Commissioner on Redistricting
The Lane County Commission is made up of five members, each must be from one of five different districts divided equally in population. Election law requires the dividing lines not split “like” communities and be redrawn following the decennial census. The last redistricting was done in 2021 and all five commissioners wound up representing areas inside the city limits of Eugene. Ryan Ceniga, the West Lane Commissioner, is one of those five.
“I’m representing people in downtown Eugene right next to this neighborhood called Whitaker which is about the exact opposite of say Mapleton or even Florence.”
Commissioners had already established a committee to review the process last year and received a letter this past spring from long time Lane County resident and attorney Stanton Long. In it, he asked commissioners to explore an option that is gaining traction in other areas. Ceniga says it has merit.
“People picking politicians, not politicians picking people. And that’s how it should be.”
That lines out the establishment of a 15-person committee to come up with at least two different options and no more than five and not leave drawing the map to the elected officials. That’s the proposal that Lane County voters will see when they return their ballots November 5th.
Unionization for Canabis Workers?
Voters in November will decide whether Oregon cannabis workers are allowed to unionize. Measure 119 is the last initiative to qualify for the ballot in Oregon. Workers in the cannabis sector don’t currently have the option to unionize. Miles Eshaia with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 says that’s an oversight from the initiative in 2014 that legalized marijuana for recreational use.
“One of the things that it didn’t do was set up the necessary protections for workers. So states like New Jersey, California, New York – when they legalized marijuana at the state level, they added a pass for worker protections, and Oregon simply doesn’t.”
U-F-C-W pushed for a fix from lawmakers in Salem last year but that ultimately failed. Supporters of Measure 119 submitted more than 163-thousand signatures for the initiative in July, well over the 117-thousand needed to qualify. But opponents say the measure violates federal labor law.
Preparedness Expo
Are You Prepared? That’s the question that will be tackled on Saturday for the “Beat the Wave” preparedness Expo at the Florence Event Center. Emily Embleton represents the West Lane Emergency Operations Group here in Florence. She says they are welcoming back a special class.
“we will be offering once again our suturing class which was very popular last year. We’ll have two classes this year on at 11 am and one at 1:30 pm.”
It is likely that registration for the class has closed due to the necessity of ordering materials needed, however you can still check with the Siuslaw News who is handling the registration to see if seats are available.
