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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes. News: Mayor
Power News: Growing
Progress OLCV RELEASES MAY PRIMARY ENDORSEMENTS The Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV) took a clear stand favoring Kitty Piercy over Nancy Nathanson in the Eugene mayor's race in its endorsements this week. OLCV's "Seal of Approval" tells voters which candidates they can trust to protect clean water, clean air, wildlife and farmland. Receiving an OLCV endorsement are 69 candidates in 65 races across the state including 27 local candidates (see a complete endorsement list at www.olcv.org). "Almost every politician claims to be for a clean environment; but they don't all vote that way," says Jonathan Poisner, OLCV's executive director. "Piercy has a proven track record of voting to protect clean water, making polluters pay to clean-up their messes, and supported Eugene's Toxics Right-to-Know program. Her lifetime environmental record is 87 percent," says Jennifer DeMuth of the Lane County chapter of OLCV. "Nancy Nathanson's record is in stark contrast, rating just 10 percent on OLCV's most recent Eugene City Council Scorecard. Nathanson voted against protecting Eugene's water quality, to weaken Eugene's Toxics Right-to-Know program, and to allow more sprawl onto farmland." OLCV also endorsed council candidates Bonnie Bettman, Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz and Chris Pryor, along with County Commission candidate Pete Sorenson. In legislative House races, OLCV endorsed both Mitzi Colbath and Paul Holvey in District 8, Phil Barnhart in District 11, Bob Ackerman in District 12 and Bev Ficek in District 14.
UO DESIGN CONFAB THIS WEEKEND The emergence of earth-friendly design and sustainability get top billing, followed by "trashy fashion" in the 10th annual H.O.P.E.S. Conference at UO April 16-18. Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability is an ecological design gathering organized by students at the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Students, professionals and community members are invited to the weekend of panels, workshops and speakers. See schedule http://hopes.uoregon.eduKeynoters this year are Eric Lloyd Wright, Edward Blake Jr., Ananya Roy and Brock Dolman. Wright, grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright, is an architect specializing in organic architecture and green building design. Blake is a noted landscape architect from Mississippi. Roy is an author and professor of urban studies and planning at UC-Berkeley. Dolman is an ecologist, activist and educator at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center north of San Francisco. The conference's traditional 24-hour design charrette this year will focus on the potential of a Center for Applied Sustainable Living, a project now under way at UO. Other topics to be discussed include urban biodiversity, integrating sustainability into professional practice, land use planning in Oregon, roof ponds for heating and cooling, designing for birds and recycled art. Saturday is the popular Trashy Fashion workshop, taking recycling to new heights of creativity and aesthetic appeal.
NEIGHBORHOODS VOICE CONCERNS FOR RAILYARD An April 5 letter to city officials from four neighborhood groups outlines their concerns for the future of the Union Pacific railyard, and asks for more citizen input regarding development plans. The letter cites heavy contamination of soil and ground water in the area, toxic fumes from locomotives, noise, and the barrier imposed by the tracks themselves. "Speculation about the future of the railyard has increased since UP began decommissioning many of its operations in recent years," reads the letter. "As a large corridor of relatively undeveloped land within our urban growth boundary, the railyard is attractive to land speculators and developers." The letter, representing the Trainsong, Whiteaker, Bethel and River Road neighborhood associations, voices concerns that the area will be heavily industrialized without citizen input. "The same factors that make the railyard attractive to industrial developers also make it attractive for parks and open space, as a possible alternative transportation corridor, and for planned mixed use nodal development. A mix of appropriate land uses offers the potential to improve the environmental health, livability, and connectivity of our existing neighborhoods," reads the letter. "On the other hand, heavy industrial uses often pose significant land use conflicts with existing residential areas." In a final statement, the groups say, "Please also consider this a formal request from each of us to be treated as 'interested parties' on all matters related to the Eugene Union Pacific railyard."
UO HONORS EARTH DAY WITH JULIA BUTTERFLY HILL To celebrate Earth Day 2004, the UO Cultural Forum, ASUO and Oregon Beaming Bioneers will sponsor the workshop "Personal and Planetary Healing" by activist Julia Butterfly Hill on Wednesday April 21, 2-3:30 pm in the UO EMU Fir Room. For 738 days Hill lived in the canopy of an ancient redwood tree called Luna to help make the world aware of the plight of ancient forests. After her two-year vigil, Hill successfully negotiated to permanently protect the 1,000-year-old tree along with a nearly three-acre buffer zone surrounding it. On December 18, 1999, 26-year-old Hill came down to a world that recognized her as a heroine and powerful voice for the environment. Her courage, commitment and profound clarity in articulating a message of hope, empowerment, and love and respect for all life has inspired millions of people worldwide. Since 1999, Hill and other forest activists founded Circle of Life (of which Oregon Beaming Bioneers is a part) to inspire and create environmental and social solutions rooted in love and respect for the interconnectedness of all life. There is $10 to $50 sliding scale donation for the workshop with Hill. Reservations are recommended. The UO Earth Day celebration will conclude with a social hour and book signing by Hill (author of The Legacy of Luna and One Makes a Difference). Proceeds from the workshop benefit an October gathering planned by Oregon Beaming Bioneers. For more info, contact Jeremy Olsen at jeolsen@uoregon.edu or by phone at 346-4352.
