Earth Day in the Park!

Invite your friends!

EARTH DAY 2015 is on! Forty five years after it began, a committee of local organizers is keeping the global celebration alive in Eugene/Springfield! This year’s event, April 25th at Alton Baker Park, replaces the recently- canceled annual observance originally scheduled for April 18th at EWEB (River Place Plaza). “EARTH DAY IN THE PARK!” is the theme for what promises to be a fun Saturday for planetary citizens of all persuasions. All will be inspired, educated and motivated by the day of activities, workshops, music and a speakers program addressing the urgent environmental issues facing our planet today.

The event runs from 2 to 6pm, with a broadcast-ready speakers program around the midpoint. Stay tuned for more details as participating organizations, speakers and musicians are confirmed!

For more information contact Sabrina Siegel:  s.siegel@mail.com

 

Human Rights and the Crisis of Youth Homelessness

HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE CRISIS OF YOUTH HOMELESSNESS
11:30am to 3pm April 25, 2015.
First Christian Congregational Church 1050 E. 23rd Ave., Eugene OR
A community forum and conversation on the growing numbers of children and youth who are unhoused in the Eugene/Springfield Area and what can be done toward elimination of this violation of their basic human rights. For more information and pre-registration, please go to 

www.humanrightswork.org/youth.html

Event contact: Email kneubeck@comcast.net

Oregon Legislature is looking at a Right to Rest Act

Oregon legislature is looking at a Right to Rest Act (SB629) right now and our representatives really need to hear from their constituents in favor of this bill. People can’t do better if they can’t get sleep to even be coherent the next day.  Give people a chance and legalize survival.  Please contact your representatives, so they hear from you before the work session scheduled with the Senate Human Services and Early Childhood Committee at 3pm April 16, 2015, Room:  HR B  Agenda item: 3.

For more information about this bill go to:  http://wraphome.org/?p=4072&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=119

To find out where it is at in the legislative process, go to http://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2015/SB629/

Here is a list of representatives to contact who are involved with what is needed to further this legislation:

Senator Michael Dembrow 503-986-1723
Senator Jeff Kruse 503-986-1701
Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson 503-986-1725
Senator Alan Olsen 503-986-1720
Senator Chip Shields 503-986-1722
Senator Sara Gelser 503-986-1708

Occupy Eugene Endorses Solidarity with Palestine

Quorumed Occupy Eugene General Assembly

Occupy Eugene endorses the 2014 Occupy National Gathering statements of solidarity with Palestine.

Occupy Eugene rejects any effort to use this statement for anti-Semitic purposes.

We stand together in solidarity as members of the Occupy Wall Street
National Gathering 2014 in resistance against the Israeli government’s
violations of international law and the human rights of Palestinians.

We condemn the Israeli government’s serious violations of international
law and basic human rights in Gaza and the West Bank.

[We recognize] the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of
Israel to full equality.

We demand the restoration of freedom of movement for all Gazans and
West Bank Palestinians, demolition of the walls, and liberalization of the
borders between Israel and the Palestinian territories.

We demand an end to the bloodshed of innocent people all around the
world for which our leaders are responsible. In light of the recent
atrocities, we want an end to both the mass murder of innocents and the
occupation of Palestine.

CONSENSED

Opportunity Village Eugene Video Wins Award

Major shout out to Jana Thrift of Occupy Eugene Media Group and David Zupan of Peace Works. The two videographers entered their video about Opportunity Village Eugene into Eugene’s International Film Festival and won the award for 2014 best documentary short. Check out this beautiful video here

