NEWS BRIEFS
process, only to have that taken away by
the Lane County hearings official.”
“It’s a legal and procedural error that
needs to be fixed,” he says.
— Camilla Mortensen
PETITION SEEKS
TO PROLONG
OCCUPY PERMIT
A decision on the future status of
Occupy Eugene’s camping permit is on the
agenda of the City Council Dec. 12, and
with that in mind, a petition to the Eugene
mayor and councilors is requesting that the
city “continue to partner with Occupy
Eugene to provide a safe community to the
hundreds of homeless who have been
forced onto the streets due to the economic
injustices of our times and who have now
found a safe community at the Washington/
Jefferson Park Village.” As of this writing,
186 people have signed the online petition,
and the signature goal is 1,000. Print
versions of the petition are also being
circulated.
The petition effort is being organized
by Occupy Eugene with support from
Eugene Springfield Solidarity Network
and other groups and individuals.
“The citizens of Eugene have donated
to Occupy Eugene: tents, sleeping bags,
clothing, temporary building materials,
kitchen equipment and sufficient food for
the Occupation to cook and serve over
1,000 meals a day to the hungry,” reads the
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petition. “The Occupy volunteers provide
thousands of hours of volunteer work each
month. We ask that the city of Eugene
continue to make the encampment space
available and also provide electricity and
water to the site in order to assist the
citizens and the volunteers create a more
humane existence for the homeless we
serve.”
Find a link to the petition, including a
pdf of the print version, at
occupyeugnemedia.org
— Ted Taylor
FAREWELL TO
PLASTIC BAGS?
It’s spreading like wildfire across the
West Coast — from San Francisco to
Portland, and now to Eugene — cities are
adopting policies that prohibit grocery
stores from distributing plastic bags.
Although the Oregon Legislature rejected
a statewide bag ban earlier this year,
several Oregon cities are looking to
locally impose bag restrictions. Recently
Environment Oregon and OSPIRG have
brought up the idea of a Eugene ban with
the City Council, forcing Eugeneans to
examine the costs and benefits of this
longstanding shopping staple.
Dave Mathews, a preservation
associate for Environment Oregon, says
that banning plastic bags is one of the
“simplest things we can do” to mitigate
the environmental impact of our waste.
Not only are bans like this shown to cut
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10 DECEMBER 1, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
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