Dear CHOICES Subscribers, PeaceHealth will ask the City of Springfield to change its annexation agreement so it can begin development on the 160-acre RiverBend hospital site before the council's final vote on the controversial project. If PeaceHealth is already asking for changes to this agreement, what else have they agreed to that they will later reverse on? Perhaps someone should put the brakes on PeaceHealth before the bulldozers arrive. Wouldn't it make more sense to first determine if a hospital even makes sense on this site -- which is what PeaceHealth promised would happen once they submitted their master plan -- before assuming it is a "done deal"? In the Eugene Weekly, Alan Pittman summarizes all the major developments in the works for Eugene and Springfield: two hospitals, a courthouse, an arena, two replacement bridges, a major interchange reconstruction, a couple parkways, a BRT line, etc. Viewed in this way, the change is quite staggering. One development that is in the works in Arlie's Crescent Village. The Eugene Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing on this project on Tuesday. We support nodal development in general and cautiously support Arlie's plans in particular. But realizing that PeaceHealth once planned to build their new hospital on the Crescent site and then swapped that land for the RiverBend land, one has to wonder if we aren't in store for a couple more plot twists. As Deep Dish with Dinah is back, I don't have to work so hard trying to interpret what's happening in this town. Read her take on BRT and Congressman DeFazio. Rob Zako, Editor 343-5201 rzako@efn.org ================================================================================ Health Options Digest August 10, 2003 Coalition for Health Options In Central Eugene-Springfield (CHOICES) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPPORTUNITIES Public health panel has three openings Lane County's 12-member Health Advisory Committee has three openings, and the deadline to apply to fill them will be Friday [August 8?] at 5 p.m. The vacancies have specific affiliations. The committee needs a health educator, someone in food service and a nutritionist. Members serve four-year terms. The committee advises the county commissioners on issues regarding public health, health planning and policy development and public education. Applications may be obtained from the commissioners' office in the Public Service Building at 125 E. Eighth Ave. in Eugene. For information, call 682-4207. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/06/d2.cr.rg.briefs.0806.html Applications sought for Springfield Historic Commission SPRINGFIELD -- The city is accepting applications to fill two positions on the seven-member Historic Commission. The commission promotes stewardship for historic preservation through education and participation. Applicants do not need to be Springfield residents or property owners, but their backgrounds must meet state Historic Preservation Office guideline standards. Applications are available in the City Manager's Office, City Hall, 225 Fifth St. The deadline to apply is Aug. 29. For more information, call 726-3632. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/03/c2.cr.rg.briefs.0803.html Historic Commission accepting applications SPRINGFIELD -- The city is accepting applications to fill two positions on the seven-member Historic Commission. Preference will be given to applicants with technical expertise or background in historic preservation, local history, architecture, construction, archaeology or preservation-related disciplines. Applicants do not need to be residents or property owners in Springfield but their background must meet State Historic Preservation Office standards. The mission of the commission is to promote stewardship for historic preservation through education and participation. The next meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 1 in the library meeting room at City Hall, 225 Fifth St. Candidates are requested to attend this meeting and stay for introduction interviews. Applications are available at the city manager's office. The deadline to apply is Aug. 29. For more information, call Kitti Gale at 726-3632. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/c4.cr.briefs.0810.html Eugene seeks volunteers for lots of vacancies This is not a typing exercise: Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party. Well, not their party, actually, but their city. And let's not exclude women, either. The folks down at City Hall are looking for volunteers, and not just a couple. Needed are two new members of Eugene's budget committee, one planning commissioner, five members each for the city's police and human rights commissions, two members of the toxics board and one new Metropolitan Wastewater Management commissioner. If you're interested in any of the vacancies, you'll need to complete an application and supplemental questionnaire. Both are available at the city manager's office, at Room 105 in City Hall, or on the Internet at http://www.ci.eugene.or.us. The application deadline for positions on each of the committees, boards and commissions is 5 p.m., Sept. 26. For more information, contact Sarah Bleeden in the city manager's office, at 682-5823. