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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2016)
LET TERS INNOVATION HUB I am writing in support of the amazing opportunity for growth, sustainability, shared art and contribution in downtown Eugene: a proposal for the redevelopment of the old LCC downtown center into an Innovation Hub, to be funded through an extension of Urban Renewal. This decision currently stands at the feet of our Eugene City Council. This building can be reborn into an arts and high-technology hub ready to be embraced and fulfilled by a multifaceted, multi-talented community. Innovation Hub is a continuing opportunity for shared creative art, new job opportunities and an overall supportive ecology productively thriving in a centralized urban space. The Innovation Hub proposal offers centralized services, labs where biotech entrepreneurs can incubate ideas, an exhibition performance space for dance, music and theater, allowing an intimate and professional experience for an audience, etc. Eugene arts desperately need the community gathering space and classroom-studio workspace to cross- inspire and allow collaboration between makers, artists and educators, high-quality urban childcare and engagement, food production and bicycle-commuter garages. These are all incorporated in this proposal. HOT AIR SOCIETY A public hearing on Urban Renewal is 7:30 pm May 23. Attend and invite others to attend. City Council meetings are held in Harris Hall on 125 E. 8th Avenue. Angela Dunham Eugene COW MOTHERS Last Mother’s Day, May 8, many of us celebrated the powerful bond between mother and child. Tragically, the worldwide symbols of motherhood — dairy cows — never get to see or nurture their babies. Newborn calves are torn from their mothers at birth, so we can seize and drink the milk that mother cows produce for them. The powerless, distraught mothers bellow for days, hoping in vain for their babies’ return. The babies are kept alive elsewhere, to soon become veal cutlets. Dairy cows spend their lives on a concrete floor, chained, with no outdoor access. To maintain their milk flow, they are artificially impregnated each year. Around four years of age, their milk production drops and they are turned into hamburgers. Let’s honor motherhood and our natural compassion by refusing to subsidize cruelties of the dairy industry. Let’s replace cow’s milk and its products, laden with fat and cholesterol, with delicious, healthful, cruelty-free nut or soy-based milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream offered K, you won’t read this until after the Oregon primary results are in, and I’m submitting these notes on the Monday before the election. As I’ve mentioned before, turnout in Oregon’s primary will be another opportunity to read the tea leaves in this sci-fi political year as we move toward November. Are we Nationalists or Socialists? Demographics count (so to speak). Who and how many will Trump draw in the Republican primary? Are they first-time voters or first-time Republicans? Is there significant Hillary “fatigue” with Dems? Will zealots still “feel the Bern”? How will women vote? Students? Minorities? To find out the answer to these deep philosophical political questions, dear reader, I must confess — I dressed up like a Republican and headed out to a coastal golf course. When it comes to golf, my theme song is “I Scare Myself!” by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks. But I never imagined that last week I’d be standing at the tee of the 13th hole smokin’ a doobie with a Republican who not only thinks Donald Trump has a fightin’ chance of being president, but who also believes that Hillary Clinton is a war criminal for shutting off her cell phone and abandoning our U.S. embassy in Benghazi — seriously! Even now, I’m still not sure this whole scene actually happened! But I was there, so technically I guess it did. That’s probably why we were smokin’ the doobie in the first place. I vaguely remember that we were doing serious social research on the beneficial aspects of sativa versus indica as the preferred sub-species of marijuana as it benefitted our personal golf skills. By the second toke on the 16th hole, I proposed a PR-golf school ponzi marijuana scheme that, even in sober retrospect, might have some legs. 4 May 19, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com PEOPLE’S RIGHTS Earlier this month, the hearing to decide the fate of a “Right of Local Community Self-Government” charter amendment was postponed and rescheduled for May 24. Please help us pack the courtroom as Ann Kneeland, lead attorney for the initiative’s chief petitioners, argues the case to