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Commentary: Happening Person: WHITEAKER
POOL? The city of Eugene reviewed eight 4J elementary school sites the district has listed as surplus for possible city purchase for parks, recreation or affordable housing. "Many of the school sites offer excellent opportunities for new [low-income] housing sites," the city study found. The affordable housing would likely be used by many families with children, helping 4J with its declining enrollment problems. School district officials are "very interested in housing that results in increased enrollment," the study said. The city would only buy about half to a third of any school site for affordable housing. The rest of the site could be used for market-rate homes. The city is interested in only the land, not the buildings. The city report describes the older schools as too costly to renovate. School District 4J hasn't reached final decisions on how to dispose of the property. But here's the city's view of potential uses for the school sites: Bailey Hill Elementary rated high for possible use as affordable housing. The city described the site as not suitable for a neighborhood park because it is already adequately served by nearby playing fields at Kennedy Middle School and Churchill High School. Dunn School was rated moderate for low-income housing and low for a park. The neighborhood isn't well served by parks, but the site is too small and difficult to access. Laurel Hill School was not suitable for affordable housing or a park. An existing park south of the school already serves the neighborhood. Santa Clara Elementary was rated as moderately suitable for housing or a park (away from River Road) and deserving of further evaluation Westmoreland Elementary was identified as a strong opportunity for affordable housing. The area is already well served by several nearby parks. Whiteaker School did not meet criteria for affordable housing. Residents are already served by nearby parks. But the site was rated high for possible use as a future swimming pool or other recreation/community center needed in the central city area. Willakenzie School was rated high for a neighborhood park (fields on a portion of the site) and high for low-income housing. Willard/Eastside was rated as moderately suitable for a neighborhood park on the portion of the site away from 29th Avenue. The site was also rated highly suitable for affordable housing. But 4J has listed the site as a "reserve" school location, so it's unclear when and if the district may sell it. — Alan Pittman
LOSING
GROUND Stacey, keynote speaker at the Friends of Eugene (FoE) annual meeting May 22, identified several key areas of concern for land use advocates. "Two hundred bad land use bills have been introduced in Salem," he says, "and many have passed the House." Stacey says he's hopeful the Senate and the governor's veto pen will minimize the damage, but he's also worried. Stacey described the governor's new Industrial Lands Taskforce as "well-intentioned," but he fears the public input will be mostly negative. "The radical right will have a field day in the public hearings," he says. "We need to change the debate away from bad local decisions and rather work to provide a vision for our state and our communities." The lack of public education, he says, is one of the big hurdles facing public acceptance of good land use planning. And we need to educate both progressives and conservatives. He figures fiscal conservatives would embrace more stringent planning if they understood the true costs of sprawl. Stacey says "homebuilders and the aggregate industry still have a virtual political stranglehold on LCDC" (Land Conservation and Development Commission), but he sees hope in local communities fighting for sensible land use planning Commenting on local land use issues such as the West Eugene Parkway and PeaceHealth's new medical center plans, Stacey says: "What could be worse than building a highway through wetlands to an area that shouldn't be developed? How about moving a leading medical center to the very edge of the urban area, to a place accessible only bycars?" — Ted Taylor
ADDRESSING
THE GAP Each year a large number of our students fail in our schools, and it has never been more apparent that it will take the village to raise our young African American leaders. The Churchill community believes this community effort is possible through the promotion of collaboration among community members, students and school staff. To help create this sense of alliance, the Churchill region is holding a one-day conference 9 am to 5 pm, Saturday May 3, in the Churchill High School auditorium. The conference is for African American students, elementary to high school level, and their families in the Churchill region. The conference goals and objectives are: To increase the amount of parental involvement of African American parents in our schools; to increase awareness of the current pitfalls for our young adults, in hopes of improving African American scholastic achievement; to collaborate on new strategies for the development of programs for African American students and families that would successfully support the families served; and to find new ways to establish and build student and professional relationships within the African American community in Eugene. Speakers and workshop panelists include Haze Pope, Ph.D., Portland Public Schools psychologist; Winston Cornwall, Oregon Department of Education; A. Halim Rahsaan, Concerned Black Men, Portland; Dwight Lee, Serenity Lane counselor, and many others. For more information, contact Bahati Ansari at 687-3221.
SEEKING
JUSTICE Mark Chernaik is a staff scientist with Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW). He will join Francisco Ferrada, a Chilean attorney, to discuss the case at a public presentation on June 3 titled: "Seeking Environmental Justice in Chile." Chernaik has witnessed firsthand the environmental threats that communities face around the world through his travel to work with advocates in Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Israel, Peru and Argentina. The presentation is co-sponsored by E-LAW U.S. and the Environmental & Natural Resources (ENR) Program of the UO School of Law. The presentation is free and open to the public at 7 pm Tuesday at the Knight Law Center Room 175 . In 1984, a Swedish multinational mining company began shipping its mining wastes to Chile, purportedly so that a local Chilean company could reclaim gold and silver from the wastes. More than 20,000 metric tons of unprocessed waste were dumped in the northern city of Arica, on the border with Peru. Later, the Chilean government built low-income housing near the site. Local families were unaware of the serious health risks and children played in and around the waste piles. Residents complained about health problems and Chilean authorities moved the waste, but the original dump site was never reclaimed and residents continue to suffer. Laboratory tests on local children have found high levels of lead and arsenic in their bodies.