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/03/c1.cr.citybeat.0803.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PEACEHEALTH Hospital to ask for permission to start digging By Matt Cooper The Register-Guard, 8/6/03, Page D1 SPRINGFIELD -- PeaceHealth will ask the city to change its annexation agreement so it can begin development on the 160-acre RiverBend hospital site before the council's final vote on the controversial project. The health organization, in an effort to save money and meet a 2007 opening, is willing to risk having to redo or suspend work later if it can start digging at the Gateway-area site this fall, PeaceHealth planning director Philip Farrington said Tuesday. Opponents have appealed the city's approval of the project, and the state Land Use Board of Appeals is expected to rule on the challenge later this year. PeaceHealth also needs city approval of its master plan before it can begin construction, and a final vote isn't expected until early 2004. PeaceHealth asked the city for permission to begin excavation this fall under the grading permit rules, which led the City Council to unanimously approve changes July 28 that would govern PeaceHealth's work, or that of any developer, City Manager Mike Kelly said. Kelly has said the rule changes allow PeaceHealth to apply to move dirt before the city's final vote on the master plan. But planning manager Greg Mott said that, regardless of the grading permit rules, PeaceHealth must first get an amendment to the annexation agreement if it wants to develop before master plan approval. The agreement spells out the conditions under which the city agreed to incorporate PeaceHealth's land. Developers have historically had the ability to grade and excavate before project approval, Mott said. However, under the changes to the grading permits: If the final plan approved is different from the work that the developer has begun, the developer must adhere to the final plan. The city will notify neighbors whenever a developer has been approved to excavate for anything other than the movement of less than 100 cubic yards associated with the construction of a single-family home. Developers must pay the notification expense. If developers abandon their plans, they must restore the land to avoid erosion, runoff and public nuisances. Developers must report the physical features that the city might want to protect, including wetlands, drainage ways and large trees. PeaceHealth will be bound by these rules if it wins approval to begin excavation, Farrington said. Although Kelly has suggested that people may misinterpret such excavation as tacit approval of a project still under review, Farrington said that's not the case. "I know some people are going to complain that this is somewhat preordaining a future decision, which it's not," Farrington said. "It allows us to proceed, albeit at our own risk." Jan Wilson, coordinator of the Coalition for Health Options in Central Eugene-Springfield, which opposes the project, said the annexation agreement is clear: "No part of the property may be developed prior to city approval of the master plan," she said, reading from the agreement. Asking the city to change that language to allow preliminary work undermines the wishes of city officials who approved the project with the expectation that all questions would be answered during the master plan review process, Wilson added. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/06/d1.cr.digging.0806.html Birth-room mock-ups test designs for new hospital By Tim Christie The Register-Guard, 8/6/03, Page D1 When you're preparing to build a $350 million hospital, it's important to get the little things right. Which is why PeaceHealth officials decided to spend a few hundred dollars on plywood and two-by-fours to build two full-size mock-ups of labor-and-delivery rooms, each with a slightly different design and layout. Then they invited delivery nurses, doctors and other medical professionals to walk through the rooms and offer critiques about what works and what doesn't. The idea: To get small but critical design details figured out now -- things such as which way a door opens, which way a bed faces, which corner is best for the family area -- rather than waiting until after the hospital goes up. Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend is planned to open in 2007 along the banks of the McKenzie River in north Springfield, replacing Sacred Heart near downtown Eugene. The new hospital has won approval from the Springfield City Council, but land-use watchdogs have appealed the decision. Staff and board members toured about 20 similar-sized hospitals around the country and learned some valuable design lessons, PeaceHealth spokesman Brian Terrett said. "People who built great hospitals found little things made a difference," he said. Mary Duke, nurse manager for labor and delivery at Sacred Heart, remembers touring one state-of-the-art labor-and-delivery room marred by a design flaw. "It looked gorgeous," she said. The nurses who worked there liked the rooms, too -- except for one detail: The doorways were too narrow, so when nurses had