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  I live just about a mile from downtown Eugene.  As such, there is a Safeway within 1.5 miles from me and an Albertson's the same distance away in the other direction.  Just under a mile away is a small natural foods grocery store (The Kiva).

    I think having a grocery store around a mile away is better than having one right next door.  All three of these stores are within easy walking distance and so you DO walk.  Yes, i have a car, but walking to the store for small amounts is good exercise.  And that is also part of a healthy diet.

    My wife's grandmother confientially told me at one point that "It's all downhill after 102" and that was the year she stopped being able to walk to the small market that was six blocks away from her with her little wire basket with the wheels.  She died at 104. 

    She never learned to drive a car.  A team of horses, yes, but cars, no.  So, she walked almost every place.  And I think that's why she lived to 104 (dying of pneumonia).  Of course, the fact that she lived all her life in Red Bluff, California, where the temperature is in the 100s for weeks on end, could be a sign of dementia, to my northwesterner mind, but she liked it.

    Stores within walking distance but not too close would be ideal, since they would be close enough to walk to but far enough away to get some light exercise on a regular basis.  I usually walk 2-4 miles EVERY day after work, no matter what the weather.  I hate it when I go out in the cold or rain, but soon after I start walking, my spirits pick up and then it's no bother.  Goretex is the uniform of the Northwest.

Richard Adams, age 65

Eugene, Oregon 

posted 2 years, 2 months ago
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A bit of a historical perspective about pensions.  Since it's inception, employee contributions were matched by their employer, something most private employers did.  In 1979, public employees were contributing 6% and that was matched.  But inflation was 18% in '79 and we were offered this deal: take 6% PERS picked up by the State and no raise in salary.  So we took one-third of the amount to stay even.  Years later, of course, we have been chastised for getting our retirement "paid for."

   The spokesperson was correct, the OEBB health benefit plans all have a deductible, all have co-pays, and only the employee has had the plan paid for, if the budget allows.  For families, the full cost comes from the employee.

   The real problem, however, is that Measure 5 of 1990 has come to roost.  Suddenly taking the school budgets and making the state responsible for them should have bankrupted the state immediately.  Instead, the rising economy brought in more income tax.  In 1989, businesses paid 2/3 of the taxes.  Now, individuals pay 2/3 of the taxes.  So paychecks declined as business profits rose in the last decade and there are consequences for the actions of the public being an employer and saying "cut the workers' pay!" when they would not want their own pay cut by someone else.

posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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