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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes News: Feature: Happening Person: Jeff Lanza EWEB SITE STILL ON TOP News of the Lane County Fairgrounds' decision to consider selling and moving has stirred a frenzy of speculation about where McKenzie-Willamette/Triad will build its new Eugene hospital, but both city and hospital officials are continuing their pursuit of the EWEB property. "Everything I know says that everyone's focus for the hospital location continues to be the EWEB site," says Eugene Councilor David Kelly this week. "I have no idea whether the Fairgrounds will or will not relocate. If it does, that site would be a tremendous opportunity for residential or mixed-use infill — and could open up a significant piece of land in the central city, increasing density and complementing the existing neighborhood." In addition to the uncertainties of the Fairgrounds site, the major parties are all heavily invested in the EWEB site. McKenzie/Triad is pursuing a certificate of need from the state, and has committed $500,000 in design work on access to the site in anticipation of a $12 million underpass. The road work would be paid for through urban renewal tax increments on a hospital facility expected to cost at least $85 million. EWEB is committed to more than $1 million in studies to examine the costs of relocating all or part of its operations to west Eugene. The City Council is also unanimously committed to a full-service hospital in the downtown core. Kelly says city officials have many reasons to be involved in the siting of a hospital downtown. "It's critically important for the population's health and quality of life, and the community's economic vitality that we have high-quality health care services," he says. And why downtown and not 2nd and Chambers or the Fairgrounds site? Kelly once favored the Chambers location, but now prefers the EWEB site because of its proximity to existing doctors' offices and clinics, its anticipated boost to downtown shops and restaurants, the existing infrastructure, and the aesthetics of having a hospital in a scenic location. Doctors like the riverfront site, he says, and will want to go there and send their patients there. Councilor Bonny Bettman agrees, saying, "If we can facilitate the development of the hospital in such a way as to fulfill other city goals such as minimizing sprawl, maximizing the use of alternate transportation modes, securing large employers near the downtown core, and redeveloping brownfields, then there are even greater public benefits in addition to our primary goal of facilitating the provision of medical services." Kelly and Bettman both talked about the memorandum of understanding with McKenzie/Triad. The MOU promises more public access to the river than currently exists, and provides for riparian restoration. If the EWEB site is sold for non-hospital development, such as proposed by Arlie & Co., fewer restrictions could be applied. Private proposals will likely seek to rezone the site, says Bettman. "Once private property is rezoned, the city doesn't dictate the details or design, the code does that. Commercial and mixed-use zones are very permissive so the site could be developed in many different ways, or the owner could get the rezoning and resell the property." — TJT
VOLS NEEDED FOR CAMPAIGN Two ballot initiatives dealing with campaign finance reform are in the works and local organizers are meeting in Eugene next week to organize volunteers. The meeting will be from 7 to 8:30 pm Tuesday, July 5 at Growers Market, 454 Willamette, room 207. Two initiatives are planned for 2006 elections and organizers need help gathering signatures at public events throughout the summer, phone-banking to raise funds for the campaign, and doing administrative work in the campaign office. Oregon currently has no limits on political campaign contributions for any state or local race, and is one of just five states without limits, says Brooke Robertshaw of the Fair Elections campaign. "The result is that corporations dominate politics in Oregon," she says. "They outspend labor unions by 5-1 and massively outspend all other groups and causes put together, including those for more health care, environmental protection, human and civil rights, decent and living wage jobs for all, consumer protection, and sufficient funding for education and other needs." Robertshaw says corporations have pushed up the total reported spending on political races in Oregon from $4.2 million in 1996 to $49 million in 2002 — a factor of 12 in six years. In 1994 the voters of Oregon enacted campaign finance reform by a 72 percent vote. But in 1997 the Oregon Supreme Court struck down the law, and since then spending on campaigns has increased 10-fold. One initiative being worked on by the Fair Elections campaign is a constitutional amendment to overturn the Oregon Supreme Court's decision and allow campaign finance reform laws to be enacted by Oregon voters through the initiative process or an act of the Legislature. The other is a statute that would put limits on how much can be donated to campaigns by individuals, corporations, unions and committees, and put in place more stringent reporting and disclosure rules of donors to campaigns. For information contact Robertshaw at brooke@demaction.com or call 684.4408. Or visit www.fairelections.com
CUTTING CARBON Portland has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 13.2 percent, achieving the Kyoto Protocol goal of below-1990 levels, The Oregonian reports (6/9). Eugene might be on track with similar reductions, according to a May 5 climate change assessment by a team of UO students. Under the guidance of professor Bob Doppelt, UO graduate students in a global warming course analyzed emissions from the city of Eugene's government operations (including EWEB, city buildings, public transportation fleets and the metropolitan wastewater management). They found that the city's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 9 percent over the past decade. Local actions that contributed to the greenhouse gas reductions include energy efficiency programs, carbon dioxide sequestration, solid waste reduction and recycling. The city's use of hydroelectric power also reduces its carbon dioxide emissions. The assessment examines the climate changes already affecting the Pacific Northwest due to greenhouse gas emissions. Year-round temperatures are rising and forests are drying out in late summer, increasing the risk of bug infestations and wildfires. More summer heat also means more energy demand for air conditioning at a time when less water will be available in reservoirs for hydropower. Infectious diseases like West Nile virus are moving northward, and precipitation patterns are more erratic, the report states. And it will only get worse. "We'll have large-scale weather variations; more summer droughts back-to-back with increased flooding," says Doppelt, who is also the director of the UO Institute for a Sustainable Environment. "Droughts will affect fishing and summer recreation. A rising sea level will impact coastal infrastructure and cause losses of beach sand, with impacts on recreation and tourism." But there is hope. Eugene is a leader is energy conservation, which saves consumers money while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Investments in energy-efficient technology and architecture generally pay off within one to three years, Doppelt says, and wind power is becoming more competitive as fossil fuel costs rise. "We need to unleash the creative energy of business leaders and citizens in general, and we will find solutions," Doppelt says. Eugene's initiatives alone won't slow global warming — but it's a start. "Eugene's actions have to be coordinated with those in other communities," Doppelt says. "Without the participation of every community, state and nation, we will not solve the problem." — Kera Abraham
