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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2006)
• What’s the biggest issue facing Lane County next year? In addition to other budget woes, the federal “county payments” program, also known as the O&C Lands and the Secure Rural Schools program, is about to collapse, taking up to an $18 million bite out of the Lane County general fund budget. Eighteen Oregon counties rely on revenues from timber harvesting on public lands and Congress stabilized that shrinking fund with the Rural Schools Act (RSA) of 2002, in effect subsidizing counties that have large tracts of land in public ownership. Why the federal subsidy? These lands benefit the entire nation but cannot be taxed for local services. The RSA is due to expire next year, and Congress adjourned with- out restoring the act. Anything can happen in the 110th Congress. The Bush White House is trying to divert this earmarked money to buy bombs and bullets, but it’s critically needed at home for county services, local schools and forest manage- ment. The counties’ share of the funds is managed by the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC), which is made up of mostly conservative county commissioners. Some of these commissioners, not unlike Bush, favor privatizing just about every- thing public. Don’t be surprised to see a backroom AOC proposal to sell off a big chunk of the remaining O&C lands to private timber companies and speculators while the commissioners feign concern for school kids and public health clinics. Environmental and economic sustainability are not figured into this short-sighted scenario to bail out struggling counties. Hello clearcuts, roads and herbicides. Do we have a better plan? Fight to restore the RSA while we diversify and seek sus- tainability in our local economy so we are not so dependent on federal funds. One good step in the right direction is the Lane County Energy Round-Up with public forums starting Jan. 23 looking at local self-sufficiency in energy. Stay tuned for details. • We’re looking over Sen. Ron Wyden’s proposal for stitching up America’s bleeding health care system, and we’re happy to see that just about everyone would have access to health insurance through the plan. Wyden, of course, is slapping a bandage on the festering cancer of private medical insurance. Without implementing a single-payer model or imposing serious tourniquets on the insur- ance industry, medical costs will continue to rise like blood pressure during the holidays. Rather than gurney through Congress a complicated new plan that’s likely to strap us down for even more insurance industry profits, let’s just expand Medicare over the next couple of years to cover everyone’s medical butts. Private insurance can still inject us with doses of supplemental coverage. We would clap for that. • Eugene’s slogan, “The World’s Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors,” is back in the public eye (see News Briefs this week), and it’s probably time to tweak our official urban moniker. It’s inaccurate, for one thing. Cannon Beach on the northern Oregon Coast blows us out of the water when it comes to arts and the outdoors. Then there’s that little town called Vancouver, B.C. Dave Houser of the Chamber had some fun, but sarcastic ideas at City Club: “Eugene: Gateway to Gateway,” “Eugene: A Little Above Roseburg,” “Eugene: Over Two Million Hours of Public Hearings and Going,” and “Eugene: Avoiding Difficult Decisions Since 1882.” The old “Emerald City” and “Track Town USA” are sounding better all the time. • Speaking of monikers, ideas for a nickname for the Wayne Lyman Morse United States Courthouse (see Slant last week) are still trickling in. So far the leading contenders are The Wayne, The Can, The Sardine Can, The Steel Trap, The Silver Streak, EPCOT (Extreme Pork Costing Our Taxpayers), MayneLiner Diner, The Federal Diner, Psycho-Toaster, U.S. Trailer Court, Hogan’s Hogan, The Moondoggle, Fort Hogan, The Obstacle, The Aircraft Carrier, and The Gort-House, inspired by the sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stood Still. Got any more good ones? Send them to editor@eugeneweekly.com HAPPENIN’ BiZ SOLARC A & E Up on the roof above their offices, architects Jan Fillinger and Galen Ohmart (left and right in the photo) and engineers Gene Johnson and Mike Hatten show off the photovoltaic array that provides a portion of their electricity. Four years ago, the four combined forces to launch Solarc Architecture and Engineering, specializing in proj- ects that have environmental sustainability as one of the main design goals. “We’re working on a couple of houses that will be completely off the grid,” says Fillinger, who has incorporated energy efficiency in his work since the mid-’80s. “We’re designing systems to capture stormwater from the roof to flush toilets and irrigate plants.” A regional leader in the field, Solarc conducts energy audits and consults with builders and government agencies on efficiency and sustainability issues. Solarc also encourages energy efficiency among its own employees, offering reduced-price LTD passes to those who leave the car at home or up to $50 monthly in cash to those who walk or bike to work. Learn more at www.solarc-ae.net — Paul Neevel 8 DECEMBER 21, 2006 news briefs FOGGY COP WATCHING Will the police oversight that the public demanded overwhelmingly by a vote a year ago be public? That question was left up in the air Dec. 13 when a sharply divided Eugene City Council voted to pass an ordinance imple- menting the police auditor and review board. An earlier draft of the ordinance shrouded public oversight of the police in secrecy. The rules emphasized the maxi- mum secrecy allowed by law in the review process with secret meetings, names with- held and possible confidentiality agree- ments by board members. The draft ordi- nance required the supposedly independ- ent auditor and board to comply with the police and city manager’s confidentiality policies and with confidentiality require- ments the police union and manager have or will agree to in labor contracts. Both the manager and union previously opposed in- dependent police review. At a public hearing on the ordinance, David Hinkley, a neighborhood leader, warned that the oversight “needs to be transparent” to restore trust in the police.
