 |
  |
|
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
FINE-TUNING ARCHITECTURE Eugene Weekly's lead article "Doomed to Demo" (8/17) suggests both dissatisfaction on the part of the people who work in the present City Hall and disappointment throughout Eugene that this structure, built only 40 years ago, appears to be obsolete. As an architect involved with issues of sustainability, energy efficiency, affordability, and livability, I would like to add yet another layer of knowledge to this rebuilding vs. remodeling controversy, one that I believe will have far-reaching effects. Currently, society considers buildability, the environment, appropriate technology, cultural integrity, functionality, economy and esthetics as separate items rather than facets of one integrated whole, and addresses them one at a time. This piecemeal approach creates partial solutions that work for a while, but then new problems emerge. For instance, some well-lighted buildings produce so much heat that they need year-round air conditioning; some energy efficient buildings turn out to be toxic; some buildings are plagued with mold and mildew. The ancient knowledge of Sthapatya Vedic architecture, which has recently reemerged, offers a single holistic approach to our current building practices. Sthapatya Veda is a profound body of knowledge based on a deep understanding of the interactions between humans and the environment. It takes into account the entire field of understanding from the smallest detail of a building to the way it is connected to the larger environment, including the cosmos itself, and records the effects of a given structure on its inhabitants and their surrounds. For example, Sthapatya Veda holds that the orientation of every building has a pronounced influence on its inhabitants — their well-being and effectiveness. One of its most essential precepts is that an east-facing building provides a sustaining, nurturing, and purifying influence for everyone in and around it. Sthapatya Veda fine-tunes the building to respond to the symphony of natural impulses that are acting upon it: seasonal, diurnal, environmental, personal, societal and so on. Sthapatya Veda, because of its completeness, takes issues like green building technology and sustainability to a new level. A new building project in Washington, D.C., exemplifies the practical use of this ancient knowledge. A $72 million dollar high rise office building is going up that complies with environmental standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. The 200,000 sq. ft. structure is to be built with nontoxic materials and rely on energy-efficient lighting and air conditioning. The indoor air is to be recycled and filtered every 55 minutes. Because of Sthapatya Veda, the building will also have a pronounced influence on its occupants. I predict that, if the city applies Sthapatya Veda principles in rebuilding City Hall, in another 40 years the Weekly's dismal headline "Doomed to Demo" will transform into "Destined for Legacy." Don Shaifer, Eugene architect
GIVE 'EM HELL, DEB I'd like to thank Debra Merskin for her staggering expose (column, 8/24) on the dastardly and nefarious ways of pirates. Finally, the truth is out! No longer will the public adore pirates as being simple oddly dressed cockney-speaking, cyclopean, amputee parrot-fanciers! Instead, they will see the dark truth, that these notorious "buccaneers" did indeed — gasp! — take things that were not theirs, and oftentimes hurt people! Stylized versions of the past are a moral atrocity in themselves! Romanticism and fantasy must be crushed and destroyed wherever they lurk! I look forward to Ms. Merskin's future works of investigative journalism wherein she will hopefully bring to light the dark secrets of ninjas, cowboys, Vikings, samurai, cavemen, musketeers, and medieval knights, as well as the special "holiday edition" of her column wherein she explains to small children that the real Santa Claus has been dead for quite some time. Give 'em hell, Deb! Joseph Streckert, Eugene
CHOPPED-UP EUGENE Regarding your cover story about City Hall, "Doomed To Demo" (8/17), I'd like to add my two cents as someone who works in Eugene and Corvallis. On one hand you have the city of Corvallis, with a vibrant artistic downtown filled with small businesses and buildings that convey the homey sense of a small town community. Then there's Eugene, filled with concrete structures that bisect the downtown area and loom over empty storefronts. If you don't believe me, go to both towns at Christmas and observe the amount of downtown shoppers. The writer of the article obviously favors rebuilding these concrete monoliths that are almost 50 years old. Where is the Eugene that once had its main street (Willamette) running from the butte and train station through downtown? Willamette is chopped up by the ugly 1950s-designed Hilton and part of the Hult Center and shaded by concrete parking garages. Surrounding streets are metered for little or no parking, designed to speed any visitor through downtown as fast as possible. Yes, rebuilding Eugene's currently earthquake-unsafe city center will cost money — but the result can and should be a kinder, gentler, friendlier downtown that serves the people. Other city and county agencies can be incorporated into a new downtown plan — an example is LCARA, which would benefit by having homeless animals available within walking distance to anyone interested in a new friend. Currently one has to drive miles to get to LCARA or Greenhill. Maybe a police station that doesn't resemble the set of "Dragnet" would help the citizens warm up to those that protect and serve. Perhaps many local businesses could benefit from a new look downtown. Hello? Eugene CAN do it — contrary to the naysayer writer of your cover story. Marc Time, Junction City
