LET TERS
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
The Oregon Constitution (Article I
Section I) clearly states “all power is
inherent in the people.” It appears from
this article [5/26 “Access Denied”] that
“all power” has been shifted to government
employees and lobbyists, and the “people”
have been left out of the loop. Perhaps we
need to amend the state Constitution or
perhaps it’s time for a statewide initiative
transferring operation of the public records
and legal authority to an entity outside of
government and controlled by the people?
Freedom of the press is worthless
without access and without access an
“informed citizenry” is not possible.
Frank Skipton
Springfield
TIME TO TERMINATE
The city “says” it wants to build public
trust; it should start by “doing,” following
through on its vow to end the Downtown
Urban Renewal District (DTURD).
DTURD failed for 48 years after tens of
millions of invested public dollars and was
unsuccessful despite subsidies exceeding
the entire district’s taxable valuation.
After all this speculation, the real property
values have hardly increased.
HOT AIR SOCIETY
Don’t divert revenue from property
taxes paid to keep schools, parks, jails,
public safety and infrastructure vital. Don’t
privatize public resources for developers
by siphoning necessary funds away from
indispensable community, city and county
services.
Comply with your legislated, adopted
plan that states DTURD’s termination in
the 2010 amended text. Act in accordance
to the words of “terminate” in Section 100
and “shall terminate” in Sections 1200 and
1300 A.
Do not expand the district’s boundary
by 10 percent or increase your spending
capacity by $18.7 million beyond the $46.6
million limit. Terminate DTURD!
City staff suggested bonds and grants
that could pay for community-supported
projects that can expand the downtown’s
high-speed fiber network, redevelop the
old LCC building, improve space for the
Lane County Farmers Market and upgrade
Park Blocks/open spaces without DTURD.
The city needs to take ethical action and
terminate DTURD as previously agreed;
they’ll show their commitment to follow
through on their written words. By not
terminating, they’ll demonstrate even more
reasons of why the community cannot trust
he scene for Oregon’s November general election just got clearer with
the primary results. Although I haven’t seen detailed demographics, one
statewide fact sticks out: Democrats turned out; Republicans didn’t.
According to the Oregon secretary of state’s office, Dems turned out
more than 66 percent of their party members, while R’s turned out less
than 58 percent. Doesn’t sound like much of a margin until you consider that statewide
the D’s turned out more than 230,000 more voters than the R’s.
That imbalance was more extreme in Lane County, where Dems outperformed R
turnout by a two-to-one margin, 60 percent to 30 percent. This could be significant in
November.
The presidential primaries played out weirdly. Practically eliminated from the race
by the time he reached Oregon, Bernie correctly predicted he would win if turnout
was high. It was, and he won damn near a landslide, 56 percent to 43 percent. On the
Republican side, you could say Trump did win in a landslide — 64 percent of the
vote statewide. But the only other names on the ballot, Cruz and Kasich, had already
dropped out of the race! So less than two thirds of Oregon’s Republicans voted for the
Donald. That says something.
Primaries ended several races here locally. Lucy Vinis won the Eugene mayor’s
race by a margin that stunned everyone. Progressives were hoping for a November
runoff at best; instead she left Mike Clark and all his late money standing in the dust.
Progressives prevailed, and Kitty Piercy’s legacy as mayor is reinforced.
Democrat Julie Fahey ran a hard-fought race, defeating James Manning in the
House District 14 primary to replace Val Hoyle. It is easy to see why Manning received
a wide range of endorsements, as did Fahey. Both are great community contributors,
and I have high hopes we’ll see James Manning in a future elected position.
6
June 2, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
DELUSIONAL LIBERALS
That someone would choose to support
Hillary — or worse, Bernie — shows the
basic, ill-educated, uninformed, delusional
thinking liberal voters have.
Ian Curtis [5/5 Letters, “Join the
Revolution”] I’m glad you’re enthusiastic
about being part of America’s democratic
process, but you spell out precisely why
people below the age of 30 shouldn’t vote:
You haven’t lived or experienced enough
life to make a truly informed decision.
