• 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.”