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.