ACTIVIST
LERT
• Eugene City Council Ward 2 candidates Betty
Taylor and Juan Carlos Valle will be at a candidate’s
forum hosted by the Friendly Area Neighbors at 7 pm
Thursday, Oct. 25, at Washington Park Center, 2025
Washington St.
• Eugene Neighborhoods Inc.’s annual meeting
will be from 5 to 7 pm Thursday, Oct. 25, at Davis
Restaurant, 94 W. Broadway. A panel of citizens will
relate their experiences protecting neighborhoods
against unwise commercial and residential
developments and unwanted cell-towers, and
lessons learned from working with attorneys
specializing in Oregon’s land use laws. Panelists will
include Lisa Warnes, Merilee Eisen, April Hatcher,
Camilla Bayliss, Paul Conte and Liam Sherlock. Happy
hour and socializing at 5 with program at 5:30.
The next Emerald F.E.A.S.T. dinner will be from 6
to 8 pm Thursday, Oct. 25, at the First United Methodist
Church, 1376 Olive St. in Eugene. See Biz Beat last
week, visit emeraldfeast.weebly.com or call 520-
6621.
• A candidate forum with Rep. Nancy Nathanson
and her Republican challenger Mark Callahan will be
at 7 pm Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Sheldon Community
Center, 2445 Willakenzie Road. Sponsored by
Northeast Neighbors, Harlow Neighbors and the Cal
Young Neighborhood Association. A Cal Young general
meeting will follow.
• Ballot Measures 79 and 84, prohibiting real
estate transfer taxes and eliminating the inheritance
tax, will be the topic at City Club of Eugene at noon
Friday, Oct. 26, at the Eugene Hilton. Speakers will
include Kevin Mannix and Jon Coney from Yes on 79
and speakers from Defend Oregon and Our Oregon.
• The OSU Extension Service is offering a free
composting workshop at 10 am Saturday, Oct. 27,
at the Transition Garden, 905 Flamingo St. in
Springfield. Call 344-1265 for more information.
• Canvassing for Rep. Val Hoyle will begin with a
gathering at 9:30 am Saturday, Oct. 27, and 12:30 pm
Sunday, Oct. 28, at Peterson Barn in Bethel. To RSVP
email volunteer@valhoyle.com or call 905-1468.
• Canvassing for Betty Taylor is now happening
Saturdays with an 11 am gathering time at the
Democratic Party of Lane County Office, 228 E.11th
Ave. Call 484-5099 or 914-5603. Democratic
campaigns are also being supported by the new
Organizing for America (OFA) field office at 115 W 6th
Ave. Eugene. Call 525-9387 for information on voter
outreach and canvassing.
• Canvassing for John Lively in the open House
District 12 race will begin at 1 pm Sunday, Oct. 28, at
Lively Park, 6100 Thurston Road in Springfield.
• The film 13 Days will be shown free at 6 pm
Sunday, Oct. 28, at the EWEB community room, 500
East 4th Ave. The film is a re-enactment of the Cuban
Missile Crisis of October 1962. “Part of the film’s
dialogue is based on secret taping of Oval Office
conversations that President Kennedy made,
including of the generals who wanted war instead of
the compromise that defused the crisis,” says Mark
Robinowiz who is sponsoring the showing. See www.
oilempire.us
• An urban design workshop on the South
Willamette Concept Plan will be from 6 to 8 pm
Tuesday, Oct. 30, at the Hilyard Center, 2580 Hilyard
St. Email patricia.thomas@ci.eugene.or.us to get on
the mailing list.
• An EWEB public hearing on proposed 2013
rate hikes will be at 7:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 6, at the
EWEB Board Room. A final public hearing and vote is
scheduled for Dec. 4. More information and written
testimony can be made by email through the EWEB
website.
8
October 25, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
NEWS
CAPSTONE LOSES
12TH AVE APPEAL
Capstone’s student housing project not yet under construc-
tion at 13th and Olive has hit a legal snag, losing an Oct. 11
Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) ruling to neighborhood
advocate Paul Conte on the city’s vacation (termination of
public right to use the street) of West 12th Avenue between
Olive and Willamette.
The LUBA decision says that the city committed a proce-
dural error because it accepted Capstone’s revised application
for the vacation “without providing a reasonable opportunity
for parties to submit responsive evidence,” which violates the
right of the public to give testimony regarding vacation deci-
sions. Capstone had to revise the application after the public
record was closed because an adjacent property owner wanted
to retain public right of way to a portion of the alley adjacent
to his business.
Conte says he’s fi ghting decisions made around the Cap-
stone project because the rushed process has unfairly tilted in
favor of developers at the expense of the community. “It was
also just one more example of the city manager directing staff
to do whatever it takes to prevent any community involve-
ment that might force Capstone to play by the rules if that
would slow down the project,” he says.
In addition to the 12th Avenue vacation appeal, Conte is
appealing the Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption that
City Council granted Capstone to the state Court of Appeals.
He is also appealing before LUBA to challenge the traffi c im-
pact analysis that Capstone submitted due its lack of analysis
on the impact on bikes and pedestrians.