Being part of the video game generation
who screams for $15 an hour to work your
summer job — which should be a stepping
stone (not a career) — and for people to
hand you everything for free, teaches you
nothing about life and the hard work it
takes to be successful.
Liberals want to vilify the “evil,
corrupt 1 percent.” Yet, they fail to have
the fundamentals of how that undermines
America as a whole. You hate people for
working hard and being successful. You
point and blame them for your personal
failures. You say they are greedy. How
is it not greedy to steal their money to
supplement your failures? This is bass-
ackwards thinking.
Work a hard physical job, provide for
BY TON Y CORCOR A N
Of Corruption
and Conflict of
Interest
T
them. This decision is fundamental in
constructing an underlying foundation of
good relations.
It’s imperative that the city does the
right thing and not betray the public that
has voted 70 percent to 30 percent to
end DTURD. It’s time to create trust,
not demolish it further. The city can use
financially sensible means to fund the
worthwhile projects mentioned above. The
issue is about how the city can get creative
and obtain the money resources necessary
to support the four proposed downtown
projects in a responsible way.
Thank you Councilor Brown, Taylor and
Zelenka for keeping your word. Councilor
Poling, it would be a major mistake to
not stand by your word. Councilor Clark,
Evans, Syrett, Pryor and Poling — these
four projects need alternative funding
sources.
Keeping taxpayer’s dollars where
they are intended would be best for the
community’s interests in the long run.
Mayor Piercy, this is a pivotal moment
for the city. Support an end to DTURD as
promised!
Janet Bevirt
Eugene
Tough to watch Val Hoyle lose her primary for secretary of state. Late money
played a role in the campaigns of all three Democratic candidates, and the race broke
Brad Avakian’s way at the end by a margin of 4 percent. The presence of NARAL
in a three-way race between three pro-choice candidates was baffling, as was the
U.S. Humane Society attack on Val. Both of these organizations had no business in
this race, obviously they have more money than they need, and they were simply
punishing Val as majority leader for decisions made by Speaker Tina Kotek and the
House Dems during the past two sessions of the legislature.
Val will land on her feet — she is one tough lady. In fact, there she was Friday,
three days after the election, making a pitch at the Sponsors, Inc., annual fundraiser.
It will be easy for Democrats to rally around Avakian in November when they
consider whom the Republicans chose to run against him. Dennis Richardson — truly
the most arrogant man I ever served with in the legislature — sent Sid Leiken hikin’
by a four-to-one margin statewide; that’s not a landslide, that’s an asskicking.
Richardson campaigned as the guy who exposed Kitzhaber’s “corruption” and self-
describes himself as “incorruptible.” This is the guy who was known as Representative
TIAA KREF during the 2003 legislative session when we worked on PERS reform.
Richardson’s solution was to abolish PERS and give public employees a 401K
managed by none other than the aforementioned retirement plan he represented. Did
he declare a potential conflict of interest? Hell no.
Dennis Richardson once encouraged a Human Services Ways and Means
Committee to stop funding prenatal care for Oregon’s poor because, by golly, his wife
had nine children and she knew what to do after the first one. Seriously. So really, it
won’t be hard to rally around Avakian in this race.
But, enough about politics. Jeannie’s got me hooked on watching Game of
Thrones. (No imp jokes, please!) The plot is overwhelming: so many characters, so
many relationships. I’m just a simple country boy. For example, I’m confused: Will
all those inter-married queens and kings still be cousins after their divorces? … just
like in Cottage Grove?
Bad joke, I know. But being an orphan with no knowledge of my ancestry, genetics
is a crapshoot to me. I even sent my cheek swabs and some money to the National
friggin’ Geographic, only to find out I’m 87.837 Irish-English descent! No surprise
there. But I also discovered that I’m less Neanderthal percentage-wise than most of
my readers and friends had suspected. I plead the Fifth Amendment on disclosure of
the actual number. Stay tuned.
Tony Corcoran is a retired state employee and former state senator.