values and vision for preserving heritage
trees, promoting equity in street-improve-
ment assessments, and maintaining neigh-
borhood character.
Are the neighbors in Santa Clara just
against a large community park that would
accompany a land-swap proposal and
development scheme from the McDougal
Bros.? It may be that residents are asking
savvy questions about the impacts of new
development on already-strapped trans-
portation infrastructure and schools, and
about the loss of prime Class 1 farmland
that would result from an urban growth
boundary expansion.
Is it that the four neighborhoods adja-
cent to the Union Pacific Railyard are sim-
ply against noisy trains? Maybe they are
searching for a way to prioritize a commu-
nity-wide public planning process for this
large, polluted industrial site and to envi-
sion a future use for the site that would be
compatible with the surrounding neigh-
borhoods as well as the broader communi-
ty.
Are the residents of the West
University Neighborhood just concerned
about student housing rented from out-of-
town landlords? Or can we hear that these
neighbors want to shepherd the interests of
both the local community and the univer-
sity?
Is it that the county residents of River
Road and Santa Clara are simply enemies
of the city of Eugene who want to be left
alone? Maybe these residents have legiti-
mate concerns about whether annexation
to the city and the accompanying rise in
property taxes will mean a commensurate
increase in urban-service delivery.
Are neighbors downwind of the JH
Baxter plant in Trainsong and Bethel being
colleges and public universities; keep
Project Independence for seniors; and
restore the Oregon Health Plan. Worthy
efforts, all.
And those of you who have followed
the efforts of ESSN in establishing a liv-
ing-wage ordinance related to the expendi-
ture of public funds for private contractors
may be asking yourselves: “What gives
with that?”
I’ll simply update (in more politically-
correct terminology) an old phrase origi-
nally attributed to basketball coach Dick
Motta, and say that the plus-sized sister
isn’t about to sing, yet.
cal environment?
Eugene has almost 20 active neighbor-
hood associations that, during this past
year, have published more than 60
newsletters or postcards and collectively
have held hundreds of meetings, election
forums,and potlucks. Food, schools, liv-
ing-wage jobs, and the natural environ-
ment are common currencies of our shared
values and vision.
Labor
By Gary Gillespie
The Eugene-Springfield Solidarity
Network is a coalition of labor, environ-
mental, educational and faith-based
groups in Lane County working to edu-
cate, activate and agitate for social and
economic justice. ESSN is also a national
Jobs With Justice Chapter.
In 2005, ESSN will continue our work
in a couple of areas as well as add an addi-
tional cause or two. We will continue to
The Register-Guard. In view of repeated
violations by the R-G and their lead nego-
tiator, the contract campaign more resem-
bled a war of attrition than a protected
labor-rights negotiation.
In 2004, we organized two demonstra-
tions at Wal-Mart opposing the expansion
of the West 11th store to a Super Center.
The AFL-CIO stated intentions to organize
Wal-Mart workers, and ESSN anticipates
participating in that effort. Wal-Mart is
expanding at an annual rate of 15 percent
and is the largest private non-union
employer in the country. Their workers
earn nearly 30 percent less than other gro-
cery workers.
ESSN was pleased to hear Mayor
Piercy call economically sustainable busi-
ness support and development a key part
of her administration’s goals. Educating
our community as to the importance of
community standards was a cornerstone of
our work in 2004. Criteria for the use of
public funds in economic development
Land-Use and
Transportation
By Kevin Matthews
Wetlands highway — riverfront high-
way — upland habitat denial — riverfront
commercialization — urban-renewal ger-
rymanders — UGB for sale. Four years of
a developer-directed City Council majori-
ty have pushed Eugene to the brink of cri-
sis.
Starting right now, the real changes in
city leadership that so many of you have
worked so hard and so well for bring real
new possibilities.
Consensus has been growing across our
community around shared visions of eco-
nomic justice and environmental quality,
as evidenced by election of Kitty Piercy as
our new mayor, by the ongoing discus-
sions of the Jobs and Land Use
Roundtable, and by the coalition of groups
bringing you this Citizens State of the City
presentation.
