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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2011)
NEWS BRIEFS 6, to find alternatives for the liquid waste contamination. Comments can be mailed to Paula Call, U.S. DoE Richland Operations Office, P.O. Box 550, A7-75, Richland, WA 99352; or emailed to PW136PP@rl.gov — Kendall Fields ROAD WORK SIGN LANE Construction workers have illegally and unnecessarily converted many of Eugene’s bike lanes into places to put road construction signs, endangering the lives of cyclists forced to veer around them into car traffic. Last week “Road Work Ahead” signs blocked bike lanes on both High Street near 17th and 18th near Pearl. The signs were placed dangerously in the bike lane rather than on the adjacent grass strip. On Aug. 6, cyclist and EW contributing writer Suzi Steffen Tweeted a picture of a large road work ahead reader board placed in the busy 13th Avenue bike lane near the UO. “City of #Eugene, #WTF is this?” Steffen wrote. The 13th Avenue sign was moved to the grass after the Tweet was emailed to the city’s bike coordinator, according to a post on the EugeneGears.org blog. Construction signs unnecessarily placed in bike lanes isn’t a new problem. It’s been going on for years without much city effort to educate or fine contractors to end the unsafe practice. City code prohibits blocking bike lanes, but most of the contractors blocking the bike lanes with lazily placed signs are working for the city. Last year, a cyclist posted a photo of a “Road Work Ahead” sign blocking a bike lane on South Willamette. “Bike lane blocked by road work sign (again),” he wrote. Another photo of a sign blocking the lane at 24th and Agate last year drew a comment from Patrick Barber. “Hey, it’s the ‘Road Work Sign’ lane!” Bike safety has also fallen easy victim to building construction in Eugene. Last year the Pearl Street bike lane suddenly disappeared without warning signs to make room for construction staging for the new hotel at Fifth Street Public Market. Earlier this year the heavily used 13th Avenue bike lane near the UO also disappeared amid building construction, forcing bikes into pedestrians and/or head-on traffic. The city’s draft new Pedestrian and Bicycle plan briefly mentions improved bike safety during construction projects, but lacks the details and clear prohibitions in other cities’ policies. The city of Cambridge, Mass., for example, has a four-page set of guidelines for “Bicycle Accommodation During Construction,” including temporary “Share the Road Signs,” maintaining bike lane space in construction areas, providing temporary bike lanes, making metal plates safer, sloping temporary curb lips and the clear prohibition: “Temporary signs shall not be placed in bicycle lanes.” — Alan Pittman (A version of this story fi rst appeared at EugeneCycles.com) UO AWARD FOR FEMINISM WITHDRAWN The Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP-UK) last week withdrew its Women-Friendly Department Recognition that had been awarded this year to the UO’s Department of Philosophy (see News Briefs, 8/11). The withdrawal comes despite an administrative review by the UO Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity that allegations of sexual harassment in the department were unsubstantiated. “No grievance or complaint was filed by any alleged victim,” said Russ Tomlin in an Aug. 3 memo to faculty and students. Tomlin is senior vice provost for academic affairs. Tomlin said this week that there actually was one complaint, but it was not filed within the 365-day time limit for action. “That’s why the claim that there was no formal complaint,” he said. “It was a timeliness question.” In the end, the investigation did not rule out that inappropriate sexual behavior had happened, but only ruled that it was unproven. TAR SANDS PROTESTERS ARRESTED IN D.C. The tentacles of the tar sands involve not only the toxic extraction process, but the shipping routes and proposed pipelines that affect the environment and communities they pass through. Protests against tar sands extraction and its tentacles are heating up. Tar sands opponents have been celebrating ExxonMobil’s change of plans to ship “megaloads” of oil field equipment on interstate highways instead of wild and scenic routes, but the story is far from over. More oil companies are looking to use the Columbia and Snake rivers and the rural highway route through Idaho and Montana to transport their massive — sometimes half-million pound — loads of equipment to Canada. Protesters are getting arrested in front of the White House this week to challenge the climate change- inducing tar sands oil extraction and the controversial Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline that would extend from Canada to the Gulf Coast. ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobile have been fighting to use routes through the Northwest for the tar sands extracting equipment, and now Harvest Operations Corp. is reportedly considering the same route. NASA climate scientist James Hansen has called tar sands oil “one of the planet’s greatest threats.” The extraction process destroys Canada’s boreal forests, leaves behind toxic mine tailings and opponents say greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands production are rising at a rapid rate. A company called US Oil Sands has acquired the right to exploit 24,000 acres of land in Utah for tar sands extraction. The issue is global, says Monica Christoffels. A group of Earth First! activists from Eugene joined other protesters in an action against the tar sands at the Montana governor’s office (see story 7/21), and now Christoffels is among a group of Eugeneans caravanning to DC to join the other tar sands protesters and risk arrest. Climate change author Bill McKibben, Native American actress Tantoo Cardinal and former dean of the Yale School of Forestry Gus Speth have already been arrested at the White House “Tar Sands Action.” So far 162 tar sands protesters have been arrested and at least 2,000 people have signed up for the “wave of action” that will go from Aug. 20 to Sept. 3. Christoffels says she is traveling using a Prius “borrowed from an 85-year-old woman in Portland, who’s traveling by train to D.C. for the Tar Sands Action as well.” She says, “We researched and found that carpooling is the most economic and fuel-efficient mode of transportation.” She says, “In all honesty, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to get arrested until I saw that the first wave of protesters, including environmental author/activist Bill McKibben, were being detained from Saturday until Monday afternoon in an effort by Park Police to deter future protesters.” Christoffels says she urges people to “inform yourselves about the tar sands, the Keystone XL Pipeline and urge your congresspeople — and President Obama, especially — to oppose this pipeline proposal.” Follow Christoffels and the Tar Sands Caravan action on notarsandscaravan.org — Camilla Mortensen BINDER FAMILY DENTAL (541) 689-1645 1110 Fairfi eld • Eugene New Patients: We want to meet you! • Preventive & Periodontal care • Oral surgery & Endodontics • Crowns, bridges & implant restorations • Sedation options available • Invisalign We off er a 5% discount for cash or check payment if services are paid in full at time of service. 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