WORLD CLASS OSF Though overall a decent plug for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Suzi Steffen's review (cover story 8/24) sells these theater experiences short with her evaluation of the quality of the six plays she saw (Merry Wives of Windsor, A Winter's Tale, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cyrano de Bergerac, King John, and Bus Stop) and her subjective grading system. These are not high school plays. Her grades seems inappropriate and somewhat childish. The following information may provide insight into the reference point for our assessment of the OSF productions. Two years ago we had the good fortune to see Ralph Fiennes in London, England in Ibsen's Brand, as well as Joan Plowright in a Pirandello play, Absolutely, Perhaps, and the Royal Shakespeare's production of The Tragedy of Coriolanus at the Old Vic Theatre. Upon our return, we attended several plays at OSF. Just recently we returned from New York City, where we saw Fiennes again, in The Faith Healer. Two weeks after our return from NYC, we attended four plays at OSF. Having seen not only all 11 plays this OSF season but many more in the past, we can vouch that these productions are world class, a description often used indiscriminately, but in this case, thoroughly merited. From the stellar performers to the imaginative and skilled productions, outstanding theater can be experienced in Ashland for the next two plus months. Not to be missed and only a three-hour drive away! Kathleen and Howard Epstein, Eugene
LOW-KILL STILL KILLS In response to Sara Taylor's letter (8/17) regarding Greenhill's unnecessary, uncompassionate and unapologetic killing of her cat, if what Johnni Prince says is true and the cat "was too wild and aggressive to scan for a microchip, despite multiple attempts," why didn't they tranquilize the cat and check? It is no more difficult to tranquilize an animal than it is to kill him. The excuse that the chip info was out of date is after the fact. There are still multiple ways to track down the owner. If Greenhill were a "no kill" shelter, then saving this cat's life would have been their top priority. But since they call themselves "low kill," which means nothing except that they will continue doing business as usual, this cat was killed as many other pets will be killed — unnecessarily. There are many other stories like this one that always end in Greenhill saying the owner of the animal was stupid, a liar or didn't understand. They have NEVER, to my knowledge, admitted to doing anything wrong. Isn't it amazing that with thousands of animals passing through Greenhill every year and the facility being run by human beings, no one has EVER made a mistake? If Greenhill insists on keeping their archaic beliefs that shelters can't save all of the adoptable animals, then the compassionate community of Lane County will have to change their minds for them. Please see nokillsolutions.com for more info about no-kill communities.
Molly Sargent, Pleasant Hill
EDITOR'S NOTE Molly Sargent owns Embarkadero Compassionate Grooming, has worked as a veterinary assistant, managed an emergency veterinary hospital, and fostered, rescued, worked and volunteered to help animals for the past 42 years. We also heard from Sara Taylor who told us her contact information was not out of date, and her cat was killed in less than three days.
THE SINCEREST FORM OF … A 44-year career as a science translator especially heightened my enjoyment of Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, Nicole Kidman in The Interpreter, Molly Ringwald in The Translator, and most certainly Honey Huan, Uncle Duke's interpreter in the comic strip "Doonesbury." None of these fine examples, however, wrenched my funnybone like Sally Sheklow's column, "Found in Translation" (8/17). It triggered a second resonance in light of my own recent family visit in Nicaragua, where I expected to hover in the background of my wife's reunion with her several siblings, desperately perusing Spanish For Dummies, but instead found myself thrust center stage as the main object of curiosity, the new gringo husband of the expatriate sister. I've long wanted to transcend my rehashing (essentially) of other people's writing and do a novel about a bumbling translator. Good thing I don't have the skill to do that, because I'd probably be indicted for plagiarism. Sheklow's story would be so tempting to steal, er, I mean, sincerely flatter by imitation. James S. Wood, Eugene
