Page 58 RAIN Spring 1986 stopping Elks Creek Dam, which would destroy fish runs, wildlife winter range, and internationally noted white water boating, and 4) developing Citizens' Alternative Forest Plans, as alternatives to the congressionally mandated ten-year plans for federal agencies who generally cater to the timber industry. For more information, contact the Oregon Natural Resource Council at 1161 Lincoln Street, Eugene, OR 97401; 503/344-0675. Sanctuary in the Northwest The Tucson trial of church workers for giving sanctuary to Salvadoran and Guatamalan refugees has brought the national sanctuary issue into focus. In the Northwest, two cities have made resolutions about sanctuary. Seattle is a “city of refuge”; Olympia is a “city of peace.” The Seattle resolution asks other cities to join in calling for Extended Voluntary Departure for refugees. It states that city employees are not responsible for apprehending illegal aliens. It does not consider refugees to have committed a crime for having entered the United States without a visa, since the 1980 Refugee Act grants asylum to anyone fleeing persecution. The resolution calls for Congress to investigate the enforcement of the act, though it does not make a judgement on which political sides in El Salvador and Guatemala are correct Olympia's resolution was made last summer, and also asks for Extended Voluntary Departure rights for refugees, as well as declaring the city a safe haven for the politically persecuted. It is in response to the “unprecedented attacks” on the sanctuary movement, such as the police infiltration of church sanctuary workers in Tucson. United States policy docs not recognize the refugees as potential death squad victims if returned to their respective countries. For more information, contact Councilman Norm Rice, 600 Fourth Avenue, 11th Floor, Seattle, WA 98104; or City Clerk, City of Olympia, PO Box 1967, Olympia, WA 98507. Pesticides in Portland A pesticide survey of city and county agencies by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP), begun in 1983, “show[s] that [Portland] city residents are subject to pesticide exposure repeatedly during the year, without notification, and without any comprehensive planning on the part of the city.” A follow-up project, coordinated by Jean Meddaugh of the Oregon Environmental Council, set up a steering committee including neighborhood and environmental groups. Their goals are to insure good recordkeeping, public notification of spraying and input in decision-making, and education about alternatives such as Integrated Pest Management. Current actions have included work with the Portland School District, City Parks and Recreation, and Multnomah County Vector Control, and have been mostly successful. The least positive response was from the School District which feels that 1PM is too labor intensive and costly, and that its use of 2,4-D, a toxic associated with birth defects, is too low to present a hazard. The Parks Department was very receptive to suggestions. It is setting up a citizens' advisory committee which will review recordkeeping and public notification of spraying (since IPM does use some pesticides), as well as oversee two parks which will be model and control for a three year IPM experiment. City Parks will seriously consider widely implementing 1PM if the experiment goes well. Multnomah County Vector Control is going beyond the suggestions of the steering committee. Its County Sanitarian Peter DeChant was using IPM before he was even approached. He has been using biological controls on mosquitoes and is investigating its use on rats. Ten roadside test plots have been designated for alternative weed controls. Also, a county ordinance recently passed which establishes a citizen's advisory committee to set up an IPM plan, making IPM more formally county policy, rather than the prerogative of progressive employees. For more information, contact Jean Meddaugh at the Oregon Environmental Council, 2637 SW Water Avenue, Portland, OR 97201; 503/222-1963. Planning for 2010 Planning for public services is usually done by those who provide them. This cap have disappointing results, due to tuff battles. Institutional inertia, and lack of user representation. In Portland—a metropolitan area that spans two states, four counties, and numerous smaller towns—service users are providing plans for service providers, helping them make changes needed by the next century. The Regional Services Project of the Columbia-Willamette Futures Forum, has set up an innovative process to achieve this user-driven planning. It relies on volunteer committees of citizens interested in regional issues, but who have no ties to or hostility toward existing service providers. Since 1983, they have worked to build visions of the best combinations of human, financial, and technological resources likely to be available for the region's residents in 2010, in the areas of libraries, parks, and transportation. Further, they have described the steps needed to realize those visions. Their methods have included “blue sky” sessions, periodic public conferences, and nationwide searches for existing service systems that are achieving some of the goals defined in the vision statements of the committees. Reactions from affected public agencies to the reports have been mixed. The library committee's report, advocating greater public access, intercounty borrowing, and a wider variety of materials in collections, has been well-received by the area's libraries, and some of its recommendations are already being implemented. On the other hand, the transportation committee's critical report on Portland's mass transit decisions, which rely on diesel buses and light rail into the forseeable future, has not found favor at Tri-Met, the local transit agency. The transportation committee recommends severely limiting light rail development, and providing a mix of public and privately operated transit vehicles of different sizes. The next topic for CWFF's Regional Services Project will be health care. For copies of the committee reports, or further information on the citizen planning proces, contact: Columbia Willamette Futures Forum, 1135 SE Salmon, Portland, OR 97214; 503/231-1285.
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