ACTIVIST ALERT Cameron Powers and his wife travel the world bridging cultures through music and presentation, and they plan to be in Eugene at 5:30 pm Friday, April 16 at Cozmic Pizza, and again May 20 at a time and place to be announced. Powers was in the Middle East and most notably Baghdad before and after the war began. The event is sponsored by Habibi magazine and a $10 donation is requested. For more information visit www.musicalmissions.com Eugeneans will be among the predicted million people who will be marching on the mall in Washington, D.C., April 25 in support of reproductive freedom and justice for women. At least 200 Oregonians have signed up to march. For more information, visit www.march.now.orgor www.marchforwomen.org
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS A title ascribed to "The Executioner's Song" in last week's Visual Arts column on the sculpture of Jerry Harris should have been "Screaming Mother And Child." Harris's art can be seen at http://members.tripod.com/media56/index.htm Regarding last week's Slant column, a Corvallis readers tells us depleted uranium doesn't quite have twice the density of lead. The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics lists uranium's density as approx. 18.95, while that of lead is 11.35, which would make uranium approximately 1.67 times as dense as lead. A wrong photo was used in our "What's Happening" page last week for Les Ballets Africans. The small photo was of the Paul Taylor 2 company that performs April 23.
Mayor
Power The Eugene City Charter gives the mayor little explicit power. He can't tell anyone what to do, and he only gets to vote in case of a city council tie. But then why are conservative Nancy Nathanson and progressive Kitty Piercy spending tens of thousands of dollars in a hotly contested race for mayor? A look at how the city really works reveals the mayor's job is far more than ceremonial. With the community and city council often split on important issues, the mayor's ability to break tie votes can be a lot more powerful than it sounds. In the past five years, Mayor Jim Torrey has broken ties on major issues 13 times. Without Torrey's pro-big business and developer tie-breaking votes, big box stores might face a moratorium, the West Eugene Parkway might have been stopped, sprawl subsidies may have been cut, a new riverfront highway downtown might have been blocked, a new rental housing code might protect students and the poor, Hynix might not have gotten $2 million in tax breaks and city council wards wouldn't have been gerrymandered to make the council more conservative. The mayor also has the power to veto city council ordinances. This has very rarely happened in Eugene, and a two-thirds council vote can override a veto. But the council did recently pull protections for transgender people out of a human rights ordinance after Mayor Torrey threatened to veto it. The lack of a mayoral veto can also be critical, says councilor David Kelly. If the mayor has the backing of a strong council majority for his policies, "his power is unlimited," Kelly says. The real power in Eugene's form of government is not with elected officials, but with the unelected city manager and his staff. Under the city charter, the manager hires, fires and commands all city employees and city contractors. The council appoints and fires the city manager and can only control and direct the city through its influence on the manager. And the mayor has much more influence than individual councilors. City staff often look to the mayor as the representative of the will of the entire city rather than just the individual wards councilors were elected in, says councilor Kelly. The mayor's office in city hall with a secretary and next to the city manager's office is also vitally important, councilor Bonny Bettman says. The office means frequent contact with the manager and other staff. Councilors who don't have individual city hall offices can feel out of the loop when it comes to important city issues. But Bettman says the mayor "is not only in the loop, he is the loop." "The mayor meets with department managers a whole lot more than individual councilors," Kelly agrees. The mayor also has the major power to appoint temporary city managers until the council appoints a permanent replacement. In recent years, these "temporary" appointments chosen by the mayor alone have served longer than the permanent managers the council has appointed. The mayor's powerful influence also extends beyond city hall. Local TV stations and The Register-Guard feature statements from Torrey "very predominately in many, many stories," Bettman says. "He's practically the spokesperson for the city." With such media exposure, as well as speaking engagements, the mayor "sets the tone for the city" and his characterizations of city issues, policies and initiatives become the conventional wisdom, according to Bettman. "He has a very significant bully pulpit," Kelly says. The city charter calls for the mayor to give an annual state of the city address. While the mayor often doesn't always get what he wants, Kelly says staff often use the mayor's speech to focus city staff and money on accomplishing his goals. Another power source for the mayor is appointments. The mayor appoints councilors and citizens to the city's dozens of committees, often with little council oversight. Some committees wield considerable power, Bettman says. The Metropolitan Planning Commission decides how to spend millions in road money, for example. A new economic development committee recently appointed by the mayor is heavily weighted toward tax break supporters and could result in a new wave of local corporate welfare, critics have charged. The mayor also plays a strong role in setting the local policy agenda. It takes four councilors to get an item on the city agenda. But the mayor only needs the agreement of the city manager, who very rarely blocks his requests in weekly agenda meetings, according to Kelly. In terms of agenda setting, "the mayor has four times the power of any councilor." The mayor presides over council meetings. Kelly says Torrey almost always does an impartial job of handling turns to speak. But the councilor says if the presiding wasn't done fairly, "it could have a powerful effect." Many of the mayor's powers depend on others going along with it. A conservative manager and staff could choose to ignore a more liberal mayor. The conservative mainstream media could also ignore a liberal mayor despite the bully pulpit. Councilors could vote to change the rules for who makes committee appointments and sets meeting agendas and could direct staff to pursue their goals and not the mayor's. But even then, the mayor would still hold a key focal point of local government. "The mayor's office is about leadership," Bettman says.
