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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2009)
letters TO THE EDITOR • The UO may buy up and perhaps condemn property along Franklin for a grandiose redevelopment scheme that would line the boulevard with buildings up to nine stories tall, if it follows the recommendations of its development consultant. Consultant Abe Farkas, the former director of Eugene’s planning department, recommended that the UO aggressively pursue redevelopment of Franklin into an urban “university village” with a new basketball arena, parking garages, a hotel and convention and mixed-use retail/ housing buildings. • The expansion could dramatically change the mission and role of the UO in the community from a public education institution to a major developer of private commercial real estate. • The study did not include a market analysis of whether such intense development in the area would make fi nancial sense. The study also did not evaluate to what degree Franklin development could compete with efforts to redevelop downtown. EW needs to follow up on Pittman’s 2006 investigative work and keep the public up to date about the urban village scheme in Fairmount. I have posted six videos at YouTube on the issue, which can be found by using the search at the YouTube site with keywords: Nike University of Oregon. Zachary Vishanoff Eugene BETTER CHOICES Besides a ban on Styrofoam containers (cover story, 12/31), we can use a durable plastic alternative made from sugar cane and grass that is 100 percent biodegradable. There are several manufacturers of items such as “clamshell” containers, cups, straws, spoons, forks and food handler’s gloves. The conscientious Adam Bernstein has been using them at Adam’s Place for years (call Sysco Food Service of Portland). We can insist that our deli, bakery and café managers utilize these items. Even if they are slightly more expensive at the moment, eventually they will order the better alternative. Warren S. Anderson Eugene NO IMPULSE CONTROL Many people think the crooks who have stolen all of the money should go to jail. Most politicians and the media think we should just “move on” and let the crooks keep the money they stole. Instead of sending the crooks to jail or giving them “get out of jail” cards, I think we should be compassionate. The crooks who stole — and are still stealing — all of the money need help. They are kleptomaniacs. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defi nes kleptomania as an impulse control disorder characterized by a recurrent failure to resist stealing. They can’t help themselves. The Pentagon crooks, the military contractor crooks and the U.S. and Iraqi government crooks in Baghdad can’t help stealing hundreds of billions of dollars. Help is needed for the real estate agents who made billions on crazily overpriced houses and the bankers who made the loans they knew would never be repaid, then offl oaded them to mortgage security bundlers who sold them to other investment brokers who also knew they were worthless. Everybody stole money at each step of the pyramid. The Wall Street banks who invented “collateralized debt obligations” and “credit default swaps” were masking their illness. Federal regulators who looked the other way for a price were hiding their kleptomania. Rating agencies like Moody’s declared the bogus mortgages as credit-worthy as they stole billions. Obviously we need to borrow billions of dollars from the Chinese in order to provide help for the kleptomaniacs who run our country. Roscoe Caron Eugene ns in Eugene and Springfie o i t a c o ld 9 L BURRITO AMIGOS PRACTICES SUSTAINABILITY BY MAKING AVAILABLE TO ALL STAFF: Health Benefits, Retirment Programs, 0% Payday Loans, Free Meal at Work (with a min. 4 hour work shift), And we give married staff 1 day off together per week when possible. JANUARY SPECIAL ! ON NOW Cheese Quesadilla w/ Chips & Salsa $ 5 . 75 ENOUGH HAPPINESS Hey! Whatever you are paying for “How to Be Happy,” it’s too much. Way too much. Ken Warren Eugene GARBANZO ACTIVISM I was buying groceries the other day and choosing a hummus spread when I suddenly realized that I don’t want to buy Emerald Valley products anymore if Monterey Gourmet Foods, the new owner, goes forward with the plan to end production in Eugene. I went home and sent an email to the company, easy to do with a “contact us” link on the Web site, and told them of my decision. Consumer boycott is a powerful tool that gets corporate attention. I encourage others to take a stand for local jobs and to contact Monterey Gourmet Foods. Lee De Veau Eugene U.S. ROLE IN GAZA The Israeli bombing and shelling of the Gaza Strip continues into its third week, while the U.S. turns a blind eye. According to a Jan. 12 U.N. report, since Dec. 27, more than 900 Gazans have been killed, of whom 42 percent were women and children. Another 4,000 have been wounded, of whom 49 percent are women and children. Some 30,000 have been displaced, and 500,000 are without water. On the Israeli side, four have died, and 250 have been wounded from Hamas rocket attacks since Dec. 27. The U.S. government should show concern for all civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian, who are caught in this confl ict, and should call on all parties to cease attacks on civilians. While acknowledging that Hamas is responsible for attacks on Israeli civilians, the U.S. government should not ignore Israel’s disproportionate response and the policies that have brought the Gaza Strip to the brink of humanitarian disaster. While Israel has the right and the duty to protect its citizens, it must do so in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law. The U.S. should also cease military transfers to Israel and should investigate if any U.S. weapons were used in attacks on civilians. I respectfully call on our legislators and our citizens to end their silence and speak up for human rights and respect for international law in the Middle East. Karen Kennedy Eugene WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM No credit crisis here! 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