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News
Briefs: Micron Eyes China? | Morse
Picks Lee | Rich Getting Richer | The
"Other" Voice
News:
Tale of Two Cities -- Will Mike Swaim's progressive revolution in Salem spark
change in Eugene?
News:
The World Watches -- Undercovered #21: More tales from Israel, Palestine &
D.C.
News:
Hynix Hullaboo -- Did city staff hide key facts from the City Council?
Happening
People: Sheldon High Senior Girls.
MICRON
EYES CHINA?
Micron's $4 billion purchase of Hynix's near-bankrupt chip
plants may not make jobs in Eugene any more secure.
Micron has said it has no immediate plans for layoffs in Eugene.
But an April 21 article in The Oregonian reports that the days are
numbered for large scale chip manufacturing in Oregon. "Chip companies are more
focused than ever on using contract manufacturers in Asia, a trend that is likely
to continue as China becomes a bigger force in the industry," the paper says.
"Industry experts, chip industry executives and local vendors expect that trend
to accelerate in coming years as mainland China -- with easy permitting and a cheap,
well-educated labor force -- completes the construction of several megaplants and
wins an increasing share of the manufacturing business."
Eugene has invested more than $50 million in tax breaks and subsidies
in the unstable jobs at Hynix. It's old news that those heavily subsidized jobs at
Hynix are likely to end up in China. A 1995 article in The Wall Street Journal
reported how chip manufacturing moved from Japan to Korea in pursuit of cheap labor
and predicted the next move would be to China. -- Alan Pittman
MORSE
PICKS LEE
Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California, whose lone dissenting
vote against the government's "war against terrorism" earned her both criticism
and admiration, has been named winner of the Wayne Morse Integrity in Government
Award for 2002. The announcement was made April 25 by Laura Olson, president of the
Wayne Morse Corporation Board in Eugene.
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Barbara Lee.
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Lee is the eighth recipient of the award that was created in 1987.
Other winners have been Rose Bird, Lowell Weicker, Jimmy Carter, Paul Simon, Henry
Gonzalez, William Proxmire and Jim Leach.
Joining Lee as one of three finalists from an original list of
seven nominees were Russ Feingold and James Jeffords. Final selection was made by
a committee of former holders of the Morse Chair in Law and Politics at the UO.
"All nominees," says Olson, "are known for characteristics
clearly related to those of Sen. Morse: demonstrated commitment to justice, and an
independence that will not be altered by influence or expediency."
Lee's decision on the declaration of war was seen as a stand against
expediency, and she stayed true to her conscience despite real and implied influence
exerted by other members of both parties, all of whom voted in favor. Many of them,
she believes, did so in the belief the war resolution was only symbolic, a demonstration
of national resolve.
"I could not ignore that it provided explicit authority to
go to war -- a blank check for the president to attack anyone involved in the Sept.
11 events," she says. "We must bring those who did this brutal act to justice.
But we must do it by choosing to avoid needless military action when other avenues
to redress our rightful grievances and protect our nation are available to us."
Selection of Lee was also based on her record in Congress promoting
low-income housing, health care, mass transit, human rights and the environment.
RICH
GETTING RICHER
Over the past two decades income inequality has increased
more in Oregon than most other states, according to a new study by the Washington,
D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) and the Economic Policy
Institute (EPI). Oregon's economy has grown and the state's highest-income families
have seen large gains, but the majority of Oregon families saw little change or declining
incomes.
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WebSitings
Inside Israel
Israel's liberal/left newspaper offers deeper analysis
than the usual pabulum of the U.S. press.
Space on Earth
A funky new on-line quiz helps gauge your impact on
planet Earth. With questions about food, shelter and transportation, the quiz will
tell you how many global acres are needed to support your lifestyle -- and show how
many planets we'd need if everyone lived as you do.
Ruppert
on Drugs
If you missed the recent Eugene appearance of Mike
Ruppert, you can listen to his talks online and download MP3s concerning the CIA
and drug trafficking.
More Links:
WebSitings
Archive
WebSitings is a list of useful and sometimes quirky web sites.
