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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2014)
NEWS We heard a late-night flight coming into Eugene Sunday, Feb. 23, was unable to land and was diverted to Portland. Grumpy Eugene passengers had to rent cars and make the early morning drive home. The pilot told passengers that he was unable to get ground wind speed information from the Eugene tower and so he could not land. What happened? We checked with Eugene Airport officials and, of course, it’s complicated. The tower shuts down at midnight, so if a plane is delayed and arrives after midnight, there’s no one on the ground to talk to. Some, but not all, airlines require their pilots to have direct contact with towers when landing, and all pilots have discretion when it comes to safety. PDX is relatively nearby and the tower operates 24/7. The airport weather station is owned and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and it sounds like NOAA equipment has been working just fine. We also learned that the city has an arrangement with the airport in times of heavy fog. The tower will sometimes stay open beyond midnight to accommodate late arrivals. City taxpayers pick up the tab for overtime. Any pilots or tower people out there who can tell us more? A saved and restored Civic Stadium should prove to be good for business, and local businesses are getting involved in raising money for Friends of Civic Stadium (FoCS) now that School District 4J has given the go-ahead for the city to buy the property. The group needs to raise $3 million for the renovation and other costs and already has a lot of business support. As of this week Bagel Sphere stores around town are donating a percentage of Monday sales. Any others to talk about? Meanwhile, FoCS has created an escrow account at Evergreen Land Title. All donations will be returned if the funding goal is not met, but we’re optimistic. See savecivicstadium.org for information about FCS and the escrow account. A free small business clinic is planned for 5 to 7 pm Thursday, March 6, and again March 27, at the Eugene Public Library downtown. Sponsored by the LCC Small Business Development Center and SCORE: Counselors to America’s Small Business. Topics include “Start and Grow an Arts & Crafts Business.” Pre-registration is required, call 682-5450. A free meeting on “The Gift Economy” will be from noon to 2:30 pm Friday, March 7, at the HEDCO Education Building Room 220 on campus. See story in EW last week. We see Eugene Yoga and the Pelvic Wellness Center are doing something different, a panel discussion on “Sex, Chocolate & Menopause” from 6:30 to 9 pm Friday, March 7, at Eugene Yoga, 3575 Donald St. Sliding scale of $12-$15 supports scholarships. Panelists include a gynecologist, nurse practitioner, sex therapist, clinical social worker, naturopath, massage therapist, strength trainer and others. See eugeneyoga.ous or call 520- 8771. A one-day conference to showcase research and creative expression by graduate students in all of the UO’s graduate colleges and schools will be from 9 am to 4:30 pm Friday, March 7, at the Erb Memorial Union on the UO campus. More than 170 grad students in some 50 disciplines will be involved, along with local businesses such as Acroname, Abcam, Organic Consultants, Concentric Sky and Life Technologies. The nonprofit Sexual Assault Support Services provides many services to women, but one in six men have experienced childhood sexual abuse, and only a small number of them take advantage of SASS services, according to Jessica Mason, program director of SASS. “We would like to make it more known in the community that all our services are accessible for male survivors,” she says. Mason is currently conducting intakes for a self-identified male support group and supervising a “community campaign for the agency 1in6 which works with adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse.” See sass-lane.org or call 484-9791. CITY MANAGER PROPOSES CUTS TO HUMAN SERVICES, HUMAN RIGHTS Eugene City Manager Jon Ruiz has recommended cut- ting $250,000 from Human Services discretionary funding as part of balancing the city budget for fiscal year 2015, which begins July 1. These cuts would manifest as “reduc- tions in support to local nonprofit agencies such as Looking Glass, St. Vincent de Paul, Womenspace, Lane ShelterCare and a myriad of others,” according to Human Services Commission (HSC) Chair Pat Farr. Ruiz’s suggestion entails reducing the General Fund contribution for Lane County Human Services by 29 per- cent, with the option of the Eugene City Council refunding it when city monies become available in December. Farr, who is also a Lane County commissioner, says he will personally lobby the city manager and Eugene’s Bud- get Committee to maintain funding at current levels. He adds that cuts have been proposed and often implemented by the cities of Eugene and Springfield, Lane County and the federal government nearly every year since his appoint- ment to the HSC in 1995. During the Budget Committee’s Jan. 28 public hearing, Womenspace Executive Director Peggy Whalen asked the city to not cut human services