to rush a patient out of the room for a Caesarian section, they'd often bang the bed into the doorjambs. So after architects and hospital staff whittled labor-and delivery-room designs from three to two, carpenters constructed the final two designs inside a warehouse in downtown Eugene next to the PeaceHealth Medical Group clinic. They rolled in beds, medical equipment, couches and chairs to give an idea of how the rooms would work. Nurses, doctors and others walked through the rooms, looking for good traffic flow so equipment could be moved easily, and a good orientation so the mother would have a nice view and the family would feel involved while protecting the mother's privacy. They moved couches around and tried to figure out the best corner for the closet, Duke said. They pushed beds through doorways. It soon became clear which room was the winner. Room 1 was nice, but the mother's bed was parallel to the outside wall, making it difficult for the patient to get a good view out of a picture window. The family area, with a couch and two chairs, seemed far away on the other side of the room. In Room 2, the bed was positioned at an angle against a diagonal wall, providing a better view out the window. The family area was tucked into a nearby corner, much closer to the bed but still leaving room for doctors and nurses to maneuver. PeaceHealth plans to build similar mock-ups of a neonatal intensive care unit room and a surgical suite, Terrett said. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/06/d1.cr.laborroom.0806.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COST OF HEALTH CARE Wyden touts Oregon as health care model PORTLAND -- Sen. Ron Wyden said Wednesday he will push for a national version of the Oregon Health Plan to help reform the national health care system and prevent a financial crisis before the first wave of baby boomers starts hitting retirement age at the end of the decade. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/07/d2.cr.wyden.0807.html Medicaid loopholes rob truly needy By Bette Dedrick Commentary in the Register-Guard, 8/6/03 Medicare reform is capturing the headlines lately, but it's not the only part of the government's health care system that's in trouble. The Medicaid program, particularly the long-term care component, is also in serious need of reform. Costs are rising, resources are limited, fewer genuinely needy people are receiving care and the system is open to fraud and abuse. To deal with the problem, the government has focused on health care providers -- imposing strict regulations, close fiscal monitoring and cutbacks on reimbursement for services. However, the government has failed to monitor the other side of the equation: the fraud and abuse by people and families who are not indigent, yet are using Medicaid services and protecting their assets from being depleted by long-term care. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/06/ed.col.dedrick.0806.html Human services cuts are a scandal By Kathleen Piper Commentary in the Register-Guard, 8/8/03 I have just returned from seven days of fasting on the steps of the state Capitol in support of funding for human services. During my fast, I placed myself between the solid white marble of the Capitol and an array of cardboard tombstones and cut-outs bearing the names and stories of Oregonians who already have died as a result of our cheeseparing. I talked with the people who went in and out of the building, and I came to view the problem as being deeper than partisan or issue-based politics. There are those in Salem who do politics -- they listen, decide, take sides, create goals, develop strategies, confer, compromise and debate until an agreement is reached that includes some representation of the concerns of all affected. They expect to be accountable to their constituents at elections, and they take seriously the well-being of Oregon. And then there are others. They include legislators who have tied our state into a budget crisis not only in 2003, but also in years past. They seem to actually have no politics -- no interest in representing their constituents' concerns, nor the concerns of the state as a whole. No interest in the provision of effective, or even cost-effective, services. No interest in raising revenue. They fear no election, believing -- accurately, it seems, so far -- that their well-heeled backers will provide them with sufficient funds for sound-bite re-election campaigns. They say "tax and spend" as if it were a swear word, utterly unconscious of the fact that taxing and spending is the actual fiscal function of the state government. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/08/a13.ed.col.piper.0808.