Care to contribute to the list? Send suggested sites and a short description to editor@eugeneweekly.com
|
The CBPP/EPI study shows that Oregon experienced the fastest growth
in the nation in inequality between middle-income families and those at the top.
While middle-income Oregonians gained only 0.7 percent per year on average over the
1990s, upper-income families gained 3.4 percent annually.
The study also shows that since the late 1980s the gap between
the poorest 20 percent of Oregon's families and the richest 20 percent grew faster
than any other state except Connecticut. Over that period, low-income families saw
their average annual income fall by nearly $1,000, while upper-income families saw
an increase of nearly $36,000. Oregon families in the richest 20 percent have incomes
10 times higher than the lowest 20 percent, up from seven times higher in the late
1980s.
The study identifies increasing inequality in wages as the most
important factor explaining growing income inequality. "Wages for workers at
the bottom and middle of the income distribution did grow in the final few years
of the 1990s, but not enough to overcome years of stagnation and decline," says
Jeff Thompson of the Oregon Center for Public Policy in Silverton.
Growing income inequality has important implications for a number
of public policies, among them tax reform and the minimum wage. Thompson recommends
voters and policy makers "consider whether policies will further concentrate
Oregon's wealth. As Oregon struggles to recover from the current recession, we have
to pursue policies that bring the benefits of growth to everybody, not just those
at the top."
"Upper income families have seen their incomes grow by leaps
and bounds in the 1990s, and they have benefited from big tax cuts," said Thompson.
"Further tax cuts for the rich, such as cutting the often-discussed capital
gains tax or implementing Measure 88, are unnecessary and would reward those who
already benefited most from the economic boom of the late 1990s."
Thompson noted that the Legislature is considering Governor Kitzhaber's
proposal to repeal or delay the Measure 88 tax cut, and other proposals for an across
the board income tax surcharge to address the state's revenue shortfall.
THE
'OTHER VOICE'
David Barsamian, the man often described as "the other
voice" -- the voice of truth -- in radio broadcasting, will be in Eugene, Thursday,
May 2, to speak on "The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting."
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David Barsamian.
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"Public Broadcasting increasingly reflects the mentality of corporate
America," says Barsamian, "Political interference and corporate money have
undermined the original mission."
Barsamian speaks at 7:30 pm at the First United Methodist Church,
1376 Olive St. Sponsors of the event are Friends of Public Broadcasting, Eugene Media
Action, and the Institute for Public Accuracy. A donation at the door on a sliding
scale of from $5 to $15 is suggested.
Barsamian is producer of the Public Radio series, "Alternative
Radio," heard locally on KLCC on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm. That program, Sunday noon's
"Critical Mass" show on KLCC with Alan Siporin, and the new Jefferson Public
Radio weekday show with Jeff Golden on KRVM-AM, are the Eugene area's only local
progressive responses to the right-wing talk shows that dominate the market's two
most powerful stations, KUGN and KPNW.
"Alternative Radio" features lectures by and interviews
with progressive voices that have global identity, including Noam Chomsky, Molly
Ivins, Jeff Cohen and Barbara Ehrenriech. It goes worldwide via National Public Radio
networks in the United States, and on independent stations in Europe, Canada and
Australia.
Barsamian's talk will explore the decline of the one-time potential
of public broadcasting to give the public an honest report of life in the nation
and around the world. His goal is to reclaim this vital public resource by creating
vigorous alternatives to corporate radio.
His visit to Eugene will include a noon discussion with UO journalism
students in the Winter Room of Allen Hall on the UO campus. His weeklong speaking
tour will take him to Portland, Salem, Corvallis and Bend, as well as Eugene.
Sponsors of his talk believe it will expand local interest in efforts
to give public broadcasting a new focus, providing increased discussion of local
issues. -- George Beres
Back to Top
Tale
of Two Cities
Will Mike Swaim's
progressive revolution in Salem spark change in Eugene?
By Alan
Pittman
Imagine Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey joining a logging protest, picketing
a local Gap store for exploiting labor, organizing a boycott of a local business
for mistreating workers, or pushing through a moratorium on Wal-Marts.
It's hard to imagine Torrey, a former president of the local Chamber
of Commerce elected with a flood of money from developers and business interests,
doing any of these things.
