LET TERS
A BETTER INVESTMENT
AN AUTHENTIC EDUCATION
I work with an organization that
delivers food to Eugeneans experiencing
homelessness, including those who sleep
in Washington Jefferson Park. The city of
Eugene just spent $67,000 to build fences
that push these individuals out of the park.
The reasons cited by the city have to do
with safety and health hazards. To respond:
• People without housing are at higher risk
of becoming victims of theft, assault and sexual
violence than those who have shelter. Also,
the overpass provides protection from the
elements, which reduces the already high risk
of health problems such as pneumonia. The
fences have made an already unsafe situation
for the campers even more dangerous.
• Sure, human waste, garbage and
needles have no place in a public park. But
with $67,000 to spend, wouldn’t public
restrooms, trash cans and sharps containers
be better (and cheaper) investments?
This fence project will not make
homelessness in Eugene go away. The only
thing that will is more shelter. The campers
are not in the park by choice. There is
literally no other place for them to go, and
now that they can’t sleep there anymore,
what options do they have left?
Christy Reynolds
Board President, Burrito Brigade
Eugene
Thank you, EW, for your education
issue Feb. 25. In particular, I commend
Amy Schneider and Daemion Lee. Amy
Schneider’s in-depth coverage of IP 28 is
an example of journalism of the highest
caliber. In order for our students to flourish
and get the attention they deserve, we must
hire more staff to reduce class sizes. We
need more counselors and nurses to help
our students, many of whom are living
in poverty. We need to create authentic,
project-based assessments and step
away from our obsession with expensive
high-stakes standardized testing, which
Daemion Lee highlighted in his excellent
interview with Jesse Hagopian.
Hagopian and Wayne Au, social justice
educators from Washington, recently led a
lively discussion on these topics to a crowd
of almost 160 people at a Community
Alliance for Public Education (CAPE)
event held at First Christian Church on
March 4. If you missed this, be sure to
attend another thought-provoking event
about reclaiming public education at 7 pm
Monday, March 28, at the UO Ford Alumni
Center where David Berliner, author of 50
Myths and Lies That Threaten America’s
Public Schools, will speak. As high-stakes
standardized testing season is upon us,
remember that public education was not
HOT AIR SOCIETY
NEW POLITICAL SILLY SEASON STARTS
K, enough about Oregon’s February legislative session. Nothing
happened except the minimum wage increased and Oregon banned
coal as an energy source. Democrats bragged about those issues and
about fixing Portland’s affordable housing crisis. In their press releases,
Republicans described February as “the most destructive month in
Oregon legislative history,” and predictably bragged about their obstruction and
attacked the “one-party” Democrats. Whatever. I’m still pissed that the Democrats
used a Trojan Horse bill to make Canis lupus a sacrificial lamb. Bad biology, governor.
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s get to the sexy, slimy and expensive
season of ballot measures and the May primary, followed possibly by the most
bizarre presidential race in U.S. history in November. It’s obviously too early to tell
whether either party will nominate at this point. As we get closer to Oregon’s May 17
primary, we may have a clearer picture. My focus will be the down-ticket effect of
the presidential race on the November general election here in Oregon. Whether it’s
Hillary or Bernie vs. Trump, Cruz, Rubio or Kasich, any combination could impact
turnout and the results of our governor’s race, our secretary of state race, and our
contested local legislative, County Commission, mayoral and City Council races.
Let’s say it’s Clinton vs. Trump. What would turnout look like? The key to
Democratic success in November is turnout, especially women and young voters.
Given that the top three contested campaigns in Oregon could involve women —
Hillary, Kate Brown in the governor’s race and (probably) Val Hoyle in the secretary
of state race, there shouldn’t be much of a gender problem — especially in the shadow
of Justice Scalia’s departure. I would hope students, as well as women, will see how
important it is to have the correct successor on the U.S. Supreme Court for the next
30 years. The fear that Donald Trump might get to make that call should help turnout
4
March 24, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
HISTORY OF OPPRESSION
The EW mission includes this phrase:
“We provide a voice for the oppressed and
dismissed, and support unfettered artistic
expression.” Seems like you applied the
second part of this rubric but ignored
the first, in allowing Ben Ricker’s anti-
Springfield hatchet job to appear March
10. With respect to Eugene, Springfield
has long been oppressed and dismissed.