SALLY LAUDED IN TEXAS Eugene Weekly humor columnist Sally Sheklow has taken both first and second place awards in the Best Magazine Column category in the 2005 Houston Press Club Lone Star Awards. The awards were announced at the University of Houston Hilton June 18. Sheklow's columns on same-sex marriage were submitted by Tim Brookover, editor of Houston's OutSmart magazine. The columns competed with magazines from all over the state. "As always, Sally's columns match wit with provocative content," says Brookover. "In 2004, Sally was particularly on fire with her terrific columns about same-sex marriage." Sheklow's "Living Out" column began at EW in 1999 and is now carried in newspapers and magazines across the country.
HOLIDAY DEADLINES Eugene Weekly offices will be closed Monday, July 4. Editorial deadlines for our July 7 issue will not change, but advertising will have early deadlines. To reserve space for display ads, please call by Thursday noon, June 30. For classified ads, please call by 5 pm Friday, July 1. Questions? Call 484-0519.
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS An editor's error occurred in the second paragraph of Mona Linstromberg's Viewpoint last week. The sentence ending with "proposed cuts of April 2005" should have ended with "proposed cuts of '04-05."
Riding
Cheap Honda Insight: $21,500. Toyota Prius: $21,000. Ford Escape Hybrid SUV: $27,000. Knowing that your cost-efficient, environmentally friendly motorized bike will pass all those hybrid cars up as they sit, stalled in local traffic: priceless.
Oregon's average gas prices continue to hover at record highs. And as individuals continue to brook, spending their entire week's pay just to fuel up and drive to and from work, the news just doesn't get any better. Not only will local residents pay an extra two cents more at the pump with the city's gas tax currently being raised to a nickel per gallon, but with Lane County proposing an additional seven cent tax on top of that to help pay for needed road repairs, can we really afford to drive anymore? Rick Mendes is a graying, austere 50-year-old man with a knack for science and the aplomb attitude to perfect it within everything he touches. Mendes hopes that his latest invention, a motorized bicycle, will help lessen the burden on local drivers. "My motivation has always been to build alternative electric transportation that doesn't go necessarily fast, but will get you around town for really cheap," says Mendes. "The pollution problem now is enough to gag you. And as a nation, we're just killing ourselves with all the gas-powered machinery that's made available to us." Originally inspired five years ago by a European made electric bike that he had witnessed on the Internet, Mendes, an auto body repairman, quickly began thinking science as he sketched a bike that he knew would work for local residents. Eventually, after years of trial and error production within his quaint two-car Junction City garage shop, Mendes believes he's finally produced a means of transportation that will benefit both people and the environment. His black and gray Moto-Glide Kustom Kruiser has an attached mono-shock suspension trailer that houses three 30-month batteries (a combined 36 volts at 85 amp hours and a top speed of 20 mph). Mendes guarantees that the bike is safe for everyone to ride and enjoy. "It's just as safe to ride this as it would be to ride a regular bicycle," says Mendes. "And if you live within 20 miles of work or your desired destination, then this bike is perfect for you." Other components adorning the bike include: a speedometer/ odometer gauge; a handmade front headlight; a small backup light fitted with it's own generator (in case the main one fizzles out); and a motorcycle-like throttle and brake system mounted on the handlebars. Currently, Mendes is working on a dome-like compartment to enclose the batteries and provide storage for tubes, wrenches and other bike maintenance necessities. A back compartment will be big enough for bags of groceries. "Outside of the motor and controller, which I have to order through shops or off the Internet, I try to keep everything local, buying as many of the parts as I can from local bicycle shops," says Mendes. He estimates a total operation cost of about 30 cents a day. "Depending on how much you were going to ride the bike, the most you'd pay to operate and maintain it would be around $100 to $130 a year. And that's driving the bike at around 40 total miles a day," says Mendes. "If you are going to be using the bike everyday, then the batteries will be good for about a year, year and a half." Eventually, Mendes hopes that individuals will become interested in the bikes and that he can mass-produce them out of a local shop with local workers. Keeping everything within the community is important to Mendes. "I just feel we need to see more environmentally friendly vehicles such as these electric bikes or electric cars on our streets," says Mendes. "This isn't just a quiet, non-polluting, efficient, cost-effective mean of transportation. It's a fun way to transport about the town, especially when the weather's great, instead of sitting in a gas-burning car, waiting in traffic as you try to get to work or home." Mendes says there are one or two bugs left to work out before he considers the bike perfect. but he guarantees the bike will be perfected this summer. Individuals interested in the bikes, or with questions concerning the bikes, are asked to contact Mendes at his e-mail address, superrick@comcast.net
War
and Peace Edgar Peara was a student at Iowa State College on Dec. 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. He volunteered for the Army the following week, and within a year, he was in North Africa, in the first U.S. campaign of World War II. Less than two years after that, on June 6, 1944, he was on the beaches of Normandy, working as a combat engineer in the D-Day campaign.
