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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes News: News: News: Happening Person: Moray Povey PROPOSALS IN FOR WEST 8TH Three organizations are touting their visions for how the currently unoccupied property next to the WOW Hall on West 8th Avenue can be redeveloped. The city purchased the land from Wells Fargo Bank with federal Community Block Grant money. The plan was to demolish the old Ridenour Building on the site and create new, affordable housing downtown.
The three request for proposals (RFPs) documents have been filed with the city and are now available for public scrutiny in the lobby of the Atrium Building downtown across from the bus station. Two of the RFPs call for redeveloping the site with relatively large residential units, while a third proposal calls for remodeling the Ridenour Building to provide a mix of commercial and non-profit office space. The building has been used for furniture storage since it was last actively occupied by Goodwill Industries. The proposal to save the old building is part of the RFP from the West Eighth Avenue Development Group, LLC. Charles Tilt, Kathy Ging and others are saying downtown needs cheap office space as well as affordable housing and the Ridenour Building is structurally sound. The building would make a great "business incubator" for start-up enterprises, says Ging. Tilt says the group is also concerned that sound from WOW Hall concerts will lead to complaints from the new apartment dwellers next door, leading to the shut-down of the popular performing arts center. An RFP from Public Private Partnerships, Inc. (P3) and Otak, Inc. of Portland is calling for construction of a 41,000 sq. ft. U-shaped apartment complex at the site. P3 envisions commercial space on the bottom floor and 100 rental units above. Noise mitigation would be integrated into the design, and the overall look of the building would carry on the architectural themes of the WOW Hall next door. The structure would rise five storeys along 8th Avenue. A Eugene group, Metropolitan Affordable Housing Corporation (MAHC), has the thickest RFP for a project they call WesTown on 8th. The mixed-use, mixed-income building would have some commercial space on the two-storey 8th Avenue streetfront, but most of the 86 units would be set back from the street so as not to dwarf the WOW Hall. The building would only be five storeys on the alley. Sixty-nine of the units would be deemed affordable housing, while 16 others would be at rented at "market rate." The project also includes "live-in work units." MAHC's proposal has extensive plans for noise mitigation regarding WOW Hall concerts. The apartment building would include a "sound-reflective wall" on the west side, the side closest to the concert hall, and $50,000 is included in the budget for "acoustic upgrades" to WOW Hall itself, keeping more of the sound contained for the benefit of all the neighbors. MAHC also plans to not develop the small parcel of the property behind the WOW Hall, and instead sell it to WOW Hall. Tilt of the West Avenue Development Group says he's concerned that not enough public input will be going into the selection process. The proposals will be examined by the city's Housing Policy Board which will make recommendations to the City Council for final action as early as March. The council is expected to hold public hearings. — TJT
STINKING SCHOOL BUSES What's poisonous, carcinogenic, threatens global environmental disaster and around our kids every day? School buses and the sooty diesel exhaust they cough up. New federal rules going into effect in 2006 and 2007 could help reduce the pollution problem. Lower sulfur diesel fuels reduce emissions, but cost 12 cents more a gallon to truck in. Retrofitting bus engines and the cleaner fuel can reduce emissions by about 90 percent, but costs $7,500 a bus. To help pay the cost of retrofits for its most used buses, School District 4J staff are pursuing a grant of about $400,000 from Toyota Motor Company, which set up the grant program to settle a lawsuit. Combined with state grants, the cost to the district for retrofitting buses and providing cleaner fuel might be under $20,000. But the Toyota money isn't enough for all the school districts applying and will be awarded to the districts by lottery. — Alan Pittman
SLUDGE TREES DRIED, DIED The local sewage plant's efforts to set up a $3.7 million poplar tree plantation on 420 acres north of Eugene where it can spread its sludge as fertilizer has started with a costly mistake. About a third of the plantation's trees have died, according to a staff report. Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) staff blame a faulty irrigation system and dry weather for the mass die off. The MWMC plans to hire a contractor to grow, deliver and plant new poplars to replace the ones that dried and died — at an additional cost of $115,000. — AP