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEARBY DEVELOPMENTS Construction boom could help economy By Alan Pittman Eugene Weekly, 8/7/03 Eugene's faltering economy is headed for a major shot in the arm from 10 major construction projects that could pump up to a billion dollars into the local job market in the next five years or so. Here's a rundown of local projects planned to start soon: The state wants to build temporary replacement I-5 bridges over the Willamette and McKenzie rivers at a cost of $39 million in the next 18 months. Permanent bridges 7 to 10 years later will likely cost well over $100 million. The state plans a massive new freeway interchange at I-5 and Beltline. The first phase, completed by 2006, will cost $18 million. Later phases are expected to cost at least another $104 million. PeaceHealth plans a $300 million new hospital in Springfield. McKenzie-Willamette plans an $80 million new hospital, probably in Eugene. School District 4J plans to spend $116 million on new schools and remodeling. The federal government is building a $72 million new courthouse. The city of Eugene wants to spend $9 million a year on street repairs. This month, the city plans to begin work on $3 million in projects funded in part by the city's new local gas tax. More money will come later if the council goes through with its controversial transportation systems maintenance fee. The city is also spending about $500,000 in federal money this year for road work at the airport. The city of Eugene plans to break ground this fall on an $8 million new downtown fire station. The state wants to spend $100 million on a new West Eugene Parkway, if it prevails in legal appeals. LTD will start construction this summer on a $11 million Bus Rapid Transit line. The construction boom could help provide local jobs and boost industry profits. But with projects competing for construction companies, the boom could also drive up costs for local hospitals and taxpayers. (end) http://www.eugeneweekly.com/archive/08_07_03/news.html#shorts1 Arlie plan to get first public hearing One of the most densely packed mixed-use development proposals ever in Lane County will get its first public hearing next week before the Eugene Planning Commission. Arlie & Co. is seeking to build the Crescent Village development on 39 acres in northeast Eugene -- the parcel where PeaceHealth at one time wanted to build a new hospital before switching to a site in Springfield's Gateway district. Eugene-based Arlie's proposal includes offices, stores, row houses, townhouses and hundreds of apartments. Many of the buildings would feature offices or shops on the ground floor, with living quarters above, creating an urban-type density. In all, the development eventually would boast more than 500 residential units, more than 100,000 square feet of retail space and 100,000 to 160,000 square feet of office space. But whether the project moves forward hinges on two key issues: Can Arlie win city approval for the development, which would have far more offices and stores than current land use law allows? And will people want to live in such a tightly packed neighborhood? (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/07/a1.arlie.0807.html Springfield civic facility back on the radar: Convention space and hotel concept to be considered by chamber This time around the inch-thick study isn't on the shelf collecting dust, and the idea of building a civic facility in Springfield isn't dead. Earlier this year Hunter Interest Inc. of Annapolis, Md., presented a phase one study that determined a civic facility is feasible in Springfield's downtown. The report was similar to two others delivered in the past that were eventually shelved. But the concept of the Northwest Center at Springfield with four interpretive wings, convention space, a hotel and river access isn't going to die if Dan Egan, the executive director of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, has a say in it. On Thursday, he asked about 100 chamber members to support the concept as it moves into phase two to find a developer to build the project. They were asked to dig into their pockets before year's end to fund further study. (more...) http://www.springfieldnews.com/articles/2003/08/08/local/news05.txt Walgreens thinks big in Eugene, Springfield Eugene-Springfield residents soon won't be able to drive far without passing by a Walgreens store, if the drugstore giant based in Deerfield, Ill., has its way. The nation's largest drugstore chain -- which likes to blanket its markets with stores -- is eyeing at least five sites in the Eugene-Springfield area, according to filings with the two cities. But whether Walgreens can reach its goal of breaking into the Eugene-Springfield market in a big way by opening several stores in rapid succession is uncertain, because some of its proposed sites would be difficult to develop. Developers working with Walgreens have picked a parcel at 58th and Main streets in Springfield for what would be the metro area's first Walgreens. Walgreens stores combine pharmacies with convenience stores, plus services such as photo processing. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/05/b1.bz.walgreens.0805.html Thinking big: Fire district annexation offers potential benefits A Register-Guard Editorial, 8/4/03 Contrary to common wisdom and e-mail spam, bigger is not always better. But it's sometimes the case when it comes to local governments and, in particular, fire and ambulance services. Mergers of fire departments and districts must be judged on a case-by-case basis, but as a rule there often is much to be gained in terms of efficiency, reduced administrative costs, the elimination of duplication and an end to jurisdictional disputes. A strong argument, in fact, can be made that the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area would be better served by a single cohesive fire and ambulance district than by the current patchwork quilt of agencies, each with its own administration, staffing, equipment, policies and regulations. