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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes Architecture: News: News: Happening Person: Oliver Sorenson ARCHITECT POSTS MAPS
Eugene architect Jerry Diethelm, as a follow-up to his Viewpoint last week, has posted online a schematic design for his proposed new market square and indoor farmers' market. Two bird's eye illustrations, showing before and after views, can be found at www.uoregon.edu/~diethelm/SquarePkg.html "The first shows what goes where with respect to moving the parking as described in the 'Park Central' article last week," he says. "If you click on the drawing, it reveals a schematic proposal for the new Skinner Market Square and Public Market. Clicking on that image takes you back to the one before." Diethelm says his research indicates that Eugene Skinner donated the land for the North Park Block, and "the Sanborn Insurance Maps of downtown from 1912 show a N. Park St. So, I put N. Park back again as access to the Public Market and the Square." "I think we need a downtown open space project that can draw the community together," he adds.
AIR QUALITY IMPROVES Last week's news story, "Unhealthy Haze," reported on Lane County's short-term particle pollution — which caused the Eugene-Springfield metro area to be ranked fifth worst in the nation in the American Lung Association's State of the Air 2005 report — and 1999 EPA data showing dangerously high levels of arsenic compounds in the air over west Springfield. New information might help residents breathe easier. The short-term particle pollution ranking was largely due to wood-burning smoke from Oakridge rather than Eugene-Springfield. Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority (LRAPA) data show that the air was hazardous or unhealthy for sensitive groups to breathe for 69 days — an average of 23 days per year — between 2001 and 2003, the years reflected in the State of the Air 2005 report. But 55 of those poor air quality days were in Oakridge, largely due to wood burning during temperature inversions, when cold air traps polluted hot air close to the ground. Oakridge's pollution skewed Eugene-Springfield's rank on ALA's report, said LRAPA spokesperson Kim Metzler. ALA's State of the Air 2006 report, to be released on April 27, will reflect a steady improvement in Lane County's air quality from 2002 to 2004. According to LRAPA air monitoring data, there were 40 unhealthy and hazardous air quality days in Oakridge and seven in Eugene-Springfield between 2002 and 2004, averaging 16 days of poor air quality per year — a 30 percent reduction from the 2005 figure. That may be enough to knock Eugene-Springfield off of ALA's State of the Air 2006 worst-cities list for short-term particle pollution. 2004 was the best year on recent record, with 10 poor air quality days, all of them in Oakridge. EW's March 30 news story also mentioned EPA National Air Toxics Assessment data showing high levels of arsenic compound pollution over west Springfield. At the time, Metzler said that LRAPA didn't know where the annual 5.1 tons of airborne arsenic were coming from. Revisiting emissions data, LRAPA air permit writers discovered that the source of the arsenic compound was likely Globe Metallurgical Inc., a factory that released 5.2 tons of arsenic compounds in 1999 but ended operations in December 2000. Because the source of the arsenic is now gone, Springfield's arsenic levels should be dramatically lower, Metzler said. — Kera Abraham
KITZHABER'S TALK ONLINE Former Gov. John Kitzhaber, MD, spoke to a full Hilton conference room at City Club of Eugene March 31, on the topic "Fear and Loathing in the U.S. Health Care System." His talk was broadcast on KLCC Monday and CTV29 Wednesday, and for those who missed it all, the key points of his talk are available at www.ArchimedesMovement.org Archimedes was the Greek scholar and mathematician who said, "Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I can move the Earth." The Archimedes Movement is based on four key ideas or assumptions: • The goal of our health system should be health. • As the means to that end, all of us must have timely access to at least a basic set of effective health services. • The vision involves an effort to reallocate only public resources in a way that maximizes the health benefit across the population. • The part of the health care system financed with public resources should be organized along the lines of the public education model, which provides for universal access of basic services regardless of income. Kitzhaber said completely reforming our nation's outdated and unfair health care system could take generations, but it helps for states such as Oregon to get involved and put pressure on Congress. "We can have a conversation here in Oregon that we cannot have inside the Beltway," he said, "and plant seeds for tomorrow — a gift for our children and grandchildren." Kitzhaber is a former emergency physician, legislator and two-term governor of Oregon (1995-2003). He is the past president of the Oregon Senate, where he authored and implemented the groundbreaking Oregon Health Plan. — TJT
