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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes. News: Rousing
the Restless News: Manager
Against Audits News: Council
Hits Schools OREGON BEACHES GET COMPREHENSIVE PLAN The deadline for commenting on Oregon's first-ever comprehensive beach plan is coming up March 19. Public hearings are being held this month in Pacific City and Tillamook regarding management of 260 miles of Oregon's sandy beaches. Draft plans are available in the Eugene Public Library and online at www.prd.state.or.us/ (search for OSMP). "We have now reached the stage at which draft plans are on the table," says Fran Recht, conservation director of the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition. "This is a key moment both to address specifics in the plans and to speak up for values that aren't adequately represented. Those who participated earlier in the process can get involved again by commenting on how well the draft plan reflects your hopes." Among the many issues to be addressed are enforcement of beach driving rules, beaches still open to vehicles, acquisition of buffer parks, strengthening riprap rules, protection of tidepools and habitat areas, public education, fires in large-diameter driftwood, commercial removal of sand and wood, dog use and sand sailing. Comments can be sent by e-mail to OSMP.HCP@state.or.us
SOPHIA SANCTUARY'S DAY OF HEALING
Sophia Sanctuary is a women's temple without walls. Yet its members, who include women of all sacred traditions who are committed to healing, education, ritual and service, want to get some walls. Sophia Sanctuary is a private non-profit that serves the greater Eugene-Springfield Oregon community with eight public rituals a year celebrating the cycles of women's lives and the Earth. Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain are for women only, while the Solstices and Equinoxes are for all genders and families. "We are seeking to create a safe haven for women to share their spiritual vision, healing arts, sustainable living skills, social activism, and love for the Earth," say organizers, and a fund-raising event, in honor of International Women's Day and to cover ongoing operating expenses, as well as provide for the purchase of a physical space, is being planned for this Saturday, March 6. The event, "A Day of Healing for Women," will include footbaths, massage, psychic readings, Breema, aromatherapy, and more. Workshops will include bodywork, herbalism, animal totems, and psychic empowerment, among others. There will be Sufi dancing and musical acts including Joan Benson on clavichord, Amy Raven on harp Liz Crane on Native American flute, and women's vocal group Sweetgrass will perform at lunchtime. The day is broken up into morning (10-1) and afternoon sessions (2-5) and will end with a drum circle in praise of the full moon, which rises in Virgo. "Virgo is all about healing and caring for each other and the planet," says co-organizer D. Maria. The event will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 40th and Donald. Admission is $20-$35, sliding scale, and includes all workshops, healings, lunch and childcare. The 5 pm full moon ritual is free and open to all. — AS
REPORT CARD GRADES MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Oregon Democrats in Congress did well and Republicans did poorly in the new Wild Card analysis of congressional action on key wilderness and public lands issues. Rep. Peter DeFazio got the highest scores and Rep. Greg Walden got the worst scores. The independent, nonprofit American Wilderness Coalition released last week its analysis of selected votes and positions by members of the 108th Congress. Included were the fight over protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the undermining of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and a new federal regulation that threatens to allow abandoned trails and cow paths to be claimed as public highways in order to prevent wilderness designation. Two scores or ratings were given, one for 2001-2002 and the other for 2003. Sen. Gordon Smith received an F and a C, while Sen. Ron Wyden received an A and a B+. Rep. Earl Blumenaur received two A's, DeFazio two A+'s. Darlene Hooley earned two A's, Walden got a D and an F and David Wu got an A+ and an A. To view Wild Card online, visit www.americanwilderness.org
PEACE CORP GROUP EYES AFGHANISTAN POST 9/11 An estimated 350 Peace Corp veterans live in Eugene today and many of them will be turning out for the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV) curry dinner benefit Sunday, March 7. Tickets for the dinner are already sold out, but the RPCV is hosting a public talk and video presentation at 12:30 pm Sunday at the Hilton Mezzanine. Guest speaker will be Kathleen Rafiq, a television producer from Santa Barbara who has made three trips to Afghanistan in the last year and a half on behalf of women, children and rural villages needing help. "The problem I saw after traveling outside the safety of Kabul," she says, "was that no money was going to more than 77 percent of the country. Maternal health care is now either first or second worst in the world." Rafiq raised money to build a clinic in the outskirts of Kabul, and a kindergarten/daycare for 600-plus boys and girls. She is also working with Direct Relief International on five other rural clinics, "clinics that would otherwise be receiving meds only once, or few times a year." She is involved in raising money for numerous projects in Afghanistan, from orphanages to water systems to providing dental care in the countryside. Rafiq knows Afghanistan well. She is the former wife of the nephew of King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan. She also has local connections. Her son and his family live in Springfield. Sunday's events follow a visit to UO March 2 by Peace Corp Deputy Director Judy Olson. UO is one of the top recruiters of Peace Corps volunteers in the nation, with 81 graduates currently serving. UO ranks #7 among large colleges and universities in terms of alumni currently serving overseas. TJT
