Think Out Loud

Mariachi Tradicion, a band made up of students from Forest Grove High School, has played with the Oregon Symphony, in front of audiences at Pickathon music festival, and will now perform later this month at the Jack London Review. The band was founded seven years ago by Lesslie Nuñez as an afterschool club at the middle school. Now, it is the only band from the Pacific Northwest to attend the International Mariachi Conference in Tucson every year. Nuñez and the band join us for music and conversation. Band members include: Marc FernandezXochitl Gonzalez-Viveros Carlos Marquez VargasRaquel Lopez AndradeJesus Contreras AguileraCitlalli Tinoco AvalosEmilio GironDulceluna Cebrera GomezAaron Andrade Erik Bonilla-Vallejo Ashley Aguilera Hernandez Lizzly Izquierdo-Mendoza

Practitioners of transpecies design aim to consider the needs of all species – not just humans – in the built environment. Their buildings often include habitat for plants, animals and even microorganisms, with the goal of reducing biodiversity decline and lessening the impacts of climate change. The University of Oregon is a hub for the movement, and students and faculty recently showcased it with an exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Adrian Parr is the dean of UO’s College of Design. She joins to tell us more about the transpecies design movement.

Earlier this year, Eugene became the first city in Oregon to effectively ban natural gas appliances in new residential construction. Gas utility NW Natural and others pushed back and were able to get the ordinance referred to the November ballot for voters to either affirm or overturn. But recently, the Eugene City Council repealed the ordinance following a federal appeals court ruling that overturned a similar ban in Berkeley, California. The ruling could impact cities across the 9th Circuit, which includes Oregon, Washington and California. Joining us to explain those impacts is Amy Turner, director of the Cities Climate Law Initiative at Columbia Law School. We’re also joined by Emily Semple, the Eugene city councilor who originally introduced the natural gas ban, to talk about what’s next for the city’s climate change goals.

Since 1995, Portland has funded the independent Regional Arts and Culture Council to provide arts education, advocacy, and administer grant funding to local artists. Last week Commissioner Dan Ryan told RACC the city wants to do that work itself. The city provides over $6 million of RACC’s $7.5 million budget, and will let that contract expire at the end of the year.  Carol Tatch, one of the Co-Executive Directors of RACC,  and Debby Garman, RACC Board Chair, join us to talk about what’s next for RACC, and what they think city arts funding should look like. 

After managing a yearslong, unprecedented  pandemic, hospitals are still facing challenges like reduced staffing and how to keep workers safe. We check in with Cheryl Nester Wolfe, the president and CEO of Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics. She joins us with more on how the health system is faring and what’s top of mind for health care leaders in Oregon.  

Since 2019, the Willamette Riverkeeper has been working with the city of Salem to remove Ludwigia, an invasive aquatic weed, from the Willamette Slough at Minto-Brown Island Park. Ludwigia threatens native plants and wildlife, including habitat for federally protected spring Chinook salmon and winter steelhead. As described in The Salem Reporter, crews are traveling the length of the 87-acre slough to spray herbicide on dense mats of water weeds to open up channels to kayakers and native fish. More than 12,500 native shrubs and trees were planted along the riparian banks this spring to improve habitat and slow the spread of Ludwigia. Vanessa Youngblood is the restoration manager for Willamette Riverkeeper. She joins us with more details on the project as it enters its final year and future restoration work along the river.  

City councilors in Beaverton voted unanimously to do away with including parking in new developments in the city. Kevin Teater is the newest member of the council and campaigned on this issue. Beaverton joins seven other cities in the state that have made the same shift recently, including Portland, Salem and Bend. Last year the state’s Land Conservation and Development Commission passed rules to lift parking requirements in many places and encourage cities to do the same. Teater calls the policy “absolutely transformative.” We talk with him about the vote and what this could mean for his city and others in Oregon.

After five Portland monuments were toppled in 2020, some city and community leaders called for a robust public engagement process before any decisions were made about their reinstatement. The city partnered with Lewis & Clark College late last year to determine what that public engagement process would look like. A committee of artists, educators, urban planners and public historians has been meeting for the last six months to explore how community members can navigate the complicated history the monuments represent. They recently presented a report to the city with their recommendations, which include public talks, arts programming, walking tours and an archive. Jess Perlitz is an associate professor and head of sculpture at Lewis & Clark College. She led the Monument Engagement Process Committee and joins us with more details on its recommendations.

Clatsop County has recently awarded $35,000 to LiFEBoat Services, a homeless service provider in Astoria. The organization hopes this funding will help with improvements and allow it to become a year-round shelter. Osarch Orak is the executive director of LiFEBoat Services. He joins us to share what this funding will mean for the community and LiFEBoat's plan for the future.

:  Earlier this month, a panel of judges for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the Chinook salmon season in Alaska to open for the summer while it considers arguments in a lawsuit filed by the Wild Fish Conservancy. The Seattle-based organization sued the State of Alaska, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Alaska Trollers Association to stop the harvesting of Chinook, also known as king salmon, which is the primary food source for an endangered population of orcas in the Puget Sound. Julia O’Malley is a third-generation Alaskan and freelance journalist based in Anchorage, Alaska. She recently wrote an article for the New York Times that explores how declining numbers of Chinook impact the culture and livelihoods of coastal communities in Alaska, and the demand for wild salmon on dinner tables and gourmet restaurants. She joins us to talk about her reporting.