WAR
AND PEACE This meeting will be but one of many in the months to come, which will cover politics, religion and spirituality, war, peace, the environment, economic and legal studies and social activism. EFPE is the brainchild of UO Prof. Oleg Kripkov, who developed it in response to a communitywide call for a source of alternative information from the mainstream media. He hopes the institution's forums will serve as a place for discussion and open dialogue, raising both awareness and the level of grass-roots democracy in the community. "I strongly believe was can only have as much democracy as we are ready to defend and one of the major requirements for defending our rights is to know what they are and what threatens them," Kripkov says, "(We need) to understand the long and short term hazards to our well-being and then based on this information, to act accordingly." The meeting, from 2 to 5 pm, will feature four speakers.
Half of the event will be given to participant discussion. EWEB is located
at 500 E. 4th St. For reservations or more
GREAT
DECEPTION "Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 9-11," by Guerilla News Network, has nine experts — attorneys, journalists and researchers — addressing key areas of inquiry, including the Bush administration's prior knowledge of the attacks, the failure of the military to follow well-established response procedures, connections and the impact of the USA PATRIOT and Homeland Security acts on our civil liberties. For more information, visit www.gnn.tv/after_math"The Great Deception" by Vision TV of Canada, a national non-profit televison station, examines the apparent breakdown of American air defenses on Sept. 11, the longstanding ties between U.S. intelligence and Osama bin Laden, the actions of Bush in the midst of the crisis, and role U.S. oil interests may have played in these events.
EW
WINNERS Staff writer Bobbie Willis took first place in the General Feature category for her May 16 cover story "Outer Limits," examining life and business along Highway 99 North, an area of Eugene usually ignored by mainstream media. A second place in Environmental Reporting went to free-lancers Orna Izakson, Judy Yablonski and Patricia Marshall for their Earth Day 2002 (April 18) package of stories. Izakson wrote on the damage to the salmon gene pool by hatchery fish; Yablonski investigated continuing toxic spraying of county roadsides despite an auditor's advice; Marshall wrote about west Eugene's shrinking wetlands and the threat of further development. In the Business Feature category, an honorable mention went to Alan Pittman for his cover story "Oregon Omelete" (Jan. 31) about how state and local economic development policies favor the volatile high-tech industries over more stable small businesses.
Word
Games A Eugene Police Department officer harassed me April 10 as I covered an anti-war protest for Eugene Weekly. My press pass was visible and EPD officer Casey B. Froehlich stopped me and asserted that I was "legally bound" to give him my Social Security number. I wrote a commentary in the April 17 EW. I wrote a letter to Chief of Police Thad Buchanan. I talked with the ACLU. I requested an advocate through the Eugene Human Rights Department. I filed a formal complaint with EPD Internal Affairs (IA), all in hopes of discovering what recourse our city provides to those abused by our public servants. I waited. Buchanan forwarded my letter (available here) to IA Coordinator Sgt. Kel Williams, who had also received my official IA complaint. My letter primarily expressed concern that Froehlich threatened me with citation or arrest were I not to give him my Social Security number. On April 30 I received a letter (available here) from Williams devoid of any mention of Froehlich's demand for my Social Security number under threat of citation or arrest. Section 7 of the Privacy Act of 1974 (see http://cpsr.org/cpsr/privacy/ssn/ for this and other information regarding privacy and your Social Security number) makes it illegal for an officer to demand your Social Security number or revoke any rights if you choose to withhold it — unless that officer also tells you about your privacy rights and how the number will be used. Froehlich's demand was therefore a violation of federal law. I understood my letter from Williams served as a declined claim. It's alright, the letter said in effect. Everything you experienced was OK. So I called back and talked to Williams again. I told Williams that I had identified myself as a member of the press to Officer Froehlich, and Froehlich continued by forcing me to give him my Social Security number. "By that point you'd been identified to Officer Froehlich as someone who looked like they might commit a crime," said Williams. "So the pass was no longer significant." "But the pass was what the Police Commission decided on for determining how the media's to be given access," I said. "Press passes aren't government-issued identification," said Williams. "Anyone can make those." "So you're saying," I said, "that the new Police Commission specifications concerning media access, including very specific press passes, have no practical validity on the street?" "That's not accurate," said Williams. In July 2002 the Eugene Police Commission ordered a new policy regarding media access at large scale events (available at www.eugeneweekly.com),including detailed specifications for the size and look of new press passes, with which my pass was, and still is, in accordance. "I asked Officer Froehlich if I was legally bound to give him the answers to his questions," I continued. "He said yes."
"Officer Froehlich told me you asked him if you were required to answer his questions and that he asked you for your Social Security number after that," said Williams. "You would've needed to ask him more specifically." The only way I could've been more specific is if I'd repeated my question as he filled out … each … line … on … his field card. "That's a word game, Kel," I said. "I know it's a word game," said Williams. "We play word games on the street all the time." PATTERN
OF ABUSE? About my experience, local attorney Lauren C. Regan said, "There are federal precedents indicating the officer in your case broke the law. An officer can only take your name, address and date of birth if you are being detained through reasonable suspicion that you have committed a crime or are about to commit a crime. By showing your press pass, you adhered to their policy." It seems the Eugene Police Department is out of control.
Nellie
Oehler
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