Every so often, it’s important to get out of the “bubbles” we live in and explore “bubbles” in other parts of the country. Last week, I attended my college reunion at the University of Oregon and got a measure of how folks on the far side of this nation view both the national and local mood. As a native Oregonian, I grew up in small-town Eugene where Game Day was not the spectacle it is today. The entire population of my hometown could fit in Autzen Stadium today, with lots of room to spare. The reunion included the “Civil War” football game between Oregon and its arch-rival Oregon State and my beloved Ducks defeated the Beavers 41 – 7. In addition to all the usual football hoopla, I was surprised to see an enormous American flag, probably 20 x 50 feet, move hand-over-head around the entire stadium beginning at half-time. On a beautiful sunny autumn day, there was nothing more traditional than football, flags, and fans that all could share and enjoy.
Oregon is a blue state and was known as a counter-culture locale even when I was in college, but time can change perspectives so I wondered how my classmates viewed today’s political mood. Almost to a person, they were horrified about the Trump Administration’s actions and wondered how our democracy would fare in the end. The one outlier was a classmate’s wife who was pleased about abortion restrictions and supported bringing more religious concepts into government. We had a good conversation about many topics; our time together ended amicably but I doubt any viewpoint was swayed.
Localities share many attributes in common, albeit at a different scale. In Eugene, almost every street has a designated bike lane. Traffic calming is handled by speed humps, roundabouts, planted median breaks, a 25-mph speed limit, and short-timed traffic lights. Pedestrians of all ages are downtown, on campus, and on neighborhood sidewalks. The city retrofitted an old downtown bus garage into a well-used farmer’s market site that hosts Tuesday and Saturday markets, plus one Thursday night market each summer month. Some stalls are under tents, but the indoor stalls are well-protected from the ubiquitous Oregon “mist.”
As Fairfax County slowly ramps up efforts for murals in public spaces, Eugene initiated an effort to create at least 20 murals – the last count was 60-plus — in advance of the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in 2022 (Eugene is TrackTown USA; Hayward Field is the premiere track and field venue in the world, mostly courtesy of Nike founder Phil Knight, an Oregon alum). Murals might cover the entire side of a building, or a small traffic box. I liked the vertical murals that soar to the top of a building or parking garage but may only be five feet wide. Themes celebrate the indigenous peoples of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, birds and flowers, botanicals, and the occasional athlete. Local rules and regulations can make murals and public art difficult to install, but Eugene’s experience might be a lesson to the bureaucracy that can stifle creative expression and community discussions. Fairfax County has plenty of opportunities for murals and public art, something that the Mason District Arts Committee is spearheading locally (more on that in a future column).
During my trip, a resident noted that the D.C. area is very expensive compared to Oregon. That’s true to a certain extent – at CVS in Eugene I paid $6.49 for a cold remedy that costs $8.79 here, and Oregon has no sales tax – but a gallon of regular gas was $4.24 in Eugene ($4.54 near the Portland airport where I returned my rental car) vs. $2.89 in Annandale. House prices are lower in Oregon, but so are wages and salaries. The high cost of housing is affecting Oregon localities, which are feeling the same pinch we have in Northern Virginia.
I also paid close attention to local governance issues in Eugene and Portland. What I found is fascinating and troubling, and I plan to discuss those at length in next week’s column.