LET TERS
KEEPING IT UNIQUE
Like many of my high school friends in
1980s Eugene, I couldn’t wait to explore
the world. So I did. I’ve lived everywhere
from Israel to Guatemala to New York
City.
Recently, my dad moved back to town,
so I visited for the fi rst time in ages. We
fl ew into Portland. On the drive down I felt
the hills closing in, that familiar feeling
of being trapped. Then we started coming
down 30th into South Eugene.
And … I loved being back. Picking up
a copy of EW reminded me about what’s
special about Eugene. I loved that the
end-of-year issue channeled community
interests in education, music and local
rivers. I loved the letter from the guy
complaining about being forced to sit
through religious indoctrination to get
a bed in a shelter (classic rant!). I loved
Jerry Diethelm’s visions for a better urban
environment. I loved that Eugeneans voted
to end cannabis prohibition.
I loved connecting with my friends who
have returned to Eugene. I loved seeing
that even as Eugene has grown, it’s kept
its soul.
Older and slightly wiser, I feel lucky to
have grown up here. Thanks for keeping it
uniquely Eugene.
Jonathan “Jonny” Goldstein
New York City
OBSCENE TAX BREAKS
Because the property tax I pay isn’t
enough, I pay an additional levy(s) for
street repair. Because the property tax I pay
MIC CHECK!
BY A R T BOL L M A N A ND T HE OCCUPY EUGENE LIBR A RY COMMIT T EE
Is This Eugene?
OE COMMITTEE CHALLENGES EUGENE’S SIDEWALK POLICY
A
s members of the Occupy Eugene
Library Committee, we want to correct
some of the disinformation that has
been circulating regarding the arrest of
one of our members who challenged
the city’s sidewalk privatization initiative.
We are a standing committee of Occupy Eugene.
Since the beginning of Occupy Eugene in 2011, we
have sponsored events of a cultural and educational
nature, such as book sales, speakers and literary
readings. We also share the traditional Occupy
commitments to the defense of public space and
of the First Amendment. Since last summer, these
commitments have made us turn our attention to
downtown. We do not like what we see.
Much of the vibrancy and diversity has been sucked
out of downtown. Street merchants and buskers have
been threatened with arrest and falsely told that they
need permits to vend or play music downtown. Kesey
Square was declared to be the property of food cart
vendors and not a public space for the arts. The city
removed benches and other places for people to sit.
More ominously, the city began urging business
owners to sign up for a constitutionally dubious
sidewalk vending permit that it claimed gave business
4
isn’t enough, I pay an additional levy(s)
for schools. Because the property tax I
pay isn’t enough, the Eugene City Council
wants to levy an additional bond to pay for
library services.
Yet they give millions in tax dollar
breaks to developers under the Multi-
Unit Tax Exemption Program (MUPTE).
Want an example? Keep in mind that this
project gets a half million dollars a year
in tax breaks while you watch the Hub on
Campus video tour [wkly.ws/1wq]. That’s
obscene.
They intend to continue this program.
Brian Obie’s development downtown
and the waterfront development project
are already in line with their hands out.
Tax breaks on some of the most valuable
property in the state?
If a project isn’t profi table, don’t build
it. And how will they determine profi t?
Suppose I’m a corporation making 20
percent profi t and I don’t qualify for a
MUPTE. I simply give myself a huge raise
in salary — bingo! Same income, but now
the corporation is only making 9 percent in
profi ts and it qualifi es.
To the City Council: Shame on you for
giving tax breaks to millionaires and then
asking the rest of us to pay more. As long
as you continue the MUPTE program, I
will vote against any and all measures that
will increase my taxes. I’m all for good
streets, education and the library, as long
as everyone is taxed equally.
Ted Chudy
Eugene
JANUARY 29, 2015 • EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
owners jurisdiction over the public sidewalks
bordering their businesses. Sizzle Pie responded to this
by threatening to press charges against a kid registering
people to vote. Another business owner added insult to
injury by putting up a sign proclaiming his block to be
“Little Portland.”
Our fi rst action to test this new situation took place
on Bloomsday, June 16. (Well actually, we did it a
day late. This is Eugene, after all.) We joined with the
world to recite James Joyce’s Ulysses in Kesey Square.
Several police offi cers pressured us to leave, but when
we stood our ground they acknowledged our right to
be there. The food cart owners have since taken care to
accommodate the rest of the public.
Our most recent action was designed to test the
city’s sidewalk privatization initiative. “Inspired” by
Barack Obama’s speech last September announcing
the resumption of the Iraq War, Art Bollman, one of
our members, held an impromptu reading of Rudyard
Kipling’s military poetry at 11 pm near a corner of
Sizzle Pie. Following policy, the Sizzle Pie employees
called the police. Following policy, the police arrested
Bollman. He spent 18 hours in jail for reciting Rudyard
Kipling in public.
Endless court decisions hold that policies such as
the city’s policy on sidewalks are unconstitutional. We
were more than willing to challenge the law in court.
However, when we publicly announced our intent to
do so, the city dropped the charges. Meanwhile, this
policy is still in place. The city lacks the confi dence to
defend its policies in court, but has the confi dence to
use them to arrest people.
Our elected offi cials are not the villains here. Nor are
the police. These policies have been crafted by a cabal
of unelected and unaccountable city administrators,
often without the consent or even knowledge of the
mayor or the Eugene City Council.
We do not like the results. First the unhoused, the
buskers and the street artists and craftspeople will
leave downtown. Then the people with disabilities
and senior citizens. Then the galleries and the offbeat
shops will leave. At best, downtown will be the home
to rich, out-of-state students, and the closest thing
to a cultural event will be a Ducks rally. We are left
wondering where, if anywhere, the area’s creative
energy will resettle. Or if it will evaporate, as it has in
many other cities.
A gentrifi ed, undiverse, philistine downtown might
be acceptable for some backwards city. Perhaps the
business owner was correct in renaming downtown
“Little Portland.”
Because this doesn’t seem like Eugene to us.
Art Bollman, primary author of this column, is a longtime activist, a
founding member of the OE Library Committee and an avid reader who
enjoys bringing literature to the people.