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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2014)
ACTIVIST LERT • Oregon author and fish biologist Jim Lichatowich will speak at 6 pm Thursday, May 29, at Cozmic, 199 W. 8th Ave. He will read from and discuss his new book Salmon, People, and Place: A Biologist’s Search for Salmon Recovery. This event is free and sponsored by the Western Environmental Law Center. Call 255-0209. • The Spring Bee-Fest community celebration will be from 1 to 3 pm Saturday, May 31, at Washington Park Community Center. The free, family-friendly event honors the city’s February resolution banning the use of bee-killing pesticides on city-owned property and the expansion of the Pesticide-Free Parks Program. Sponsored by Smith Family Bookstore, Coconut Bliss and others. • Festival Latino will be held from 4 to 11 pm Saturday, May 31, at Sprout! Food Hub, 418 A St. in Springfield. $5 suggested donation, kids 12 and under free. Organized by Huerto and the UO Association of Fundraising Professionals. Mayors of both Eugene and Springfield are expected to speak, along with Latino community leaders. Activities include salsa tasting, live music, salsa dancing, local food and drinks and a silent auction. See huertodelafamilia.org. • Journalist McKenzie Funk of Eugene will talk about his new book Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming at 6 pm Thursday, June 5, at the Eugene Public Library. His book explores the climate change crisis through the eyes of those who see it as a business opportunity. Funk has been published in Harper’s , National Geographic, Rolling Stone, GQ, Outside and elsewhere. His book is based on his six years traveling the world to profile entrepreneurs who see profits to be made form glacial melting, drought and deluge. See book review this issue. • The Cottage Grove Ranger District is inviting the public to join a field trip from 9 am to 3:30 pm Friday, June 6, to the Sharps Creek Watershed to look at proposed projects in the area. Management activities would include timber harvesting, fire fuel reduction work, meadow restoration and aquatic restoration. RSVP by Monday, June 2, by calling 767- 5000 or email cgrdinfo@fs.fed.us. See also forestweb-cg. org. • The Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission is expected to adopt the Coastal Management Plan for salmon and steelhead at its meeting June 6 at 4034 Fairview Industrial Drive in Salem. Time of the meeting to be announced. See directions at wkly.ws/1rf. “Although it’s not included in the CMP, we expect a large vocal contingent to attend requesting the plan be amended to include harvest of wild winter steelhead,” reads a statement from the Steamboaters fishing and conservation club. “Given the budgetary problems ODFW is facing, they cannot identify the current state of wild steelhead or adequately monitor impacts from harvest combined with these other factors. This isn’t the time to increase pressure on the best wild run in the U.S.” See steamboaters.org. POLLUTION UPDATE The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality sent International Paper a warning letter on May 16 following a line break at International Paper’s Springfield facility, which resulted in discharge of treated process water into Irving Slough. According to DEQ’s letter, the discharge violated Oregon environmental law, and this violation is classified as “serious.” DEQ determined that the violation was beyond International Paper’s reasonable control, and therefore chose not to assess a penalty. International Paper has indicated that it intends to develop a plan to reduce the probability of such incidents in the future. — Doug Quirke/ Oregon Clean Water Action Project CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS Due to incorrect information from sources, the disc golf story last week, “The Local Spin,” incorrectly stated that the potential Stewart Pond course would be “gold” level occupying 12 acres on the west side of the site. The course will in fact be “blue” level occupying 30 acres on the site’s southeast corner and will not be longer or harder than the Dexter course. KESEY SQUARE CLOSURE MAY UNFAIRLY AFFECT UNHOUSED On May 27 the Eugene Police Department brought the City Council a proposal to close Kesey Square be- tween 11 pm and 6 am, a move that some say is targeting the homeless population. Kesey Square, aka Broadway Plaza, is a city-deemed performance space that sits on the corner of Broadway and Willamette, home to the bronze statue of Ken Kesey. The City Council has not scheduled a vote. Civil Liberties Defense Center attorney Lauren Regan says the proposal to close the public square is repugnant in the face of the human rights image touted by the city of Eugene. “It’s incredibly classist and discriminatory based on income and status, and I think we gave up those types of policies 100-plus years ago,” Regan says. Homeless rights advocate Alley Valkyrie says there is already a lack of public space for the unhoused down- town. “What downtown Eugene needs are bathrooms, benches and more open spaces,” Valkyrie says. She says the ordinance changes will stir more resent- ment between businesses and the transient population. “The only reason they’re there in the first place is because after park curfew there’s nowhere else legal for them to be, and now we’re going to kick them out of the last place that they’re allowed to be,” Valkyrie says. “Where are they supposed to go?” Police Chief Pete Kerns says the businesses near the public plaza want it closed at night. He says food cart equipment is often broken and stolen. “Anyone who walks across the plaza won’t be — it doesn’t affect them,” Kerns says. “It’s the people that want to park there and get in fights and drink and camp there overnight.” Tom Kamis, owner of The Davis on the corner of Broadway and Olive, estimates that a large fight happens once a week outside of his restaurant. “The fighting, I think, is going on a lot more in back alleys,” Kamis says. Valkyrie says she noticed more problems coming from the college-age crowd than the unhoused when she was living on 10th Avenue and Lincoln Street. She says she believes the police largely ignore their behavior be- cause they spend money downtown. “Public space is public,” Valkyrie says. “We should not be excusing the behavior that comes from people who spend money and then scapegoating those who have no money.” Regan says enforcing this ordinance would cost taxpayers money and ensure that police will continue to get the largest chunk of the city’s municipal budget. ‘It’s incredibly classist and discriminatory based on income and status, and I think we gave up those types of policies 100-plus years ago.’ — LAUREN REGAN, CIVIL LIBERTIES DEFENSE CENTER “People will qualify for court-appointed lawyers based on the fact that they have no income and there are no other places for them to seek shelter in Eugene,” Regan says. Citations for being in Kesey Square between 11 pm and 6 am could amount in fines as high as $500 on the first offense and $1,000 and one year in jail for subse- quent violations. Kerns says he expects the council to take action on the ordinance by the end of June. The proposal also prohibits unlicensed dogs from the downtown activity zone, which covers the area be- tween Sixth and 11th avenues and High and Lincoln streets. “Neither proposal addresses the sources of home- lessness or contributes to a solution,” Eugene Hu- man Rights Commission member Ken Neubeck says. “Carrying these proposals out will utilize staff time and financial resources that could be far better used by police in the prevention and pursuit of more seri- ous crimes perpetrated on the housed and unhoused.” — Missy Corr PHOTO BY TRASK BEDORTHA 8 May 29, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com
