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
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May 29, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com