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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2005)
CITIZENS STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS Below is the text from the fourth annual Citizens State of the City Address given Jan. 10 at the Eugene Public Library. This version has been edited for length and the complete text is online at www.eugeneweekly.com The event traditionally serves as a counterpoint to the Mayor’s State of the City Address and highlights issues of pressing importance to Eugene, as viewed by citizen groups in the community. Speakers this year were Lisa Arkin of Oregon Toxics Alliance, Rob Handy of River Road Community Organization, Gary Gillespie of Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network, Kevin Matthews of Friends of Eugene, and Hope Marston of the Lane County Bill of Rights Defense Committee. Eugene as a Sustainable Community By Lisa Arkin A few days before the end of 2004, I awoke to the patter of voices from a local radio station. I lis- tened to a public-service Lisa Arkin Rob Handy spot where the announcer ability mandate and identify a timeline for urged listeners to rush out and buy new its implementation. SUVs before Dec. 31 so they could take An extremely valuable consensus- advantage of the administration’s tremen- building tool is the principle of fore-car- dous tax credits and other economic incen- ing. That is “fore” with an ‘e,’ as in fore- tives. thought, beforehand, and foresight. Fore- The message defied common sense. caring includes identifying those things Remember last summer’s astronomical we all value and acting together to protect gas prices? Those low-mileage SUVs and maintain them. Fore-caring would would only add to more dependence on an embed shared community goals and val- increasingly erratic international oil sup- ues into all city policies and practices. ply. And what about Eugene’s own chal- An excellent example is the Lane lenges surrounding land use, pollution, County Food Coalition’s project at and transportation? More SUVs would Sheldon High School that brings local pump yet more pollutants and climate- organic produce to our school children. changing carbon dioxide into the atmos- The coalition also is forming a permanent phere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas council that will advocate for local farmers that contributes to global warming. and food processors. Fourteen of the past 20 years have had Working at a grassroots level, the lower than average rainfall, a situation that United Methodist Church is leading an prompted EWEB’s recent rate increase. interfaith movement to support local farm- And 2004 will go down in the books as ers called “That’s My Farmer!” In the Eugene’s second-driest year on record. words of Pastor John Pitney, this program Now, imagine an entirely different “puts a neighborly face on our food.” The morning broadcast, a public-service mes- congregation is recruiting 500 families to sage that really paid the community a serv- join Community Supported Agriculture, a ice: “The city of Eugene has committed to program where people buy weekly food purchasing 100 percent wind and geother- boxes directly from local farmers. mal power by the year 2010. Eugene resi- Another example of fore-caring is the dents can take advantage of tax credits and preservation in the Whiteaker neighbor- no-interest loans for investing in home and hood of two local grocery stores, the Red business energy conservation.” Apple and the Red Barn Natural Grocery. Eugene can join dozens of other com- The Neighborhood Economic munities acting with conviction at the Development Corporation (NEDCO) pre- local level to create forward-looking civic vented the closure of these two businesses policies that respond to a changing world. because they are convenient and neighbor- Simply put, we are obligated to act not hood-sized, and they help define the char- only on our own behalf, but also to meet acter of the neighborhood. the needs of generations to follow. The city of Eugene has a unique chance To its credit, Eugene already has a vari- to practice fore-caring by teaming up with ety of policies, goals, and resolutions relat- River Road and Santa Clara residents to ing to sustainability. The recently released preserve their neighborhood’s character as brochure titled “The City of Eugene and each one makes the “transition” from Sustainability” refers to habitat, energy, semi-rural to urban. water, economy and more. The city now We applaud Mayor Piercy’s plan to set needs to develop a comprehensive sustain- 12 JANUARY 13, 2005 Gary Gillespie Kevin Matthews up a Sustainability Advisory Commission and recommend that the commission first turn its attention to developing a Eugene Sustainable-Community Code. The code should be comprehensive, covering sever- al basic areas: community health, neigh- borhoods, labor, energy use, the environ- ment — as well as, but not limited to, our economy. Moving toward a sustainable code means leadership from the city but also participation from “green” businesses, tra- ditional businesses, neighborhoods, non- profits, and the interfaith-religious com- munity. We can learn from several nearby cities that are living by their sustainable-com- munity codes and are reaping the econom- ic and social benefits. Portland recently applied the concept of fore-caring to its municipal weed-management system. Just last month, the city announced the estab- lishment of several pesticide-free parks along with a pilot program using chemical alternatives such as vinegar. Both Portland and Seattle have approved sustainable-paper policies requiring that all paper products be chlo- rine-free and made from post-consumer, recycled content by 2006. The city of Eugene could purchase tree-free paper for stationery from our local company, Living Tree Paper. It is time for our business community to practice fore-caring and acknowledge that our land and our air are common spaces, shared by plants, animals, and humans alike. Neighborhoods By Rob Handy What makes a neighborhood a desir- able, livable place to call home? What makes a neighborhood more than simply Hope Marston geographical boundaries on a map, but a living, breathing community of people with common values and interests? At the inception of American cities, neighborhoods grew up around industry. Generally, the people who lived in these neighborhoods either worked nearby or provided services to the same neighbor- hoods. These communities were very sta- ble and their populations shared similar values and concerns. Neighborhood public schools were the pride of a community, often doubling as social and educational centers. Today it is more challenging to identify interconnected community within a city and its neighborhoods. Increasingly, resi- dents choose to work, shop, play, and school their children in different parts of the town than where they live. As our lifestyle choices increase, what is the glue that holds together neighborhood residents and businesses with a sense of place? Oregon was a pioneer in codifying pub- lic involvement as Goal 1 of our trail-blaz- ing state land-use guidelines. The vision- aries of that bipartisan effort understood that involving the public at the beginning phase of planning was vital to the success of any plan, and a foundation for our democracy. For many Eugene planners and deci- sion makers today, engaging energetic public involvement seems to have become an afterthought. It may be seductive to believe that policy creation and implemen- tation can skip over community involve- ment, yet still find success and support as a top-down exercise. Are residents really just reactive and ignorant? Or are there flaws in what pass- es for our current public-involvement processes? Are Crest Drive-area residents just against street widenings? Or maybe we are hearing them voice their shared
