LET TERS
A TRAVESTY AND A WASTE
The direction our public offi cials are
taking is the worst mistake made since
the 1970s Urban Renewal Renovation of
downtown Eugene.
The unfortunate direction on the table
will outweigh the 40-year scars of urban
renewal.
• Wasting the existing City Hall
building, discarding at least $40 million of
equity, spending $11 million to replace it
with a smaller version. Total: $51 million.
• Leasing space at $1.2 million a year
for 10 years ($12 million) to support
developers. Total: $63 million.
• The city’s goals for a “zero energy
use building” ignore the value of energy
embedded in the existing structure and the
cost to demolish City Hall; this will take 40
years to recover.
• The “swap” is an attempt to circumvent
council ordinances and goals to promote
density and prohibit large downtown
on-grade parking lots, which is what is
proposed. The swap to benefi t the Farmers
Market is the circumvention “honey.”
The swap will move the courthouse off
“Courthouse Square” — not acceptable.
• We have met individually with
council members, mayor, manager and
commissioners with developed alternative
“swap” opportunities and have gotten the
famous “thank you very much” response.
See wkly.ws/1rt.
The current approach is a travesty, and a
waste of money and community resources.
It’s like council shopping for a new car —
we just don’t like the old one anymore.
VIEWPOINT
Councilors: Examine the math and
“real” total energy use (wasting is not
“green”), and promote density. We expect
and deserve much better.
Otto P. Poticha, FAIA
and seven colleagues
AN URBAN VILLAGE GREEN
I agree with Otto Poticha that tearing
down the existing City Hall doesn’t make
good dollars or energy sense. It turns out
that earthquake repair costs to the building
are actually modest and not prohibitive to
another lease on life.
But what I’d really regret is Eugene
missing its chance to build a strong, iconic
city-county center around a reclaimed
north Park Block. My constant and
consuming image is of a “green” urban-
village green becoming the vivid center of
Eugene civic life.
There would be adequate room
alongside the reclaimed Park Block
for the city and county to share space.
A remodeled Public Service Building
and County Courthouse building could
consolidate county and municipal courts
and the offi ces that serve them. The street
level of the remodeled buildings could be
opened out into the new public space, alive
with Farmers and Saturday markets and
other civic events.
The north end of the present butterfl y
lot, the part along 7th above the Skinner
donation, is the perfect site for a new City
Hall — or even perhaps some city-county
complex. The Park Block area beneath a
restored North Park Street is the perfect
site for a Farmers Market and Skinner
Market Square.
It is not too late to reconsider the
present path for City Hall. It is not too late
to rally around a civic North Park Block
renewal and build the green governmental
and market center that would make Eugene
proud.
Jerry Diethelm
Eugene
A MOVING PERFORMANCE
On opening night, the Oregon Bach
Festival under Matthews Halls offered
a glorious and astonishing performance
of the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 that
engaged me spiritually in a way I have
never experienced in a concert hall. Quite
an introduction to our new OBF artistic
director.
David Wade
Eugene
WRONG TO BLAME WOMEN
Annie Kayner’s letter [6/26] blaming
the UO basketball players’ sexual assault
on the victim is an important reminder of
how persistently many Americans continue
to blame women for being sexually
assaulted by men. The old “boys will be
boys” mantra is tragically alive and well
in America, including, apparently, Eugene.
This kind of victim blaming is
frighteningly similar to the practice in too
many other (backward) countries where
families disown and even kill female
relatives who are raped, absurdly claiming
Kristin Teigen, board president,
Oregon Chapter of the
National Organization for Women
(NOW)
NOT-SO-GREEN PIPES
In the land of no plastic bags and
5-cent paper bags, it seems odd that non-
biodegradable glass pipes containing silver
nitrate and gold chloride are idolized in our
“New Economy” (“The Glass Menagerie,”
BY CH A RL E S S T E WA R T
A Highly Flawed Plan
STOP THE SEAVEY LOOP INDUSTRIAL ZONE
I
n an urban growth boundary expansion, the city
of Springfi eld is studying location of a 362-
acre industrial zone on Seavey Loop. This plan
threatens farms, businesses, residences, property
values, species, public recreation, sustainable
development and a way of life at the gateway to Mount
Pisgah.