funding. “Human services funding supports not only our safe house for survivors and families fleeing domestic violence, but also our turning point program, which offers transition- al and case management services to survivors who have already left their abusers and are looking for long-term sup- port,” Whalen says. “We actually help them become self- sufficient and live a life abuse free.” City Councilor Chris Pryor says the uncertainty of hu- man services funding is a challenge in accepting Ruiz’s recommendation. “But the fact that it’s been placed first in line to be fund- ed when the city funds come available almost sweetens that to the point where I can live with it,” Pryor says. Ruiz says the proposal gives City Council more flexibil- ity in deciding where the money will be distributed, such as funding Looking Glass or St. Vincent de Paul directly rather than appropriating the money to human services. “To be candid,” Ruiz says, “if I were the county or HSC, this wouldn’t be my favorite proposal because what hap- pens is they can rely on $250,000 less for budgeting.” Ruiz also proposed cuts to the Equity and Human Rights Office and to the Neighborhoods Program by re- ducing $69,000 of materials and supplies and eliminating three currently vacant positions. Those offices deal with discrimination complaints and work with neighborhood associations. Equity and Human Rights and Neighborhood Program Manager Michael Kinnison says most services will need to be modified or reduced due to less staff and resources. “We may have to do some things differently, some things less, maybe figure out how to do things more ef- ficiently and maybe some things not at all,” he says. Kinnison says neighborhoods could see a reduction in public information and outreach resources, such as news- letters and neighborhood analyses. “We, like many other parts of the city, have been im- pacted,” he says. “We’re still confident that we’re going to be delivering services that are contributing value to the city, the organization and the community and hope that folks don’t feel like we’ve made such changes that they feel too aversely impacted.” Also proposed are cuts to libraries, recreation and travel and reducing the amount the General Fund contributes to Parks and Open Space operations and maintenance re- quirements. The Budget Committee continues FY15 bud- get talks 5:30 pm March 6 and 6 pm March 11 at Harris Hall, 125 E. 8th Ave. — Missy Corr LATINO GROUP EXAMINES PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUES Grupo Latino de Acción Directa (GLAD)’s Feb. 28 fo- rum at St. Alice’s church in Springfield focused on public safety. More than 140 members of the Latino community attended, including Timothy Doney, the new Springfield police chief and Lane County Sheriff Tom Turner, accord- ing to one of GLAD’s founders, Phil Carrasco. GLAD is hosting evening and luncheon forums as well as “Café con” (Coffee with) events that politically engage a broad spectrum of the Latino community, Carrasco says. These forums let people show up and speak their piece, without others speaking for them, he says. At the public safety forum, Latino community members expressed concern about how the lack of driving privileges currently causes stress and hardship. Carrasco says the of- ficers present expressed understanding and emphasized the need for people to carry a photo ID. IT’S ABOUT TIME B Y D AV I D WA G N E R M arch is the month when the valley woodlands begin greening up. Two shrubs, osoberry and snowberry, are the first to give a light green wash to the understory. The osoberry (also known as Indian plum) flowers at the same time as leaf-out but snowberry saves flowering for late spring. My favorite color is spring green, the color of freshly emerged leaves. I am particularly fond of vine maple because its leaves stay this fresh, spring green throughout the summer, especially under a forest canopy. In the open it does get dark green by mid summer but then will turn red in the fall, the best fall color in our area. Frogs are singing vigorously in ponds and ditches. Egg masses seen in ponds now are either frogs or newts. Both are out courting, breeding and laying eggs. Birds will not begin nesting until the canopy of their home tree leafs-out. Walking around town now is the last chance to see nests from last year in leafless trees. It would be interesting to take careful note to see if the nests are reused this year. Following the recent ice rain, every big Douglas fir in town had a circle of branches and branchlets around its base. It occurred to me that this is part of the evolutionary adaptedness of this species to occasional snow and ice. Unlike maples, Douglas fir branches are just brittle enough to break off before too much weight builds up to bring the whole trunk down. David Wagner is a botanist who lives and plays in Eugene. He created the “Willamette Valley Nature Calendar” for 30 years, ending in 2012. He offers a free download of 2014 calendar pages at tinyurl. com/wagnercalendar. Contact him at fernzenmosses@me.com. 8 March 6, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com EQUISETUM HYEMALE, SCOURING RUSH