SHAKE IT, BABY We all like to remember the holidays. You know, like when we all got food poisoning from Grandma's homemade eggnog and spent Christmas wringing ourselves inside out? Remember when the tree became so bone dry that the minute the lights were plugged in it became a giant Roman candle? Ahh, memories… But to avoid the more painful memories, take a few precautions this holiday season and spend the time intensely caring, not in intensive care. Christmas trees: Nothing says "the holidays" like feeling the fresh spikes of a healthy tree as the needles dig into your flesh while you try gamely to get the cat out from the branches. Nothing beats the smell of an evergreen out of context, so go out and hunt down that tree. There are three methods to tell if a cut tree is fresh: Take a needle off the tree and see if it snaps when you bend it. If it's not flexible (or "sproingy" in medical terms), the tree is too dry, so pass it by. Wrinkled bark on twigs is another indication of a dry tree; and finally, grab the tree and shake it like a Polaroid picture. If the needles fall off like in Charlie Brown's Christmas, keep looking. Once you have your pet tree home, saw a quarter inch off the bottom to expose fresh tissue. That's like the tree's tongue, and boy is it thirsty! Like Oliver Reed, it can drank quarts upon quarts in a single sitting, so give it plenty. A dry tree is an angry tree, just waiting for its chance to wreak havoc in your home. So keep your tree as cold and wet as possible, and away from heating vents and drafty doorways Homemade foods are a mark of kindness on the part of grandparents, and a badge of courage for those with weak constitutions. Even some of the most traditional holiday offerings can be the causes of food-borne illnesses, like eggnog, made from — you guessed it — eggs! Raw eggs in fact, which can also be found lurking in homemade mayonnaise and Hollandaise sauce, not to mention cookie dough. OK, so eggnog's out. Now let's eat! Not so fast, Attila. Some cheeses can also be harmful, especially to people with suppressed immune systems. Cheeses made from unpasteurized milk include feta, Camembert, blue-veined cheeses and some others. No problem. You think you're beginning to feel lactose-intolerant anyway. Bring on the cold plate! Smoked meats, that's the answer. Those things last forever, that's why the pioneers smoked everything! Sure. And they also died at 35. Sorry, even smoked meats, if sold refrigerated, can be risky. Once you've tossed out scary foods, remember to keep hot things hot and cold things cold until just before serving. Lukewarm, like the reception you get to your poetry readings, makes bacteria frisky. For more information, contact the Extension Office at 682-4243, or visit http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane — Laird Goodman
HOLD THE NAGCHAMPA Used as a meditation aid, an ambience-maker and a sweet-smelling stench-quencher, incense is a staple for hippies and ascetics alike. But new research suggests that it may be carcinogenic. A team of scientists from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan found very high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a badly ventilated temple where incense is burned constantly. According to the report, levels of PAHs inside the temple were 40 times higher than in houses where people smoked tobacco, creating more pollution than traffic at a busy intersection. And concentrations of total suspended particles were 11 times higher than outside the temple. One of the scientists conducting the study, Ta Chang Lin, told New Scientist magazine, "We truly hope that incense burning brings only spiritual comfort, without any physical discomfort. But there is a potential cancer risk." For incense-burners who want to keep up the practice, Lin suggests ventilating well. So when you light the nagchampa, crack a window. — Kera Abraham
CORRECTIONS/ CLARIFICATIONS A news brief last week ("Tortillas Ricas") incorrectly identified the new supermarket on 7th Avenue as Productos Latinos. The market is called Plaza Latina. In Vanessa Salvia's music column Dec. 2, her sarcastic last paragraph knocking the touring band Wishbone Ash has generated numerous calls and complaints from fans of the band. Vanessa knows the band's music and doesn't like it (she is a music critic after all). But the reference to enemas was probably a bit over the top. Fans also tell us Andy Powell is the only original member of the band. Our apologies to the Jungle, a venue voted by our readers as "Best place to shake your booty."
