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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2018)
LET TERS sexual harassment, as well as the coura- geous Parkland students and their support- ers who are actively rallying for saner and safer gun control laws — like Meg Murry, you are stronger than you know. Furthermore, how amusing to now read the novel’s memorable opening sentence — “It was a dark and stormy night” — as wry commentary on Trump’s tawdry porn-star affair wreaking havoc on the future of IT (Immoral, Ignorant, Ignoble Trump) and a presidency as insignificant and lackluster as a “wrinkle” in the fabric of Time. A dark and “stormy” night at the White House, indeed. Karen D. Myers Eugene APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION The letter from Jonathan Guske (3/15) was a nice bit of retroactive justification. “Safe injection sites” for drug users already exist. They are the homes, vehicles and backyards of those fellow users and com- munity members who are quite prepared to enable an addict in their self-destruction. It sounds like Guske already has an idea about the location of these proposed “of- ficially recognized” sites. Maybe the shut- tered houses of the previously functional families laid waste by the acquiescence to the widely accepted behavioral degeneracy that this “community” appears to condone and even embrace. Mr. Guske, want to up the ante of this vile game of servitude to vice and promote prostitution and child abuse at these “sites” as well? Sounds like a great location to lure a previously rehabilitated wife and mother off for some “nurturing,” and may- be a referral to a pre-Oregon Country Fair “barbecue” to be dutifully advised to leave their devoted husband because they just don’t need a “square” who’s never done hard drugs in his life to be interfering with “who you really want to be.” Might as well throw in a childcare room at the site, complete with a stuffed bear in a sweater named Jonathan to cuddle with while mommy is being “nurtured” in a back room. I see your “safe site” plan, Guske, and raise you a solution. Raymond William Colby Eugene VIEWPOINT THE NUCLEAR OPTION TIME OUT OF JOINT Ava DuVernay, the talented director of the just released movie version of Made- leine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (see EW review 3/15), described the experience of reading this classic of children’s literature as opening “the door to an act of love, a B Y B O B WA R R E N Pearl Street Sand and Gravel STARTING TO MISS THAT OLD CITY HALL I t’s been five years since the Eugene City Council tore down the Eugene City Hall for no apparent reason. Heading south on Pearl Street from 7th Avenue, you are treated to one of the ugliest sights in Eugene: one full city block of gravel, surrounded by a chain link fence. From a historic building, and functioning City Hall, to what looks like an open pit gravel mine in the heart of our city. Welcome to Eugene. It’s like the bad old days of urban renewal, when Eugene took the bait and cut the heart out of Eugene. This time around, the council tore down a piece of Eugene’s history and replaced it with nothing. It makes me mad every time I pass by it. When I was a kid, growing up in the San Fernando Valley, empty lots were cool things. They were remnants of farms and orchards that got eaten up by the paving of paradise by land developers. They were great places to play, to ride our bikes, build forts and catch lizards and snakes. The gravel pit on Pearl is not like that. It’s a chain link fenced wasteland that takes ugly to a new level, and it’s now five years old and counting. Is there any chance the City Council will get off of the dime and make some deci- sions on this in my lifetime? I am starting to wonder. Another five years? Another 10 years? The council seems unable to grapple with the complicated scenario they themselves created involving land exchanges and/or purchases, partnerships with other entities and even lawsuits against the descendants of Eugene Skinner. 4 pathway through darkness, a call to action and an ode to those who are stronger than they know.” DuVernay’s high praise of L’Engle’s novel could also apply to the women and men called to action to march since January 2017 for a pathway through darkness for immigrant and women’s rights and against Pete Kuntz’s letter “Carbonization So- lutions” (3/15) ignores the fact that all our food is made of carbon and is produced, transported and refrigerated with energy from fossil fuels. A tax on carbon is a di- rect tax on food production, which means more hunger and a higher cost of living. The correct way to get cheaper, cleaner energy is to ban all biofuel production, which is eroding our topsoil, increasing air and water pollution, killing off our friends the bees and keeping food prices artificial- ly high. By reducing the cost of food, we can reduce food stamp use and thus lower budget deficits. We should end all mandates and subsi- March 29, 2018 • eugeneweekly.com Since there is not going to be anything permanent there anytime soon, why not do something with the gravel pit in the meantime? And I mean anything. Because anything would be better than what we have now. How about using it as a com- munity garden? Or a home for an expanded farmers' market? A food cart mall? A city park? Or lease it to a non-profit for a use that would benefit the community? Anything would be better than the gravel pit on Pearl. I have to admit to being one of those people who did not appreciate the old City Hall. I thought it was ugly and uninviting to the public. I now miss the old City Hall. I have nostalgic memories of the place. I attended dozens of hearings and meetings in the old council chambers, including Jim Weaver’s lively wilderness hearings in the 1970s, with log trucks circling the entire block. I would much prefer log trucks to a chain link fence. I spent a year working in the 911 Center when it was located there, and spent lunch breaks on that wonderful pedestrian bridge over Pearl Street. Those memories and many more were obliterated by the wrecking ball that replaced a restorable City Hall with a desolate gravel pit. I don’t necessarily support either of the public auditor measures. But I am not against them. However, if I were an elected auditor advocate, I would think of the gravel pit on Pearl as the poster child for the campaign: If they could screw this up so badly, what else have they swept under the rug? How about the Multi-unit Prop- erty Tax Exemption (MUPTE) program? How badly did the country bumpkins get taken by the city slickers from Capstone? I always assumed there would be a renovation fix to the appearance and func- tionality of the old City Hall. There were credible architects in this community who advocated saving it and renovating it with seismic upgrades — all for less money than building a new one. Why were they ignored? Why the rush to tear it down when there was nothing to replace it? The one positive thing I can say about the council’s gravel pit on Pearl is, at least it’s not a hole. Bob Warren retired in 2012 as the regional business development officer for Business Oregon for Lane, Lincoln, Linn and Benton counties.
