LET TERS
STOP FAT HATING
As a therapist specializing in eating
disorders, I couldn’t help but jump at
the opportunity to respond to Amanda
Franca’s letter “Fat and Climate” Feb.
18 and redirect the conversation to the
issue of “fat” phobia in our culture. It is
disconcerting that body-positivity paired
with healthy sexuality could cause such
a sickly response. To directly equate our
growing climate crisis, capitalism and
pathological overconsumption with the
size of people’s bodies grossly undermines
a larger systemic and sociopolitical issue.
BMI is used as a reference point, not a be-
all-end-all indicator of someone’s health.
Sadly, the letter feeds stereotypes that
“fat people” are overconsumers, just eat
crap and are not socially conscious or
responsible. It appears that it is still PC
to degrade and slander people because of
their weight. There are too many young
people suffering from anorexia, bulimia,
orthorexia and binge eating disorders,
struggling to cope in a world so obsessed
with being thin at all costs that they
ultimately learn to hate whatever body
they are in.
Stop the fat-hating, ignorant, body-
shaming rhetoric. Take care of your body,
cherish it and love the skin you’re in.
Check out: feast-ed.org, haescommunity.
org and benourished.org.
Rebecca Rose
Eugene
CLARK’S VOTING RECORD
I attended the first mayoral candidate
forum, hosted by the Fairmount
neighbors, Feb. 16. Audience members
posed questions including asking how
candidates would address homelessness.
VIEWPOINT
Mayoral candidate Lucy Vinis, who
worked for ShelterCare, gave a thoughtful,
complete answer demonstrating her deep
compassion and understanding of the
causes of poverty and homelessness. She
laid out some concrete solutions for how
we might address this crisis.
She was followed by current City
Councilor Mike Clark. His response
struck me as lacking sincerity. He has
been known to change his tune based on
his audience. Of course many people are
very concerned about the safety, economic
and humanitarian issues associated with
homelessness. Mr. Clark’s lip service
to addressing these concerns does our
community a great disservice.
To give some examples: Clark voted
against the Bascom Village project
(November 2011), voted against exploring
potential sites for Opportunity Village
(November 2012) and voted against an
ordinance allowing temporary camping on
city property or at churches (September
2013). I encourage readers to thoroughly
explore his record.
Eugene’s next mayor must make
homelessness a top priority. It’s an issue
that affects us all, to some extent. No one
wants to see our homeless population
grow. There’s not a candidate in this race
who can say they’ve done more work to
tackle this challenge than Lucy Vinis.
Her advocacy and experience addressing
this pressing social and economic issue
make her uniquely qualified to bring our
community together and succeed.
Laurie Trieger
Eugene
UNRESPONSIVE COUNCIL
It’s unfortunate that someone resorted to a
destructive act to protest the closing of Kesey
Square. It’s understandable, though, because
city officials are notorious for ignoring
the will of the people, and the feeling of
powerlessness that comes from being
ignored can sometimes turn to anger and
cause people to vent in unproductive ways.
I gave up on speaking at the Eugene
City Council’s Monday night open mic
when I realized that nothing that people
said was being considered in the council’s
actions. It’s not just ordinary people that
our officials ignore, either. They also do
not heed the advice of the various citizen
commissions that they set up. For example,
the Eugene Human Rights Commission
has been trying for years to get the city
to decriminalize homelessness, with little
luck.
The proposed closing of Kesey Square
seems to be too well orchestrated to not
be a done deal. Shortly after Mayor Kitty
Piercy brought up the traveler problem
to give an excuse for closing the square,
our officials brought up the proposed
apartment building. Of course they gave
people the opportunity to contribute their
ideas, but too much money has already
gone into the planning of the apartments to
actually consider keeping the square.
At least the architects for the Kesey
apartments will know to specify extra
strong glass for the ground floor windows
and doors.
Steve Hiatt
Eugene
DENYING ACCESS
In recent days the city has been
destroying shelter and displacing unhoused
folks by building a permanent fence on
the north side of Washington-Jefferson
Park. The city of Eugene is dehumanizing
and harming our community members by
thwarting access to this temporary shelter.
This action is part of an intent, a decision,
by those in power, that unhoused folks do
not deserve shelter, do not deserve to sleep,
are not part of our community and are only
worth moving out of sight.
Actions such as these define our
community. It is not only the center of
our city (Kesey Square) that needs our
attention, dedication and defense, but
every corner that provides relief and safety
for the most vulnerable in our community.
I am glad to see my fellow humans
staying dry, protecting one another from
violence (interpersonal, vigilante and
police) and creating community. I am
proud to be in community with all folks
who use common and public spaces, from
dog-walkers to drug users, unhoused folks
to city officials, ballers to martial artists,
children to grandparents. You all bring me
much joy, and you are welcome to be a part
of my life any and every day.
Thomas Walker
Eugene
FARR’S BAD VOTES
With Order No. 14-05-13-05 on May 13,
2014, Pat Farr, Lane County commissioner
for District 4, North Eugene, cast the
only vote in favor of retaining contracts
for large commercial events in the North
Bottomlands (Emerald Meadows) of
Buford Park (Mount Pisgah) and against
giving the Large Events Task Force a year
to complete its work unimpeded. He also
voted against waiting until the Howard
Buford Recreation Area Master Plan could
be amended, with appropriate public input,
to reflect any “new policies that may be
BY DON GEN A SCI
Imagination Needed
SOLUTION TO KESEY SQUARE IS MAKING IT BETTER
I
am sorry to hear that the small square at Broadway and
Willamette will possibly be replaced by a commercial
building. Since this square is, I believe, the only hard-
surfaced square in Eugene’s downtown, it would seem a very
unfortunate decision. Most cities value and preserve their
public places.
An important value of an urban center is its social, political and
economic availability to all its citizens. Cities need places where
everyone can meet, discuss and learn from each other. It is hard to
conceive a successful town where there is no central public place
for citizens to gather.
The square in question is all that Eugene has been able to
manage, and now it is threatened by decisions that do not take into
consideration the needs of all Eugene citizens. If the square is not
as good as it could be, then make it better. Don’t destroy a valuable
place in the downtown for everyone, in order to benefit a few people.
In order to work well as a square there must be support from
adjacent businesses. Shops and restaurants should open directly
onto the square to activate it. Active squares that provide residents
reasons to use the square will stimulate a mix of people and much
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February 25, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
more usage.
Some of the blank walls adjacent to the square should be opened
up with windows and doors to encourage interaction with the square
and increase usage. The city with its shop-front program could help
defray the modest cost to building owners. This example in Eugene
demonstrates the importance of good government — to solve
problems with imagination and consideration for the welfare of the
whole community’s interests.
I understand some people think that the space is too small to be
viable as a square. This is nonsense. Squares are often quite small,
smaller than the square in question, and can still be attractive and
viable. Eugene might well someday make a larger square for the
downtown, but this does not make less valuable the existing central
square. It is fortunate that this place was set aside by previous city
governments to offer the opportunity to make Eugene a better place.
Please do not squander this opportunity. Imagine how to make it
better for all citizens of Eugene.
Donald Genasci is a professor of architecture and urban design at the University of Oregon
and principal of Donald B. Genasci & Associates Architecture and Urban Design.