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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2014)
LET TERS food system looks like, over self-serving decisions made by corporate executives who don’t even live here. For more information, visit LocalFoodRights.com. Michelle Holman Deadwood bring the businesses down to the “buskers and panhandlers” level, Valkyrie should try to bring the buskers and panhandlers up out of the rut they have dug themselves into and to help them become productive members of society like the rest of us. Beau Johnson Springfield HELPING VULGAR BULLIES While there is no doubt Alley Valkyrie’s heart is in the right place [Viewpoint, 10/23], I find that it has been mislead and fooled. She has been an outspoken advocate of the homeless, who need a leader, but she is not leading them to any sort of long-term solution. Instead of finding a permanent solution (real jobs, real homes and useful help for the mentally ill), she chooses to demand that taxpayers provide public property so that they can live in tents. The only thing created was a large, dangerous and unsanitary camp that attracted more homeless people to the area, spread communicable disease, violence, drug use and was less attractive than a refugee camp. Now she wants to allow aggressive, vulgar bullies to loiter around businesses, driving customers away. I have given up on trying to take my family downtown. I have gotten in several near confrontations with these bullies because I stand up to them and call them on their low-class behavior. The so-called poetry reader Valkyrie refers to was not harmless, but like the rest of the Broadway loiterers, was very rude, interruptive and confrontational. Anyone who goes downtown with his or her family to have a nice afternoon or evening knows better. The businesses and police are only doing what needs to be done to save the businesses downtown and to keep the bullies in check. These folks are not the poor, downtrodden, weak victims of society. If Eugene wants to protect and encourage the cool downtown vibe, then it needs to encourage the folks to become productive members of society or to keep moving along. Maybe instead of trying to CELL TOWER INVASION The city of Eugene has legal footing but does it have the political will to protect neighborhoods from intrusive cell phone towers? Eugene’s telecommunications ordinance needs a major overhaul, and the city needs help. Eugeneans must let the City Council know that not one more residential neighborhood will be sacrificed. Neighborhoods have one at a time fought the siting of towers near their homes. It can be an expensive proposition — just ask the neighbors near the Oakway Golf Course AT&T site. There needs to be a comprehensive solution. Until this is done, Eugene should at least be utilizing its one protective provision — mandatory independent peer review of technical information at the expense of the applicant. This is not a comprehensive solution, but complying with its own code would be a good start. If I were a neighbor in the Oakway area or near the AT&T Rest Haven site on Willamette, I would be seeking restitution from the city for legal fees and wondering why my own attorneys didn’t raise this non-compliance issue for appeal purposes. City Council has tentatively set a work session on this issue. Radio frequency radiation is nobody’s friend and afflicts some, especially children, more than others. Mona Linstromberg Tidewater PEOPLE OVER PROFITS I was shocked when my co-worker told me he thought he was going to have to sell his house last summer to finance weekly chemotherapy for the life-threatening auto- Individuals Nourishing Community Since 1971 This Saturday, November 8th, 12pm to 4pm immune condition his son contracted as a grad student in Chile. Nearing retirement after 30-plus years as a project manager and IT professional, this would change his plans significantly. Turns out the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) covers his son’s expensive treatment. Now that’s good news! But it’s still not enough. We need a health care system that supports people when they are faced with catastrophic, expensive or chronic illness, not a system that forces people to lose their financial independence after a lifetime of public service. We need universal publicly funded health care that prioritizes people over profit. Every other industrialized country in the world has a form of health care that everyone pays into and provides for a healthier, stable society. What are we waiting for? Some say our health care system is number one, but studies show it costs more per person than in any other country, and is 37th in medical outcomes. We can do better. You shouldn’t have to sell your house to pay for health care! Patty Hine Eugene RAILROADS GETTING WORSE Several recent letters complaining about noise from railroads — I agree. Some 150 years ago, every city wanted the railroad to go through town. Now a lot people just want the railroads to go away. All complaints fall on deaf ears. The railroads spend most of their time, money and energy “hiding” behind federal statutes. And they have no interest in being a good citizen, contributing to society or doing any long-term planning to make this a great nation and a better place to live. Every other source of noise in society has done just the opposite — and for the most part is improving every year. While the railroads get worse and worse. What could the railroads do if they “came out of the closet” and stopped relying on the federal government? We would welcome them as member of society along with the airlines, trucking, shipping, etc. This is where the railroads belong. They do not belong inside of a bureaucracy. With modern technology and the cooperation of local citizens and authorities — the federal statutes and the federal bureaucrats could be done away with. I have been debating this subject with U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio since 2006. Pete’s position is that the railroads are a national resource — I agree — but they are also a national disaster by increase in medical costs by the noise and lack of sleep. It’s time for Pete and the RRs to wise up. Frank Skipton Springfield A FAILED SYSTEM I’m continually amazed at how our medical system fails to serve the people who need it the most. I’m very concerned about how we treat individuals with mental health disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar issues, psychosis, autism, depression, dementia, personality disorders — the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, many of these folks are homeless, live in poverty or just can’t get it together or afford the co- pays and high deductibles that come along with the cheaper insurance plans. Without proof of insurance, no hospital will take them except on an emergency basis. Emergency room visits are the most expensive way to provide care. Who pays? We all do through taxes and higher and higher insurance premiums. Think how much better care these folks would get and how much cheaper it would be for us if we all backed an “improved Medicare for all” health care program — there’d be far fewer ER visits, fewer 911 calls and, most importantly, these patients would be able to access quality referrals to the mental health services they need. Please call your state legislators and let them know we need to implement an “improved Medicare for all” program. Do this — now! Vicki Anderson Springfield Fall Tasting! 40 organic apple & pear varieties sundance kitchen indian spiced butternut squash soup & carrot flax muffins local & regional cheeses from fraga farms, cada dia, & vtopian tea from locally owned j-tea & regional metolius local cider & beer from 2 towns & oakshire elixirs from locally owned terra firma local ice cream from red wagon local chocolate confection from premrose locally roasted organic coffee from cafe mam local organic gourmet flavored nuts from nuts around the world 24th & Hilyard • 541-343-9142 • open daily 7am-11pm Local merchants, the heart of our community eugeneweekly.com • November 6, 2014 7
