TO THE EDITOR
EDITOR’S NOTE: Too many letters, too little space. Check our website
(www.eugeneweekly.com) last week and this week for additional letters.
POOR MUSIC SELECTION
Like any serious music fan, I am saddened
by your Aug. 12 cover story on the decline of
local, independent music stores. I have no
doubt that money-grubbing majors and thiev-
ing burners play massive
roles in this trend. But, the
stores themselves are partly
to blame for having such
poor available stock.
When I moved here from
rural Pennsylvania, I was
giddy at the thought of hav-
ing several good record
stores
in
the
area.
Unfortunately, I am rou-
tinely disappointed when I walk in to find
that they don’t have what I want. Whenever I
go in to pick up a new disc by top independ-
ent bands like Skinny Puppy, an older album
by mainstay acts like Sleater-Kinney, or even
high-profile, major label release by someone
like Prince, I walk out empty-handed. Yes, I
know that it makes no sense to hold stock if
you aren’t going to turn it over quickly, but
Eugene’s local shops don’t meet the needs of
those willing to pay a bit extra in order to ex-
perience the thrill of a release-date purchase
and the ambiance of the neighborhood shop.
I can’t help but think that Face the Music
and others would be better off by taking steps
to meet the needs of their true, loyal cus-
tomers rather than trying to lure back burners
who value money more than music.
Ron Davies
Eugene
SERVING FAMILIES
I would like to take a moment to respond
to the letter from Steve Brown (8/12) suggest-
ing that Cuthbert Amphitheater is not family
friendly, and to thank him for sending it in.
Mr. Brown is correct in stating that our
policy states that each child over 1 shall be
obliged to purchase a ticket, but that is for a
couple of reasons. The most important is that
90 percent of the shows at Cuthbert
are produced by outside promoters
who rent the facility from Cultural
Services. This means they set the
ticket prices and have absolute con-
trol over them. The second reason is
that we have limited seating at
Cuthbert and even a young child can
take up a seat that could be sold to
someone else.
The good news is that
when we are sponsoring our own shows at
Cuthbert, we do try and set a fair ticket price
for children and will be even more conscious
of that in the future. Second, we have high
hopes for expanding the Cuthbert season from
nine to 30-plus shows over the next five years.
Many of these will be locally produced and
will allow us the flexibility to offer up more
family-friendly prices.
I thank Mr. Brown for sending in his
concerns. All the arts in Eugene/Springfield
— including Cuthbert — need to work harder
at serving families. Count on the fact that we
will do all in our power, Mr. Brown, to be a
part of that important effort.
Robert J. Hankins
Cultural Services Director
Eugene
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
First of all, thank you EW for printing Dr.
Megan Schmidt’s Viewpoint (7/15) and the
responses thereafter. That says a lot about the
Weekly. Thanks to those who have written in
and to those who have been reading the
thought-provoking perspectives on the issue.
This has been a healthy exchange within the
community concerning a vital subject
through a medium we are fortunate to have.
What are we going to do about it? How are
we going to help the EW get by without it sup-
porting the sex industry? Business matters are
surely out of my area of expertise, but I hope
this will get the ball rolling. Will fund-raising
work? I’m thinking of for example KLCC’s
brewfest or something of the like. A call for
donations? Grants?? As a last resort should the
EW charge a nickel? I imagine the folks at the
Weekly have at least started to travel down this
road before. Where did you all leave off, what
made you stop, can you please update us and
address this so we can help?
Readers, let’s not let this issue die, are we
not in the 21st century still addressing the im-
pacts of the oldest profession? We can start
by enabling our local publication to cease
promulgating the subjugation of women and
to fully represent the way we walk our talk.
Dr. Schmidt calls for a challenge to do so.
Let’s answer.
Dave Kofranek
Eugene
DESTROYING LIVES
Before Megan Schmidt wrote her
Viewpoint complaining about EW’s less up-
standing sponsors and the subsequent re-
sponse, I never realized how powerful this
free publication was. I had no idea EW was
BY ANN-MARIE HOGAN
Better Government
Through independent auditing
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letter was sent Aug. 12 to the Eugene mayor
and council members in response to recent local media reports on the need
for an independent auditor. EW was given permission to reprint it as a guest
commentary.
W
e are aware that the city of Eugene does not have an independent per-
formance auditor. The National Association of Local Government
Auditors (www.NALGA.org) believes the independent performance audit
function plays a key role in effective governance and public accountability.
Taxpayers and elected representatives want assurance that scarce tax dollars
are protected by strong management controls and practices. An independent per-
formance audit function can provide such assurance to you and your constituents
through independent reviews and evaluations.
The value of an independent performance audit function is in providing objec-
tive, accurate, and meaningful information about operations so you can make in-
formed decisions to better serve your citizens.
Members of our organization who direct successful local government audit
shops in the state of Oregon were in contact with the council two years ago when
the Charter Review Committee proposed establishment of such a function. More
recently, it appears that concerns expressed by staff in your city centered around
the question of independence, as well as the issue of cost effectiveness.
Government Auditing Standards and NALGA Model Legislation recommend that
4 AUGUST 19, 2004
audit organizations be organizationally located outside the
staff or line management function of the organization. Audit
organizations should report the results of their audits to the
public and be accountable to either the legislative body of the
organization or directly to the public through an elected auditor
office.
Independence is important because auditors should be sufficiently re-
moved from political pressures to ensure that they can conduct audits objectively
and can report findings, opinions, and conclusions objectively without fear of
repercussion. For this reason, federal performance auditors (GAO) report to
Congress, rather than the executive branch.
Independent performance auditors can help:
• Strengthen internal controls
• Deter fraud
• Identify waste and abuse
• Provide professional resources
In many cases, audit work leads to new revenue, cost recovery, and economic
impact well beyond the audit department’s annual budget. Many independent per-
formance audit departments pay for themselves many times over.
An independent performance audit function for the city of Eugene would be a
long-term financial resource for the city. We have enclosed the brochure,
Guidelines and Model Authorizing Legislation for Local Government Audit
Functions.
Our organization would be happy to answer any questions you have about es-
tablishing an independent performance audit function.
Ann-Marie Hogan chairs the Advocacy Committee of NALGA and is the elected city auditor in Berkeley, Calif.. She
says she has “worked productively with several city managers to improve the efficiency of operations, identify new
revenue, and increase accountability to the public.”