The front lines of World War II might seem an unlikely location for a young soldier to embrace peace, but for Peara, the terrors of invasion and destruction did exactly that. When he joined the service, 20 years old and fresh from a high school military academy education, Peara says he felt a strong sense of duty toward his country. But by the time the North Africa campaign began, his idea of duty changed. "I realized the enemy was not individual German, Italian or Japanese soldiers, as it was the philosophy of national socialism, Italian fascism, or Japanese imperialism," he says. "I thought if I fought them in my mind, I would not have to fight them with weapons." During Peara's entire military career, he maintains that he never injured anyone and his unit never lost a troop. "In my childhood religious education, I more or less lived in the Commandments and the Beatitudes," he says. "And the commandment says, 'Thou shall not kill.'" More than 60 years later, Peara, who turns 84 in July, has held onto the ideals he developed on the battlefield, transforming his beliefs about violence and destruction into a fully formed philosophy. "Everybody knows the first instinct is survival. Secondly, it's to seek happiness, and number three, everything that lives, grows," he says. "Violence and war, destruction and killing, is the antithesis of every one of those — survival, happiness and growth." Instead, Peara believes the basis of life is compassionate, nonviolent love. As a Navy chaplain during the Korean War, and later, as a Unitarian Universalist minister in Illinois and New Zealand, he combined this belief in love with his religious work, encouraging his congregation to lead peaceful lives. But Peara's work has also been overtly political; during the Vietnam War he remembers bringing his four sons — the youngest small enough to ride atop his shoulders — to protests and rallies. During the Gulf War, he organized a demonstration at a different Chicago-area federal building each Saturday until the fighting stopped. Today, in the midst of the Iraq occupation and the "War on Terror," Peara, who retired in Eugene a few years back, is still an advocate for peace. Last month, at a Memorial Day event at the Lane County Veterans Memorial, he gave a short speech every hour from 8 am to 6 pm. Using the holiday to honor not just fallen soldiers, but also the thousands of civilians who've died in Iraq, he told the crowd that supporting nonviolence is the best way to observe the holiday. "Most people think that war is just a part of life," he says. "Just like pre-Civil War, people thought that slavery was a part of life." But in truth, war is neither necessary nor effective, he says — and in Iraq, it's been a disaster. "To me, the biggest disappointment was not Bush declaring war against a country that was no threat to us; it was the huge majority of the American people who favored it when it started," he says. "The propaganda was that the country would be a pushover, that we'd go in there, and the war would last a few days like the first Gulf War." Although peace in Iraq is still a dream, Peara cites recent polls showing waning support for the war as proof positive of a turning tide. "To me, a graph of evolution toward peace would be represented by a line like this," he says, gesturing a jagged incline with his hand. "It goes up and down, but the overall trend is upward." The U.S. may be on a downward slope now, but as always, he has faith that love will win out in the end.
JEFF LANZA
A love of trees and outdoor life drew Jeff Lanza from Lake Forest, Ill., to architecture school at the UO in 1981. After two years, nature drew him out of the classroom and into his own landscape design and construction business. When he returned to school a decade later in landscape architecture, Lanza drew up an open-space master plan for the city of Coburg as a fifth-year project. "One thing that makes Coburg historic is street trees, especially big-leaf maple," he notes. "It got me involved in community tree issues." Since 1998, Lanza has worked for Stangeland Landscape Architecture and volunteered with the Eugene Tree Foundation, currently as chairman of its tree-planting committee. "I look on trees as critical public infrastructure," he says. "I keep a journal and scout for locations. We've planted more than 1,000 street trees since 1999." Tree-planting work parties are scheduled for Saturday mornings in the winter and early spring. The city's NeighborWoods Program provides trees and tools. "Jeff is tireless in getting things organized," says former ETF President Jon Kline. "He's very knowledgeable about trees and their habitat." -BY PAUL NEEVEL
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