IMPEACHMENT OF JUSTICES IS TOPIC OF UO DEBATE Should the five Supreme Court justices who gave the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush be impeached? That topic will be debated by Charlie Porter and as yet unnamed members of the UO faculty at 7 pm Tuesday, March 9 in the Knight Law Center, Room 175 on campus at 1515 Agate St. The room has seating for 200 and admission is free. National media have been invited to cover the debate. Porter is a former Oregon Congressman and recent UO Distinguished Service Award winner He is also co-chair with John C. Cougill of the Oregon Democratic Party Committee to Investigate Impeachment of the Rehnquist Five. Porter says the impeachment issue is "the most serious question facing all branches of our government since the U.S. Civil War. Interference with an election is a crime and we require that those responsible be punished." UO President David Frohnmayer has been invited to introduce the debate. For more information, call 344-4435.
A National Health Care Action Day is planned for March 4 in communities all across the nation. The day is being organized by Jobs with Justice to fuel a growing movement for a comprehensive national health insurance plan. Activists will highlight the outrage workers feel about paying more for their health benefits while cuts in funding and managed care mean they get less health care in return. In Eugene, a rally for health care will start in the South Eugene High School (19th and Patterson) parking lot NE corner at 4:30 pm. Activists will rally there, then march to Safeway at 18th and Oak and then march back. The rally will feature workplace stickering for the various unions involved, including Justice for Janitors, Service Employees International Union, Communications Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFSCME, IAM, and teachers' unions. For more information, call 736-9041 or e-mail essn@efn.org
A Feb. 12 story about the Oregon Natural Resources Council's history failed to mention the contributions made by former U.S. Rep. Jim Weaver to wilderness protection in Oregon during the 1970s and 1980s. It was Weaver, not former Sen. Mark Hatfield, who originally sponsored legislation in the U.S. House (HR 1149) that eventually became the Oregon Wilderness Act of 1984.
Rousing
the Restless
Mikhail Gorbachev and Michael Moore won't be speaking at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) this year — both demanded six-figure fees and Gorbachev wanted a private jet for his entourage of six — but nearly a dozen other internationally known heavyweights in environmental action and politics will be there for the big conference that begins Thursday, March 4 and runs through the weekend. A dedicated group of UO law students have spent the last couple of months losing sleep organizing a gathering that is expected to draw more than 3,000 lawyers, environmentalists and activists to the UO campus for four days of workshops, panel discussions and keynote speakers. The theme this year is "Rousing the Restless Majority." The entire event is sponsored by Land Air Water. Events will be held all over campus, but primarily at the Law School, the Erb Memorial Union and the new Lillis Business Complex. Moveable walls in the "river rooms" at the EMU will be taken down to provide more space following complaints about crowding last year. The U.S. "war on terror" claimed one scheduled keynote speaker this year. Maria Elena Foronda Farro, a $125,000 Goldman Environmental Prize winner of 2003, was denied a visa this week, reportedly because she was temporarily on a U.S. terrorism suspect list five years ago. Bush administration policies will figure into many of the discussions at the PIELC this year. "We've seen an unprecedented regression of environmental protections in the past few years," says professor Mary Wood of the Law School. "For many of those in power, these protections are viewed as obstacles to development. Their perception betrays a profound lack of understanding of the land and communities of the West that highlights the need for informed gatherings such as the conference." "The conference provides fertile ground for the germination of ideas and strategies to protect our fundamental right to a healthy, balanced world," says Greg Costello, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center, a non-profit public interest environmental law firm and key participant at the conference. Topics at PIELC range from the right to clean drinking water, free-flowing rivers, endangered species protection, restoration of deserts, forests, grasslands, and watersheds, Indian tribal issues, labor, human rights, globalization and free trade. "Anarchy in the Environmental Movement" with John Zerzan is on the docket, along with discussion of Jeffrey "Free" Luers' imprisonment, political strategies for the upcoming elections, and Oregon Coast development. One of the organizers, Jeremy Arling, says the group is highly organized this year, but he expects the unexpected. A minor "disaster" last year was the Rev. Al Sharpton not showing up for his keynote talk. A couple of years ago, Julia Butterfly Hill was heckled and interrupted during her keynote speech. Women activists in the past have protested male-dominated keynoters and paternalism in the environmental movement. Keynote talks are free and open to the public. Keynote speakers this year include: Bev Harris, author of Black Box Voting: Ballot-Tampering in the 21st Century, a book that investigates the manufacture and use of electronic voting machines. Mike Brune is executive director of the Rainforest Action Network. RAN works to protect both the Earth's rainforests and the rights of rainforest inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action. Richard Drury is former director of