Eugene weekly., February 20, 2014, Page 9, Image 9

that are racially motivated,” Police Commissioner George
Rode says. “The bad of it is, you know, the invasiveness
of it — here’s another government bureaucracy collecting
stuff on me.”
In addition to concerns about the public’s unwillingness
to share personal information, some commissioners say the
policy has potential to be too time consuming or restrictive
for offi cers.
“I’m a little concerned about loading a lot of very
fi ne tuning on at the front end and fi nding we’ve created
something that is either unworkable right out of the gate
or that collapses … somewhere down the road,” Police
Commissioner Edward Goehring says.
The policy previously stated that all police contacts
requiring detention must be reported. It was revised during
the Feb. 13 meeting to say all contacts that become a stop,
as defi ned by department policy, or arrest must be reported.
Drawing the line between interactions that do or do not need
to be reported has been a challenge for the commission.
Goehring says the complaint that he’s heard consistently
from people is, “So and so says their kid was stopped, or
they were stopped, they didn’t like the way it went, and
when they went to the police department or the police
auditor, they were told there was no record of this.”
The committee will also need to decide whether they
want police to ask or infer race. “The way we do it now,”
Kerns says, “is we choose a race, and that’s what we put in
our police report when we enter in the data.”
Community members will have a chance to submit
written questions to be introduced into the 90-minute
discussion during the Police Commission’s 5:30 pm March
13 meeting at Harris Hall. The commission will also hold
a public forum April 3 where all community members will
have a chance to provide feedback. — Missy Corr
LAND-USE CASE DRAGS ON
A Lane County land-use case, which was fi rst fi led in
2011, alleging that the county regularly exceeds deadlines
is not yet resolved. Advocacy group LandWatch Lane
County is frustrated with the amount of time it is taking to
get a fi nal order on the case from the state Department of
Land Conservation and Development.
In November 2011, LandWatch notifi ed Lane County
of its intention to fi le an enforcement order with DLCD
regarding what the group sees as the county’s “pattern or
practice” of exceeding the 150 days allowed for counties
>>> CONTINUED ON P. 10
ALL ART AND NO BUSINESS?
“Who’s going to pay for the arts?” artist Jerry Ross asked at a Feb. 19
meeting at the Eugene Public Library. That was the question of the hour at the
meeting hosted by the Arts & Business Alliance of Eugene (ABAE) and the
Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts (DIVA).
Two dozen local arts and culture leaders came to discuss ideas to strengthen
Eugene’s arts and economic core and to see what organizations would be interested
in a shared multi-use business, arts and cultural space downtown. Many at the
meeting noted that there were no representatives from the business side of the
ABAE alliance. ABAE Managing Director Karen Rainsong said the new meet-up
discussion series is in a “preliminary stage” and that DIVA will be spearheading
future meetings for the proposed cultural center. DIVA President Miriam Alexis
Jordan says that her business contacts did not respond to emails about the meeting.
“Next time, we’re defi nitely going to make an effort to invite business
people,” Rainsong says.
Several projects were introduced, such as Eugene Ballet Company’s
tentative plan to move into 5th Street Market, developer Brian Obie’s proposed
Market District at 6th and Oak and painter Jerry Ross’ ongoing campaign
efforts to use the vacant historic downtown Eugene Post Offi ce as a multi-
use shared art space. In addition to EBC and Ross, representatives from the
Asian Council, DIVA, Wordcrafters, Plein Air Painters of Lane County and
the Eugene Celebration board expressed interest in a shared downtown space.
Participants pointed to examples in other states. Ross said Las Vegas’ Arts
Factory would be a sustainable “mixed-use model.” Tomi Anderson, Eugene’s
new Cultural Services director, suggested looking at Virginia’s Torpedo Factory,
while the Oregon Supported Living Program’s artist-in-residence Mija Andrade
proposed Seattle’s Tashiro Kaplan Artists Lofts as an example to follow.
But who will foot the bill for such a project? Anderson discouraged looking
to the city for funds.
“I have never known a time when the city is like, ‘Yes, we have money and
we’re going to spend it on the arts,’” Anderson said. “That’s never going to
happen. There’s never not going to be a budget problem.”
The discussion turned to the historic tradition of wealthy individuals and
businesses as patrons of the arts.
“How committed are the businesses to the arts in Eugene?” asked Amy Isler
Gibson, owner of the Gallery at the Watershed. “Do we have any businesses
here?” The attendees looked around and shook their heads.
“That says something right there,” Ross replied.
The meeting’s attendees requested that a follow-up meeting be scheduled
where every arts or cultural representative bring along a representative from
the business community.
Mitra Chester, St. Vincent de Paul’s style special projects manager, noted
that “Businesses are getting more open-minded about how art can support their
business,” pointing to collaborations between The Barn Light and Bijou Metro,
as well as Ninkasi’s patronage of musicians and artists.
“If we are enlightened people, and I think we are, we need to start an
initiative, harness horses,” said Riley Grannan, managing director for Eugene
Ballet Company. “Saying there’s no money available — there’s piles of money
available! If the right proposal gets on the desk of these people,” pointing to
Eugeneans like real estate broker Alan Evans and the Jaquas. He added, “We
need to challenge the enlightened people of Eugene to do what they say they
do. Do we stand up for the arts?” — Alex Notman
JERRY ROSS
PHOTO BY TODD COOPER
EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • FEBRUARY 20, 2014
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