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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2011)
NEWS BRIEFS and does not require actual action. But the scenario could finally link global warming with local freeway planning and focus the attention of the community, planners and elected officials on the most controllable source of climate pollution. People will know what to do about climate change, but the question will remain whether local government will actually do it. — Alan Pittman TAR SANDS FIGHT GOES ON “We don’t really have any way of funding this great list of projects,” Zelenka said. “I encourage the council to look at a dedicated system of funding.” Sue Wolling, a member of the GEARs bike advocacy group, urged the council to dedicate funding to active transportation to save money on expensive new roads. “If you could find a way to build a project that would reduce the need for road projects by 10 percent, wouldn’t you do it?” she asked, holding up the draft plan. “You can build every project in this book for the cost of one major roadway project.” — Alan Pittman (A longer version of this story fi rst appeared at Eugene- Cycles.com) CLIMATE ACTION ON FREEWAYS? A small chink in the dam between concerns about climate change and the region’s planning for massive freeway expansions has opened. In 2009, the state Legislature passed House Bill 2001, a law requiring local planning to reduce greenhouse gases and the state’s first concrete action to fight climate change beyond simply stating aspirational goals. The Eugene City Council tied 4-4 on whether to oppose the bill, which was opposed by city staff and council conservatives. Mayor Kitty Piercy broke the tie in favor of taking action on global warming. Now, the local Metropolitan Planning Organization for Eugene-Springfield has begun to comply with the law. The MPO is beginning to create two or more land use and transportation scenarios that will reduce greenhouse gas pollution from cars. Eugene, Springfield and the county will then select one of those scenarios two years from now. So will the selected scenario force the area to stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars on freeways and finally take on climate change? That’s still unclear. The bill was watered down From the Northwest’s megaloads to last week’s White House protests and President Obama’s decision to delay a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, the tar sands debate continues. The Canadian tar sands, also known as the oil sands, have been criticized for destroying Canada’s boreal forests, poisoning nearby populations, including native tribes, killing wildlife and for the extraction process’ contribution to climate change. On Nov. 6, several thousand protesters, including participants from Oregon, rallied against the Keystone XL oil pipeline. They encircled the White House and demanded President Obama say no to the project. The $7 billion project would carry Canadian tar sands oil to U.S. refineries. The State Department had already cleared the way for the pipeline, which would run from Canada through the plains on the Midwest to the Gulf Coast. Fourteen members of Congress, including Oregon’s Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, asked for an independent inquiry into the State Department’s review of the 1,700-mile slant • The news all weekend was of Occupy Wall Street camps getting ousted. Luckily the recent attempts to remove the entrenched 99 percenters haven’t resulted in the same level of violence that marked the first try at removing Occupy Oakland. We followed Occupy Portland’s madcap late-night escapades with bike brigades and dancing in the streets through livestreaming and Twitter. Gotta love when the protesters chanted “You’re sexy; you’re cute. Take off your riot suit!” at the cops in PDX. We’re pleased that despite breaking out the riot squad, Portland managed to not turn the protest into complete shambles, and we’re even more delighted about how well our own Eugene police and City Council have been dealing with the local Occupiers. Being a good example of how to deal with a protest may not make headlines, but it’s better than tear gas and beanbag rounds. If the Occupations are coming to an end, what’s the next step? Maybe we should take a lesson from last February’s protest of Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting efforts in Wisconsin. Folks took over the Capitol and when they had to leave, they didn’t lose momentum. They’ve started a recall effort against the governor. Just because an encampment breaks up doesn’t mean the fight is over. We’re watching to see what Portland and other gutsy Occupiers do for their next move. • Forty-five years ago, Clergy and Laity Concerned was the primary force in Eugene opposing the Vietnam War. Now called Community Alliance of Lane County, CALC celebrated all those years behind and more ahead with a dinner and auction for nearly 200 guests Nov. 13 at the Hilton. Joan Bayliss was the emcee. Marion Malcolm, an amazing part of CALC since 1974, spoke. She’s now the consulting organizer of Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect. Kari Radley, executive director, talked about the future. Michael Carrigan, organizer of the Peace and Justice program, and Silver Mogart, Back to 8 NOVEMBER 17, 2011 EUGENE WEEKLY Back program organizer, asked the audience for continuing support. In 45 years, CALC has never been more important than it is right now. We congratulate every member