A Sense of Normalcy

Why people who are homeless have dogs

Why do so many homeless people have dogs? This question comes up a lot in our town, where many people hang around downtown with their animals. The first answer is a simple one: Homeless people have animals for all the same reasons housed people have them. It’s a great feeling to be loved and accepted without judgment, to have a warm companion to hug when you are feeling sad, and a friend who is always ready to walk with you—no matter how far you have to go. Continue reading 

Listen, Then Ignore

Can citizens outsmart EWEB smart meters?

The Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) met Feb. 17 and dutifully accepted public testimony addressing the main agenda item quietly described in an internal memo and low-profiled to the public: “Management has negotiated contracts with two providers of essential Advanced Metering Infrastructure services, hardware and software (Harris and Sensus). Management seeks approval of these two contracts to allow for the AMI project to proceed into the initial implementation phase during 2015.”  Continue reading 

Renting Sidewalks?

The city of Eugene has been encouraging local businesses recently to participate in a “sidewalk commerce” permit program, which consists of the city “renting” the public sidewalks in front of a business to the business itself as a “vending location.” This permit is different from the “outdoor cafe” permit program, which is what allows businesses to have cafe tables outside their establishments. The sidewalk commerce permit gives the business control of the adjacent sidewalk, so that they can theoretically conduct commerce on the sidewalk.  Continue reading 

If I Ran the Zoo

How to improve downtown Eugene

Recently both EW and the R-G have been covering the problems facing downtown Eugene. Here are some changes I would make to improve the situation, focusing on inclusivity, safety and getting the most bang for the city’s buck. First, I would replace the Downtown Guides with a pedestrian team of CAHOOTS-style crisis-intervention workers. I would expect this change to have a quick effect, and it wouldn’t cost the city a penny more. Continue reading 

It’s All About Love

Occupy: a continuing focus on good will

The recent celebration of Occupy Wall Street’s (OWS) second anniversary triggered a series of blogs with pronouncements that ranged from “Occupy is dead,” to critiques of its organizational (non)structure, to suggestions how we should act in order to succeed (by those who claim we have failed). The question is, of course, how do we define success and what is Occupy’s aim? Ultimately, Occupy can succeed only if people provide support by donating time, money, materials, ideas and good will. Continue reading 

Seeds of Destruction

How capitalism sows the seeds of its demise

The Occupy Wall Street meme went viral in September 2011. People all over America assembled to oppose the astonishing Wall Street bailouts, which continued after emergency assistance to Main Street dried up. Street drama was electrifying. Looking back, history will show that Occupy was the beginning of a paradigm — shifting people’s reaction to the third structural crisis of American capitalism (after the depressions of 1893 and the 1930s). Both of these previous crises resulted in fundamental rewrites of the operating code of the American political operating system. Continue reading