NEWS BRIEFS
A CHEAPER
SOLAR SOLUTION?
DEFAZIO ON
DIGITAL DEMOCRACY
Why buy electricity when you can solarize it? Solarize
Eugene wants to bring solar energy to your neighborhood
to power your home and heat your water.
There are financial incentives through the state and
EWEB for locals to purchase solar panels, but the Solarize
Eugene program goes even further, organizing neighborhood
groups to hire contractors together. This concerted effort for
EWEB customers can cut the installation costs on the labor
end as well as on the solar electric panels and water heaters,
which are purchased in bulk.
The other aspect of the program is to educate community
members about solar installation through workshops
allowing contractors to spend less time and money
explaining how it all works to each buyer.
The Solarize program has been developed in other parts
of the state and began as a southeast Portland project a few
years ago. According to parent organization Solar Oregon,
the first area to begin the project had 120 residential
installations within six months.
Program organizers held a meeting Jan. 11 at the
Eugene Public Library to gather volunteers for the project.
The program is being coordinated by The Resource
Innovation Group (TRIG), a nonprofit affiliated with the
Center for Sustainable Communities at Willamette
University, which specializes in cultivating these type of
approaches to complex social-ecological problems such as
climate change.
Sarah Mazze, program manager at TRIG, is heading up
the search for volunteers and community outreach.
“The main opportunity for volunteer participation is
doing the outreach planning and then the actual outreach
for the project,” she says.
Community engagement is what Mazze finds to be one
of the keys to the Solarize model. In the next few months
she is hoping to gather enough volunteers to perform the
range of upcoming tasks.
“Canvassing neighborhoods, tabling at events, speaking
at different neighborhood association meetings and
hanging flyers,” she says, are some of the ways volunteers
will be involved in getting the word out.
An outreach committee will begin meeting this month
and people who would like to get involved can contact
Mazze through solarizeeugene.info. Workshops are likely
to begin sometime in March.
— Ted Shorack
Oh no, where did Wikipedia go? On Jan. 18 more
than 115,000 websites, including Wikipedia, Google
and Craigslist, either went black or put up banners to
protest SOPA (Stop Online Piracy) and PIPA
(Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic
Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act).
These two bills were created to protect intellectual
property rights on the internet, but opponents were
concerned that the bills infringed on websites’ First
Amendment rights to speak freely and disseminate
information.
Two days after the protests, and one day after the
Congress tabled SOPA, Congressman Peter DeFazio
spoke to a UO course on “Internet, Society and
Philosophy” about online property rights. During a
Q&A session DeFazio and a lecture hall full of
university students grappled with the difficult political
questions that the U.S. faces as a democracy in the
digital age.
DeFazio compared the “unconstitutional provisions”
of SOPA and PIPA to the PATRIOT Act, and said that
he had been opposed to the two bills for a while. He
asserted that the bills were wrought with ambiguous
terminology and that they gave undue power to the
government to change or remove content on the web
without any court proceedings.
“The problem of intellectual property rights on the
internet is real and we need to deal with it, but this
wasn’t the right solution,” DeFazio said, “These bills
threatened the future of the internet.” As an alternative
he endorses a less stringent and more tightly worded
bill called OPEN (Online Protection and Enforcement
of Digital Trade Act) introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden.
DeFazio believes that the huge participation and
success of the recent online protest against SOPA and
PIPA have tremendous implications. “It shows that the
people can take on political forces and change the
direction of Congress,” he said. “It could be a new
form of democratization, and I’m hopeful that there’s
a way to harness this to support a more progressive
politics.” The discussion ended with resounding
applause and with DeFazio encouraging students to
get involved and get active in all of the issues that
impact their daily lives, even beyond the internet.
— Caitlin McKimmy
LIGHTEN UP
biz beat
Brian Obie’s Inn at the 5th didn’t open as
planned in mid-January, but the boutique hotel
and conference center at Fifth Street Public
Market is looking at welcoming its first guests
Wednesday, Feb. 1. The hotel already has 1,000
room nights booked for 2012 and lots of queries
about weddings and executive retreats, says
Heidi Albertson of the inn. The official dedication
will likely be in late February, and we are curious
to see what VIPs show up. Check www.innat5th.
com
We’ve confirmed that the old Bene’s Pizza
building on 18th in the Albertson’s parking lot will
become Top City Frozen Yogurt Café, offering
self-serve frozen yogurt, full-service coffee and
espresso, fruit smoothies and juice drinks.
Owners are Joel and Tina Rimmer of Eugene, and
Joel tells us they plan to employ up to 15 people,
mostly part-time. Opening will be at the end of
March. The old credit union vault will be turned
into a party/meeting room. The Rimmer family
business is Oldfield’s Appliance and Home
Theater. Joel will continue working in
management at Oldfield’s and Tina will oversee
the yogurt shop with help from their two
daughters, Michaela, 17, and Rachel, 14.
The Big One is coming sooner or later, and
Oregon businesses concerned about surviving a
major earthquake and tsunami can now get help
from the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory
commission (OSSPAC) and the Cascadia Regional
Earthquake Workgroup (CREW). A workshop is
being planned to develop “seismic resiliency” in
Oregon. This year-long effort will provide the
Legislature with recommended policy options
that will help Oregon get back to business quickly
after a geologic disaster. The next session will be
from 9 am to 4 pm Thursday, Jan. 26, at the Port
of Portland Building, 7200 NE Airport Way in
Portland. Call Althea Rizzo at (503) 378-2911 ex.
22237.
The SmartUps January Pub Talk will be from
5 to 8 pm Thursday, Jan. 26, at the Oregon
Electric Station. Speakers will be the founders of
local video game companies, including Jeff
Tunnell, Dan White, Damon Slye and Pat Wilson.
Jay Moore will moderate the panel.
A new Eugene, Cascades & Coast Sports Com-
mission is being launched by Travel Lane County
and will have its first public meeting at 10 am Mon-
day, Jan. 30 at the Matt Arena on the UO campus.
See www.EugeneCascadesCoast.org or call 484-
5307.
The rumor is that the real reason Chip Kelly decided not to take the head coach job
at Tampa Bay is that Phil Knight threatened to buy the NFL and close it down.
Send suggestions for Biz Beat items to editor@eugeneweekly.com
with “Biz Beat” in the subject line.
BY R A FA E L A L DAV E
CAP’N TRIPS
Jerry Garcia Tribute
Friday Jan. 27 • $5
Maize Lounge • 73 E. 13th Ave.
8 JANUARY 26, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
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