Falafel of Eugene is planning to join
Wrap City at Kesey Square, says Kim Still
of Saturday Market. Saturday Market
contracts with the city to administer the
food cart program at Kesey Square and on
the Park Blocks. “We are actively seeking
a couple more carts to add back in to the
plaza food pod,” Still says. “Unfortunately
we are not able to permit food trucks in
that area, just carts.” Contact the market
office at 686-8885, ext. 102.
Will Leather Goods now has a retail
outlet at the 5th Street Public Market. The
store is in a “reimagined vintage freight
car” in the parking lot of the market,
adjacent to the Inn at the 5th hotel. The
Eugene-based company makes hand-
crafted leather bags and accessories.
CEO and creative director is William Adler,
who has lived in Eugene for the past 15
years. Adler also designed the interior
of the new store, drawing inspiration,
he says, from Oregon’s rich history and
natural landscape. Local craftsmen from
Back Forty Woods built the interior using
locally sourced Douglas fir walls and
reclaimed beams. Call 246-8650.
The Eugene-based nonprofit Next
Generation Nepal (NGN) also has offices
in Kathmandu and is working with
Nepal government agencies and NGOs
in the regions where children are at
most risk of exploitation, according to a
press release from Sarah Charlesworth,
a development associate with the
organization. NGN is “deeply concerned
that the Nepal earthquake is going to
lead to a sharp increase in children being
trafficked or displaced to ‘orphanages,’”
Charlesworth says. She advises against
sending money to so-called children’s
homes in Kathmandu. Instead, donate
to reputable nonprofits, such as UNICEF
Nepal or the Umbrella Foundation. See
nextgenerationnepal.com or call 912-5432.
The Eugene Scottish Festival is 10
am to 5 pm Saturday, May 23, at the
Irving Grange, 1011 Irvington Drive in the
Santa Clara area. The Scottish Festival is
run by a nonprofit organization and the
annual event is sponsored by Bi-Mart,
Springfield Creamery, Eugene Weekly
and Bob’s Red Mill. It’s a family event —
alcohol — but vendors are welcome to
apply. Suggested donation of $5 plus a
can of food. See eugenescottishfestival.
com for a schedule.
POLLUTION UPDATE
The DEQ has again fined Christopher Bartels for
violating environmental law at the slaughterhouse
he operates on Central Road, this time for violations
of monitoring and reporting requirements. DEQ
fined Bartels $30,147 on May 7 for failing to
perform required monitoring of slaughterhouse
wastewater in 2013, and for trying to pass off 2012
monitoring results as having been collected in
2013. Bartels has 20 days to request a hearing on
the fine, and based on past history between DEQ
and Bartels, he will request a hearing and DEQ will
reduce the fine. Visit goo.gl/tvJvU6 for information
on some of Bartels’ past violations.
— Doug Quirke/
Oregon Clean Water Action Project
8
May 21, 2015 • eugeneweekly.com
SHELL NO! ENVIRO ADVOCATES WHITEAKER BUSINESSES
SAY NO TO ARCTIC DRILLING
LOOKING FOR NEW HOMES
AFTER LANDLORD DEBACLE
#ShellNo, #YouShellNotPass, #PaddleinSeattle.
The hashtags were fun, but the protests May 16-18 in Seattle
disputing Shell oil’s plans for Arctic drilling were calling
attention to a serious issue — Big Oil and global climate
change. The Obama administration gave conditional approval
for Shell to drill in the Arctic earlier this month.
Shell protesters included well-known environmental groups
such as Greenpeace and 350.org, grassroots organizations such
as Rising Tide as well as indigenous peoples. Activists con-
verged upon Seattle and Puget Sound for three days of pro-
tests, which included sur-
rounding the behemoth
Polar Pioneer drilling rig
with kayaks and canoes
(kayaktivists), rallies and
marches.
Lauren Regan of Eu-
gene-based Civil Liberties
Defense Center traveled
to Seattle to provide legal
support and know-your-
rights training, though
she says no arrests were
made.
IMAGE COURTESY SHELLNO.ORG
Activists say they are
worried about the potential
for spills and accidents in
pristine icy Alaskan waters, and even more concerned that the
drilling is set for the already melting Arctic. Many cite a study
in the January issue of the journal Nature that says “to keep the
climate somewhat safe and relatively stable, 82 percent of the
world’s coal reserves, half of all natural gas, and every drop of
Arctic oil must be left in the ground.”