Conte says, “Since the mayor and council seem to be en-
couraging the city manager to do Capstone’s bidding, I’m re-
signed to hoping the courts and LUBA step in to protect the
integrity of the local public processes, as LUBA did in this
case.”
The city’s attorney did not return our call by press time.
— Shannon Finnell
FEE WAIVER FOR
EXCLUSION ZONE
RECORDS DENIED
With the next City Council decision on the downtown ex-
clusion zone — which allows banning people from the down-
town core prior to conviction of a crime — a year away, civil
liberties activists already seeking the data they need to fi ght
the zone. But on Oct. 17, Eugene Police Department records
manager Joan Quaempts denied the Civil Liberties Defense
Center (CLDC) request for a public records fee waiver for
documents related to past exclusions, quoting a $2,284 fee for
the records. EW was a party in the request.
Quaempts wrote in the decision that the fee waiver re-
quest was signifi cantly different from an earlier request,
when EPD granted a $22 waiver. “Whether the City Coun-
cil should vote to extend the downtown exclusion zone was
a matter of signifi cant public interest; on Oct. 8 the City
Council voted on the issue.”
Occupy liaison Jean Stacey says the fact that the next
vote is a year off doesn’t make the data less of a public
interest. “The public interest has not died, and it will not
die until the [exclusion] zone has been eliminated. There is
still a very deep public interest.”
In addition, Quaempts wrote, “Prior to releasing the re-
sponsive records to you, the city must review all of the doc-
uments for confi dential and exempt information and make
any necessary redactions.” Redacting Social Security re-
ports and drivers licenses is necessary to comply with fed-
eral and state law. Quaempts also cited the need to redact
confi dential or exempt information in criminal background
checks and number of contacts with the police.
Despite the need for redactions, Lauren Regan of the
CLDC argues that because the records are of vital importance
to the public, the fee is an unreasonable barrier to them. “It is
unfortunate the city and EPD have attempted to stall and pre-
clude the public from reviewing the facts and data regarding
the highly controversial exclusion zone,” Regan writes in an
email to EW. “One is left wondering what they are trying to
hide. Clearly these community groups have a right to inspect
and review this public information, and charging excessive
fees for public records with the hope of preventing public ac-
cess to that information is unconscionable. We will appeal this
decision with the goal of protecting the community’s right to
access public records.”
Mayor Kitty Piercy says that she is awaiting an ex-
planation of the situation from city attorney Glenn Klein.
— Shannon Finnell
COAL VOTES
CONTINUE — OR NOT
Oregon is facing the prospect of coal trains rumbling
through the state bringing coal, and coal dust and increased
diesel fumes, thanks to several proposals for coal export
terminals along the coast and Columbia River. Gov. John
Kitzhaber and Sen. Jeff Merkley have requested an extensive
federal environmental review of the effects of exporting coal
to Asia, having it burned there and blowing back to the North-
west. Local governments have attempted to weigh in on the
coal issue as well.
The Board of Lane County Commissioners decided Oct.
17 that it would not vote on a controversial resolution to sup-
port the Coos Bay Bulk Terminal and its coal export proposal,
“Project Mainstay,” while the Eugene City Council voted Oct.
21 to oppose shipping coal through Eugene. The City Coun-
cil’s resolution supports the request for a comprehensive fed-
eral review, and it directs city attorneys to research if state and
federal public health and safety laws could be used to prevent
coal being transported through the city.
After the board decided not to vote on its coal resolution,
which would have in effect supported the coal terminal, Com-
missioner Rob Handy proposed the board work on a resolu-
tion that, like the city’s, would call for a review of the effects
of coal. Handy says the original county resolution was “so
heavily weighted to coal and the port that our other aspirations
and values didn’t get in.”
Handy says that he wants more detail on the impacts to
workers who handle coal up and down the line and the ef-
fects of mercury, lead and arsenic. He says the commissioners
heard strongly from “folks all around the county” about their
concerns over the effects of coal on air and on the waters of
Oregon’s rivers and territorial sea.
The commissioners heard public comment Oct. 16 and 17
in Florence and Eugene after originally scheduling to vote on
the resolution Oct. 3 without asking for public input. Handy
says the county’s agenda committee, which includes board
chair Sid Leiken and conservative vice chair Jay Bozievich,
put together the agendas for board meetings. But he says he
and fellow progressive Commissioner Pete Sorenson don’t
get information in advance and “are always asking questions
about what’s going on.” Sorenson says that when the conser-
vative majority took control of the board in 2010, they voted
out a “good governance” ordinance that called for agendas to
have detailed information.
The county’s reasons for not getting the coal vote informa-
tion out to the public include: reduced staffi ng, a sick staffer, a
death in a staffer’s family and that the county routinely votes
on potentially controversial issues.
The board announced on Oct. 24 that starting Dec. 1, it will
post agendas and materials a week in advance.
The board held off voting after Leiken said that he was told
by the Port of Coos Bay that the “potential project” was “not
moving forward at this time.” When asked if the board’s pro-
posed vote in support of the resolution had been at the request
of the port, Elise Hamner, spokesperson for the port, says she
believes the county proposed its own resolution.
While the board voted 5-0 to look into Handy’s resolution