and friend. • The college football scene is ugly in America today and needs substantial reforms. But some of us at EW admit to enjoying the Ducks’ Stanford win, and are looking forward to USC in Eugene at 5 pm Nov. 19, OSU in Eugene Nov. 16, and the Pac 12 championship game Dec. 3. We do notice that Cliff (“We Smoked It All”) Harris is not on the field anymore. That’s sad for him. We also wonder if the Penn State tragedy would have been taken seriously sooner if a woman had been anywhere in the athletic and university hierarchy. Your guess? • Makes us proud to hear that Eugene City Councilor Betty Taylor has been elected to a two-year seat on the National League of Cities Board, working on developing policy recommendations, leadership and lobbying for our nation’s cities. She was previously serving on the NLC’s Human Development Committee as a presidential appointment. She tells us the board post is a step up, and she was helped by the endorsement of the League of Oregon Cities. Go Betty! • If you missed our 68-page Best of Eugene issue Nov. 3, pick up a free copy at EW offices at 1251 Lincoln. A lot of our red boxes were empty last week but we saved some leftovers. And while we are touting ourselves, don’t miss our free Next Big Thing CD release party from 5:30 to 8 pm Friday at Northwest Community Credit Union, 3660 Gateway St. in Springfield. Performances by Tyler Fortier and Betty and the Boy. • We got word the Eugene Nobel Peace Laureate Project is making progress on fundraising and is hoping to soon announce groundbreaking for the Peace Prize Walk at Alton Baker Park. This visionary and educational project honoring the 24 citizens of the U.S. who are Nobel laureates should draw thousand of biz beat The Smart-Ups Pub Talk this month will be from 5 to 8 pm Thursday, Nov. 17, at the new Broadway Commerce Center in downtown Eugene. Speakers include Christian Fox, David Bong and Jonathan Malsin. Register at http://wkly.ws/14v NextStep Recycling will be celebrating the grand re-opening of its expanded Eugene reuse store with a ribbon- cutting at 11 am Friday, Nov. 18, at 980 McKinley St. in west Eugene. The store opens for sales of its inventory, which now includes offi ce furniture, at 10 am Saturday, Nov. 19. Call 868-0904. Blac Sheep Coffee Co. has opened a drive-through shop at the corner of 6th Avenue and Monroe in the parking lot of Gray’s Garden Center. Daniel Helfl and says he and his partner use Cascade Estates as their local roaster, Mountain Rose Herbs for tea, and Umpqua Dairy for milk. Call 485-1052. Viva!, aka Hummingbird Wholesale, is the 1940s-era warehouse that was once used by Down to Earth and has been renovated by Nir Pearlson Architect with abundant green features. The two-story building at 150 Shelton-McMurphey Blvd. now houses a mix of businesses including Not Your Mom’s Sandwich Shop and will be open for a public tour from noon to 1 pm Tuesday, Nov. 29. Free for members of Cascadia Green Building Council, $5 for non-members. RSVP by phone at 682-5541 or email eugene@ cascadiagbc.org Holiday Market vendors are setting up at the Fairgrounds Friday afternoon, Nov. 18, for the fi rst day open to the public Saturday, Nov. 19. Call 521-7125. Joey Jacinto is the new personal trainer at Snap Fitness at Woodfi eld Station, 28th and Willamette. Jacinto has a degree in physical education from North Arizona University and has a background in gym management, personal training and massage therapy. He recently relocated here from Phoenix. Call 225-4943. Send suggestions for Biz Beat items to editor@ eugeneweekly.com and please put “Biz Beat” in the subject line. visitors when completed, but it will not be without controversy: One of the U.S. Nobel winners is the enigmatic Henry Kissinger. The project will have a display in the lobby of the Hult Center for the Eugene Symphony Orchestra concert with Tom Brokaw Nov. 22. Find the project at www.nobelpeacelaureates.org • Good news for The Oregonian as new Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) numbers for the end of September show a surprising 1.6 percent growth in weekday subscriptions. What’s going on? The big daily had steadily lost almost half its subscribers since 1999 when we first started tracking the numbers. Well, the paper has some stronger content now and it looks like it’s trying to become Oregon’s newspaper again, rebuilding readership down here in the provinces. Out of curiosity we checked the new ABC numbers for The Register-Guard and they don’t look so hopeful. The local daily has slipped from 57,068 weekday subscribers in 2010 to 54,325 in September, continuing the painful decline from 74,800 in 1999. • David Wagner, the Eugene botanist and sketch artist who does the ”It’s About Time” illustrated feature for us the first week of each month, tells us this will be the last year for his Willamette Valley Nature Calendar, available this month at Down to Earth and the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Makes an inexpensive, unique and local holiday gift. • Ayn Rand’s lasting impact on conservative politics in America was discussed on public radio this week. Got us thinking about our old college days when we discovered Ayn Rand and became infatuated by those simple, radical ideas that made so much sense. And then we became sophomores and were introduced to more sophisticated and nuanced political thought. Looks like the Tea Party folks never evolved to even become sophomoric. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
