LET TERS
THE NIMBY VIEW?
POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN
Monica Kohl (“A Modest Propos-
al,” Letters, June 21) asks why allowing
unfettered ADUs (accessory dwelling
units) is such a terrible thing. Allow me (a
prospective homeowner) to answer:
Ms. Kohl, it’s because they have the
potential to impact my future home’s val-
ue and my quality of life, with increased
noise, traffic and parking issues negatively
affecting both. What benefits you, harms
me; it’s really that simple.
Now, if you were to propose reimburs-
ing me for my damages, then maybe we
could have a discussion. Thankfully, that
won’t be necessary as any property I buy
will have CC&Rs (covenants, conditions
and restrictions) prohibiting any ADUs and,
if necessary, I’d go to court to enforce them.
Likely others would do the same in
their own cases.
Steve Jenson
Eugene
I’d like to second the effort made by
T’ruah, Rabbi Ruhi, Rev. William Barber
and all the others that are participating in
the Poor People’s Campaign (“Taking It To
the Streets,” June 28). This is an especially
critical time to take to the streets to fight
for the poor, work to support our demo-
cratic institutions and oppose the policies
of this destructive and flagrantly uncaring
administration.
In a democracy, there are many “pro-
phetic” readings of scripture, but mine
corresponds to that which protects the im-
migrant and welcomes the stranger in our
midst. It fights unjust laws and protects
civil liberties.
And yes, there are other readings that
are possible of the constitution and the
Bible that represent the legacy of plural-
ism in our country and the ambiguity of
scripture. But for some of us, as uncivil
policies emerge, the response to that has
to be strong, as it was when we opposed
an unjust war and the existing injustices
(many of which still persist) those many
years ago.
I am proud to be a rabbinic member of
T’ruah in Oregon as well as our Interfaith
Clergy United, and to join with my friends
and colleagues in this new iteration that
opposes our demagogue-in-chief.Wake up
to the apparently inexorable policies that
are rolling back human and civil rights in
our time!
Rabbi Jonathan Seidel
Eugene
NADER BLAME
I commend Mike Beilstein for having the
courage and conviction to admit to being all
in for the Green Party (Letters, June 28).
Conviction is important and good, but
divorcing it from reality brings us where
the left is today: screwed. If you want the
Green Party to gain strength and become
a real player, then why not run small and
work your way up? You might eventually
demonstrate a groundswell of support: try
school board, city councilor, county com-
missioner, DA, etc.
Instead, the Greens keep fielding candi-
dates for major offices who couldn’t get elect-
ed dogcatcher. They play the spoiler instead of
doing any good. Could’ve had the first envi-
ronmentalist president but we got George W.
and the Iraq/Afghan War — yay Ralph! In-
stead of suck it in and support Hillary we get
Trump — yay Jill! So now, maybe instead of
DeFazio we can have Art Robinson?
There actually is, contrary to Green
doctrine, a measurable difference between
the Obamas and Trumps of the world.
Make your case and grow your base, but
when it’s crunch time please put the Green
Party shoulder behind the left/center candi-
date who can win.
Time to vote these MAGA bastards out,
not split the vote and keep them in.
Bill Barnett
Eugene
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July 5, 2018 • eugeneweekly.com
BROKEN AND LOST
Today there was another mass shooting,
this time in Maryland.
Crime is the cost of cutthroat capitalism
and the emptiness and despair that meri-
tocracies engender. Thich Nhat Hanh, the
Buddhist monk, used to talk of looking at
a leaf, and in that looking, being open to
see its entire life and environment. The air,
the water, the trauma, it was all there to be
seen.
We could spend the money to save the
lost and hopeless, but instead we spend it
on huge, militarized police forces and un-
needed wars.
When someone wastes their life by
shooting children in school, or coworkers,
isn’t it just a natural result of learned trau-
ma and hopelessness? We create the crimes
and wring our hands when they happen.
We are to blame; we are destroying our
children and vulnerable adults.
Yes, the heartless NRA is to blame,
and so is the Republican Party, but in that
“leaf” one can usually see a school system
that is more vampire than nurturer, a fam-
ily that is clueless and trauma laden, and
a future for that person that is not worth
living.
A sick tree has sick leaves. America is
sick to its core. The broken and lost are our
brothers, too, and until we understand that,
the deaths will continue.
Hugh Massengill
Eugene
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
With Justice Kennedy’s decision to re-
tire from the Supreme Court, it is impera-
tive that Oregon focuses on the fight for
women’s reproductive rights. There now
seems little doubt that the Court, under the
prompting of the Republican-controlled
congress, will move to enact an all-out
federal ban on abortion.
There is debate over how long this
move will take. While some believe that
Roe v. Wade will slowly disintegrate over
time, there is still the possibility that the
Evangelical right, emboldened by a series
of seemingly never-ending “wins,” will
push forward as quickly as possible to
quash every last woman’s right to seek out
a legitimate abortion in the country. If they
succeed, our Reproductive Health Equity
Act (HB 3391) would be nullified.
Should such a catastrophe take place, it
would then be up to us Oregonians to take
matters into our own hands. We need to
start talking now about what we are will-
ing to do.
We’ve disregarded federal law and le-
galized cannabis. How are we going to
do the same with women’s reproductive
rights? How are we going to guarantee a
safe haven to doctors who are willing to
perform these crucial procedures? How are
we going to assert our autonomy?
It seems as though things are falling
apart faster than anyone could imagine.
We needed to be prepared for this yester-
day. Let’s hope we, as a state, can come
together and set a national example.
Dylan Martin
Blachly
RUN OUT THE DEVELOPERS
The Eugene City Council wants to ban
the feeding of various creatures living in
our midst as per their meeting June 11.
These creatures surely do not survive
because of the occasional handouts they
get from animal lovers. They survive be-
cause they have adapted to life in and near
cities that have encroached on their homes.
Some exist as part of urban growth like
rats.
Suddenly the council is aghast that we
have rats and is completely oblivious as to
why. Urban growth: That’s why, not be-
cause people are feeding them.
The other creatures — deer, raccoons,
turkeys, birds, opossums, squirrels — are
here because either we have clearcut their
habitat or because they were here already
before the profit-driven expansion mem-
bers of the planning and development de-
partment quietly lobbied to turn Eugene
slowly into another north Los Angeles,
where beautiful wildlife was replaced with
gangs, crime and urban sprawl.
Oh, by the way: They also have a pro-
posal to wage war on our gentle creatures
with shotguns and/or poison. I never voted
to have rich developers destroy our town
or shoot our wildlife, did you?
I say run these profiteers out now before
we have an animal bloodbath and wake up
in L.A.
Arwen Strider
Eugene
IT’S THE CARTELS
Immigrants and their supporters need to
quit trying to solve the immigration prob-
lem through begging and appealing to con-
servatives. There are one billion peoples
in the American continent; a third of them
are in the U.S., and the other 670,000 com-
prise the rest.
Why do such a large number of Latinos
think coming here is “the solution”?
The answer is complex. The culprits
fall into three interconnected and interde-
pendent sources of pressure that squeeze
people against our borders: drug cartels,
free trade agreements and negative inter-
ventions by the U.S. Until now all of our
interventions south of the border have been
problematic at best.
But a solution hides under this. One
thing that we Americans have to spare is
our military.