The Shedd Institute
www.theshedd.org - 541.434.7000
Béla Fleck
Abigail
Washburn
Echo In
The Valley
Friday
Nov 24
out the
Check
eled
remod
newly- cer t Hall!
Con
J aq u a
Shedd
Theatricals
2017
your property out here? Do you think you
can still get another fir crop, or is it dawn-
ing on you that climate change droughts
and your soil-killing forest practices make
that a risky proposition?
Jan Nelson
Eugene
A FOOT IN THE STREET
Pedestrians have the right of way at in-
tersections not controlled by traffic signals.
If you stand on the curb or sidewalk,
you are not a pedestrian and cars are not
required to stop.
To cross the street, put a foot in the
street. Cars are required to stop when you
do this. Oregon drivers should be ticketed
often for not observing this law.
That covers it.
S. Lea Jones
Eugene
CITY NEEDS ACCOUNTABILITY
CityAccountability.org gathered 5,000
extra signatures within the 100 days al-
lowed to put an elected independent audi-
tor measure on the May 2018 ballot.
Obviously, people from all political
persuasions think this is an idea whose
time has come. There were numerous city
rules and codes to meet in achieving this
goal. If not met, the petition would auto-
matically have been thrown out. City Ac-
countability did meet those challenges, but
the city itself did not.
According to city code 2.980, they had
20 days to “present” the completed petition
to the council after it was certified by the
city recorder. On day 22, the city attorney
included something(?) about it in a memo
in a packet to councilors — not exactly a
presentation or in time to meet the city’s
own code requirements.
I asked councilors at the Nov. 13
meeting where the accountability for this
breach of code rules lies, and what are the
penalties associated with it? I received no
answers from the mayor, the city manager
or the city attorney. Do they even care? It
doesn’t appear that they do.
Short of suing the city, what can citi-
zens do about it? To me, this illustrates
again just how much we need some chang-
es at city hall.
Here is one more reason to pass the
city charter changes in May, allowing us
to elect an independent auditor in Decem-
ber 2018, bringing some transparency and
accountability to how Eugene city govern-
ment functions.
Robin Bloomgarden
Eugene
ATTACK ON OREGON
HEALTH CARE
Oregon Legislators passed a law this
year (predominantly by Democrats) asking
for a 1.5 percent assessment on insurance
companies and hospital providers to obtain
revenue which would be matched by the
federal government to provide health care
coverage for Medicaid patients in Ore-
gon. Without this revenue, about 350,000
Oregonians could lose coverage.
The legislation was passed with the in-
put of all concerned parties. and it’s impor-
tant to note that every health care delivery
organization supports this legislation, in-
cluding the Oregon Association of Hospi-
tals and Health Systems.
Who then would want to overturn this
legislation? Well, Republican state reps.
Julie Parrish, Cedric Hayden and Sal Es-
quival would, joined by Rep. Knute Buel-
ler. They have gathered signatures to place
this on the ballet Jan. 23, 2018. In essence,
it’s a smaller version of what the Repub-
licans in Congress are doing — repeal of
health care coverage.
Their claim is that this assessment
would only be passed on down; we’ve
heard that old tune before. That claim reeks
strongly of the anti-tax, anti-government,
Tea Party forces.
Get ready for tons of slick and glossy
mailers funded by the Koch Bros Freedom-
Works, Tea Party backers and millionaires
who don’t like health care for anyone but
themselves.
Zenia Liebman
Junction City
Singin' In
The Rain
December 1-17
A Jazz Kings Christmas at The Shedd 2017
The Brockett
Family
An Old-Fashioned
Christmas
Wed, Dec 6, 7:30 pm
Sun, Dec 10, 3:00 pm
Tue, Dec 12 Corvallis
Wed, Dec 13 Florence
eugeneweekly.com • November 22, 2017
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