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/04/ed.edit.springfield.phn.0804.html New UO arena coming soon EUGENE -- University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer has given the go-ahead to build a new sports arena for Oregon athletics. The proposed arena would become home to UO men's and women's basketball, volleyball and wrestling. The facility would replace McArthur Court, one of the oldest sports arenas among major colleges in the country. (more...) http://www.springfieldnews.com/articles/2003/08/06/sports/news03.txt Where should arena go? Key issues: Proximity, parking, transportation A Register-Guard Editorial, 8/10/03 The University of Oregon has made the easy decision -- to replace beloved but hopelessly aged and cramped McArthur Court with a new basketball arena. Most of the needed donations have already been pledged, and the rest are presumably within wooing distance. The next step is harder -- finding a site for an arena that will seat up to 15,000 rabid, howling, stomping fans and that is destined, by virtue of its size and designation as the successor to storied Mac Court, to be one of this community's most prominent landmarks. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/ed.edit.uobballarena.0810.html Leave gravel rules alone: Bill increases state control of process A Register-Guard Editorial, 8/7/03 It's hard to open a gravel pit in Oregon -- just ask Eugene Sand & Gravel, which has fought the denial of its application for a new mining operation near River Road all the way to the Oregon Court of Appeals. A similar case in Douglas County has led to the same result. The Legislature, however, should not conclude from these cases that siting new gravel mining operations is impossible, or that a major change in state law is needed to ensure that affordable construction materials are available in Oregon. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/07/ed.edit.gravel.0807.html Unlucky breaks: Big property-tax waivers yield patchy returns in Lane County Sony's sudden closure in April of its Springfield CD factory didn't just deal a blow to the plant's 277 workers, who all lost their jobs. It also gave a black eye to the enterprise-zone tax-break system -- the corporate incentive program that's a centerpiece of Oregon's economic development strategy. Since Sony opened in Springfield 1996, it had been held as a model enterprise-zone company. From 1996 to 2000, Sony was largely exempt from paying property taxes on its 365,000-square-foot Springfield factory and equipment. Elected officials reasoned that the five-year waiver would pay off in the long run because Sony was bringing good jobs to the area, and the factory eventually would come onto the tax rolls and begin paying its fair share of local government and school costs. But after less than three years fully on the rolls, Sony shut the plant. The closure stunned many. But perhaps it shouldn't have. In Lane County, the performance of big companies that got big tax breaks has been questionable, a Register-Guard examination of the program shows. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/a1.zonemain.0810.html Analysts and politicians divided over waivers A growing number of academics and economists pan property-tax waivers for business. Last year, two academics wrote a book on the subject, broadly slamming enterprise-zone tax waivers as unnecessary and ineffective. But an increasing number of politicians -- in Oregon and elsewhere -- brush aside such criticism and dole out the breaks to a ballooning number of firms. In recent years, most academics studying whether it makes sense to offer property tax waivers to induce companies to build factories and create jobs have decided they're a foolish proposition for a community. Many companies admit that tax waivers are much less important than good workers, low wages and convenient locations. Many of the firms that get tax breaks would have located in the community anyway -- and if not those firms, then perhaps others -- so why make tax concessions when you don't have to, the academics ask. But politicians meeting with executives scouting for factory sites typically talk up tax-break packages. That's especially true if a town is economically depressed and politicians feel pressure to prove to constituents that they're taking action. And with so many U.S. cities and states now offering the waivers, politicians figure that their town must offer tax breaks, too, just to stay competitive. Neither the debate nor the handouts seems likely to go away soon -- regardless of local economic conditions. