LET TERS
IN DEEP WATER
Climate change issues cry for attention
hen I rear-ended an SUV at the Hollywood on-ramp to
I-95 on Thursday afternoon, I had no traction. Really.
That’s not an excuse. There were at least 4 inches of
water — seawater — on the road. I-95 is 3 miles from
the ocean, but there it was fl ooding up and out of the
storm drains onto the freeway entrance. On streets from
downtown Miami to Palm Beach, the water was more than 6 inches deep
in some places.
Since the accident I’ve learned that during an extreme high tide,
such as the one that occurred on Wednesday, the storm water pipes in
Hollywood, and many other south Florida cities, can become submerged
in seawater. It’s the by-product of a changing sea level along Florida’s
south coast. In the past 70 years, since the storm drain system was
constructed, the sea level has risen more than 8 inches and it is expected
to rise another 9 to 24 inches in the next century.
The woman whose car I hit wasn’t particularly interested in a
conversation about climate change or gravity, but at least several
newspaper editors and environmental groups want the presidential
candidates to talk about it. The Union of Concerned Scientists and
others were standing ankle deep at the corner of 10th and Alton in
Miami Beach, while I was navigating the on ramp, pleading with the
presidential candidates and debate moderator, Bob Shieffer, to talk about
the dilemma. More the 120 scientists and local government offi cials have
signed a letter to the candidates urging the topic to be included in the
fi nal debate in Boca Raton this week. By the time you read this, we’ll
know if their pleas were heard.
Storm drains are only the most visual indication of the subterranean
crisis that faces south Florida. More than fi ve million people live in the
Miami metropolitan area on land that, at its highest elevation, is only 6
feet above sea level. The city of Miami estimates that its costs alone will
be $206 million to combat the current sea levels.
The letter to the candidates says: “Because Florida is so densely
populated, it is estimated 40 percent of the population and housing units
at risk from sea level rise in the nation are here, in the state of Florida.”
In March of this year, Yale and George Mason Universities released
the results of a survey, The Political Benefi ts of Taking a Pro-Climate
Stand in 2012. The researchers asked voters in swing states several
questions: do they worry about climate change (55 percent of Democrats
polled answered “yes,” as did 46 percent of Independents and 33 percent
of Republicans); would it infl uence their vote (57-49-44); should it be
a priority (79-60-61), and should we invest in reducing it (73-63-49).
When nearly 50 percent of the Republicans in swing states agree that
solving a problem is worth a public investment, the problem is worth
talking about.
For Gov. Romney, the challenge is to reverse course yet again. He
mocked the president during the Republican convention for promising to
address climate change and he has taken the Americans for Tax Reform
pledge not to raise taxes at any time under any circumstances. ATR
founder Grover Norquist has defended the pledge saying, “I don’t want
to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I
can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” Romney has
to convince us that he understands that climate change is a signifi cant
concern and that it is worth spending federal dollars to address it.
For President Obama, he can get a little wonky and tell us what
he’s already done — increased fuel effi ciency standards as a part of the
auto bailout, cut carbon emissions across the energy sector, increased
investments in clean energy and weatherization. But he also needs
to passionately remind us of the Colorado fi res last summer and the
ongoing acceleration of the polar ice melt. Then he needs to look in the
camera and, adapting a familiar phrase, he needs to say, so that everyone
understands he means it, “I hear you, Florida, and if you give me another
term, the whole world will hear you.”
Oh, and he could put in a good word for me to a certain judge in
Broward County. ■
W
Nancy Webber of Eugene is a longtime Oregon political activist and author of Ground Game, a
new book that chronicles her time in the fi eld offi ces of the 2008 Obama campaign. The book is
available at Amazon Kindle, iBook, Kobo and Inkwater Press.
4
October 25, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
WILL COUNCIL ACT?
The Eugene City Council is slowly,
painfully, somewhat incoherently inching
its way toward considering the proposal
by Opportunity Village Eugene (OVE) to
set up a self-governed village for homeless
people, somewhat modeled after successful
villages in other cities.
Most of the council is trying to talk
about OVE without ever mentioning its
name, which is strange to watch. They
clearly see this as a political hot potato and
are running scared, afraid of some of their
constituents who hate the homeless and
don’t want them in their neighborhoods
— even though the homeless are already
there.
As the American economy has steadily
declined since the early 1970s, with
working-class jobs automated or exported
to Asia, classism has replaced racism as
our country’s dominant form of bigotry.
The increasing number of people dropping
off the economic edge threatens the right-
wing view of how society works. It also
scares people, consciously or not, as they
realize they could be next. So they react
with denial and blaming the victim.
It will be interesting to see if the council
has the guts to act on OVE and actually do
something about homelessness, or if, as in
the 1960s civil rights movement, we will
have to turn to the streets and the courts
for a solution.
Lynn Porter
Eugene
KINDNESS & RESPECT
I worked in court with Judge Alan
Leiman for eight of my over 30 years as
a Eugene Municipal Court employee. I
also lost a loved one at the hands of a
drunk driver. Judge Leiman was always
fair and impartial and he believed that
politics or social standing had no place in
the courtroom. He treated everyone who
worked at the court with kindness and
respect.
Alan Leiman was a strong advocate
for more consistent DUII sentencing and
defendant accountability. He devoted
countless hours outside of his law practice
and work as a judge to reducing the number
of impaired drivers on Lane County roads.
As a 13-year volunteer Juvenile Court
judge and as a past moderator of the Victim
Impact Panel, Alan has demonstrated a true
commitment to keeping our community
safer. Please join me in writing in Alan
Leiman for Position 7 of the Lane County
Circuit Court.
Deborah Weaver
Springfi eld
TIME FOR A CHANGE
I am a retired teacher myself. I have
lived in Eugene for about 10 years,
formerly from New York City, continue
to be a faithful member of the Democratic
Party and consider myself a progressive. I
have listened carefully to Juan Carlos Valle
speak about his vision. While Betty Taylor
has served Ward 2 well on some issues
important to members of our Ward, what
seems missing from her agenda is a vision
for the future growth of our community.
How wonderful it would be for Ward
2 to have a Latino man with a personal
and quite compelling story of his own to
represent us to help us move forward. It’s
time for a change and I believe Juan Carlos
can move us forward.
Julie Beck
Eugene
NOT THE CHANGE WE NEED
From my prospective serving as the
vice president of Southeast Neighbors
and the Eugene Planning Commission,
Betty Taylor is the right choice to for Ward
2. She understands our needs socially,
economically and environmentally and she
has proven this through her actions with
her many years of service on council.
I have deep concerns about Mr. Juan
Carlos Valle; take a look at who is funding
his campaign. Donations are funneled
through a PAC called Community Action
Network. Some of the contributors are
Delta Sand and Gravel, Seneca and a
number of investment companies.
Valle has a fair amount of pro-