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Salem mayor Mike Swaim.
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But three-term Salem Mayor Mike Swaim has done it all. Swaim spoke
April 18 at the annual meeting of Friends of Eugene (FoE). The group of local civic
activists laughed and applauded the folksy speech of the trial lawyer. "You'd
make an incredible governor," said one audience member to Swaim, who's now running
for the state Legislature.
Swaim described his successful fight with the Salem Chamber of
Commerce to impose a moratorium on big box retail stores. He says he was surprised
the Chamber supported the big chains that were killing off the chamber's membership
of local downtown stores. "We got a Chamber of Commerce with a lot of good people
run by a bunch of Neanderthals. You walk behind them and you see blood on the sidewalk.
Why? Because it's their knuckles scraping."
Swaim, who with short gray hair and a striped tie looks like a
Chamber of Commerce-type himself, recounted leading a group of workers rights protesters
to the Salem Gap store.
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Could
Eugene Elect a Swaim?
Two progressive councilors who heard Salem Mayor Mike Swaim speak
say they found the speech inspirational.
"My hero," says Councilor David Kelly, calling the speech,
"brilliant."
Kelly says Swaim is a clear speaker who's used the "bully
pulpit" of the mayor's office to transform Salem for the better.
"He's great," says Councilor Betty Taylor. Having a mayor
like him in Eugene "would make all the difference."
Taylor says she'd like to duplicate in Eugene Swaim's ideas for
raising SDCs, forbidding councilors from voting on issues involving big campaign
contributors and placing a moratorium on big-box stores.
Kelly spoke before Swaim at the Friends of Eugene (FoE) meeting,
lamenting the "poor climate" for progressive causes in the city.
The Chamber of Commerce and Homebuilders Association have an "increasing
tendency" to sue whenever they don't get what they want, he says. "Accusatory
sound bites" are on the rise in public debate.
Kelly says "there's a real lack of involvement by the broad
progressive community" in civic affairs. Although surveys show progressive causes
are supported by thousands and thousands of Eugeneans, Kelly says at public hearings
"by and large it's the same 20 or 30 citizens" giving input.
Needed development reforms in the Land Use Code Update were overturned
by a Chamber and Homebuilders lawsuit and LUCU is now being reworked by the city.
"I'm not optimistic of the outcome," Kelly says.
The delay has put on hold key plans for the city to create nodal
areas of compact, pedestrian friendly development, he says.
Even with nodal development, Kelly says, "Eugene will literally
stretch from Junction city to Creswell by the year 2050," according to a study
of current trends.
Many of the smaller cities, like Creswell, don't like the idea.
"They want to be their own town," Kelly says.
The Eugene City Council did manage to increase developer fees 60
percent, reducing taxpayer subsidies. But compared to other cities in Oregon, "the
raised SDCs still leave Eugene in the bottom third."
The council also recently passed a voluntary campaign finance limits
measure.
Eugene could have a progressive mayor and council like Salem, says
Eben Fodor of FoE. "Salem is not that awfully different than Eugene." --
Alan Pittman
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The security guard stopped him, "Don't go in there."
Swaim asked, "What are you going to do, arrest me?"
"Don't go in there," said the guard.
"I lead a whole group of people in there and they didn't arrest
any of us," says Swaim.
That charging ahead attitude, has won three elections for Swaim.
"I never wanted to be mayor. I sort of got backed into it,"
he explains. Swaim says he was happy being a trial lawyer with a "Sue the Bastards"
sign on his desk.
He attributes his first run for mayor to "stupidity and nobody
else would do it." He says, "I asked eight people. I even bought them coffee."
He ran a campaign "dripping with saccharine" and squeaked
by two developer candidates focused on fighting each other.
In the 1996 floods, Salem almost lost it's municipal water supply
when logging-induced erosion filed rivers with "crud."
"In the midst of a flood, we had a drought," he says.
The city came within three days of calling in the national guard to truck in water.
In response, Swaim says he went to a logging protest in the city's
municipal watershed. The media coverage of a mayor at a logging protest educated
the public about the link between logging and water contamination.
