letters
WE DON’T EVICT EVERYONE IN
THE BUILDING
I read your letter with interest, Mr. Don
French (Letters, 5/14).
You said, “Until there is a distinction
between the homeless criminals/drug ad-
dicts and homeless needing a hand... the
general public will not be supportive of as-
sistance.” Conveniently, there is a distinc-
tion, and it isn't difficult to find. However,
it requires the sacrifice of time spent get-
ting to know homeless people to under-
stand who they are — not as a group, but
as individuals. This would be a good com-
munity project for Eugene.
Perhaps then, local community mem-
bers and police would stop assuming that
when a crime is done, it is an entire camp
that is the culprit. If there is a criminal in
an apartment building, do we evict every-
one in the building? If there is a business
that runs a chop shop, are all the businesses
in the block shut down? Yes, criminals can
certainly be in camps. But it creates harm
to all of our city when a social group is
treated like the worst of that group. When
everyone is arrested, evicted, ticketed or
banned because of the actions of one or
two.
Perhaps EW understands and appreci-
ates that.
Steve Kimes
Eugene
WE’RE FAILING THE TEST(ING)
I’m a trucker. Have been for a few
months short of 40 years. I haven’t seen it
all, trust me. Something new will surprise
me almost every day.
Since the shutdown in Oregon, Wash-
ington and California began some two
months ago I’ve traveled close to 25,000
miles on I-5 from the other side of L.A. to
the Seattle area. Sounds a lot but many of
my colleagues have done more.
I’ve never been tested. Not once. I’ve
never been offered a test. Not once. I’ve
never seen a testing place for truckers. Not
once. I’ve traveled to and from the most
heavily infected areas in the west. I expect
many of my friends have had it and never
known. I don’t think I have, but then again,
how would I know? I’ve never been tested.
I’m supposed to be on the front line in
this battle, but I don’t have any clue what’s
going on mainly because no one in this en-
tire country with any sense is in charge.
In 1943 this country produced three
Liberty ships a day on this coast. Think of
it. Three big ships a day! If we are at war,
as everyone in authority is keen on telling
us, then please will you use that authority
to build the quick testing machines.
I don’t care if you take over empty ware-
houses. I don’t care if you contract out to
every small machine shop in the state, but
it seems to me if you intend to contact trace
our good citizens, then a good place to start
would be by finding out how big the problem
is in the first place. Otherwise, well, welcome
to “Whack a Victim. It’s fun but deadly.”
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
I’m thinking around 1.5 million tests a
week should determine where the virus is
in this state alone. Should be easy for me.
Turns out there are only a little over 50 mil-
lion people living on the West Coast. I have
no idea how many I see on a daily basis.
Good luck to us all.
Peter Tildesley
Brownsville
BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTIC
CONTAINERS
While I was in Taiwan, I volunteered
for a plastics cleanup at a local beach near-
by. Since Taiwan is a small island that is
far away from other countries, I was sur-
prised at the amount of plastic waste that
washed up on the shores. Instead of seeing
little kids frolicking in the water and peo-
ple sunbathing, the beach was littered with
plastic bags, bottles and even tire wheels.
It was a devastating site that opened my
eyes to the problem of plastic pollution.
Everyone is guilty of using plastic
forks, bags and styrofoam cups. In fact,
every minute one garbage truck of plastic
is dumped into our oceans. The amount of
plastic has accumulated so much that it is
killing wildlife, infecting coral reefs, pol-
luting beaches and causing havoc on our
environment.
The solution is simple: a ban on the
most harmful plastic items like polysty-
rene foam cups and takeout containers. By
implementing a ban, people will naturally
transition to a more biodegradable alterna-
tive.
Florence, Eugene, Portland and Ash-
land have already carried out a ban on
polystyrene foam containers. Now we just
need a statewide ban to protect our envi-
ronment.
In order to win change at the state level,
we need to convince key decision-makers
in the state legislature to carry out a ban.
We can do so by showing them the over-
whelming public support for the issue.
Let’s make sure we never have to clean up
the beaches anymore since it’ll already be
clean.
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Asian Food
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Emily Ma
Eugene
Largest Selection
of Asian Groceries
HISTORY IS REPEATING
I am amazed that history continues to
repeat itself. 435 River Road is prime real
estate for low-impact use. It’s in a flood-
plain, next to a neighborhood and a park.
If all goes as currently planned it will have
cheap overdense apartments built upon it,
destroying it forever, and then be resold to
the highest bidder because of its amazing
location. How can we allow this to happen
again?
For recent history I refer to the Ecco
Apartments. They were designed in a way
that encroaches upon and angers every-
one through a lack of consideration. This
simply makes for unhappiness for the resi-
dents as well as the surrounding neighbors.
It is short-sighted inconsideration that has
no place in a society on the verge of en-
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