Sidewalk Rental vs Us

Guidelines for Permitted Use of the Sidewalk
in the Downtown Activity Zone (“DAZ”)
A downtown business adjacent to a sidewalk within the DAZ can obtain a permit to use the
sidewalk for the following purposes:
• Signs. Placing a sign that is no larger than nine square feet in total area on any side.
• Café Seating. Placing café seating parallel to the restaurant’s storefront.
• Merchandise Displays. Placing merchandise for display or sale that is of the same type
sold in the abutting store.
A permit issued to a downtown business for one of the above-three listed activities:
• Is a grant of permission to the business owner to place authorized items related to the
adjacent business in the portion of the sidewalk identified in the permit.
• If a café seating permit, is permission to limit use of the café seating to customers.
• Is applicable only to the portion of the sidewalk physically taken up by the items
authorized in the permit, but does not include a minimum five-foot pedestrian pathway.
• Is a DAZ permit authorizing a specific activity with which a person cannot interfere. Use
of an area that has been reserved through issuance of a DAZ permit for a purpose other
than in accordance with the authorized use interferes with the permitted activity and is a
violation of EC 4.872.
• Is not a lease granting the abutting business owner exclusive use of the sidewalk
surrounding the business.
• Is not the only means of making downtown businesses customer-friendly.
o EC 4.872 prohibits people from:
 Impeding access to any public pedestrian area or to any public or private
building adjacent to the public pedestrian area.
 Leaving a dog or other animal unattended, whether leashed or unleased.
 Entering in a landscaped planting area or acting in a manner harmful to
any plant life, including walking, lying or sitting in a landscaped area.
 Setting up any temporary structure or enclosure, including but not limited
to canopies, tents or tables, or restricting access to any portion of the
public pedestrian area so that others may not freely enter such area.
o EC 4.707(1) prohibits people from blocking or interfering with, or attempting to
block or interfere with, any person along a public sidewalk by any means,
including but not limited to standing on that part of the sidewalk used for
pedestrian travel or placing any object or vehicle in such an area, with the intent
to interfere with free passage.

SLEEPS Protest Camp

Another Oregon winter has begun and it has been severely cold, windy, and wet already. Again, thousands of our unhoused citizens face another New Year with their basic human rights being violated by Eugene’s laws against sleeping. With tents erected illegally in a refugee camp fashion, the words “Please let us sleep” say it all. Forcing people from one place to another when they honestly have no where to go and no choice but to sleep, is a waste of city resources and anyone that agrees can email here. You can also go to a meeting and let your voice be heard. See local meetings for dates and times.

Nightingale Public Advocacy Collective supports SLEEPS efforts by donating a port-a-potty for the site and paying for it to be moved each time they are forced from a location. SLEEPS would be extremely grateful for any volunteer help or donations. The following is a list of their needs:

* Tarps, tents, pallets
* Rope, bungees or even old panty hose
* Laundry drying racks, anyone who can do a load of laundry and visiting the camps.
* Money is also nice for laundry and dump fees.
* No canned food or clothing except coats and shoes.
* Please bring ready to eat food that doesn’t need plates or utensils.

Nightingale Health Sanctuary Opens New Rest Stop

On Monday, Dec. 8, the Eugene City Council approved Nightingale Health Sanctuary’s plan to operate a self-governed, village-style community on county land near the Lane County Behavioral Health building through April 2015.

Nightingale welcomes new volunteers with skills in communication, construction, fundraising, health and wellness, and more. We need people to take the trash to the dump and to write grants. If you want to help, volunteer here or contact us at nightingalehealthsanctuary@gmail.com

If you would like to help with a financial contribution, you can donate here .Thanks to everyone who has offered to help and also many thanks to all our allies who have helped us get this far.The two new rest stops will focus on health and wellness and will be accessible and inclusive. Both able-bodied people and those with disabilities will be welcome and able to camp there. NHS plans to maintain a balance so that campers who need assistance can find it among the other campers.

Nightingale Health Sanctuary (NHS) is happy to have the opportunity to run a temporary double rest stop for up to 30 people on county land. Steering committee members and others close to the project express their appreciation to both the city and the county for partnering to make this property available to Nightingale.

Members of the NHS steering committee, while eager to get started with the new rest stops, want to remind the people that an additional 30 places to sleep for the unsheltered still leaves many hundreds of Lane County residents out in the cold on winter nights and that there is still a huge amount of work to do to make Eugene “the Human Rights City” it strives to be.