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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 14, 2015)
LET TERS Cronin doesn’t just bring a vital student perspective; he brings experience that matters. Whether it’s as chair of the LCC Budget Committee or organizing for local measures designed to hire more teachers and lower class sizes, Cronin understands the cost of the path we’ve put our kids on, and he has the vision, optimism and determination to make changes for the better. We desperately need change on the 4J School Board. Let’s give Cronin and his new ideas a chance. Kenneth Sergienko Eugene MARCOLA IN TROUBLE Men’s • Women’s Women’s Hayla Cavern or Leisa Annual Assorted colors. Narrow, medium, and wide widths available. CHANGE-MAKER I’m supporting a new face on the 4J School Board! Education in Oregon needs dollars to return our state to a higher level of learning for our children. I know Kevin Cronin and I believe he has the energy and ability to reverse our funding for schools and that is why I give him my vote! Every level of education needs a different approach, and businesses as well as families will see that Kevin can make the changes needed without fl at taxation! Ruth Duemler Eugene Men’s Hudson Sandal Sale $69.97 Reg. $98.00 Brown Oiled Medium (7–14 whole sizes) Wide (8–12 whole sizes) All women’s handbags on sale! Sale $89.97 Reg. $115.00 Clarks Trunk Show Fully adjustable. Heel strap can be removed to make into a slide. Saturday, May 16 Reps on site 10 AM–2 PM Clarks try-on giveaways include: movie tickets and coffee gift cards. Gift with every purchase —ALL DAY! believe in fit PAYING TRUE VALUE This is in response to Sam Porter’s letter [“Structural Injustice,” 4/30], regarding the low wages paid to farm workers. Immigrant workers send around $7 billion a year back to their families in Mexico. The $7.25 hourly wage they earn is approximately 10 times the amount they would make in Mexico for the same work. I, too, think it’s unfortunate that this situation exists, but for a different reason than does Porter. These workers are supposedly doing work that U.S. citizens would not undertake. If agribusiness corporations paid citizens for the true value of their labor, we would see plenty of willing workers. Food prices, however, would increase quite a bit. I would gladly pay more for food that is grown and harvested by U.S. citizens. Philip Ratcliff Salem Asian Food Market Now Featuring Middle Eastern Food & Vegetarian Items Including Vegetarian Seafood, Meat Substitutes & Snacks Asian Groceries Seaweed, rice, noodles, frozen products, deli, snacks, drinks, sauces, spices, produce, housewares, and more. Sushi & Asian deli take-out Woodfi eld Station SHOPPING CENTER 29TH AVENUE 5 OAK STREET Oregon PERS isn’t responsible for the loss of funding for school districts. Oregonians approved Measures 5 and 50 that reduced the property taxes allocated for schools. Before, school districts and other taxing districts increased property taxes to fund operations. Now, the tax burden for schools has shifted to Oregon’s General Fund revenues. Unfortunately, no provision was made to provide funding to cover the loss. The state government, relying on income tax receipts, is consumed by funding education. The Supreme Court declared the PERS COLA allocation scheme a “contractual impairment.” PERS is effectively off the table as a revenue source. The solution is obvious. Fix the fatal fl aws in Measures 5 and 50 by providing an additional revenue source dedicated to education. A sales tax, a net profi ts tax or some other revenue can refund the education budget. Vilifying and ridiculing public employees or wishing they’d just die already All Clarks on sale! Sunrise CELL TOWER PROBLEMS Crossfi re Church is trying to put a 75- foot cell tower in a residential neighborhood near daycare centers, schools and homes. The Crossfi re pastor took over the payments on the property at the end of 2012. At the cell tower pre-application meeting on January 2014, he told neighbors that the cell tower was the only way he could pay the mortgage. I found this disturbing. To me it seemed that the property was bought for its potential as a possible cell tower site and not a community church. You can’t have a community church when your neighbors are concerned about health risks, losses of property value, view and tranquility. Cell tower cooling equipment is noisy; sometimes even with this equipment there are fi res. In May 2014, the Eugene planners’ initial report found 10-plus pages of problems with a cell tower at the Crossfi re site, i.e. “the simulated mono-pine looks comical in the setting.” The Amazon Trail across from the site was developed with tax dollars and belongs to all of us. There will be a public hearing at 5:30 pm Wednesday, May 27, at Harris Hall, 125 E. 8th Ave. See FriendsofAmazonCreek.org. Cindy Allen Eugene www.sunriseasianfood.com M-Th 9am-7pm•F 9am-8pm•Sa 9am-7pm•Su 10am-6pm 70 W. 29th Ave. Eugene • 541-343-3295 - t e n gl u FIX THE BIGGER PROBLEM Truck Sale WILLAMETTE STREET It is a fact that the Marcola Elementary School is in horrible shape and we cannot continue to educate our children in that building. I have had trouble getting behind supporting the $7 million bond because of my intense distrust of the current superintendent. But like all the other 10 or more superintendents I have seen come and go in my 29 years with the Marcola School District as a parent, foster parent, cheerleader, critic, employee and volunteer, this one will also go, eventually. If it is with this feather in his cap, he can take it, but at least we will have a usable school and, as promised, a community center. Last year I was on the selection committee for a new superintendent and I was as excited about having Bill Watkins come on board as I was disappointed just a few months later, from personal experience. While he has made the positive changes he has boasted about, it was not his magic wand that allowed him to do so. It was the sacrifi ces of the staff, community and the last administration that kept our district afl oat during the recession, giving him a solid foundation to start from. It will be the people of this community and school staff that will keep working for the students, and maybe the superintendent will surprise me. But Marcola cannot survive without a new school; we won’t have a community if our kids are shipped to Springfi eld every day — which will also tax us. Ellen Furstner Marcola is not going to solve the problem. What we need is for our political and commentary class to fi nd legal, ethical and courageous solutions to the fi nancial problems of our schools. What other ideas do we have? Let’s fi nd some that are acceptable and don’t set one group against another. Gerry Merritt Eugene f r e eo ptio ns • vege tarian s g - f r iendly • no dairy • no m thank you for voting us eugene’s BEST THAI in eugene weekly’s best of eugene for six years in a row 2008–2014 serving you in two locations eugene springfield 1200 oak street 1410 mohawk blvd. 541.343.1230 541.505.8987 open seven days a week mon-fri: lunch 11am to 3pm dinner 4:30pm to 9pm springfield / 10pm eugene sat-sun: 12 noon to 9pm springfield / 10pm eugene w w w.tararinthai.com EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • MAY 14, 2015 7