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/a1.zoneprocon.0810.html Businesses sought expansion despite a lack of tax breaks Do local manufacturers need property-tax breaks in order to prosper? Biosciences firm Molecular Probes Inc. didn't. Neither did heavy-equipment maker Peterson Pacific Corp. Nor did food maker Golden Temple Natural Foods. All three wanted enterprise-zone tax breaks. But for each, the timing was off, so they couldn't apply for the breaks or chose not to, even as they built new factories and added equipment in west Eugene. And they've thrived. Among them, they've added hundreds of jobs to the Eugene-Springfield area economy in the last few years. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/a10.zoneno.0810.html Big employers have been able to cut jobs but keep tax breaks Lane County employers who promise to create jobs in return for big property tax breaks have found that they can instead cut jobs and get tax waivers anyway. The Hynix computer-chip plant in west Eugene and Symantec Corp.'s customer service center in Springfield both cut jobs below the promised level, then invoked a rarely used clause in Oregon enterprise-zone law to renegotiate their tax-break deals with local elected officials. Weyerhaeuser Co. did the same in the early 1990s, getting big tax breaks even after it cut 600 jobs in Springfield. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/a11.zonebend.0810.html Small businesses the success story In the early and mid-1990s, businessman Mel Bankoff built a small factory for his salsa-making firm, Emerald Valley Kitchen, then expanded it. In return for creating jobs -- he now has 19 employees at the Woodruff Street plant near the Eugene Airport -- Bankoff was waived from paying about $22,000 in property taxes under the city's enterprise-zone program. To fans of the tax-waiver program, Bankoff is a success story. But Bankoff has a confession: He didn't really need the break and would have built and expanded his plant anyway. The break "was just a little extra icing on the cake," he said. Should "small is beautiful" be the slogan for the tax-break program in Lane County? (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/a11.zonesmall.0810.html Landowners grow wild: Private plots restored to native prairies may help save rare butterfly When Warren and Laurie Halsey gaze out the windows of their spacious workshop on a butte west of Monroe, they don't see a hillside infested with exotic grasses. They see a future home for the Fender's blue butterfly and Kincaid's lupine, a pair of native species on the slide toward extinction. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/04/a1.rarespecies.0804.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSPORTATION Truckloads of cash By David Blain, Eugene Letter to the Eugene Weekly, 8/7/03 The Oregon Legislature, in its infinite wisdom, has doubled auto fees to raise $2.5 billion over the next 10 years. $1.5 billion of that is to replace or repair highway bridges that have been damaged by large trucks exclusively. The powerful trucking lobby pushed this and also persuaded AAA to betray the club's members and not to object to this rip-off. There is a simple and much less costly way to buy time for the bridge work: Immediately lower truck loads to a 5,000 lb. maximum -- without exceptions. Rein in ODOT and cancel all overload permits. Put heavier loads on rails. Lower maximum truck speed on bridges to 35 mph, require 300 feet between trucks, restrict them to one lane in each direction and prohibit passing on bridges. These bridges should be serviceable for a good many years with this responsible usage, and it will give the trucking industry plenty of time to raise the $1.5 billion to repair the damage that they alone have caused. (end) http://www.eugeneweekly.com/archive/08_07_03/letters.html Speed up work on bridges By Melinda Ruth Law, Creswell Letter to the Register-Guard, 8/7/03 How many bridges will take far too long to build, delaying Oregon drivers and getting them killed? Why do workers stand around when a bridge is on the mend? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. The Oregon Department of Transportation needs to wake up! I drive the Interstate 5 bridge over the Coast Fork of the Willamette River often, and no one is ever working. We have had a truck driver killed there and another seriously injured, while thousands of hapless motorists are routed through downtown Creswell. It's not just that we can't even get across town to the store, but that we know a traffic jam in our town means death and destruction on the highway. Rerouting motorists on Highway 99 is dangerous, too -- and during the last truck wreck that blocked I-5, another fatal crash on Highway 99 meant drivers were detoured on Sears Road, a road that has killed over four people since I've lived in Creswell. Why not work day and night to get those bridges done as fast as possible? This will also happen to those in the Eugene-Springfield area, Junction City and all points nearby, as well as anyone who drives I-5, when they rebuild our major I-5 bridges. Do people remember the I-5 bridge reconstruction over the Santiam River near Albany? It went on for years! A friend of mine in construction says he could have finished the job working alone with a shovel. Complain to ODOT now! Sure, we need bridges, but we need them done in a reasonable amount of time. Who will be the next to