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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2011)
letters TO THE EDITOR Legislature to separate its urban growth boundary from Eugene’s, EW seized on the fact that one of the parties involved in the lobbying efforts was the Home Builders Association of Lane County, and from then on any individual or group in favor of the separation was described in its pages as “pro-sprawl.” I am emphatically anti-sprawl. I’m from Houston, Texas, a metropolis that has been given over to ugly sprawl for the last 40 years. I support Oregon’s strong land-use laws. Still, it made logical sense to me that, as discrete entities, the two cities should have separate urban growth boundaries. But there was no room in Pittman’s narrow view for someone to hold these two apparently contradictory opinions, and no attempt that I ever saw to explore the subtleties of the topic. I continue to challenge EW to refi ne its reporting and writing to show more balance and to better refl ect the complexity of issues. Lane County needs two reliable papers. Kelley Blewster Springfi eld EDITOR’S NOTE: We are the only news source that consistently points out sprawl’s hidden costs and unsustainability. We are trying to balance 150 years of pro-sprawl bias in the R-G and other media, bias that continues today. Good for Springfield for finally recognizing the futility of unfettered growth. Maybe Eugene city government will catch on someday. BAIT AND SWITCH LCC is about to launch a new business to provide dormitories for international students. Using money that was originally provided by the voters through Bond Measure 20-142, the public institution is moving toward privatization. We supported LCC in their plan to: “Improve existing career training and educational facilities, including the Downtown Center” (exact wording from Measure 20-142 in 2008), but I’m not sure that we were adequately advised that would mean the construction of a completely new campus. This is certainly typical of how the city of Eugene operates, since they can’t ever seem to convince the voters that we should reward the questionable behavior of the police or City Council with a new City Hall. LCC, to my limited knowledge (14 years in area), has enjoyed generally goodwill with the students and the community at large. That is why I don’t understand why they would want to squander that goodwill by getting involved with the city’s political problems. The voters backed the bond issue for needed repairs to existing buildings, and by counting on our disinterest, it now appears to have become a bait and switch plan to move the public community college to a new entity as a private institution (using public fi nancing). What concerns me here is, that perhaps they have also concealed the actual purpose of the new institution from us, as well. Martin E. Williams Eugene EDITOR’S NOTE: LCC tells us their $83 million bond request included $9 million for downtown all along. DIAL BACK TECHNOLOGY? John Zerzan’s claim (letters, 3/24) that big buildings increase deaths in earthquakes is an artifact of his ideology rather than a product of observation. Large structures in technologically advanced Japan fared far better than smaller, older structures in Turkey and Iran that entombed thousands of inhabitants during recent quakes. Indeed, as abundant footage makes plain, it was only large, steel-framed, structures that provided refuge from the tsunami that swept away everything else in many Japanese towns. Nuclear power aside, the only inescapable way industrial society magnifi es the deaths caused by natural disasters is by vastly multiplying human population in the fi rst place. Herein lies the imaginary quality of Zerzan’s oft-made call for undoing civilization: Seven billion people do not simply melt back into Paleolithic bliss. Undoing civilization would require a massive die off of human beings FREE PUBLIC LECTURE DACHER KELTNER “Born to Be Good: Lessons From the Science of a Meaningful Life” Thursday, April 21, 2011 • 7:30 p.m. UO • 175 Knight Law Center • 1515 Agate Street Drawing on cutting-edge research from psychology and neuroscience, Dr. Keltner highlights the benefi ts that come from practicing gratitude, kindness, and other positive behaviors. Free and open to the public. • No tickets or reservations • Followed by a book sale & signing. Details at www.oslc.org SPONSORS: Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Rosaria P. Haugland Foundation We believe in Greenpower 84% of Americans say they support green energy. What about you? Eugene Water & Electric Board customers who believe in green energy can now choose Greenpower. Sign up and learn more at www.eweb.org/greenpower or call (541) 685-7000. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENE WEEKLY APRIL 14, 2011 5