Swaim generated more media coverage when he marched with Chastity
Bono (Sonny and Cher's daughter) in a gay rights parade downtown. As a lawyer, Swaim
had successfully blocked enforcement of an OCA measure in Marion County.
In his first term, Swaim says he had little support on the council.
"I was on the short end of a six-to-three vote on everything." The leader
of the conservative opposition promised him that nothing he wanted would ever pass.
But Swaim says he could still use his office to talk about the
costs of growth and human rights. He spoke out against the "municipal embarrassment"
of Salem only having hired one black police officer in its history.
He urged the council to pass higher systems development charges
(SDCs) to stop the public from being "fleeced." He urged a tree ordinance
and the formation of a human rights commission. "All these things went down
in flames."
But the word started to get out. At one talk at a school, a little
kid asked him about SDCs.
When re-election rolled around after a two-year term, Swaim told
a reporter he wasn't sure he'd run again.
The developers were pleased. "All of a sudden the jackals
were salivating at the public trough," he says. "That made me mad."
He vacillated in the media between running and not running, generating
more coverage. People liked the idea of a politician who was reluctant to hold on
to power. "If you want the job badly enough, you will compromise principles
to get it," he says.
The Salem Statesman Journal opposed his re-election. Earlier,
Realtors, auto dealers and developers had threatened to pull ads and start a rival
newspaper.
People in Salem have nicknamed the Statesman Journal with
the name of a "porcelain [bathroom] appliance," Swaim says. "It is
horrible."
The paper has only recently come around to describing him and his
political allies as "'smart growth advocates'" as opposed to "'no-growth'
idiots," he says.
Swaim won the election and fought hard to elect progressive councilors,
eventually winning a 7-2 majority.
"You got to put yourself on the line if you're going to be
successful," he says. "You got to enjoy yourself."
In pushing for change, Swaim says he has adopted a "don't
worry be happy" motto. "The worst thing that could happen is that they
could recall me and I can go back to suing the bastards."
With a council majority, Swaim worked to quadruple SDCs for developers,
and pass urban forest and riverside protections. He handed out cameras to neighborhood
groups and told them to take pictures of things they liked. The pictures of tree-lined
streets supported requirements for trees and planting strips in new developments.
The city passed a declaration of human rights that included the
right to join and form a union.
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Slant
Giving Hynix a $2.2 million tax break in March while the
city was cutting services and asking taxpayers for more money was dumb. Now that
Hynix is appealing its taxes and threatening to blow an even bigger hole in the city
budget, it looks even dumber. City staff's explanations about why they didn't tell
councilors about the appeal before the council's tax break vote don't add up. Are
city staff working for Hynix or the people? Councilors need to get to the bottom
of the issue.
The attack on City Counselor David Kelly by developers continues
with The Register-Guard editorial Sunday, April 21. The R-G
editorial board apparently gives Kelly a lot of power, crediting him for driving
PeaceHealth to Springfield -- even though PeaceHealth loaned money to purchase the
Springfield site months before the council took any action on the issue. The R-G
is also blaming Kelly for sidetracking the West Eugene Parkway, but in fact Kelly
is quite moderate on issues of transportation and growth. Despite the inaccuracies
and fuzzy logic, the editorial did get one thing right, saying, "No one on the
council is smarter or harder working."
Speaking of right directions, Salem Mayor Mike Swaim was in
town last week for the Friends of Eugene annual meeting. He was careful to not
criticize his counterpart in Eugene, but the differences between the two community
leaders are staggering. One example: Swaim says he required a city manager finalist
to read Eben Fodor's book, Better Not Bigger, and grilled him to make sure
he understood the hidden costs of sprawl before he was hired. We suspect Jim Torrey's
required reading list would include such titles as How to Subsidize Your Business
with Tax Dollars.
Disclosure Project founder Steven Greer, M.D. will be in town
this week boggling minds with a talk about visitations by space aliens and government
coverups. Is this guy nuts? Probably not. Some 20,000 documented sitings of UFOs
can't all be wrong, and federal agencies and the military have been arbitrarily hiding
information from the public for generations. All he's asking for is disclosure of
secret technology that could conceivably ease our reliance on fossil fuels. Hear
him speak at 7 pm Thursday, April 25 at the Eugene Hilton.
