NEWS BRIEFS
biz beat
Steven Michael Todd speaks out
about the exclusion zone
MISSION: EXCLUDABLE
When Steven Michael Todd crouched down to speak to a friend this fall, he didn’t intend to commit a crime, and
he certainly wasn’t trying to attract the cops’ attention. But that action, next to a wall by Lazar’s Bazar, led to Todd
being served with an order excluding him from downtown for 90 days.
The exclusion order against Todd was later dropped, but Eugeneans campaigning for an end to Eugene’s Downtown
Public Safety Zone (DPSZ), aka the exclusion zone, say it’s typical that the ordinance isn’t used for the benefit of public
safety. Instead, they say, the police’s ability to ban people from the core of downtown without a court conviction is used
to make people like Todd, who is homeless, less visible downtown.
Michael Carrigan of Community Alliance for Lane County says, “We feel that what’s happening with the exclusion
zone is a human rights issue, and we’ve found that the human rights of folks that are being excluded are being violated
by this program, and it needs to change.”
The Eugene City Council will vote Monday, Feb. 27, on whether to extend the DPSZ or allow it to sunset in April.
The program went into effect in 2008 and has already been extended once, in 2010. The cops would like it to be permanent.
Civil rights groups like ACLU of Oregon and the Civil Liberties Defense Center oppose Eugene’s exclusion zone
because, they say, being able to punish someone — and to exclude people from public services including the bus station
and the FOOD for Lane County’s Dining Room — without due process is unconstitutional.
Councilor George Brown, who owns a store in and represents the downtown area, has opposed the DPSZ from the
beginning and said at a Feb. 17 rally that criminals not jailed for their offenses are going to other neighborhoods, and
police data doesn’t prove that the downtown area is safer due to the DPSZ. “I understand the intent, but this is not the
way to go about it.”
Some of the 14 pro-extension speakers (of 43 total speakers) at a Feb. 21 public hearing said that they’ve come to
feel safer downtown since 2008, when the zone was first enacted. Councilor Betty Taylor said that didn’t necessarily
prove a causal relationship, and a safer atmosphere might have been due to other factors. EPD bike patrols have tripled
from two officers to six since 2008.
— Shannon Finnell
which got a subcommittee hearing Feb. 16, would also use
logging to provide money for the cash-strapped Oregon
counties that are home to large swaths of “O&C” federal
lands that do not generate taxes, and it would have similar
effects in other states.
A temporary fix for county funding woes is also
addressed in President Barack Obama’s proposed 2012
budget.
The nonpartisan group Headwaters Economics
analyzed the Hastings bill and says Oregon would have to
cut 10 billion board feet a year in order to meet revenue
targets in that bill. That’s more than twice the highest
amount of timber cut in a year between 1980 and 2010,
according to Headwaters.
DeFazio says his bill resolves the controversy of
overharvesting old growth, defines old-growth reserves
and provides “perpetual revenues for the counties.”
Information provided by the congressman’s office says the
bill would also create 90,000 acres of new wilderness, 150
miles of new Wild and Scenic River designations, and it
excludes environmentally sensitive areas, parks and
recreation areas, Wild and Scenic corridors, and wilderness
areas.
But Josh Laughlin of Cascadia Wildlands says the
plan goes back to the status quo of using logging to
generate revenue.
“This scheme that’s being proposed once again targets
our recovering federal public lands to become our
workhorse to solve our county funding challenges,”
Laughlin says.
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He says that native, unlogged stands of trees 80 to 120
years old are not protected under DeFazio’s plan. “Those
aren’t young stands; those are stands critical to the survival
of a host of species teetering on the edge of extinction.”
An analysis of the bill by conservation groups shows
70 percent of the 2.4 million acres of O&C lands would go
to timber harvest and only 30 percent into the conservation
trust, according to Laughlin. The increased logging, even
in younger stands of trees, could harm native and
endangered species and wildlife corridors that allow
species to move from one protected area to another, he
says.
