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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2016)
• The Coalition to Reduce Elementary Level Class Size is hosting an organizing meeting from 6:30 to 8 pm Thursday, Feb. 25, at Edison Elementary School, 1328 E. 22nd Ave. Oscar Loureiro, director of research and planning at 4J, and Anne Marie Levis, 4J school board member, will join the meeting for a question and answer session. Find the event on Facebook. • Save Endangered Animals Oregon, working to pass a ballot measure to ban the trafficking in the parts and products of critically endangered animals, will be holding campaign rallies in Oregon. The Eugene rally will be at 6:30 pm Thursday, Feb. 25, at the LCC main campus, Building 4. • “Protest Art and the Art of Protest is an event from 7 to 9 pm Friday, Feb. 26, at the UO Global Scholars Hall, Room 130 on campus. The event focuses on the history and philosophy of protest art and includes group singing, theater, games, poetry and stencil making. Find more on Facebook. • Eugene City Council candidate Chris Wig will hold a “Coffee with Chris” informal gathering from 9 to 10:30 am Saturday, Feb. 27, at Friendly Street Cafe, 2757 Friendly Street. Supporters for the Ward 1 candidate will canvass the Friendly neighborhood after the gathering. • A free showing of the documentary Udita (Arise) will be at 7 pm Wednesday, March 2, at the McNail- Riley House, 601 W. 13th Ave. The film tracks women garment workers in Bangladesh. Sponsored by local labor organizations. • A mayoral candidate forum will be at 6 pm Thursday, March 3, at First Christian Church, 1166 Oak Street. Sponsored by Community Alliance of Lane County and other organizations. CALC will also hold a County Commission District 4 (North Eugene) candidate forum at 6 pm March 24, and a Eugene City Council Ward 1 candidate forum at 6 pm March 31, also at First Christian Church. LANE COUNTY AREA SPRAY SCHEDULE • Seneca Jones Timber Company LLC, 689-1011, plans to hire JR Helicopters, (509) 452-3300, to aerially spray 56.9 acres near Douglas Creek with glyphosate, atrazine, 2,4-D, clopyralid, hexazinone and/or Crosshair. See ODF notification 2016-781-02102, call Brian Peterson at 935- 2283 with questions. • Weyerhaeuser Company, 746-2511, plans to aerially spray 47.8 acres south of Marcola with glyphosate, atrazine, furoxypyr, 2,4-D, triclopyr, clopyralid, hexazinone, sulfometuron methyl, Crosshair, Foam Buster, No Foam, Epoleon N-100 and/or Grounded. See ODF notification 2016-771- 01666, call Brian Dally at 726-3588 with questions. • Union Pacific Railroad, (503) 249-3079, plans to spray 12 feet on each side of its tracks through Eugene beginning Feb. 15 with Accord XRP, Activator 90, Oust XP and Perspective, weather and train movement permitting. 8 February 25, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com MEDICINE OF THE WOLF BIJOU, UO LAW SCHOOL HOST ENVIRO FILM FEST The annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) comes to the University of Oregon March 3-6. For the first time in its 43-year history, PIELC has organized a film festival to preview the conference at the Bijou Art Cinemas Feb. 25. Films will also play as part of the conference itself. “Almost all the films have a panel accompaniment with people involved in the films,” says PIELC co-director, Emily Hajarizadeh. “We chose to incorporate film this year because every year we receive massive amounts of submissions for films, and we haven’t had a space to show them.” Hajarizadeh says adding the film festival is an attempt to reach out to the community in Eugene. The four-day conference, organized by volunteer student group Land Air Water, is one of a kind, Hajarizadeh says, because it’s free to the public. “We are the largest public interest law conference in the world.” Nick Cady of Cascadia Wildlands will introduce the film fest and update the audience on wolf issues in Oregon. The first film is Medicine of the Wolf. He says wolf conservation in Oregon “brings out a lot of passionate feelings, and the stories behind the species’ ongoing and inspiring recovery are truly incredible.” He adds, “There are many important policy and conservation decisions presently being made about the species’ future, so we are happy for the opportunity to give folks an update.” At the enviro law conference itself, Mari-Lynn Evans will be a keynote speaker. She directed Blood on the Mountain, an investigative documentary into the economic and environmental injustices that resulted from industrial control of coal mining. The film will play at 4 pm Saturday, March 5, and Evans’ keynote will be at noon the same day. One of the conference panels will host a coal miner from West Virginia, Nick Mullin, who was also a subject in the documentary. He will speak about how the mining industry has affected his community. PIELC organizers say they hope the film festival will help bridge the gap between activists, attorneys and the general population by creating a place for collaboration and discussion. “There’s a dichotomy between the professionals and wider community,” Hajarizadeh says. “The goal isn’t only to present in a way that is more personable but to provide a forum such as environmental attorneys to collaborate on these issue while also involving the public.” The film festival is asking for a $5-$10 sliding scale donation, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds. The conference is free to the public, but accepts donations as well. The festival will begin at 6 pm with Cady’s introduction, followed by Medicine of the Wolf at 6:05 pm, Blood Lions at 7:30 pm and The Breach at 9:15 pm at the Bijou Art Cinemas, 492 E. 13th Ave. PIELC will continue showing environmentally focused films at Straub Hall on the UO campus during the conference. See a full schedule at pielc.org. — Mohammed Alkhadher CITIZENS WANT PUBLIC SQUARE, COUNCIL WANTS ‘WIN-WIN’ The night of Monday, Feb. 22, was a moment many have been waiting for since October, when the city considered the private purchase of Kesey Square in a closed executive session: For the first time, the Eugene City Council publicly discussed Kesey Square, aka Broadway Plaza. The work session, and public forum that followed, illustrated a lingering divide between some of the city councilors and mayor and the requests from citizens to keep the square public. Several citizens suggested ways to improve the square like putting in a bike-share hub, painting the walls with murals or transforming the space into a leafy sanctuary. Jeff Geiger, a local writer and former grant writer and reviewer, volunteered to write community grants to improve the square. The session began when the city’s community development division manager Denny Braud introduced senior city planner Nan Laurence and her Kesey Square presentation. Braud told the council the presentation should “really inform your discussion.” Laurence’s brief presentation focused mostly on the buildings that had been on the site before it became a square in 1970, followed by a quick overview of urban design elements and proposals for the development of the square. Laurence did not mention the 1971 deed — a deed that states the square must be “forever dedicated to the use of the public” — when informing the council of the square’s historical context. When asked about this omission, as well as how long she has known about the deed, Laurence declined to comment. After Laurence’s presentation, councilors Betty Taylor and George Brown reaffirmed that they were “stunned” that the council would consider privatizing Kesey Square, especially after the deed discovery. While Councilor Chris Pryor said: “I don’t feel constrained by a deed that was done as part of building a failed mall.” Brown countered Pryor’s point, saying the deed was not an afterthought, but a deliberate decision by city officials in 1971. “I think this could possibly be a big time legal problem,” Brown said. Mayor Kitty Piercy said she wanted a win-win solution. Councilors Zelenka, Pryor, Poling, Syrett and Clark said they were unsure of what to do with Kesey Square but generally agreed with Piercy. (Councilor Evans was absent.) According to the mayor, a “win-win” scenario could consist of bringing together the 2E Broadway group — the group who wants to put moderate-income apartments on the square — with the proposals of Ali Emami — the owner of the buildings whose walls flank the square — that suggest opening the walls or adding housing on top of his buildings while leaving the square intact. In a Feb. 23 email, Piercy wrote: “I suggest we could keep the space for public use and build apartments up above the surrounding buildings if everyone would work together and be creative.”