Communities for a Better Environment, and currently a lobbyist for several major labor unions in California. The Rev. Robert Jeffrey is pastor of Seattle's New Hope Baptist Church and a strong supporter of the environmental justice movement and an opponent of the social and environmental effects of globalization. Dune Lankard is director and spokesperson of the Eyak Preservation Council, and co-founder of the Native Conservancy and Redzone, all in Alaska. Betsy Loyless is vice president for policy and lobbying for the League of Conservation Voters, which is devoted full-time to shaping a pro-environment Congress and White House. Ed Marston is former editor of High Country News for 20 years and now HCN's senior journalist. Ingrid Newkirk is cofounder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Chief Evon Peter is chief of the Neetsaii Gwich'in from the town of Arctic Village in northeastern Alaska, as well as chairman of the Native Movement. His work with the Native Energy Campaign seeks to educate tribal leaders about renewable energy. Jane Roberts is co-founder of 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund, has worked in women's issues, reproductive health and international family planning for 30 years. Registration information and a complete schedule of events are available at www.pielc.org/or at the Law School during the conference.
Manager
Against Audits City Manager Dennis Taylor strongly opposes the City Ccouncil hiring an independent auditor to check up on him and other city bureaucrats.
"I don't think there's a lot of merit in an independent performance auditor," Taylor said in an interview. Taylor said an auditor would create "tension" with the council and weaken his powerful role as city manager under Eugene's form of government. "It's inconsistent with the city manager form." Taylor claimed his opposition to independent audits was not based on a fear of embarrassment or because he had things he wanted to keep hidden from the public. "I live by public scrutiny." Taylor's staunch opposition came just after Portland
City Auditor Gary Blackmer spoke to the Eugene City Club Feb. 20 on
Blackmer says he takes a "really constructive approach" to his audits. "We're not saying every city service is bad, we're saying it can be better." Blackmer says he's "not trying to play gotcha or embarrass a manager" but rather prevent problems. His goal is not to "go into the battlefield and bayonet the wounded," but rather to "prevent the war to begin with." Blackmer and his staff review all police complaints and make policy recommendations to improve procedures and equipment. His department recently completed a review of 34 police shootings and made 89 recommendations that made front page news and contributed to the ouster of the city's police chief. His office also hires the city's land use hearings officers to provide greater independence in handling regulatory disputes. Eugene lost a $4 million lawsuit a few years ago after a developer accused a city hearings official of working too closely with city staff. Other independent audits have focused on overtime savings from 911 dispatchers, better housing programs, more efficient and flexible building permitting, faster police response times, better street construction, more humane care for seniors and bringing in millions of dollars in uncharged fees. Blackmer said the audit of senior care centers was especially memorable. "It was horrendous," Blackmer said of the abusive conditions. "Auditors came back in tears." Eventually, six care centers were closed to protect seniors and the state adopted the Portland audit methodology to check care centers throughout the state. But Eugene City Manager Taylor says audits of his performance are better done by himself or his department heads. "We do performance auditing on a regular basis," he claims. Blackmer says such audits by internal staff or hired consultants lack the necessary independence. Such independence is "critical," he says to good audits. If your boss asks you to audit him or her, "I might be less likely to be forthright," Blackmer notes. Critical audits may also never come to light under such a self-auditing system, Blackmer says. In Las Vegas, Blackmer says city managers suppressed 14 critical city audits and fired their internal auditor when the person complained. Blackmer says managers often have the information showing that there is a problem but fail to act to fix it. "They'll even have the data that shows they are off course, but they won't do anything about it," he says. Independent audits in such cases are "like shooting fish in a barrel." Taylor says he doesn't see why the city needs any independent audits. "I don't see what the problem is right now." But the Eugene Police Department, the city's largest department, is in the grips of a police sex abuse scandal that has rocked public confidence in the city's ability to control it's armed officers. Public mistrust also played a big role in the city's failure to pass recent funding measures for a police station and road repairs. In 2002, a city charter review committee recommended unanimously that the city refer a charter amendment to voters that would allow the council to hire an independent auditor. But then Acting City Manager Jim Carlson argued that a Eugene auditor would likely require a large staff and claimed Portland had 56 people doing performance audits. The council's conservative majority voted 5-3 against referring a city auditor measure to the voters. But Carlson's un-audited numbers were wrong. Portland only has about eight staff conducting performance audits and Blackmer says a city Eugene's size would likely only need a single auditor at a cost of about $75,000 a year. Blackmer says his audits pay for themselves in ongoing greater efficiency and eliminated waste. But the biggest value, he says, may be increased "public trust and confidence" in city government. "That, they say, is priceless."