Of special concern to Lane County residents is that
the plan would increase logging in the McKenzie River
watershed, source of Eugene’s drinking water, and
“drastically decrease” streamside protections, he says.
— Camilla Mortensen
STUDENTS FOR
LGBT RIGHTS
Eugene’s Gay/Straight Alliance student leaders will
be special guests at a meeting that will discuss equal rights
for the gay, lesbian and transgender community in Oregon
— and the students are excited about the chance to gain
insight from statewide activists.
Basic Rights Oregon and the Lane County chapter of
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are presenting
CONTINUED P. 8
Loggers are arriving for the 74th annual
Oregon Logging Conference Feb. 23-25 at the
Fairgrounds. As we noted on our Facebook page
last week, this year’s theme “The World Needs
Our Wood” sounds like the loggers are looking
for dates while they are in town. We expect the
conference T-shirts to sell out quickly.
Springfield area leaders will be meeting to
talk about transportation investments and the
economy from 5:30 to 8 pm Thursday, Feb. 23, at
the Springfield Justice Center. Featured in this
public meeting will be Springfield’s experience
with EmX transit and ideas generated by the UO
Sustainable City Year Program (see EW cover
story, 2/2).
Eugene’s newest art gallery is the Pacific
Rim Art Guild, founded by longtime Eugene
artist Dan Chen and about 20 other artists, with
a grand opening from 10 am to 6 pm Saturday,
Feb. 25, at 405 Highway 99 N., out past Roosevelt
on the right. See pacificrimartguild.com or call
554-3744.
Collins Cycle Shop is hosting a job fair
from 1 to 5 pm Sunday, Feb. 26, at the shop, 60
E. 11th Ave. in Eugene, for those interested in a
career in bike manufacturing, repair, shipping,
warehousing, sales, design, accounting, etc.
Email collins1@teleport.com or call 342-4878.
Sunstone Games, LLC is game development
studio in Eugene that just released its debut
title, “Sun Stones” for the Android market and
iTunes app store. This original game has a “Hopi
inspired aesthetic,” according to CEO Bashi Ale.
See www.sunstone.co for updates on apps.
Brendan Mahaney of Belly restaurant is a
semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s
“Best Chef: Northwest” category. We’re not
surprised in the least! To plan your next road trip
around award-winning food, check out the rest
of the semifinalists at http://wkly.ws/17b
Meanwhile, Belly is planning to add a second and
larger restaurant at the 30 E. Broadway space
previously occupied by Adam’s Place.
Send suggestions for Biz Beat items to editor@eugeneweekly.com with
“Biz Beat” in the subject line.
ACTIVIST ALERT
• Ben Cannon, education advisor to Gov.
Kitzhaber, will speak on “Public Education:
Oregon’s Commitment To Learning and Equal
Opportunity” at City Club of Eugene, 11:50 am
Friday, Feb. 24, at the Hilton, lobby level.
• David Wagner, who writes and illustrates the
“It’s About Time” column in EW, will be leading a
Life Among the Mosses Walk from 1 to 3 pm
Saturday, Feb. 25, at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. Fee is
$5. Call 747-3817 for more information. No
registration required.
• Occupy Eugene supporters are planning a
People United march and parade beginning at 11
am Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Free Speech Plaza at
8th and Oak. See video with more info on the EW
blog.
• “Terrorizing Women: Feminicide and Gender
Violence at the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands” will be a
talk by Cynthia Bejarano of New Mexico State
University at 3 pm Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the Knight
Library Browsing Room on the UO campus.
• Lane County Emergency Management’s update
to the Lane County Natural Hazards Mitigation
Plan reviews the county’s vulnerabilities to snow
and ice storms, floods, windstorms, wildfires,
earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides. A public
meeting on the plan will be at 10 am Thursday,
March 1, at Lane County Public Works, Training
Room 3. The plan is also at www.lanecounty.org/
prepare and comments can be submitted online or
by email to prepare@co.lane.or.us To receive
emergency text alerts directly to a cell phone, visit
http://www.lcog.org/alertme
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