Citizens packed a hearing before the regional Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC) last week. Not a single person testified in favor of the West Eugene Parkway (WEP) on Dec. 9. Forty-eight people testified against the $169 million highway through wetlands. But MPC ignored the overwhelming public outcry against the WEP. After voting 8-2 for a motion by a testy Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey to limit testimony to two minutes per person, the committee voted 8-1 for including the wetland highway in the Regional Transportation Plan. During the hearing several committee members read, talked among each other and left the table and came back. The vote came immediately after the hearing, with almost no discussion of the testimony and before reading any of the written material submitted that day by those testifying. One committee member, Coburg Mayor Judy Volta, even suggested refusing to allow people to testify. Several citizens expressed anger at the "lack of respect" and civility the committee showed for public input in imposing the time limit and the snap decision. "It's a slap in the face," said local planning advocate Eben Fodor. "This body is alienating a lot of the public," said Nancy Ellen Locke. Eugene City Councilor Bonny Bettman was the sole vote against the WEP plan on the MPC. She said the MPC "disrespected" the citizens testifying. "Nobody is really considering what they say." "It was terribly wrong," Eugene City Councilor Betty Taylor said of the MPC's "rude" treatment of citizens. "They were ignored." The hearing shined a rare public spotlight on the MPC — an obscure, undemocratic shadow government that nevertheless wields enormous power over hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money and makes decisions that have dramatic effects on local livability, environmental protection and urban sprawl. Few citizens understand the multi-layer, alphabet soup bureaucracy that gives the MPC its power. The federal government requires larger urban regions to have Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and gives them the power to approve or deny big federal highway projects. The governor of Oregon designated the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) as the local MPO. LCOG is itself an obscure, undemocratic but powerful shadow government. LCOG's convoluted charter specifies that it's governing board of directors include representatives from all the public agencies, including cities, service districts, school districts, etc. in the county. Each member city gets a vote, meaning that Eugene with 144,640 people gets the same number of votes as Dunes City with 1,300 people. The LCOG charter does include a "one person, one vote" provision that allows voting power on the board proportional to population, but it's rarely invoked. Although voting is rarely democratic, cities pay LCOG dues every year to fund the agency based on population. In 2001, the LCOG board voted to officially adopt the powerful and controversial TransPlan dictating highway spending in the local area, even though most of the board members had not attended the many public hearings on the plan. The full LCOG board rarely meets and in reality many decisions are apparently left to LCOG staff. In past years LCOG staff have been criticized for working without direction from elected officials to lobby against state rules requiring more alternative transportation, and for wetland destruction permits for Hynix. "Staff is running the show; it's the tail wagging the dog," Bettman said of LCOG. In 2002, LCOG delegated its MPO power to the MPC. By charter the MPC voting members include two elected officials from Eugene, Lane County and Springfield and one from Coburg. MPC members with the power to vote also include three unelected members: two from the governor appointed LTD board and one from the Oregon Department of Transportation. The MPC charter includes a provision allowing Eugene, Lane County or Springfield to veto any MPC vote if both delegates from the city/county vote no. That didn't happen last week. Mayor Torrey has been one of the biggest boosters of the WEP, spearheading a successful 2001 campaign that narrowly passed a vote supporting the parkway. But citizens testified that today's WEP is far different from the one passed three years ago. The price of the project has doubled to $169 million and includes a huge new interchange at Beltline and a provision for transferring responsibility for maintaining a proportion of the highway to the City of Eugene. "This is not what people voted on," said Jan Spencer of Citizens for Public Accountability, noting the huge cost increase. Locke called the former vote on the much lower price tag a "bait and switch." Bettman said the MPC should respect the prior citizen vote and moved to amend the transportation plan to include only the $88 million and original project description people voted for. No one supported her motion. Several people testified that unfunded improvements to Beltline and other dangerous existing roads were far more important than the WEP. Barbara Shields said she's afraid her young daughter will have an accident on Beltline trying to get home. "It puts the fear into you." Several other people said that while the WEP will waste wetlands and taxpayer money, it will only benefit a few special interests. "The only beneficiaries are a couple of contractors and a few land speculators," Anne Montgomery testified. Rich Hazel said Los Angeles demonstrated that you can't pave your way out of traffic jams. The WEP "doesn't work, it's too expensive, it's not as advertised, it doesn't pass the sniff test," Hazel testified. "You can't put any more lipstick on this pig." Much of the testimony focused on the severe impact the WEP will have by driving a major freeway through a rare, sensitive and scenic west Eugene wetland preserve. Threatened butterflies and their host flowers are struggling to recover in the preserve, botanist Mary O'Brien testified. "The proposed West Eugene Parkway would utterly rip that recovery arc in half." Environmental educator Sharon Blick said the WEP would road kill many rare turtles and butterflies in an area that kids love for its natural beauty. "I've never met a kid that would rather have a highway than a wetland." Marcy Cauthorn noted the unanimity of testimony against the WEP. "I have not heard one comment in favor of the West Eugene Parkway, and I'd like to think we still live in a democracy." Torrey dismissed the testimony, claiming that given time, he could "find the same number of people to testify the other way." "Where are they?" several citizens asked. WEP supporters argued that an immediate vote was needed on the transportation plan to meet a federal deadline to avoid losing funding. But Bettman said the MPC could have avoided funding problems by simply removing the WEP from the plan to allow for more consideration and testimony while passing other parts of the plan. Bettman said she suspects the true reason for the rushed vote was that supporters wanted to pass the plan with the WEP before newly elected Mayor Kitty Piercy replaced Torrey on the MPC, leaving the WEP open to a possible Eugene veto vote. "There's so much manipulation happening behind the scenes," Bettman said in an interview. Members of Friends of Eugene testified that the lack of required citizen involvement on the transportation plan has left the process open to legal action. Bettman said MPC was originally conceived as a forum for intergovernmental conflict resolution but has now gone way beyond that in setting vital government policy without accountability. Bettman helped pass a council resolution calling for votes on transportation projects before they go to MPC. But she said city staff have not followed the council order. Councilor Taylor said the new Eugene mayor and council coming next month could change things on the MPC. She said the unrepresentative body should limit itself to intergovernmental discussions and leave the real policy decisions to the open meetings of elected and accountable city councilors. Bettman says the unrepresentative and opaque MPC has repeatedly "totally disenfranchised" the many citizens in Eugene critical of the WEP and other highway projects. As a frequent minority of one on the MPC, Bettman said, "I am constantly astounded."