Port of Seattle commissioners approved Royal Dutch Shell’s
presence in January, but the mayor and the city council have
opposed it. Regan says the mayor participated in the kayak
protest. Regan herself kayaked to the base of the massive Polar
Pioneer and says it was “nauseating to see how humongous it
was — it looks like something that could wreck civilizations.”
The Polar Pioneer will be loaded at the Port of Seattle’s
Terminal 5 — where protesters gathered and blockaded May
18.
According to media reports, the Seattle Department of
Planning and Development determined that Terminal 5 is not
permitted for oil equipment maintenance. Regan says the port
may be fined if it doesn’t acquire the proper permit.
Former Eugenean and current Seattle resident McKenzie
Funk points out in his May 18 New York Times Magazine
piece, “Shell Oil’s Cold Calculations for a Warming World,”
that the corporation’s previous attempt to find oil in the Arctic
was disastrous — the drilling rig Kulluk wrecked on its voyage
there. Funk writes that one of Shell’s planning scenarios shows
that “only when climatic chaos breaks out does society take it
seriously, and by then great damage has already been done.”
According to Funk, along with the Polar Pioneer, a drill
ship called the Noble Discoverer will attempt the 2,000-mile
journey to the Arctic. He writes that, previously, the Discoverer
“was at the center of eight felony pollution charges. Last month,
the vessel failed another Coast Guard inspection in Hawaii.”
Regan says CLDC has reached out to and worked with
several climate justice campaigns and cites Shell for its “history
of absolutely no qualms about destroying communities, the
environment and killing humans for profit.”
This past weekend was a “practice run,” Regan says. There
is a narrow window for Shell to get the rigs to the Arctic, she
says, and Rising Tide and others are committed to making
sure the rigs won’t make it to the Arctic Circle. — Camilla
Mortensen
Only a few months ago, EW noted in our Spring Chow issue
that Kore Kombucha owner Curtis Shimmen was opening a
kombucha taphouse in the Whiteaker neighborhood, serving a
variety of fermented drinks and foods, including kefir and kimchi.
Now, everything has changed.
“I put my blood, sweat and tears into that place, and all my
money,” Shimmen says. “I’m looking for another spot, but it’s
going to be difficult.”
Shimmen of the Kore Kombucha Taphouse and Ben Maude
of the Hard Times Distillery Tasting Room are both in need
of alternate buildings after city code violations and landlord
troubles made it impossible for them to carry on at their
previous side-by-side locations in the Whiteaker neighborhood.
According to city records filed in April, 543/547 Blair Blvd.
has operated as a retail space without a change of use permit
since 2005, making it in violation of city code. The property was
previously an auto repair shop and has served as an art gallery,
performance space and other businesses in the past 10 years.
KORE
KOMBUCHA
OWNER
CURTIS
SHIMMEN
Shimmen says that, in April, the city contacted him about
a separate code violation, informing him that his storefront
at 543 Blair Blvd., which he was leasing from landlord Glen
Fogelstrom, was not code compliant. Further investigation
found that the site needed two bathrooms in order to comply
with city code and qualify for his required licensing.
Shimmen says that according to estimates from potential
contractors, adding two bathrooms would cost around $27,000.
Though he did not have the money upfront to install the
bathrooms, he says he planned to work with Fogelstrom to
make the necessary modifications.
However, according to Shimmen, Fogelstrom evicted
Shimmen via voicemail on April 15 and allegedly broke their
two-year lease agreement.
EW spoke with Fogelstrom, but he requested he not be
involved in the story.
Maude says that Fogelstrom, who also owns the property
Maude was leasing at 547 Blair Blvd., next removed portable
bathrooms that made the Hard Times tasting room temporarily
legal. Maude says the city gave him 280 days to raise funds to
install permanent bathrooms.
After Fogelstrom refused to put the temporary bathrooms back
due to expense, Maude says, Fogelstrom asked Maude to leave.
Maude says that, prior to the evictions, he and Shimmen
were working to launch a fundraiser on Kickstarter and use
funds from an upcoming distillery fest at the Hult Center to
help offset the cost of the necessary modifications, which