die? (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/07/ed.letters.0807.html Will bridge jobs benefit state? By Ted Chudy, Eugene Letter to the Register-Guard, 8/10/03 The state Legislature and governor's office are getting sore arms patting themselves on the back for the recently passed bridge repair bill. Thousands of jobs will be created and billions will be pumped into the Oregon economy. Excuse me if I sound a skeptical, but when I drive by this type of specialized construction I see out-of-state contractors performing the work. Yes, they must buy some materials (concrete, aggregate, etc.) locally, and I'm sure local contractors do get some work. But most of the money is earned by a transient workforce working for out-of-state contractors. When Hyundai was being built, a trailer camp on Interstate 5 just north of Eugene did a booming business because many construction workers lived there in their own trailers. Yes, they had to buy food and basic necessities locally, but they were very well paid, and most of the money went home to their families in other states. Can someone out there assure me that the increased taxes Oregonians will pay to fund the bridge repairs will stay in Oregon? I don't think it's that awful to tell Oregonians that their bridges are falling apart and they'll have to pay to fix them. Just don't feed us a bowl of pabulum about how good this will be for Oregon's economy unless we can be assured that the work will be done by Oregon contractors. We've been fed it before by politicians who were convinced that the high-tech industry was the answer to Oregon's financial dreams. Look where that got us. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/ed.letters.0810.html Where the "The" Belongs (#449): Some of us still remember when we first came to town and thought it odd that the public transportation splashed all over itself that it was "limited." By Dinah The Comic News ... Speaking of quasi-public agencies, get ready to forget BRT and even LTD and make room for EmX (the "e" is silent). Those sleek new machines that will whisk people back and forth between downtown Eugene and downtown Springfield will shed the name "bus rapid transit" and be called the EmX Line. (Incidentally, that particular route is notoriously unpopular with LTD drivers, given its reputation for troublemakers and freeloaders.) Eventually, the entire LTD system will hope to be known by the new name. Some of us still remember when we first came to town and thought it odd that the public transportation splashed all over itself that it was "limited." By the way, please feel free to continue using "BRT" whenever complaining about trees or construction or the infighting about routes and priorities. The image-makers would just as soon the "EmX" name not get tainted with any of that messy political stuff. Was it notable that Peter Defazio showed up, silver shovel in hand, for the groundbreaking for Springfield's transit station last week when he didn't make a similar appearance a few years ago for Eugene's? Nah, Springfield was probably more willing to schedule their groundbreaking for a time that suited the congressman. Eugene has difficulty accommodating people with busy schedules that way. ... http://www.something2eat.com/features.cfm?columnist=1&RequestedArticleID=291 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTHER NEWS County board postpones interviews of candidates The illness of a commissioner has led to the cancellation of Monday's all-day session to interview seven candidates for the soon-to-be-vacant east county position on the Lane Board of County Commissioners. West Lane Commissioner Anna Morrison has been hospitalized for treatment of blood clots, necessitating the postponement, county spokeswoman Melinda Kletzok said Friday. Doctors expect Morrison to make a slow but full recovery, Kletzok said. The commissioners will discuss setting a new interview date at their meeting Tuesday. The new appointee will replace Tom Lininger, who leaves office Aug. 15 to take a position on the faculty at the University of Oregon Law School. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/09/b3.cr.digest.0809.html Johnson has big task in small town CRESWELL -- Like most small towns, this is a city where change happens slowly. In 1950, the last time the city's charter was updated, the population was 662. Now about six times that many -- about 3,600 people -- call Creswell home. Some might say that's about as fast as grass grows, but change is coming: A $400,000 downtown revitalization project is in the works as well as an upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant. And there's a new man running things, if only on a part-time basis, down at City Hall. Jim Johnson, of all people, is the new city administrator -- at least for the next six months. Creswell hired the former Eugene city manager and longtime Lane County official on an interim basis to replace Linda James, who resigned at the end of July after two years on the job. Johnson, who will be behind his desk at City Hall on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for $4,000 a month, just finished his first week on the job. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/08/10/c1.cr.creswell.0810.html