SLANT includes short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes compiled
by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
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A worker from the local Pictsweet mushroom factory came to him to
complain about working conditions, "12 to16 hours a day, minimum wage, bent
over in 80 to 90 degree heat, working in manure." A Pictsweet lunchroom poster
showed a boot squashing an ant that got out of line. Swaim joined a picket of the
plant for better working conditions and helped push for a Pictsweet boycott.
More reforms followed. The city passed a living wage ordinance
for above poverty pay for workers employed by the city or its contractors. The city
made it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and created a police
citizens' review board.
Swaim and the council adopted benchmark measures of the city's
livability and adopted a planning policy that "future development won't lower
our present quality of life."
Local business leaders had tried to convince voters to support
a downtown hotel and conference center for 30 years. But with developers in power,
citizens didn't trust that the project wasn't a "boondoggle" that would
enrich a few special interests. But with a new council and mayor, trust was restored
and the conference center will be built, Swaim says.
When Swaim ran for a third term, his opponent spent $114,000 on
a failed campaign for the unpaid mayor's job. "He was so disappointed he left
the council. He resigned and, guess what? We appointed a progressive to take his
place."
After the election, Swaim moved to reform campaign finance. "The
big money comes out of the land game, the land speculation."
He crafted a conflict of interest initiative for the May ballot
that would prevent elected officials from voting on measures where a major campaign
donor (more than $500) had an interest.
Swaim told FOE that "integrity" is the key "glue"
that's worked to hold a progressive coalition together in Salem. He once got a call
from someone who said he didn't like what he was doing for gay rights but would support
him anyway because he liked his integrity in standing up against developers.
Swaim also credits his experience in speaking to juries as a trial
lawyer and trusting that the people will do the right thing.
Eugene could elect a progressive mayor and council like Salem,
Swaim says. "You have a great group of people here."
"It's tough because you don't have money," he says. "It's
a contest between shoe leather and wallet leather."
"You got to take it to the trenches," he says. "You
got to take back that curtain and show who's making money from the public."
Although progressives in Oregon lose elections from lack of organization,
Swaim says, "The odds are in our favor and every year they're more in our favor."
"We are an unusual group of self selected people who moved
here from other places," says Swaim, who grew up in Los Angeles. People "moved
here because they didn't like what was going on in unfettered despoiled kind of circumstances."
"When they moved to Oregon, they probably took lesser wages"
and made career sacrifices. "Part of the pay we get living here is being able
to live in a pretty darned good place," Swaim says. So, "If somebody starts
messing it up, they're causing me to take a pay cut, and that is serious business."
Back to Top
The
World Watches
Undercovered #21:
More tales from Israel, Palestine & D.C.
By Kate
Beres Gessert
-- International observers Joe Gessert and his wife Liv
(my son and daughter-in-law) left Bethlehem for a day's honeymoon snorkeling in rainbow
coral reefs at Eilat among octopi and angelfish. They returned to the U.S. April
19, in time for the Earth Day march in Washington, D.C., along with Josina Manu,
back from Bethlehem a week earlier.
"Amazing!" said Josina. "Two separate marches in
support of Palestine, an anti-IMF march, Give Peace a Chance, an AIDS activists march,
converged ... Palestinians, Palestinian-Americans, a huge Arab community, Orthodox
and Hassidic Jews, many other visible Jews, black Americans, anarchist youth -- all
filled with conviction
and pride, all wanting change." Crowd counts ranged from 75,000 to more than
100,000.
-- The Israeli army has severely damaged water systems in most
Palestinian cities it has invaded. Soldiers often shoot at or arrest city workers
trying to repair water systems, and block attempts to deliver water to Palestinians
under curfew. An estimated 50,000 people have been continuously without running water
for weeks. Bethlehem sewer lines have backed up, and sewage may contaminate damaged
water pipes (Mark Zeitoun, international aid worker/water engineer).