To make amends, ask Camilla Mortensen
to write a story about the many times
Eugene business leaders have screwed
over Springfield, starting in the 1870s.
Alice Parman
Eugene
TAKING THE COMMONS
Am I the only one who thinks that
Eugene’s city planners are trying to do
to Kesey Square, and elsewhere, exactly
what Ammon Bundy and his lackeys tried
to do to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge?
Both groups want to take public property
and privatize it for “better” uses — that is,
more profitable uses, for exploitation by
private individuals or corporations. The
only difference seems to be that the illegal
group carried guns and wrapped itself in
a warped notion of patriotism, and the
other carries law books and wraps itself
in bureaucracy and even more blatantly
selfish and dishonest pragmatism. This is
not how the public well-being is served; it
should not be business as usual on behalf
of the already rich.
Michael E. Stamm
Eugene
CHASING THE HOMELESS
I read the letter by Vicki Webb March
17 and found myself in 100 percent
agreement. Criminalizing the homeless
by putting up fences, placing boulders
under overpasses where homeless have
tried to find shelter from the elements, just
shows what a lack of constructive thinking
governmental agencies display. If this
issue wasn’t so sad, it would almost be
humorous.
Given the image of city, county and
state bureaucracies running around
chasing the homeless from one area to
another — in the vain hope of doing what?
If the city spends $250,000 annually to
BY TON Y CORCOR A N
Radiant Art
is Back
O
always like this. Once upon a time and not
so long ago in classes with an appropriate
student-to-teacher ratio, teachers had the
freedom to educate our youth using creative,
meaningful assessment. Come listen, learn
and discuss how we can do better.
Laura Farrelly
Eugene
among young Democrats, independents and reasonable Republicans.
Hillary is no shoe-in; Bernie blindsided her in the Michigan primary. Combined
polls expected Hillary to win by a 20 percent margin, and predicted Bernie had only a
1 percent chance of victory. Nate Silver, editor of the polling website FiveThirtyEight,
called it “among the greatest polling errors in primary history.” He says pollsters
got the results wrong in part because they underestimated both student turnout and
student enthusiasm for Sanders. Also, no one predicted 62 percent of Democrat males
over 50 would vote for Bernie in that primary.
In Oregon, controversial ballot measures could have an effect on November’s
turnout. With minimum wage and anti-coal initiatives probably off the table, the
only legislative business left undone was the perennial issue of an inadequate state
tax system to support K-16 public education and programs for our most vulnerable
citizens. Our Oregon, a progressive network backed by public sector unions, is
circulating Initiative Petition 28, which would raise $2.6 billion for schools, health
care and senior services through a gross receipts tax that would only affect companies
with sales over $25 million. Even though Oregon ranks 11th lowest nationally in
corporate tax burden, the business lobby will fight hard. I smell a lot of money being
spent on both sides in that fight.
Speaking of money, one other initiative petition appears headed for the ballot, a
move by the grocers to privatize liquor sales in Oregon. Willamette Week recently
reported Albertson’s has already given the campaign $1.6 million, probably the most
ever spent in Oregon on a measure that hasn’t even collected the signatures needed to
qualify for the ballot. Crazy.
Speaking of crazy: How did Congressman DeFazio get so lucky? He might draw
Art “Radiate Me” Robinson as an opponent for the fourth consecutive time! Friggin’
Groundhog Day! Art only lost to Peter by a margin of 69 percent to 31 percent in
2012 and 2014. In 2010, Art got 44 percent of the vote, but that was only because it
was his first run and nobody knew how batshit crazy his views were on background
radiation and race.
This time Art has a primary opponent, Jo Rae Perkins, who finished fourth in a
five-way Republican primary for the 2014 U.S. Senate seat, losing to Monica Wehby
(remember her?). I want Art to win the Republican primary for the same reason I want
Trump to win his primary. Why? Because as comedian Ron White once said: “You
can’t fix stupid.” Voters of both parties know that. Stay tuned.
Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove is a former state senator and a recently retired state employee.