The
Giving Gift Even if you don't have time this holiday to build a home for the homeless, plant a thousand acres of trees, or help Iraqi children learn to read, you can still consider giving charitable donations or volunteering your extra time to local organizations that do all that and more. Eugene is home to hundreds of great nonprofits doing great work in our community and in the world. We can't list them all but here are a few you might consider making donations to this holiday season.
Have fun while you contribute to FOOD for Lane County. Just show up at Café Paradiso this Friday to hear local band Android Ethic rock out for a good cause. The cover is just $8 and half of it will go to help feed hungry people in Lane County. There are plenty of other ways to help put food on tables this holiday season. Try donating extra box and canned food to the Emerald Community Center emergency food box at 90 Lawrence St., or volunteer at a local soup kitchen such as the Eugene Mission, located at 1542 W. First St. Don't forget that the four-legged furry friends who have to spend Christmas in a shelter need to eat too. The Greenhill Humane Society has its annual "Share A Little Love" campaign this time of year; donate to their fund by sending your contribution to 88530 Green Hill Road, Eugene, or by logging on to www.green-hill.org Eugene's Growers Market supports local organic farmers. Visit their selection of fresh health food at 454 Willamette St. from 4-7 pm on Tuesdays, or call 687-1145 for more information on how you can help. To help protect and preserve Oregon's natural landscape and wildlife, send donations to Oregon Chapter Sierra Club at 2950 SE Stark, Suite 110, Portland, OR 97214. You can also find meetings and other ways to take action by visiting Oregon.sierraclub.org St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County supports the Eugene community in a wide variety of ways. To donate goods, visit one of St. Vincent's drive-through donation centers listed in the phone book or call 345-0595 to arrange for pick-up of larger household items and appliances. You can donate your vehicle to St. Vincent's "Cars for a Cause" program by calling 607-4541, or you can volunteer your time at their social service office by contacting Roxanne at 689-6747 or Julie at 607-9733. If you can't find anything to do with all your old office or kitchen supplies, you should log on to the Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts (DIVA) website at www.divanow.orgto check out their "wish-list." Your donation to DIVA helps support local artistic culture and keeps Eugene artists painting into the new year. The Oregon Cultural Trust supports our unique Oregon culture as well. Their wide range of support varies from museums to dance performances, and the ways you can donate range just as much. Check out their website to find out how you can help––from sending funds to buying an abstract license plate design. www.culturaltrust.org (see story below). Local theaters need your help too. Willamette Repertory Theatre, Lord Leebrick Theatre, The Very Little Theater, Actor's Cabaret and Cottage Theatre all work on tight budgets and aren't supported by a larger instituntion such as UO or the LCC. Yet they continue to entertain, enlighten and challenge social norms and the status quo. The Eugene Education Fund supports students in School District 4J by funding projects to ensure they have the best education possible despite cuts in state funding. To donate to the entire project or to a school of your choice, send checks to "EEF" (and any additional designations) to EEF, P.O. Box 1015, Eugene, 97440. Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS) works to end oppression and sexual violence through youth education, support services, and outreach programs. Send donations to 591 W. 19th Ave., Eugene, or call 484-9791 to find out how you can help. To support the efforts of our troops in Iraq, consider Operation Iraqi Children for your charity. The organization is a grass-roots program that enables Americans to send School Supply kits to the schools that were severely neglected under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. To give a tax-deductible donation, visit the website at www.operationiraqichildren.org.