-- Tahani Fatoud of Nablus, who had suffered six miscarriages,
went into labor when she was seven months pregnant. Since soldiers did not allow
an ambulance to reach the house, her husband, a doctor, helped his wife with the
delivery. "The baby was born alive at 7 pm but was in need for an incubator,
impossible to find in the doctor's house, but he was so happy to have a baby after
all this wait, the couple gave the baby the name of Ossaid. But at midnight, the
baby had ... difficulty to breathe, the father tried mouth to mouth breathing but
to no avail, the baby died in silence..." (Islah Jak, writing to Coalition of
Women for Peace).
-- Even before last month's re-invasion by the Israeli army, increased
malnutrition among Palestinians had been evidenced by more low-birth-weight babies
and a 50 percent increase in stillbirths. Now "the total blockade of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip has paralyzed the Palestinian economy, which is so vulnerably
dependent on Israel, and already severely weakened by frequent border closures, to
such an extent that
it is now in a deep recession, with millions of people severely impoverished and
extremely food insecure ... all available information points to a major catastrophe
underway" (U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization).
-- U.N. Secretary General Annan urges a "multinational force
formed by a coalition of the willing" to be authorized by the U.N. Security
Council. The force would observe Israeli withdrawal to positions held before September
2000, monitor a ceasefire, create "secure conditions" to resume normal
economic life and provide humanitarian aid. The U.S. has vetoed past U.N. resolutions
to put international forces in Palestine.
"It is urgent, it is imperative," insists Annan. The
U.N. can assemble such a force, and to avoid catastrophe, "we must muster the
will" (Foreign Policy in Focus).
Back to Top
Hynix
Hullabaloo
Did city staff
hide key facts from the City Council?
By Alan
Pittman
City of Eugene development staff did not provide key information
to the City Council that could have reversed a recent close council vote in support
of a $2.2 million tax break for Hynix.
"Staff did not inform management or elected officials at that
time," acting City Manager Jim Carlson wrote in an April 19 e-mail to the City
Council. "With the benefit of hindsight, we should have at least raised
the issue for full information," Carlson
wrote.
Staff knew Jan. 16 that Hynix was appealing its property taxes,
arguing its factory was worth far less than its assessed value, according to Carlson.
The appeal could cost the city up to $500,000 and the county $200,000 this year with
future losses also possible, according to county Tax Assessor Jim Gangle.
But staff did not inform the councilors who went ahead and voted
in March to give Hynix a $2.2 million tax break. The 4-4 vote with the mayor breaking
the tie for Hynix would likely have been different if staff had revealed the appeal
information, councilors say.
It's unclear whether or not city development staff, who in the
past have appeared to work on behalf of Hynix, were motivated to hide information
to ensure a tax break for the corporation would pass the council. Neither city Development
Manager Denny Braud nor city Planning and Development Director Tom Coyle returned
calls requesting comment.
If staff knew about the appeal and didn't tell the council, "that's
unconscionable," City Councilor David Kelly says.
"The council needs all the facts before they make a decision,"
says Councilor Bonny Bettman. As to why that didn't happen in this case, "I
haven't heard an adequate explanation yet."
Hynix filed a tax appeal with the Oregon Tax Court in Salem on
Dec. 26, 2001, according to the appeal complaint.
Gangle says he heard that Hynix would appeal last fall, received
notice of the actual appeal by early January and informed city development staff
shortly afterward.
"There were a number on the planning staff who were involved
[in the Hynix tax break issue] including the city attorney's office," says city
spokesman Tom Olshanski. "It should have been information that was given the
council."
Olshanski says the omission was an "oversight" and there
was no "intent" by staff to mislead the council or protect Hynix's tax
breaks.
Carlson says in his memo that staff originally estimated the appeal's
impact on the city would be about $100,000 and "was not felt to be too important."
It's unclear how staff came up with this estimate. Gangle's estimate
of potentially a $500,000 impact is based on public information available in Hynix's
Dec. 26 complaint.
It's also unclear why staff considered a $100,000 impact unimportant.
Councilors routinely spend significant time debating budget cuts of that magnitude
or less in city departments.
Councilors say Carlson told them he was also unaware of the appeal
until last week.
But a "budget message" to the council dated April 1 and signed by Carlson
refers to the appeal.
