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
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What about you?
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choose Greenpower. Sign up and learn
more at www.eweb.org/greenpower or
call (541) 685-7000.
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EUGENE WEEKLY APRIL 14, 2011 5