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“We don’t have enough money to fund all of these unpopular expenditures in Eugene,
just in order to keep all of the local administrators and land planners in jobs.”
–Scott Rohter


Register Guard Story, They’re on Board Should be Retitled We’re on Board
Editorial by Scott Rohter, January 2012


There are over 130,000 residents living in Eugene Oregon.  Seven people, a total of just over a half a dozen individuals without any direct ties to the Lane Transit District does not constitute mass support for their pet project.  Nor does it constitute a reason to do a front page story in the Register Guard, complete with a 5X8 inch color photo of one man holding up a bumper sticker!  The R/G story entitled They’re on Board should be retitled We’re on Board or better yet We’re in The Tank!

Lane Transit District (LTD) stands to reap 95 Million dollars of combined Federal and State tax payer money if their project for the West Eugene EmX goes through.  The Register Guard should be ashamed of itself for engaging in such ‘push’ journalism and so should Matt Cooper.  Shame on you Matt!  They’re on Board is just an obvious attempt to launch a last minute effort to sway public opinion in favor of the West Eugene EmX and to provide the necessary cover for the upcoming Eugene City Council vote.  This vote will come shortly after LTD makes public its report on the environmental impacts of their project.  That begins a 45 day period of public comment during which the Federal Government will decide whether or not it will come up with the necessary 80 million dollars to build the project.  After that, the Metropolitan Policy Committee might get a chance to weigh in again, but with Sid Lieken on the Committee do we really even want them to weigh in again? 

I can tell you what the environmental impacts of the West Eugene EmX are without doing any expensive environmental studies.  Just drive down 6th or 7th Street or W11th Ave.  And look at all of the anti EmX signs.   This project is dividing our community!   How much do the supporters of this unpopular project want to push forward against overwhelming opposition?  On one side are the residents and business owners of Eugene who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money so far, fighting this unwanted project.   On the other side are their elected leaders, who are not listing to them, one man holding up a bumper sticker, and LDT who stands to make millions of dollars from the project who will never listen to them! 

As far as the thirteen members and still counting of this pro EmX group, we know that six of them have direct ties to Lane Transit District.  Two of them share the same last name, one is an avowed Socialist, and another owns real estate in West Eugene who stands to make a small fortune from potential zoning changes if the West Eugene EmX project moves forward.  It’s a disparate group of people to be sure who are backing the West Eugene EmX, but they all have one thing in common:  Personal gain and self-interest.   If that’s any basis for mass support, it certainly is a shaky basis!


"The truth, the political truth, and nothing but the political truth.
A journalist has no better friend than the truth."
- Scott Rohter

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