However, contrary forces of often dis-
Without achieving sustainability and excellence in our land-use and transportation
choices, we probably can’t achieve it much of anywhere else.
unreasonable to want to go outdoors with-
out having to breath toxic air? Is it that res-
idents of the Friendly neighborhood are
just wannabe cops? Or are they to be com-
mended for making streets safer by
staffing a residents radar patrol?
Can we accept that the citizenry is
informed when they ask for not just any
external review for police, but an external-
review process that has proven to be suc-
cessful elsewhere?
Eugene finds itself at a crossroads. Our
new mayor, Kitty Piercy, is aware of the
importance of supporting grassroots
neighborhood vision. Our city manager,
Dennis Taylor, got his start in civic advo-
cacy and public service in Helena, Mont.,
after his downtown neighborhood was
punctured by urban-renewal decisions that
resulted in a monstrous parking lot.
Our police chief, Robert Lehner, champi-
ons community policing as a tool to help
neighborhood residents and businesses
build trust and accountability with their
civic institutions.
Can we acknowledge school choice
while simultaneously infusing neighbor-
hood schools with the support and funding
they need, so families can keep their chil-
dren in the neighborhood, building com-
munity pride and connection to the physi-
educate and inform with regards to the
struggle of workers to organize and main-
tain a voice in the workplace through
union representation. At this very time,
members of Amalgamated Transit Union
are on the verge of striking in order to
retain current benefits and stop the imple-
mentation of unfavorable work rules.
Their employer, Lane Transit District,
appears willing to cripple the county trans-
portation system in order to implement
their last best offer.
We are recruiting community leaders
for a Workers’ Rights Board, which will
serve as a public forum for workers to air
their grievances and will facilitate com-
munity support to seek redress of those
grievances. A WRB is the union’s counter
response to the pro-corporate actions of
the National Labor Rights Board. In light
of George Bush’s efforts to stack the
NLRB with anti-worker members, we in
the labor movement now refer to the
NLRB as the “No Labor Rights Board.”
The near-total ineffectiveness of this
organization in protecting the rights of
workers was never more evident that dur-
ing the prolonged contract negotiations by
the members of the Newspaper Guild and
the Teamsters in their three-plus-year
negotiations with the Baker family and
must be defined and enforced. Only estab-
lishing such criteria will regain the support
of taxpayers in the Eugene-Springfield
area.
Promoting tax justice through educa-
tional workshops will be another key ele-
ment of ESSN’s 2005 activities. In coop-
eration with the Oregon AFL-CIO and the
Oregon Center for Public Policy, ESSN is
shining a bright light on the tax credits,
exemptions, and deductions offered by the
State of Oregon to special-interest groups.
Since 1995, Oregon income-tax rev-
enues have grown by 58 percent, while
income tax breaks have grown by 108 per-
cent. In 1995, Oregon gave away in tax
breaks 39 cents on the dollar. Today that
figure has risen to 46 cents on the dollar.
And sadly, those increased tax breaks have
gone to the wealthy, rather than to those in
need of assistance. Total revenue given up
in the form of tax breaks for the next bien-
nium is expected to equal $8.8 billion.
If Oregon just reverted to the tax break
levels of 1995-97, it would collect another
$1.3 billion in addition to the $10.5 in the
projected 2005-07 period. This additional
$1.3 billion would more than provide
funding for a full school year, without
increasing K-12 class sizes. It would also
allow for tuition freezes at our community
tantly driven real-estate speculation and of
deeply rooted local privilege are busily
jockeying for angles of counter-attack.
How shall we respond at this historical tip-
ping point?
Lisa Arkin has already spoken about
several aspects of sustainability. Yet so
much of our environmental and economic
impacts have to do with the two inter-
twined threads of land use and transporta-
tion.
Without achieving sustainability and
excellence in our land-use and transporta-
tion choices, we probably can’t achieve it
much of anywhere else.
• Civic Center development, done with
historical and urban sensitivity, could
enhance downtown. Pedestrian downtown
really could be connected with a living,
green riverfront. Mixed-use development
of open pits and paved lots downtown
could move it closer to the Node-One sta-
tus it needs and deserves.
• We need an updated and improved
approach to downtown planning that
is more realistic and more visionary at the
same time, that goes beyond the goals of
the last mayor’s committee.
• We need a city planning department
that really listens when there is citizen
input, or a design charette like we had for
JANUARY 13, 2005 13