IT'S THE BUDGET, STUPID Judging from the coverage given to the Democratic primary in Connecticut, the main and perhaps the only issue in November's general election will be the war. I disagree with this as I think the Bush administration's fiscal failures will be an issue for the Democratic candidates. Some of these fiscal failures include the increasing trade and budget deficits. The budget deficit, the yearly difference between income and expenditure since Bush took office in 2001, totals over $8.5 trillion. There was a budget surplus of $5.6. trillion when Bush took office. The interest payments on this national debt are now the third largest single item in the federal budget. To finance the interest payments on this debt, the federal government sells bonds, and since the federal debt is increasing at the rate of $1.75 billion every day, the federal government's demand for borrowing is crowding out businesses and individuals who are seeking to borrow money for use in the private sector of our economy. This "crowding out" effect reduces the growth rate of our economy and increases the mortgage rates that homeowners must pay. I think voters do and should think about these factors when voting in November. I think they should take into consideration the record trade deficit of $723 billion in 2005, of which $202 billion was with China, since this has a negative impact on U.S. employment. The war failures are important, but so are the Bush administration's fiscal failures and we should remember both in November. Dennis Shine , Springfield
EXPLOIT THE INEVITABLE Recently the NBC evening news focused on some East Coast towns which have targeted and wooed newly retired "boomers" to settle in their redesigned communities, which offer age and size appropriate housing surrounded by goods and services. Equally important are social amenities such as the arts, entertainment, restaurants, sports, shops, library, parks and opportunities to attend and teach classes (already part of Eugene). In the June AARP Bulletin, William Novelli, chief executive officer, states "Building Livable Communities" supports the concept of "communities for successful aging." He closes with, "In creating livable communities for people 50 and over, we will create them for all. We are committed to develop such places because we value the ability to age with control and choices about the way we live." Andrew Weil (natural health guru, speaker and author of Aging Gracefully) envisions a co-housing/commune for the many retiring "hippie folks" who have a similar housing desire with a slant towards sustainable living. Consider the Sears pit as an underground residential garage/storage facility for bikes and "shared" vehicles with a garden/park on top for growing food and to supply a green respite from concrete. Elder travelers want a simple home base to return to in an apartment that's secure and ready for reconnecting with neighbors and family. Commercial opportunities abound. Developers of Eugene downtown take note: "Exploit the inevitable." Martha Snyder, Eugene
FACING EARTHRUPTCY Think of Gaia (Earth's biosphere, having a controlled metabolism), or God if you like, as a hard-nosed banker. I have no clear evidence that either is overly caring about humans. We've been borrowing on our environmental account ever since we learned to control fire and use agriculture. But in the last couple centuries, with our increasing population and the use of fossil fuels, most recently oil, we've greatly expanded our compound interest debt. We haven't been keeping up with our payments. We're approaching the point where the most we can pay won't be enough to keep up with the added "interest." Interest means the increasing "natural" sources of CO2 and higher temperatures, such as melting polar and glacial ice reducing sunlight reflectance, melting permafrost, more and hotter forest fires, warmer oceans, faster decomposition of organic matter and possibly the relatively sudden breakdown of methane hydrates on the ocean floors, all releasing more CO2 and/or methane (a much more powerful greenhouse gas). When we reach this point, bankruptcy, or Earthruptcy, seems imminent. What are the chances we'll get off with just some time in "debtor's prison"? I hear 44 percent of Americans feel that the apocalypse/Armageddon/rapture is coming before global warming gets bad, and Jesus will judge the good and bad. I wonder on what basis they feel he'll judge how we treated God's creation with greed and denial of responsibility? Maybe "Jesus is coming, and is he ever pissed" is more appropriate than ever. Dan Robinson, Eugene
THE ZERO OPTION The dirty deed is done. Bush's Forest Service has begun the first roadless forest logging since the 2001 Roadless Rule. As you read this, 300-year-old trees fall to the chainsaw in the Siskiyou National Forest, despite millions of public comments in favor of roadless area protections, despite the legal action of the governors of Oregon, Washington and New Mexico, despite valiant efforts of conservation groups and concerned citizens. This was the environmental issue of the century and we lost. Big time. So where do we go from here? As I see it, the environmental movement has three choices: We can throw in the towel and resign ourselves to the inevitable liquidation of our once-great heritage forests (luckily, working for the public interest forbids this). We can continue on the same path we've been trudging for decades: fighting timber sale by timber sale, playing only defense. Yet the clear pattern that emerges from this approach is an endless chipping away at our remaining 5% of native forests. We can learn from our mistakes and develop a whole new game plan — playing offense instead of defense — which will take nothing short of a unified effort by green groups everywhere. And the first question the movement needs to ask itself is: How much more of our forests are we going to let them cut? 50 percent? 25 percent? 10 percent? Honestly, what figure could we ever agree on besides zero? Zero cut on public lands. Josh Schlossberg, Eugene
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
