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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2017)
NEWS BY RACHAEL CARNES ‘We bring up to 115,000 pounds of organic fresh produce annually to the warehouse,’ — JEN ANONIA, FOOD FOR LANE COUNTY’S GARDENS PROGRAM MANAGER • What is “missing middle housing”? Is it missing in Eugene? And since it is, how do we remedy that? Those are the questions, and answers, Josh Skov and Kaarin Knudson laid out to the City Club of Eugene on June 9. The “missing middle” is the duplex, triplex, fourplex, courtyard apartment, bungalow, townhouse, multiplex and live-work arrangement. It is missing increasingly in Eugene, in part causing a crisis in affordability. The city can step up with code and zoning changes, plus incentivizing and showing examples. Councilors Alan Zelenka and Betty Taylor as well as Mayor Lucy Vinis all attended the meeting, which left us at that bottom line: How to make it profitable to build “missing middle” housing and how to raise incomes so our working people can afford it? • Kudos to the 29 Lane County residents who spoke out in support of sanctuary laws in front of the Lane County commissioners June 13. Commissioners Pat Farr and Pete Sorenson expressed their discontent with how slow the progress has moved along. While the language of a county sanctuary measure is still uncertain, the strong public showing of support is crucial to push county government towards adopting an inclusive and welcoming community for all immigrants. • Trump’s administration took on the climate kids and didn’t come out looking so good in this round. Eugene-based nonprofit Our Children’s Trust has a case, Juliana v. United States, against the federal government alleging that the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs — ages 9 to 21 — were violated by the government’s promotion of the production of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases. They argue this harms the climate, which the government has a legal responsibility to protect for the public good. On June 9 in Eugene, Judge Ann Aiken denied a Trump administration move to keep the lawsuit from going to trial. • As long as we’re talking about the climate, at 7:30 pm June 26 the Eugene City Council will decide whether to adopt the Eugene Transportation System Plan. According to Eugene’s own greenhouse-gas inventory, transportation accounts for one-third of community-wide emissions, Matt McRae of Our Children’s Trust tells us. He says, “Significantly greater investment in biking, walking and busing will be required in order to meet the City Council’s aggressive climate goals.” Now is the time to weigh in with your city councilor and ask them for a transportation ban that meets our community climate goals. YOUTH FARM PRIDES ITSELF ON ORGANICALLY GROWN VEGETABLES PHOTO: CREDIT FOOD FOR LANE COUNTY SHARING THE HARVEST FOOD for Lane County’s Community Garden Exchange S • We applaud the (relatively inexpensive) moves the city is making to make downtown more fun, such as the new eating deck in the Park Blocks and planned activities like movies and games. It’s a huge improvement over ticketing people for sitting on low walls and locking broken bicycles to planters so people can’t sit down. Two questions: Will the city do more to help the unhoused, who are clearly being pushed out by more recent moves like the dog ban? And why didn’t the city listen to all the local smart people who have advocated for improvements like outdoor seating? Local businessman Ali Emami has called for outdoor seating in Kesey Square for years, but local politics clearly needed the nudge from an outside consulting firm with its $160,000 fee. Maybe that was the only way to get to the right result this time. • What we’re reading: The Thing With Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human by Noah Strycker, the nationally known bird expert from Creswell (and full disclosure: Strycker is the son of EW Arts Editor Bob Keefer). It’s Strycker’s second book, published in 2014, and will be followed by a third this fall, Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World, about his “big year” birding around the world. We can hardly wait. His writing helps us fly away from our despair about Donald Trump. SL ANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHASING NOTES COMPILED BY THE EW EDITORIAL BOARD. HE ARD ANY GOOD RUMORS L ATELY? CONTAC T C AMILL A MORTENSEN AT 541-484-0519, EDITOR@EUGENEWEEKLY.COM ummer food means fun, right? Barbeques, picnics, leisurely dinners in the out- doors. But for many in our community — those struggling with food insecurity issues — summer can mean a long spell with little or no support. Fortunately, a network of vital local community programs helps to fill the need. One innovative program puts the community in community gardens. “At our Youth Farm, we have two produce stands in North Springfield (one at the farm on Flamingo Avenue, and the other at the Riverbend hospital) where we accept SNAP [Supple- mental Nutritional Assistance Program] benefits and match up to $10, and we accept Farm Direct Nutrition Program Vouchers for seniors and WIC [Women, Infants and Children] families and match up to $4,” says Jen Anonia, FOOD for Lane County’s Gardens program manager. “New this year, PeaceHealth is sponsoring our matching programs,” Anonia says. “And we also partner with the statewide Double-Up Food Bucks Program, through the Farmers Market Fund, to offer the $10 match to SNAP customers.” What this means is that people can use their food benefits to buy healthy, farm-grown local produce. Anonia also oversees a leadership program at the Youth Farm for low-income youth, who gain on-site leadership and job skills while learning how to farm and garden. “They learn about nutrition and how to assist in running the produce stands and our 100-member Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] program,” Anonia says. “And the youth access fresh produce from the farm for their households.” The Youth Farm prides itself on its organically grown vegetables, flowers and herbs, including many varieties of tomatoes (heirlooms, slicers, cherries and Romas), peppers (sweet, hot, frying, stuffing), basil, sunflowers, eggplant, cucumbers and more. “The CSA has a sliding scale to make it more affordable and also accepts SNAP ben- efits,” Anonia says. “A partnership with the Portland Area CSA Project also enables FOOD for Lane County to offer a matching program for up to $200 off, for CSA members who are new to CSAs and who use SNAP benefits.” And you needn’t be a youth or qualify or receive food benefits to share in the harvest. “Anyone who volunteers in our Gardens Program at GrassRoots and the Youth Farm is wel- come to share in the harvest,” Anonia says. “And at GrassRoots, volunteers work with staff to prepare a vegan lunch of garden produce during open garden days.” All the produce that isn’t distributed or sold from the two garden sites is brought to the FOOD for Lane County warehouse for its network of over 150 partner agencies. “We bring up to 115,000 pounds of organic fresh produce annually to the warehouse,” Anonia says. The produce stand at RiverBend Hospital runs from 2 to 6 pm Thursdays, and the pro- duce stand at the Youth Farm (705 Flamingo Avenue, Springfield) runs from 10 am to 2 pm Saturdays throughout the summer. For more information about FOOD for Lane County’s Garden Programs, visit foodforlanecounty.org. This is the second in a three-part series on how local nonprofits are helping neighbors to cope with food insecurity issues. 8 June 15, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
