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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2007)
WAR DEAD Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003 (last week’s numbers in parentheses): • 3,849 U.S. troops killed* (3,839) • 28,171 U.S. troops injured* (28,171) • 128 U.S. military suicides* (128) • 304 coalition troops killed** (303 • 933 contractors killed (accurate updates NA) • 83,029 Iraqi civilians killed*** (82,776) • $466.1 billion cost of war ($464.1 billion) blew into Eugene on a day when tempera- tures were soaring up to 100 degrees. ODA and LRAPA received hundreds of com- plaints. The town hall will take place from 7 to 8:30 pm Wednesday, Nov. 14 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church Parish Hall, 1150 Maxwell Road, in north Eugene. For more informa- tion, contact OTA at www.oregontoxics.org or 465-8860. — Camilla Mortensen PARK POLITICS IN SPOTLIGHT • $132.5 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($131.9 million) * through Nov. 5, 2007; source: icasualties.org; some figures only updated monthly ** estimate; source: icasualties.org *** highest estimate; source: iraqbodycount.org; based on confirmed media reports; other groups calculate civilian deaths as high as 655,000 to one million park plans, Cranz said she’s learned a few im- portant lessons. One is that ambitious goals and ideas for parks make them better. “Make no little plans,” she said. Another lesson is that parks play an im- portant role in allowing the denser cities that are key to sustainability. “The higher level of density we live in, the greater the need of amenity we have,” she said. To bring people into a dense city to live, “it has to be gor- geous.” — Alan Pittman Interest in urban parks is growing in Eugene, with many citizens calling for new parks across from the downtown library, con- necting downtown to the riverfront and on the former EWEB industrial land. The growing grassroots interest in parks was demonstrated Monday, Nov. 5 when about 150 people filled the conference room at the UO’s Baker Center downtown to hear an academic talk by Galen Cranz, one of the nation’s leading urban park experts. Cranz, an architecture professor at U.C. Berkley for 33 years and the author of The Politics of Park Design, lectured on how U.S. parks have evolved from naturalistic to social to utilitarian to open space and now to sus- tainable, ecological designs. In response to last Saturday’s talk at UO In Eugene, urban parks have be- by revisionist historian Mark Weber, come a political issue with the the Harold Schnitzer Family environmental community Program in Judaic Studies and pushing for more green open the UO Honors College have space while the business organized a symposium on community and city staff “the phenomenon of generally oppose urban Holocaust denial,” on parks, arguing public parks Thursday, Nov. 8. will attract the wrong element The symposium will take and the land would be better paved place on the evening before the an- over and developed. niversary of Kristallnacht, also Mark Weber Cranz noted a similar debate known as “the Night of the took place with the creation of the nation’s Broken Glass” in reference to all the shop and first urban park, Central Park in New York home windows broken during the 1938 City, in the 19th century. The original park pogrom. Thousands of Jewish businesses was supposed to be near housing on the wa- were destroyed, more than 1,000 synagogues terfront in lower Manhattan, Cranz said. But were burned and almost 30,000 Jewish men commercial interests wanted the land for de- were sent to concentration camps that night, velopment and pushed the park out to the according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial then hinterlands in the center of the island. Museum. But after real estate prices boomed around Speakers at the symposium will include the Central Park, “business interest very professors Shaul Cohen, David Frank and quickly caught on to the advantages of David Luebke and Rabbi Jonathan Seidel. parks,” Cranz said. The symposium will take place from 7 to 8 After looking at hundreds of parks and pm Thursday in 207 Chapman Hall at the UO HOLOCAUST DENIAL DISCUSSION • Now what? It’s going to take time for the dust to settle following the defeat this week of Eugene Ballot Measure 20-134. What will help carry us forward in building a more vital downtown? Let’s start with a better understanding of why the measure failed. Voters had dozens of reasons to support or oppose 20-134, but probably the deciding factor was lack of trust in our city government. For better or worse, a lot of Eugeneans were uncomfortable writing a $40 million check and not knowing how it was going to be spent. We’ve seen the bad decisions city government has made over the decades: Earlier urban renewal fiascos, allowing Valley River Center to drain downtown, backroom deals to put the pol- luting Hynix/Hyundai plant on wetlands, unwarranted tax breaks, weak land-use codes, the ignoring of railyard pollution, outrageous police behavior going on for years, etc. Our city government is improving, just not quickly enough to turn around all those years of secrecy and mis- management. There are specific things we can do as a city to restore trust in our city government. An independent performance auditor is a logical first step to bringing accountability and transparency to each city depart- ment, from police to public works. Hiring a new city manager who wel- comes oversight would be another good step. We’ve discovered in this election that lack of trust is neither a con- servative nor progressive issue; it’s a Eugene issue. With that in mind, let’s get over our grumpy disagreements and work together to create more, smaller downtown successes that we can build upon. • The Register-Guard is diligent at self-censorship when it comes to the dreaded f-word, but every once in a while it slips into print in photog- raphy, most likely by “accident.” A couple of years ago a crowd shot at an antiwar rally in Eugene showed a small, but very clear “Fuck War” sign among the protesters. Now, in the R-G’s “Oregon Football” section Sunday, Nov. 5, the huge photo above the fold shows wide receiver Jaison Williams trying to catch a pass. Hand-written on his glove, just above the Nike Swoosh, are the words “Fuck It.” In the R-G sports pages Tuesday was a blather of silly apologies and excuses, and we expect Phil Knight got a call since his beloved Swoosh was defiled. No such embarrassment and fawning over the “Fuck War” sign. Is that because UO sports has become sacred, even a religion? Williams claims “Fuck It” it was just a self-admonishment to not take his occasional fumbles too seriously. Or is this really the new secret battle cry for the UO football team? Hey, it seems to be working. Rhyming opportunities abound, so will the UO Cheerleaders work the new slogan into their repertory? Any suggestions from our readers on words for such a cheer? • This week we begin a new column, ¡Ask a Mexican! by Gustavo Arellano of Orange County’s OC Weekly. Arellano answers readers’ questions about all sorts of topics from culture to immigra- tion, but mostly dealing with stereo- types. “What part of illegal don’t Mexicans understand?” “Why do Mexicans call white people gringos?” “What’s La Bamba all about?” “Why are Mexican girls so beautiful when they are teenagers, then over the years, they become fat, old bags?” Arellano tackles all the stereotypes and abandons politically correct language in this sometimes outrageous column. “There is a lot of racism out there and stereotyping continues,” Arellano said in a 2006 interview on alibi.com. “As a child of Mexican immigrants, I’m not going to stand idly by and let people perpetuate those stereotypes. I’m going to go after them with everything I have.” The column, with its purposefully stereo- typed caricature, runs in dozens of alternative newspapers nationwide, but has also been featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Reuters news service. • What have you been missing on EW! A blog? Oh, just murder, incest, the sweep of the heroic narrative, etc., etc., etc. Our intrepid (and lucky) performing and visual arts editor, Suzi Steffen, had an inspiring time during her fellowship at the 11-day Columbia University/National Endowment for the Arts Institute in Classical Music and Opera. And she’s been blogging about it off and on since she returned. If you’re a taxpayer, you supported this endeavor; read Steffen’s reports out at blogs.eugeneweekly.com (where you’ll also find Molly Templeton’s takes on Heroes, Alan Pittman on bike use in Eugene, Ted Taylor’s ran- dom rants and Chuck Adams on darn near everything on the calendar). SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com NOVEMBER 8, 2007 13