Oregon
Cultural Trust Local arts organizations are struggling to keep their doors open while many Oregonians could easily afford to make donations, but are not aware of the generous tax breaks now available. The Oregon Cultural Trust (OCT) is a statewide program legislated into existence in 2001 to preserve and support Oregon's culture and heritage, and to encourage public funding for the arts. OCT's goal is to build up, largely from donations, a protected long-term endowment of more than $200 million that will in turn generate substantial funding for cultural organizations and activities. Oregon currently ranks near the bottom in terms of state support for arts and culture, behind Arkansas and Alabama. The oldest state-funded society in Oregon, the Oregon Historical Society, lost all state funding last year. However, Oregonians clearly care about the arts and culture and many make individual donations. All donors now have the opportunity to effectively double their contributions at no cost to themselves by matching such contributions with a donation to OCT in exchange for a 100 percent tax credit. "Tax credit reduces your tax bill, whereas tax deduction lowers your taxable income," says Scott Palmer, OCT's trust manager since last August. Yet Palmer notes that so far only 4,500 people in Oregon (243 in Lane County) take advantage of tax credits per year: "That's 3 to 5 percent of the total number of people who write checks for cultural purposes, a very small percentage!" To contribute to OCT and get money back as a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, individuals must first make a (tax-deductible) donation to a nonprofit cultural organization of their choice, then write a matching check to OCT. The amount given to OCT (up to $500 per person and $2,500 for corporate organizations) will be returned in the form of a state tax credit. For a person in the middle-bracket income, a $1,000 donation to a cultural nonprofit matched by a $1,000 contribution to OCT will result in a $2,000 federal tax deduction and $1,000 state tax credit. The actual cost of a $2,000 donation may be as little as $250. People interested in participating should note, however, that if their contribution exceeds their state tax liability, they will not get all of their money back because this is not a refundable tax credit. "You get it refunded only up to your tax liability," says Hollis, a CPA and member of the DIVA Board. "You should make a check with the amount you think you'll be taxed by the state." "OCT is the only example of direct democracy in taxation in the U.S.," said Palmer. "It allows you to say: I want my money to go to culture." Palmer sees the Cultural Trust tax credit as a great leverage for arts organizations to raise money: "The OCT tax credit exists to make people increase their contributions to cultural organizations and to augment the cultural state fund." Forty-two percent of OCT funds are distributed annually through grants to Oregon's 36 counties and nine Indian tribes, to local cultural organizations, and to five statewide cultural partner agencies (the Oregon Arts Commission, the Oregon Council for the Humanities, the Oregon Heritage Commission, the Oregon Historical Society and the State Historic Preservation Office). The remaining 58 percent feed the endowment. The Trust receives money from the sale of the OCT license plate designed by artist Kelly Kievit and the sale of surplus state land, but gifts from individuals and businesses are its most important source of funding. Donors interested in doubling their contributions at no cost will find OCT brochures at their favorite cultural nonprofits. Further information is available at www.culturaltrust.orgo r by calling (503) 986-0088. Palmer also advises potential donors to talk to their CPA or tax adviser. To purchase the OCT license plate, contact your local DMV or go to www.oregondmv.com/Vehicles/sample_plate.htm. Contributions made by the Dec. 31 deadline will qualify donors to receive a dollar-for-dollar credit on their 2004 Oregon State income tax. – Sylvie Pederson
Moray Povey
After her husband died of an aneurysm in 1960, 31-year-old Moray Povey brought her four children, ages 6 to 12, from Redmond, their home town, to Eugene, where she enrolled at the UO. "I went to school for 10 years, but didn't graduate," says Povey. She raised her kids and worked several jobs, most recently as a secretary/clerk in the nursing department at Serenity Lane. In the early '90s, when her elderly mother lived in a local foster home, Povey got to know a volunteer ombudsman visiting the facility. Following her retirement in '98, she took a training course and became certified by Oregon's Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman. Currently, 22 certified volunteer ombudsmen visit Lane County facilities. Each puts in 10 hours per month for at least a year. "It's a complex job that entails investigation, mediation, and resolution of problems," she says. "It appeals to people who want to devote time to a cause." Since 2000, Povey has served on the local recruiting committee. The next training course in Eugene starts on Jan. 20, she notes. For details, call Povey at 344-1256 or visit http://egov.oregon.gov/LTCO
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