Growing
Progress If you aren't familiar with the name David Cobb, you're not alone. And that may say more about the current floundering of the Green Party, of which Cobb is the front-running nominee for presidential candidate, than any other factor. In fact Cobb, who will be in Eugene Thursday April 15, has as his primary goal not winning the election, but growing his party. "The Green Party is poised to be the electoral arm of the growing movement for peace, justice, ecology and democracy," he says. Although he calls George Bush "a big problem," and says his foreign policy "puts us at war with the rest of the world," Cobb says the real problem is "a continuing empire of the military-industrial complex and the transnational corporate empire that supports it." Cobb believes the Greens, not the Democrats, are the way to pave a better future. The 40-year-old former attorney from Texas, who's now situated in Humboldt County and an organizer with Democracy Unlimited, worked actively on the campaigns of Jesse Jackson in 1984 and Jerry Brown in '88 and '92. "I can sum up in one sentence what I learned in those campaigns," says Cobb. "The Democratic Party presidential primary process is the place where progressive politics goes to die." Despite the enthusiasm and excitement generated, at the end of the day, he says, "it's the big money and corporations that control the process and squash us and we don't have something that lasts to build upon." And he wants to build something. In fact, Cobb proves that one person really can make a difference. He helped put Greens on the ballot in Texas in 2000 by collecting 76,000 signatures in 75 days from registered voters who had ignored the Democratic and Republican primaries. And Greens do grow. In 1996, with Ralph Nader as presidential candidate, there were 10 organized state Green parties in the U.S. Five had a ballot line. That year, 40 Greens were elected across the country. By 2000, again with Nader at the helm, the Greens had 21 organized state parties. Ten states had a ballot line and 87 Greens countrywide were elected in local contests. This year, there are 44 organized state Green parties, 23 have a guaranteed ballot line, and 205 Greens sit in elected office across the country. "We are getting larger, stronger and better organized with every election cycle," says Cobb. But Cobb is very clear he doesn't want to see what happened in 2000, with Nader potentially pushing the swing states right into Republican hands, happen again. Cobb wants to employ a strategic states campaign, where the Green party presidential candidate focuses energy and resources into those states where the electoral college does not factor. "I'd rather go into states where Kerry or Bush are gonna win so we can say, 'Don't waste your vote on a foregone conclusion.'" But, Cobb adds, it's a complicated strategy. "Some swing states we must campaign in." Like Iowa, where election law (written by Dems and Reps) says a minor party must get 3 percent of the vote for a presidential candidate to maintain a ballot line. "I pledged to campaign aggressively and hard in Iowa to secure 3 percent. It's unfortunate, but it's what the election code says." Ultimately, Cobb says, after his primary goal of building the party, his secondary goal is that the election culminates with Bush out of the White House. And, he adds, "Wherever possible, we want to achieve both." Back to the Democratic primaries. If it's "where progressive politics goes to die," then how does he explain Dennis Kucinich, who came through Eugene again Wednesday, April 14 in anticipation of the May 18 primary, and is trumpeting the message that the Democratic Party must lead us out of the Iraq war? While Cobb concedes that Kucinich is expressing his values and principles without selling out, "he is already irrelevant in the 2004 elections cycle," he says, adding that Kucinich is merely keeping progressives in the Democratic Party who ought to leave and join the Greens. Yet Kucinich, who knows the show went to Kerry after the New Hampshire and Iowa primaries, shrugs off any accusations of irrelevance. As long as he's in the race, he can draw attention to what progressives want. "People are increasingly concerned about peace," he says. Kucinich has loudly dismissed the June 30 transfer of power in Iraq as a hoax, and says it may keep the U.S. in the war so long "we could be facing another Vietnam." He says he's remained in the race because he "made a commitment" and because "the Democratic Party must stand for peace." He says he wants to "persuade the party that Americans are fed up with the failed policies of a war president‚ and want something more than a Democratic version of a Republican war." As to his return to Eugene and his lengthy presence in Oregon, Kucinich says it's not only that Oregon has one of the last primaries, but that "people in Oregon are hearing." His views on universal healthcare, the environment, labor, and who can forget — his U.S. Department of Peace — resound loudly with those in this state. Cobb and Kucinich are each stumping for progress, and ultimately want Bush out of the White House. Perhaps that place of agreement is the nexus to build upon, a place of peace. David Cobb will appear at the Green Party presidential debate with Tim Hermach and Kitty Piercy at 5pm, Thursday, April 15 at the Strand, 8th and Charnelton.
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