Local residents have launched a website
NoIndustrialPisgah.org to campaign against this
destructive and expensive plan. I urge Eugene Weekly
readers to immediately tell Springfi eld City Council
(mayor@springfi eld-or.gov)
and
Lane
County
commissioners (Faye.Stewart@co.lane.or.us) to stop the
Seavey Loop Industrial Zone because it is:
Not compatible with agriculture.
• The zone would degrade local food security by
removing farmland. It would generate noise, light, air,
water and soil pollution, with additional risk during
construction and fl oods. It would be disastrous for horse
farm and cattle operations. Emissions and reduction
of habitat could also harm bees and other pollinators,
making farming diffi cult.
• The stormwater would drain into the Oxley Slough,
polluting the water source for many farms.
• The concerns regarding air, water and soil pollution
are real. One nearby company planning to expand was
4
it is their fault, their shame. Surely we are
more evolved than that?
If women are to be and feel safe in
our country, victim blaming must stop.
It’s wrong and dangerous, and it lets men
off the hook for unacceptable, anti-social,
harmful behaviors that are rightfully
against the law.
Asking women to avoid dangerous men
by walking a different sidewalk, taking
a class that meets at a different time or
wearing a different dress is not at all the
answer. Put simply, women should not be
asked to change their lives to prevent men
from sexually assaulting them. Period.
Instead, we as a society need to let boys
and men know — loudly, clearly and often
— that THEY are responsible for their own
actions and THEY will be held accountable
for them.
So thank you, Annie, for this important
reminder of how far we have to go in
America (and Eugene) to create a culture
where men are expected not to rape rather
than to rape, and where female victims of
male sexual violence are just that: tragic
victims, plain and simple.
July 10, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com
recently fi ned $147,788 by the Environmental Protection
Agency for excessive emissions of the toxic substance
xylene in violation of the Clean Air Act.
• The zone would spoil Seavey Loop as a location for
U-pick and on-farm sales. Customers will not buy farm-
fresh food across the street from industry.
Not compatible with residences. The area has more
than 600 homes. Many would be severely affected by
noise and light pollution. Any groundwater pollution
would be disastrous since most of the homes are on
wells.
Not compatible with the park. Seavey Loop is the
sole urban gateway to Mount Pisgah. The zone would
deface this gateway by extending 30th Avenue, rezoning
farmland for industry along one side of Seavey Loop
Road, and placing a large wastewater station at the
corner with Franklin. It would also disrupt land use on
the remaining farms.
Harmful to species and ecosystems. The runoff will
impact the Oxley Slough and Coast Fork Willamette
River, which are essential salmonid habitats. Millions
are being spent at the Willamette Confl uence and Turtle
Flats to restore habitat. Critical species confi rmed at
the Oxley Slough in the past 15 months include the
Western painted turtle and the Western pond turtle. Their
ecosystem will be inundated.
Not economical or feasible.
• The city’s own analysis says the area has poor
public safety (worst access for police), poor fi re and
life safety (cannot be served at the urban level even
with a new fi re station), questionable infrastructure
(wastewater, transportation and stormwater services
“may be feasible”) and fl ood plain issues.
• The zone would cost over $76 million not including
police or fi re services or works at I-5 (water facilities —
$21.5 million, extension of 30th Avenue — $8 million,
reconfi guration of Seavey Loop — $1 million, Hwy. 58
intersection — $1.5 million, internal roads and water —
$34.5 million, etc.).
Not compatible with safe transport. Pedestrian and
bicycle connections to Mount Pisgah will enable safe
commutes and carbon-free recreation for thousands.
Millions have been invested to expand the Ridgeline
Trail System to LCC. The industrial zone would impede
the critical fi nal connections linking to the park.
The worst possible location. Seavey Loop is the
worst location for industrial development in terms of
the economic, social and environmental consequences.
It has dozens of farms large and small that supply local
markets, hundreds of residences and a fragile ecosystem,
and it is the entrance to Lane County’s largest park.
Please exercise your democratic rights today. Public
comment is 24/7, 365 days a year. The above reasons are
considered just cause under Oregon law, and your voice
will make a difference. Thank you.
Charles Stewart owns certifi ed organic agricultural land on
Seavey Loop Road. Different farm businesses on that property
produce fruits and vegetables, honey, bamboo and seeds.