LET TERS
TEACHERS OUTVOTED
The recent controversy around the
common schedule in District 4J’s middle
and high schools is a refl ection of a bigger
problem in the district. The process of
centralization and standardization has
been going on for several years but has
dramatically accelerated recently under the
new superintendent.
Centralization of decision-making is
gutting the site-based management system
that has worked so well in Eugene in the
past. The common schedule idea did not
come from teachers or parents. It came
from downtown, and under the guise
of collaboration, teachers were used to
rubber-stamp the decision already made
by the superintendent. This year all middle
school teachers on the common schedule
task force voted against the common
schedule proposal but were outvoted by
the administrators on the committee.
Eugene schools have been known
for creating different environments
and focuses that best serve our diverse
VIEWPOINT
communities. Recently this tradition has
been trampled on by the district’s desire to
standardize everything. Standardization of
curriculum, testing, school sizes and now
schedules does not lead to innovation,
creativity and love of learning that is so
important in the educational process.
This new management model may
work in the corporate world, but in
education the products are not widgets
but our children who are unique human
beings with different needs and wants that
teachers, through differentiation, try to
reach. The one-size-fi ts-all education does
not work.
This corporate top-down management
model disempowers teachers, marginalizes
students and parents and should be resisted
by our community.
Pete Mandrapa
Eugene
TIME TO CONSOLIDATE
Tony Corcoran was right on the
mark (“Ways and Drones” column,
GLENWOOD FRENZY
Glenwood, along with Springfi eld and
Eugene, is soon to be part of a wealthy
developers’ feeding frenzy that the four
pro-sprawl Lane County commissioners
are seeking to subsidize with our tax
dollars. They and their wealthy developer
associates seem intent on infl ating the
student housing and hospitality industry
bubbles. This outdated mode of thinking is
based on the economy rebounding back to
a yearly growth rate of 3 or 4 percent. With
the increased scarcity and costs of natural
resources and instability of our climate that
is affecting the availability of water and
agricultural goods, it is simply delusional.
One example, just a half mile
southwest of Glenwood is the Moon
Mountain development. You may recall
this controversial development, south of
the Laurel Hill neighborhood, was given
approval in 2003-04. Currently 90 percent
of the lots are vacant, one developer has
gone bankrupt and a subsequent developer
is suing the city over who’s paying to
complete the infrastructure. How many
taxpayer dollars were wasted to facilitate
the new streets and utilities for this failed
“green” development? How many taxpayer
dollars will be wasted on subsidizing
this and other “green” developments in
Glenwood, Eugene and Springfi eld?
Shannon Wilson
Eugene
BY BOB WARREN
Going Ga-Ga
Over Goshen?
IT’S TIME FOR HONESTY FROM LANE COUNTY
L
ane County has pulled out all the stops on promoting Goshen as an up
and coming industrial job center for Lane County. But before we go ga-
ga over Goshen I’d like Lane County to answer a few questions. How
much is it going to cost? How long is it going to take? We already know
it’s the public who gets to pay, but who is going to benefi t? Are there
other interests besides the landowners who will benefi t at the public’s
expense?
Listening to the Lane e County hype, one would expect
thousands,
high-wage jobs in Goshen
hundreds, if not thousan
nds, of hi
wish that were true. As a
in the near future. I only wis
member of the Governor’s R
Regional Solutions Team
participated in numerous team
in 2011 and 2012, I partici
briefi ngs and discussions on the Goshen project. The
enthusiastic about Goshen.
team was, well, less than en
development offi cer for the
As the regional business deve
Development Department, I visited
Oregon Business Developmen
doubt Lane County will be
the site several times. I doub
industrial clients to that site
recruiting any large indu
any time soon.
True, if the s site were “shovel ready,”
it could be an ideal location
some kinds of industry.
for so
Distribution centers similar
Distr
to t the Lowe’s that we helped
recruit for the city of
rec
Lebanon might be a good
Le
fi t t. However, for a variety
o of reasons, it would likely
n not be a good location
for
f the kind of campus
industrial that Lane
County has indicated it
wants at the site.
But that discussion
is premature. The site
4
3/14) when he wrote about consolidating
school districts. Here in Lane County
we have 16 separate districts, each
with its own superintendent and its
own infrastructure. Is that really necessary?
I know, I know, there’s the issue of local
control, but really, are the needs of kids
in Florence any different than the kids in
Eugene, Springfi eld, Blue River or Cottage
Grove? As we continue to search for ways
to save money, now is the time to seriously
consider a Lane County school district.
Robert Young
Lowell
March 21, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
is not shovel ready, nor even close to it. No one knows how many hundreds of
millions of dollars it will cost, or how many decades it will take, to make Goshen
viable as an industrial site. The potential cost and time frame involved are ugly
realities that Lane County offi cials apparently don’t want to know.
No environmental assessment has been done on the site. Is there any contamination
from previous uses? If so, what would be the cost of remediation? How long would
it take to get DEQ approval for development? No wetlands surveys have been done.
Are there wetlands and, if so, where are they? How much would it cost to mitigate?
To my knowledge, Lane County has avoided even talking to DEQ or the Department
of State Lands about these issues.
The site has signifi cant transportation problems. Getting off and onto I-5 is just
one problem. How much that would cost and how long that would take is anyone’s
guess. Once a project is on the ODOT project list it takes at least seven years before
it is built. Meanwhile, Lane County offi cials have done everything in their power to
avoid doing a traffi c impact study.
Rail is touted as a benefi t of the site. However, campus industrial generally doesn’t
like rail. In fact, they avoid it. Also, vehicles must drive over the tracks to get to the
site. Even if ODOT Rail and the railroad would allow it, which they will not, it’s a
big problem for a business concerned about the safety of employees, contractors,
clients or customers crossing the rail line to access the site. All alternative access
options are expensive and time consuming.
The site has no wastewater system. Lane County admits to water and wastewater
issues with the site, but it has not been forthcoming about how to resolve them,
how much it would cost or how long it would take to fi x. Lane County offi cials
told me at one point that they might try to recruit businesses that could operate on a
septic system. While some small-scale septic is already ongoing, there has been no
assessment for an industrial scale septic system. There has been no determination or
even discussions about whether such a system is viable or how much it would cost,
or who would maintain it.
Lane County offi cials also talk about a wastewater treatment facility. Such stand-
alone systems are notoriously expensive to build and to maintain. Just ask the city
of Coburg. Again, how much would it cost, who would pay for it and who would
maintain it? Another option might be to connect to an existing wastewater system.
Assuming Lane County could overcome the political and legal challenges, which
existing system would they connect to? Metro? The city of Creswell? Either would
require very long pipelines with associated ownership and land use issues to resolve,
and of course there is the cost.
Lane County needs the jobs and I personally believe it would be good thing for
Goshen to become a regional job center. The problem is how to get there from here?
It’s premature to be going to the Legislature seeking a state law to raise dump fees to
pay for Goshen. It’s the right time for a reality check from Lane County. Is it going
to cost $100 million, or more? How much more? Will it take a decade, two decades
or longer? I think it’s past time for a little honesty from Lane County about Goshen.
Bob Warren of Eugene retired in 2012 as regional business development offi cer for the Oregon Business Develop-
ment Department for Lane, Benton and Linn counties. He has also served as regional coordinator for rural de-
velopment for the Oregon Economic & Community Development Department, and as an advisor to Gov. Barbara
Roberts and Rep. Peter DeFazio.