Olshanski says Carlson first got a draft of the budget message
from finance staff March 15 for his review and signature, but did not notice the
Hynix appeal information until last week.
In the past, city staff have worked closely with Hynix on the corporation's
behalf. A former acting city manager, Warren Wong, and former assistant city manager,
Linda Norris, took executive positions with the company soon after leaving their
city jobs.
When Hynix (formerly Hyundai) came to town in 1995, city staff
secretly formed a "dream team" to help the company win controversial permits
to fill wetlands and withheld information from the council and public, according
to city documents at the time. A key staffer in the work for Hynix was Lane Council
of Governments wetlands planner Steve Gordon. Gordon is a personal friend of Carlson,
according to The Register-Guard.
The law firm of Harrang Long Gary Rudnick handles all the city's
legal work and also has worked for Hynix on employment issues. The firm denies any
conflict of interest. Olshanski says the city attorney at the firm was not aware
of the tax appeal until last week.
In its appeal complaint, Hynix says its chip plant is worth $500
million, not $752 million as the state and county have appraised it. The difference
in appraised value would mean a $1.9 million tax reduction for Hynix.
Based on state law, Eugene would lose about $476,000 and the county
$186,000 if Hynix wins its appeal. The rest of the losses would be distributed to
other state and local governments, according to Gangle.
Hynix and the State Department of Revenue have agreed to a proposed
settlement of the appeal, but Gangle and DOR officials refuse to disclose any details.
The agreement will be disclosed when its approved by the court.
Estimates of when that will occur vary from two weeks to two months.
Meanwhile, the city's budget is left in limbo. Already, the city
is cutting $375,000 from its budget due to the economic downturn. Another $500,000
hit could be a major blow.
Bettman says she's hearing complaints about the city cutting senior
services and spreading firefighters too thinly. The Hynix issue "actually adds
salt to the wound."
City staff is researching whether the city can revoke or renegotiate
the $2.2 million tax break deal with Hynix in light of the potential revenue loss
from the appeal, according to Olshanski.
Originally, city staff told councilors there was an April 1st deadline
to decide on the tax break issue.
Councilor Betty Taylor says it was dishonest of Hynix not to tell
councilors about the appeal when they were negotiating the tax break with the city.
"I don't think they've ever been a good citizen of the community."
The failure of city staff to inform the council of key facts comes
at a time of heightened tension between progressive councilors and Carlson. On April
17, Carlson told councilors that all significant information requests of city staff
should first go through him.
Councilors Taylor, Bettman and Kelly disputed Carlson's claim that
the city Charter forbade them from asking staff questions and said Carlson's information
choke point policy would make the city less democratic. "This discussion disturbs
me so much that I'm actually physically shaking right now," Kelly said.
At deadline, council and staff had scheduled a last-minute meeting
to discuss the Hynix tax appeal issue. The April 24 meeting after EW goes
to press will likely include criticism of staff by councilors, Olshanski says. "My
guess is the council is going to be rather fierce as regards city staff."
Back to Top
 Sheldon
High Senior Girls
Beginning last December, 14 Sheldon High School senior
girls (nine are pictured here) planned and ran the school's annual Mr. Irish Pageant.
"It's a beauty contest for boys," explains Lauren Noll, one of the coordinators.
"More like a comedy show," comments Marley Adkins. 2002 marks the 10th
anniversary of the event, a fund-raiser for the Children's Miracle Network. Since
its beginnings at Sheldon, the pageant has been adopted by 20 other high schools
in a five-county area and has raised more than a million dollars for children's health
programs in the region. Schools in other states are taking note. "There are
plans to make it national," says Kelsey Gillaspie. While 10 Mr. Irish hopefuls
enjoyed the limelight, the "behind-the-scenes queens" did the nitty-gritty
work, organizing warmup events (dance, bowl-a-thon, etc.) and coaching the contestants.
"I taught 10 guys how to dance," says Elizabeth Clark. "It was really
funny." A sell-out crowd of 600 jammed the Sheldon gym on March 14 to see the
boys display their talents and answer tough questions. "The boys did a lot of
work, too," admits Stephanie Burton. "We raised close to $18,000."
-- Photo by Paul Neevel
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