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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2011)
CARS TAKE BIG TOLL ON NON-DRIVERS EUGENE BUSINESSES USING FEWER TOXICS FILMS EYE INDIGENOUS JUSTICE Filmmaker David Martinez will screen two films during a benefit for the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) at 7:15 pm Thursday, March 10, at the David Minor Theatre. The films, K’ixba’l/Verguenza/ Shame produced by Carlos Flores and Cuando La Justicia Se Hace Pueblo/When Justice is Made by the People produced by Tlachinollan (a legal defense group in Guerrero, Mexico), both address issues of indigenous justice in rural areas of Latin America. “In some parts of Latin America where these films take place, if you are thought guilty of committing a crime they just douse you in gasoline and light you on fire,” says Martinez, when speaking of Shame. The film is shot almost by accident of the camera having been in the right place at the right time during a communal dispute over what to do with or to three boys caught stealing a truck in rural Guatemala. Martinez says that both flicks are prime displays of a previously colonized people attempting to organize and administrate law in otherwise lawless environments. The CLDC film night will be followed by brief discussion also lead by Martinez who has produced documentaries in Iraq (500 miles to Babylon) and Darfur (Songs to Enemies and Deserts). He also contributed footage to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911. Admission is sliding scale, $2-$12, but no one will be turned away. — Dante Zuñiga-West Toxic chemical use by Eugene manufacturers has declined 55 percent since 2004, according to the city’s Toxics Right-to-Know (TRTK) program. Toxic releases to the environment declined 73 percent, according to the latest TRTK 2004-2009 data. Still, local manufacturers reported using 8.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals in 2009 — about 55 pounds of deadly poison for every man, woman and child in Eugene. The departure of Hynix, which used a river of acids and solvents to make memory chips in the west Eugene wetlands, accounts for a large part of the drop in toxic chemicals. In 2004, Hynix brought in more than a third of the chemicals used in Eugene. The Korean company moved its chip production to China in 2008 after $77 million in tax breaks expired. The largest user of toxic chemicals in Eugene is now Forrest Paint, which accounts for almost half of local toxics. But Forrest Paint has won praise from local environmentalists in the past for installing filters to reduce its air emissions. Toxic chemical use by the company has declined 40 percent in the last three years, according to TRTK data. The Willamette Valley Company is the second largest user of toxic chemicals in Eugene, accounting for 18 percent of reported local toxics. The company makes chemical products for wood treatment and coatings in west Eugene. Voters overwhelmingly passed Eugene’s Toxics Right-to-Know charter amendment in 1996, creating the TRTK program after Hynix refused to provide an accounting of what dangerous chemicals it was bringing to town. Cars injured or killed 320 bicyclists and 141 pedestrians in a five-year period in Eugene, according to a city analysis. Cars did the most damage on 11th and 18th avenues, Willamette Street and Coburg Road, according to the study of 2005-2009 ODOT crash data. Drivers killed four people riding bikes and killed 11 people walking during the period, according to an analysis by a Portland consultant, Alta, for the city’s new Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan. “Busy roadways designed to carry high volumes of vehicles are potentially more dangerous for walking and bicycling and may require additional treatments to decrease crash risk and improve their safety,” the consultant found. “Enhancing walking and bicycling routes that are on lower-traffic roadways may be a successful strategy to improve safety by allowing cyclists to travel on roadways that afford them lower exposure to vehicle traffic, and by increasing the numbers of Eugene residents who are cycling (by realizing the “safety in numbers” principle).” The consultant did not identify any overall trends in the data, but the draft Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan for the city includes many improvements to increase safety at intersections and roadways identified by the consultant as having the most accidents. — Alan Pittman Table 1: Reported Bicycle and Pedestrian Collisions by Roadway Bicycle and Pedestrian Collisions by Roadway Street Collisions Collisions Total Involving Involving Collisions Bicyclists Pedestrians 11 th Avenue Percent of All Reported Ped/Bike Collisions 34 17 51 11.0% 18 Avenue 32 12 44 9.5% Willamette Street 26 6 32 6.9% Coburg Road 21 8 29 6.2% th th 13 Avenue 17 8 25 5.4% River Road 18 7 25 5.4% Chambers Street 18 5 23 4.9% 6 Avenue 11 11 22 4.7% Hilyard Street 13 9 22 4.7% 7 Avenue 14 6 20 4.3% Percentage of All Reported Ped/Bike Collisions 28.4% 59.6% 63.0% th th lighten up If life were fair, a county commissioner would be hauled into court for consorting with lobbyists rather than for meeting with other commissioners. — Rafael Aldave, Eugene NOTICE TO FAMILIES It’s school choice time Visit your neighborhood school—and more! It’s school choice time in Eugene School District 4J. Families who live in the district may enroll their children in any 4J school, provided there is space available. You can enroll in your neighborhood school at any time. To request enrollment in another district school for 2011–12, turn in a school choice request form any time before the deadline for your student’s school level. Placement order is determined by the annual school choice lottery. School Visitation Week Monday, Mar. 14–Friday, Mar. 18 4J schools are open for visitors! Each school offers different activities and times when parents can visit. Please phone ahead or visit www.4j.lane.edu/choice for details. School Choice Information Meeting 4J Education Center, 200 N. Monroe Street Thursday, Mar. 10, 7–8 p.m. Learn about the school choice process. Spanish translation will be provided. More information is available at: www.4j.lane.edu/choice 541-790-7570 Eugene School District 4J 200 N. Monroe Street, Eugene WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM School Choice Forms Due: High School: March 18 at 5 p.m. Elementary & Middle School: April 22 at 5 p.m. NOW OPEN AT WOODFIELD STATION 2864 WILLAMETTE STREET, EUGENE (4 doors down from Market of Choice) OPEN 1:00–10:00 PM SEVEN DAYS (541) 505-5399 WWW. LAUGHINGPLANETCAFE .COM EUGENE WEEKLY MARCH 10, 2011 7
