Eugene weekly., May 21, 2020, Page 8, Image 8

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See You in November
PRIMARY ELECTION HAS LOW TURNOUT AND BRINGS FALL RUNOFF ELECTIONS
By Henry Houston
W
ith unofficial voter turnout for
the May 2020 primary election at
around 40 percent in Lane Coun-
ty, it’s hard to believe that this is a
presidential election cycle. Then
again it’s a COVID-19 election.
Of course, former Vice Presi-
dent Joe Biden won the majority of Oregon's delegates
to take on President Donald Trump in November. In
Lane County, official results show voters passed the Lane
Community College bond measure, Eugene re-elected its
incumbent mayor and its City Council could see three
new faces in 2021. However, some seats need November
runoff elections.
Mayor Lucy Vinis won re-election with 67 percent
support. She says that her second term will be about
seeing through the changes that she’s laid the groundwork
for — like establishing the city’s Climate Action Plan 2.0,
tackling the housing crisis and following the TAC report
on homelessness.
The pandemic might have thrown a wrench in her plans,
but Vinis says it shined a light on the city’s inequalities,
and the defining endeavor of her second term will be
economic recovery. She says the city has to reinvest in
the economy, like housing and infrastructure.
Most of Vinis’s challengers were united under the
Solidarity Platform all of whom wanted to force a mayoral
runoff election. Vinis says that she’s heard some of those
candidates at past City Council meetings, and she agrees
slant
• We are doing a
happy dance over here
at the Eugene Weekly
offices! First, our journalism won awards in the
Oregon Territory Society of Professional Journal-
ists Region 10 competition — covering the states of
Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Alaska. Our
former-staffer, now freelance arts writer Rick Levin
took home first place in arts writing for his piece
“Don’t Fear the Reaper” on Springfield roadkill artist
Jessica Kinser; next our staff writer-then student
intern Taylor Perse, together with former intern,
now professional journalist Morgan Theophil, won
first place in housing and homelessness coverage for
their investigative and solutions journalism series on
the unhoused; and current intern Gina Scalpone to-
gether with Emily Goodykoontz, who is now with the
Anchorage Daily News, were runners up in crime and
justice reporting for their solutions and investigative
story, “The Broken System,” on the court system and
the mentally ill homeless. Both those stories were
written by students with the University of Oregon’s
Catalyst Journalism Project and competed against
professional journalists across the region. Kudos
also to KLCC and The Register-Guard who also took
home awards in audio and medium-sized newsrooms
respectively.
with them that the city needs to have more urgency in
tackling and addressing homelessness.
Asked how she would encourage the candidates to get
involved with the government, Vinis says there’s a need
for ideas on Eugene’s committees and boards.
LCC’s bond measure passed with 58 percent, giving
the OK to renovate the college’s buildings and address
career and technical education programs. During the
pandemic, there’s been a lot of support for health care
workers and other front line workers, and LCC Board of
Education member Rosie Pryor says that she thinks that
the campaign captured some of that energy.
She adds that while she and other LCC supporters were
canvassing digitally for the bond measure, she found that
many voters had a connection with the college — whether it
was through knowing a staff member or attending the college.
And when the local economy one day starts its recovery
path, she says that the bond money will go toward career
and technical education jobs and that can help everyday
Lane residents retrain.
Now outgoing LCC Board Member Matt Keating
says that the big part of the bond measure is that the
college’s construction work will require community benefit
agreements, prioritizing local, living wage jobs and a
diverse workforce.
Having won his campaign to succeed outgoing Coun-
cilor Betty Taylor in Ward 2, Keating says he wants to see
CBAs at the city level, too. He says COVID-19 changed
everything and the City Council needs to think hard
• Second, EW’s efforts to stay afloat in this pan-
demic were further aided this month by a $5,000
Google News Initiative Journalism Emergency
Relief Fund grant. Like the COVID-19 Local News Re-
lief Funding from Facebook Journalism Project, this
money helps us cover local government and issues
such as homelessness, and helps to pay interns and
freelancers as well as our staff.
about its priorities. He plans to collaborate with county
commissioners and federal agencies to ensure the city
secures money for its services.
Although the virus changed campaigning, he says he’s
never felt more connected with the community by using
social media, making more than 20,000 phone calls and
handwriting personal notes.
Rep. Peter DeFazio will go on to November to face
Republican challenger Alek Skarlatos.
At the Democratic Party of Lane County’s Facebook
Live party, DeFazio said Democrats have to keep the House
of Representatives and most importantly get the “bozo”
out of the White House. He added that if Democrats take
over Washington, he has an infrastructure bill more
ambitious than President Franklin Roosevelt’s plans.
Some local political offices will need a runoff election
in November. Unofficial results show Laurie Trieger
leading with 43 percent, but she didn’t secure the win
to represent south Eugene on the Lane County Board of
County Commissioners. Joel Iboa, who secured 36 percent
of the vote, will take her on in November.
In the Eugene City Council race, Councilor Emily Semple
received 39 percent but will face challenger Eliza Kash-
insky in a runoff election.
Although Springfield voters re-elected Christine
Lundberg for another term, the Springfield Ward 3
race narrowed down to Kori Rodley and Johanis Tadeo.
Incumbent Joe Pishioneri will serve another term after
defeating Gregg Ybarra. ■
canned food leftover from pandemic prepping, you
are on your way to an earthquake survival kit.
• And that brings us to the third reason we are
feeling perky despite COVID-19. We can’t survive on
grants alone, and in addition to our local advertis-
ers, our readers are helping us print this paper
by sending $50 contributions and getting a cool EW
T-shirt (see our ad in this issue). We can’t wait till the
time comes when we can thank you in person, but for
now, just keep picking EW up!
• What we're reading:
The Book of V. by Anna Sol-
omon is a novel published
in 2020 by Henry Holt and
Company. Although it's
getting a fair bit of atten-
tion, we find it sometimes
brilliant, sometimes boring.
The novel tells the story of
three women's lives across
three centuries and how
they ultimately intertwine.
It will be interesting to see if The Book of V. catches
on with major reviewers.
• The Oregon press didn't pay as much attention
as it probably should to a 6.5 magnitude earth-
quake on May 15 in a remote area of western Ne-
vada. The New York Times reported that the quake
damaged a major highway and shook homes as far as
Utah and California. Here in the Pacific Northwest
we've been warned about “the big one” that could
come any time. That's not exactly what we need right
now along with COVID-19 and Donald Trump. On the
bright side, if you still have a lot of toilet paper and
• If you missed the City Club of Eugene virtual
program on the Japanese internment disgrace dur-
ing World War II, you can hear it on May 26 at 7 pm
on KLCC 89.7. The visual aspect will be missing, of
course, but the story should still be heard. It's impor-
tant to hear how the internment affected individual
lives. Thumbs up to the City Club for continuing to
put fine programs out there in spite of the limitations
caused by COVID-19. There’s no program May 22
before Memorial Day weekend.
SLANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHASING NOTES COMPILED BY THE EW EDITORIAL BOARD.
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