improve. Voices long locked out of city hall will now be heard as Piercy makes committee appointments that reflect all of Eugene. Of course, all may not end happily-ever-after for progressives. In the past, seemingly progressive councilors have disappointed supporters with their votes. Meisner lost his seat to such disappointment. In that ward, it is a big plus that the winner is a Latina woman. But Piercy is a big change from the past. Old-timers tell us that Eugene has never had a progressive mayor. Mayor Jim Torrey is the last in a long line of former Chamber of Commerce presidents to hold the position. Torrey blocked many of the progressive, pro-environment and government reform initiatives that would have made Eugene a better place to live. As a conservative, Republican mayor of a largely Democrat, progressive-leaning town, Torrey never truly represented the city. In a startling rebuke to the old guard, Eugene now has a mayor chosen by a wide range of citizens. Local progressives now know what can be accomplished when they get organized and motivated. The people have elected a mayor for all Eugene.