Council
Hits Schools Struggling state school, health care, public safety and other services will take a $22 million hit over the next 20 years under a city of Eugene plan to divert the money into developer subsidies. The city of Eugene will also lose an estimated $15 million in funding for police, fire, park, library and other core services under the diversion plan. Lane County, which has long complained it lacks funding for jail beds for dangerous criminals, would lose an additional $3 million. Local property taxes for bonds and levies will also increase about 1 percent. All told, the diversion plan would use a complex "urban renewal" funding scheme to redirect an estimated $40 million in tax revenues to support development of the city's 200-acre riverfront urban renewal district north of Franklin Boulevard (see earlier story, Feb. 12). Councilor Bonny Bettman complained that urban renewal will take money from county jail and school funds already in crisis. "We know with Measure 30 what situation those funds are in." But the City Council voted 6-2 last week to move forward with the controversial renewal plan without a public vote. In a 4-4 vote with mayor Jim Torrey breaking the tie in favor, the council also voted to allow money diverted from schools and other government services to be used to build a new highway near the Willamette River. A final council vote to divert the money is scheduled for March 10. The $40 million estimate of the tax money diverted could increase dramatically if McKenzie/Triad builds a new hospital on the EWEB property in the urban renewal district along the river. Under the renewal plan, all of the property taxes from the new hospital and related medical office buildings would be diverted from schools and other government services to urban renewal. The city wants to use the diverted tax money for controversial projects unlikely to be funded by voters. The new riverfront highway has been criticized in public hearings as a waste of money that will cut off the city and new federal courthouse from the river and spoil a potential natural area. The highway was voted down by a wide margin a decade ago as part of the city's failed Ferry Street bridge/freeway plan. A new downtown police station has been twice defeated at the polls. Plans for big office buildings and parking garages along the riverfront in a natural area near the UO have faced overwhelming opposition from students and professors. The General Services Administration has demanded, under
threat of not building the courthouse, that the city pay for road infrastructure
for the new federal building if federal funds are deemed inadequate.
The city has already committed to spend $1.1 million in diverted urban
renewal funds on courthouse roads. The expenditure provides the spectacle
of the city diverting money from state schools struggling to afford
textbooks Other than requiring that the school and other tax revenues be diverted into what critics have called a city staff "slush fund," the urban renewal plan actually offers few solid rules on how the money can be spent. The plan rules include long vague lists of possible projects and allow any projects that would "strengthen the economic and environmental conditions" of the metropolitan area. If a project doesn't fit in these vague rules, then the plan can be substantially amended with a simple council resolution. "The wording in this plan is so broadly construed as to include almost anything," Councilor Bettman said. "The whole idea of urban renewal is much abused," said Councilor Betty Taylor. "It's too much freedom to spend the public's money without enough control." If the urban renewal scheme had gone to voters, it's doubtful it would have passed. Critics have long blamed urban renewal for wasting millions of dollars to destroy historic buildings downtown, build concrete parking garages and threaten the city's natural riverfront with little to show for it. In the last two decades, property outside the Riverfront district developed at a rate 24 times higher than property within the supposed "renewal" district, according to inflation adjusted assessed value data. Although the council refused to refer urban renewal to a vote, citizens could. An ordinance referral would require a petition filed with the city recorder and then 3,722 signatures within 29 days of council final passage of urban renewal.
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