RACES TO BE DECIDED IN PRIMARY The campaign to unseat incumbent two-term County Commissioner Anna Morrison is in full swing in recognition that the race will likely be decided in the May 16 primary. Local election rules in non-partisan races dictate that if any candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary, that candidate will be the only one to advance to the November ballot. With only two candidates having filed in the West Lane District, one is bound to get more than 50 percent in May. Bill Fleenor of Mapleton is challenging Morrison in the district that includes parts of Eugene, west to Florence. The Fleenor campaign is planning to go door-to-door in the district during April, and the Bus Project is organizing canvassing of Santa Clara area this weekend. The group will meet at 11 am Saturday at Spring Creek Elementary School, 560 Irvington Road. Fleenor is also planning a series of informal 9:30 to 11 am "Coffee with Bill" meetings around the district. The next is April 8 at Robbie's Windowbox Café on Territorial Road outside Veneta; followed by April 15 at the Junction City Café on 6th Avenue in Junction City; and April 22 at Churchill Market on Bailey Hill Road in Eugene. For information, call 343-7250. East Lane Commissioner Faye Stewart faces two opponents in the primary, scientist Ron Davis of Cottage Grove, and Gary Kutcher, executive director of the Sustainable Forestry Network. Davis is planning a town hall meeting from 2 to 4 pm Sunday, April 9 at the Java House in Cottage Grove. Three candidates are on the ballot for county assessor: Anette Spickard, Gary Cook and Bill Mahn. — TJT
RALLY BREWS IN SALEM A mass mobilization for immigrant rights nationwide has at least one event planned for Oregon. The gathering is set for Sunday, April 9 at the State Capitol building in Salem. Details are sketchy at this point, but the farmworkers and treeplanters union PCUN is organizing a march with the theme, "Oregon Works Because Immigrants Work: March for Immigrant Rights." The gathering begins at 2 pm with a rally at 3 and a march to follow. For updated information, visit www.pcun.org or e-mail farmworkerunion@pcun.org The April action follows a March 4 immigrant, labor, faith, and allied communities mobilization against the Sensenbrenner Bill. Actions are being held around the country in conjunction with the Senate Judiciary Committee mark-up on immigration reform. West Lane Herbicide Spray Schedule • Oregon Department of Forestry (West Lane office: 935-2283) Notification No. 2006-781-50145 and 50149: Weyerhaeuser (744-4600) aerial application of herbicides to approximately 2,000 acres near Junction City, Low Pass, Horton, Blachly, Triangle Lake, Greenleaf areas with start date 3/01/06 to end date 5/01/06 with herbicides 2,4-D, Oust, Garlon, Atrazine, Transline, Velpar and others. • ODOT District 5 (Lane County): Roadside herbicide nighttime spraying scheduled to begin the week of April 10 on I-5, and I-105 inside shoulders and ramps and connecting highways. ODOT District 5 IVM coordinator is Dennis Joll (686-7526); daily spray information: (888) 996-8080. Compiled by Jan Wroncy. Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332.
OLIVER SORENSON
On summer vacation from Hollywood High in the 1940s, Oliver Sorenson visited an uncle in Washington state. "He had the only house on Lake Samish," Sorenson recalls. "I told myself, 'I've gotta come back here.'" Eventually Sorenson did move north, to Beaverton, and worked for the Oregon Department of Justice. He also earned degrees in social work and counseling in night school at Portland State, moved to Eugene in '73, and counseled juvenile offenders for the county until his retirement in '85. Since then he has often traveled abroad, lived out of a backpack, and stayed at youth hostels. "My last trip was bicycling in Cuba in 2004," he says. "At 76 I don't travel as much." For the past three years, Sorenson has volunteered several times a month for Planned Parenthood. "He's our most active volunteer," says public affairs organizer Emily Alvarado. "He's at every event." Sorenson is gearing up to campaign against a parental-notification initiative on the fall ballot. "We just did a table at the UO Bookstore," he says. "We're trying to maintain women's right to choose." -BY PAUL NEEVEL
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