Eugene weekly., March 15, 2012, Page 8, Image 8

Kevin Prociw and John Walrod. Councilor Betty Taylor is
facing Jim Ray and Juan Carlos Valle. And the open seat for
EWEB Wards 1 & 8 has two candidates, Will Shaver and
Steve Mital.
— Camilla Mortensen
COMMISSION
CONTENDERS PULL OUT
PUBLIC INPUT ON
LOSS OF LCAS
The two Lane County commissioner races heading for
the May primary have narrowed their fields. Conservative
City Councilor Mike Clark dropped out of the North Eugene
race against current Commissioner Rob Handy Feb. 28, and
on March 1 political newcomer Kieran Walsh gave way in
the contest for the South Eugene seat held by Pete Sorenson.
If a commissioner candidate gets more than 50 percent
of the votes in the May 12 primary then that candidate goes
on the November ballot unopposed. In some cases candidates
will pull out of a race in hopes of helping another candidate
win that majority. Walsh said at a press conference last week
that he pulled out to offer a “united front” against Sorenson.
He went on to endorse Andy Stahl.
Sorenson, a popular longtime commissioner, faces Stahl,
executive director of Forest Service Employees for
Environmental Ethics, in the race for South Eugene. Stahl
has been lining up political endorsements from Oregon’s
Legislature, including state Sen. Floyd Prozanski and state
Rep. Val Hoyle.
Sorenson’s endorsements reflect his long history of pro-
environment and pro-union votes. He has been endorsed by
the local Sierra Club chapter, the Oregon League of
Conservation Voters (OLCV) and Oregon Wild Conservation
Leaders Fund PAC. On the union side, Sorenson has gotten
the nod from the Eugene firefighters union, United Food
and Commercial Workers Local 555 and the Lane County
employee union — AFSCME Local 2831. City Councilors
Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka and George Brown have all
endorsed Sorenson, as has Mayor Kitty Piercy.
In the North Eugene race, Clark’s withdrawal leaves
interpreter/translator and frequent political candidate Nadia
Sindi and City Councilor Pat Farr to take on Handy. After
pulling out, Clark threw his endorsement to Farr, who also
lists conservative former mayor Jim Torrey and former
county commissioner Bobby Green as endorsers in the
nonpartisan race. Handy beat Green for the north Eugene
seat in 2008. Handy, who like Sorenson has a history of
green and pro-worker votes, has not yet begun to list
endorsements on his campaign website.
At the city level, Mayor Piercy has two challengers,
Despite the concerns of local animal advocates, Eugene
and Lane County continue to work to transition to a “new
model” for animal services. There are two upcoming
“community input sessions” the public can attend to voice
worries over the impending demise of Lane County Animal
Services (LCAS).
The county says budget shortfalls at the county and city
have spurred the current attempt to change animal services.
Sondra Arrache of Save the Pets and the No Kill Community
Coalition (NKCC) says animal advocates are concerned that
the “transition team” doesn’t include members of the LCAS
advisory board and other knowledgeable animal advocates.
Current LCAS manager Rick Hammel has only one year of
animal welfare experience.
Lane County’s vocal animal advocacy community formed
the NKCC, which in the past five years helped dramatically
improve adoption rates and reduce euthanasia at LCAS.
Among the NKCC’s concerns are the how, with no
concrete plan, money is actually going to be saved. The group
says the right now the city and county are looking at models
from locations that have a lower quality of animal care and
higher euthanasia rates, instead of places with a higher quality
of care and lower euthanasia rates.
The animal advocates also say that one of the options that
has been discussed — shifting animal control shifted to the
police could lead to people who are more afraid to call
officers for animal issues. Animal officers connected to a
shelter are more apt to provide “providing counseling and
resources to help people be better pet parents.”
The first session will focus on sheltering and adoption
services. It will be at 7 pm Thursday, March 15, in the
Bascom-Tykeson Room of the Eugene Public Library. There
will be representatives from Lane County, Eugene and
Springfield.
The second session at 7 pm, Thursday, April 5, is also at
the library and will feature representatives of Eugene and
Lane County discussing enforcement and licensing services.
The NKCC says it wants to see this process slowed down
and would also like to see the city and county use the animal
expertise and resources animal advocates are offering for free.
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The group says it wants to see “LCAS stay funded in its
present form, until we can come up with a model that can
succeed.”
For more information on the NKCC go to its Facebook
page at http://wkly.ws/17w
— Camilla Mortensen
DECISION MAKERS
Moving more than a thousand students to the intersection
of three Eugene neighborhoods creates a lot of stakeholders.
That’s why different organizations have joined together to
form the Eugene Community Advisory Team (Eugene CAT)
to examine the proposed Capstone project, which would
bring 1,200 students into a downtown complex at 13th and
Olive by fall 2014.
Even with the many stakeholders involved in Eugene
CAT, the group isn’t looking to go all Buffy the Vampire
Slayer on the project if (or when) it runs into controversies.
“Our primary interest isn’t in making a recommendation,”
CAT Steering Committee member Paul Conte told a public
question-and-answer town hall on March 13.
Instead, the committee is working with the involved
neighborhood associations, developers and city staff to
ensure that information is available and accessible to the
public — and City Council, too.
The March 13 meeting, attended by Capstone
representatives as well as EPD and LTD representatives, a
city of Eugene community development manager and
parking and transportation representatives, among others,
covered the basic outline of the project, the guidelines for
City Council’s decision on the proposed $16 million Multi-
Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) and questions and
concerns submitted in writing in advance and by attendees.
Among the questions addressed by the panel were
concerns about enforcement of noise alcohol and drug
violations, traffic on West 12th Avenue (a popular bike
corridor), the extra sensitivity to construction dust and noise
of some elderly and disabled Olive Plaza residents, the
adequacy of the eight-story parking garage and developers’
desire to have a decision by the end of April.
Among the questions that city staff and Capstone
couldn’t answer (both entities said they needed to consult a
lawyer for legal details) was what provisions — such as
permanent on-site building managers or conduct code
guarantees — City Council might be able to insert into the
MUPTE.
To meet its goal of keeping information accessible to the
public, Eugene CAT has a website that includes a calendar
of future events and an archive. Audio from the March 13
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8 MARCH 15, 2012
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