protect our right to the initiative process. She will stress that the courts do not possess the power to interfere with the people’s right to pass local laws until after the laws have passed. Judge Charles Carlson will make a decision that will affect our constitutional right to write and pass laws that seek to protect residents from corporate harms. Join us 9 am Tuesday, May 24, in Courtroom 303, Lane County Circuit Court, 125 E. 8th Ave., as a crucial component of our democratic process goes on trial. To learn more about local efforts to elevate the rights of people and nature over corporate “rights” and privileges, check out communityrightslanecounty.org. John Herberg Eugene DISGRACEFUL ENDORSEMENT “Community activist” Carmen Urbina officially endorsed Republican Mike Clark for mayor. She is featured in his mailers and on his website. Urbina tells us that one of the reasons she has endorsed Clark is that he’s not “condescending” in “difficult conversations.” While that’s a tremendously weak reason to endorse someone, it was also an interesting term to choose. I had one short conversation with Urbina several years ago and that’s exactly the word I would have chosen to describe her in that interaction. She also tells us that: “I’m a Democrat, but when it comes to the city, it’s about the person.” What the hell does that mean? I’m by no means implying that someone should vote for a candidate only based on party affiliation, but you certainly shouldn’t support someone because of personality either. Does Carmen know that Clark opposed paid family sick leave? Does she know that he has opposed a living wage? Does she know that he has opposed countless environmental protection measures and programs to help the homeless and underprivileged? Does she know he is a champion of right-wing trickle-down economics? The next endorsement Carmen makes, she can now officially list “right-wing tool” next to “community activist.” If she BY TON Y CORCOR A N You Gotta Like Republicans … for Now! O in every grocery store. Mother cows and our own bodies will thank us. Edward Newland Springfield Sharing a golf cart in this meditative state with my new Republican BFF caused me to reflect on how 25 years has changed the tone of partisan political discourse in our state. For longtime readers who are aghast that I could speak nicely about Republicans, let me remind you — I was the minority whip in my House and Senate caucus in each of my five sessions in the Legislature. In order to count votes, one needs to talk to the other side and trust the result, whether you agreed with it or not. Republican house leaders like Ray Baum, Bob Repine and speaker Bev Clarno (who didn’t mind warning us that she had plenty of experience with sharp knives on her central Oregon sheep ranch — castration being a fairly new feminist threat at the time) treated us minority Dems with respect and a sense of humor. In the Oregon Senate we had a notorious bipartisan wrecking crew made up of Republicans Tom Hartung and Randy Miller and Democrats Ryan Deckert and Rick Metzger. We met regularly for beers. We called ourselves the Buttface Caucus, sadly named not after the popular amber ale at Salem’s Ram Brewery, but after Randy Miller himself. But the point is: We were polite. We never told him this to his face. And we had a rule that the first person who brought up an actual vote had to buy a round. We talked about our families, sports and those knuckle-dragging uncouth representatives of both parties in the other chamber. I reminded my new BFF that I knew and admired two local Republicans since I first met them back in the early 1990s, Dave Frohnmayer and Jack Roberts — genuine, smart, politically wise and funny men. Jack agreed to meet with me recently to discuss his termination as director of the Oregon Lottery. Ironically, it was a Democrat, John Kitzhaber, who offered Jack the job in 2013. Without getting into the murky details that led to Kate Brown’s decision to replace him, I asked Jack why he didn’t accept the governor’s offer to resign. His response was straightforward: “I served at the pleasure of the governor: If she’s not happy, I don’t serve.” Jack said he felt he had nothing to hide, no reason to resign, and he enjoyed his job. He’s a stand-up guy. I wished him best of luck in his next pursuit and told him how much I had appreciated his unsolicited letter of support for my PERS work back in 2003 that cost me my Senate seat. But enough sentimentality … November lurks. Nationalism vs. socialism might be the issue. Looking forward to the Republican convention. Stay tuned. Hey! Quit bogartin’ that joint! Fore! Tony Corcoran is a retired state employee and former state senator.
