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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2009)
NEWS BRIEFS Diablo’s Downtown Lounge. 21+. $1. • Sierra Club’s Inauguration Day beer social to discuss priorities for the Obama administration, 7 pm, McMenamins East 19th and Agate. Free. ACTIVIST ALERT • CALC is hosting a public forum, “Afghanistan/Pakistan/India: Time for a New U.S. Peace Strategy,” at 7 pm Thursday, Jan. 15, at Harris Hall, 125 E. 8th Ave. The Obama administration is planning to increase U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan. Dan Goldrich and Stan Taylor of CALC’s Progressive Responses will present a differ- ent approach that will outline alternative NEWS strategies to resolve conflicts and create last- ing peace in the region. • Rep. Phil Barnhart will be holding a joint town hall meeting with Sen. Floyd Prozanski and Rep. Paul Holvey at 9:30 am Saturday, Jan. 17, in the Library at Roosevelt Middle School. • Brewhaha is back. The monthly forum sponsored by the Bus Project and EW is at 6 pm Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Davis’ Restaurant, 94 W. Broadway. The topic is “City Government 101,” looking at our current manager/council form of government and examining alternatives. • Citizens for Public Accountability is planning its annual meeting at 7 pm Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Tsunami Books, 26th and Willamette. The tentative list of speak- ers includes Police Auditor Dawn Reynolds, Carol Berg of Citizens for Ethical Law Enforcement, Tim Lewis of Eugene Copwatch, former Councilor Bonny Bettman and Rick Brissenden of the Civilian Review Board. To get on CPA’s email list, send a note to cpa@lists.opn.org ON THE WEB THIS WEEK • On the blog: Alan posts video highlights of the Mayor’s State of the City address, and notes The Oregonian has picked up on EW’s story about Oregon National Guard soldiers exposed to toxic chemicals in Iraq. Chuck blogs about EW’s “SnarkCast” in the Calendar section, rants about obsolete and wasteful fax machines, and posts a notice about The Seattle Post-Intelligencer up for sale. Camilla blogs about an upcoming talk on the dangers of GMO foods by biologist Lisa Weasel and continues to post debatably “neocolonial” TV commercials. • Anna Grace reviews Where the Heck’s the Plot? from Charles Nathan and the Actors Cabaret of Eugene. EARLY DEADLINE Eugene Weekly offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 19, to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The early deadline for reserv- ing display ad space for our Jan. 22 issue is 5 pm Thursday, Jan. 15. Questions? Call 484-0519. BY ALAN PITTMAN Citizens Report A greener response to economic and climate crises A group of local environmentalists called for local food, green transportation, stopping sprawl and building community to respond to economic and climate change crises at a Citizens State of the City and County event Jan. 12. The annual alternative or supplement to the Mayor’s State of the City address drew about 100 people to Harris Hall in the county building. Aleta Miller of the Environmental Center of Sustainability called for more local organic food produc- tion to fight the environmental effects of transporting foods long distances from factory farms relying heavily on chemical pesticides and fertilizers. She called for con- verting grass seed farms in the valley to food production. Miller said the Lane County Fairgrounds should be used as a hub for selling produce and education on the local food movement. “This is an area of vast local activity” with organic food, Miller said. Mark Robinowitz said he had been “a freeway fighter for 15 years.” He said, “As the oil winds down we won’t need to build more highways; we need to maintain what we have.” Robinowitz faulted both political parties, Congressman Peter DeFazio, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and some environmental groups for supporting billions of dol- WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM lars more for freeway capacity. To respond to declining oil supplies and global warming, Robinowitz called for high- speed rail, biogas buses, a Eugene ban on big box stores, and retooling RV factories to make buses. If the nation increased carpooling and drove under 55 mph, he said, “that would save more fuel than flows through the Alaska pipeline.” Robert Emmons, president of LandWatch Lane County, said his group’s efforts to stop sprawl are threat- ened by a call for deregulation from the state Legislature’s “Big Look” taskforce. Lane County is already one of only two counties in the state with a “marginal lands” provision allowing valuable winery land to be destroyed by sprawl, according to Emmons. High permit appeal fees “effec- tively eliminate” citizen participation, he said. Emmons said land use decisions should be evaluated for their sprawl impacts on energy use and global warming. The recent county election brought a “sympathetic majority” to the Board of Commissioners, he said. Emmons said surveys show protecting the environment is supported by a strong majority. “It’s important that we hold our state and local representatives accountable to that majority.” Samantha Chirillo of Cascadia’s Ecosystem Advocates called for using the millions the Forest Service spends on new logging roads to instead build hiking trails and remove outdated and abandoned logging roads that wash out and clog streams with sediment. Chirillo called for banning all native forest logging, using manual rather than pesticide weed removal, acquiring the rest of the Amazon headwaters and reenacting a state harvest tax to discourage clear-cutting and logging in watersheds. The logging industry is trying to exploit “an instinctual fear of fire” to increase logging, she said. Native forest thinning can increase fire risk by allowing in more drying wind and sunlight, according to Chirillo. Logging “waste” wood should be left in the forest for needed nutrients and habitat rather than burning it for fuel, she said. Jan Spencer of the Suburban Permaculture Project read a “letter from the future” describing a green vision for the area in two decades. The vision included compact, green urban villages built on reclaimed space from park- ing lots and roads. Housing co-ops would have strong community cohesion, he said. Eating locally and walking more, people would be fit and healthy. “Grass gave way to gardens years ago,” Spencer read the letter from the future. “Junk food is a memory.” Eugene should “redefine prosperity” and “live within our economic and environmental means,” Spencer said. “Eugene should be in the vanguard of these changes.” Eugene City Councilor Betty Taylor praised the citi- zens’ ideas at an evening council meeting after the event. Taylor, starting her fourth term as the most experienced city councilor, also offered a list of her own goals for 2009. Taylor said the city should acquire the rest of the Amazon headwaters as a park, build a park downtown, empower neighborhoods, pass a living wage ordinance, regulate big box stores, assist local businesses, change the street assessment policy, eliminate tax breaks for develop- ers in the university neighborhood, look for new sources of tax revenue, respect student protesters, protect home- owners threatened by infill that lowers property values and create an independent performance auditor function for the city. ew EUGENE WEEKLY JANUARY 15, 2009 9
