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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1972)
The Mall fountain: a new heart for the new' downtown. Oegon Daily Emerald Photo New ordinance governs mall conduct Long-disputed Eugene Mall regulations have now been made into a punishable ordinance. The Eugene City Council enacted in early September a set of rules for conduct on the downtown mall which, if violated, kre punishable by a fine of up to 100. The full ordinance, as passed by the council Sept. 12, is printed below. ORDINANCE NO. I64M THE CITY OF EUGENE DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section I. Section 4 985 of The Eugene Code, 1971 is hereby repealed Section 2. There are hereby added to The Eugene Code, 1971, the following sections: 4.870 Purposes. Eugene's downtown pedestrian mall has been built to renew, preserve, and enhance the economic and aesthetic value of the city's central business district and to provide facilities conducive to a harmonious blend there of civic, social, cultural, and economic pursuits To these ends, and with a few necessary exceptions, the mall separates vehicular from pedestrian traffic and constitutes, except for its facilities designed for activities other than walking, a public thoroughfare for pedestrians Of the facilities designed for activities other than walking, the fountains, trees, and landscaped areas are intended to constitute visual amenities for pedestrians, and the southeast half of the central plaza at Broadway and Willamette, the semi walled area in Broadway iust west of Willamette, the covered areas at Broadway and Olive, and the adjoining areas interspersed with trees constitute facilities which, through prior arrangement with the city, may be reserved for lawful and responsible organized group activity consonant with the basic purposes set forth at the beginning of this section 4 871 Definitions In sections 4.870 to 4 878 of this code (1) The definition of "mall'' in section 5.010 of this code applies, and (2) Mall activity permit" means a permit applied for and granted in accordance with Section 4.877 of this code 4 872 Shrubbed. Flowered Areas; Covering Structures. No person may enter into a shrubbed or flowered area or upon a covering structure in the mall unless, by authority of the city he does so for purposes of cleaning, maintenance, or law enforcement 4.873 Climbing. Except in authorized play areas (1) No person may climb (a) Any mall tree or (b) Any mall structure other than a stairway to an elevation more than six feet above the street level or in such a manner as to create a danger of personal injury and (2) No person in charge of a child under the age of 12 years may allow the child so to climb. 4 874 Animals. Except as ORS 346 620 provides to the contrary with reference to blind persons and their dog guides, no person may bring any animal into the mall or allow any animal in his charge to be in the mall unless the animal is caged 4 875 Fountains (1) No person may deposit and leave in the water in a mall fountain any objector any substance other than water (2) No person may use water in any such fountain for any purpose other than ob serving or wading 4.876 Activities Requiring Permits or City Sponsorship. Except by mall activity permit or under sponsorship of the city, no person may engage in any of the following activities in the mall (1) Fund raising (2) Solicitation subject to Sections 3.555 to 3.650 of this code (3) Commercial pursuits (A permit for commercial display or sale of goods or services shall be effective for purposes of this section only if issued directly by the council itself ) (4) Placing a display or allowing a display in one's charge to remain. (5) Conductor participation in the conduct of a dance (6) Conduct, presentation, or participation m the conduct or presentation of entertainment of a musical, theatrical, cinematic, choreographic, or athletic character that attracts at any one time an audience of more than 25 persons (7) Conduct or participation in the conduct of a meeting that attracts at any one time an assembly of more than 25 persons (8) Electrical amplification of sound 4 877 Permits. A mall activity permit for activity authorized in the mall only with such a permit may be obtained as follows (1) Application for the permit may be filed with the city manager or his designee on a form supplied by him (2) The application may not be filed earlier than 21 nor later than seven days before the date set for the activity, unless the city manager or his designee finds that earlier or later filing of the application is necessary m the interests of the applicant and the city If the filing is later than seven days before the date set for the activity, the applicant shall have no right of appeal (3) A copy of the application shall be posted promptly on a bulletin board in the •» all and left there until the desired permit has been granted or denied (4) If the permit applied for is for commercial display or sale of goods or services, the application shall be prompt iy referred to the city council The council shall determine within 15 days after the referral whether to issue the permit and, if issuing it, whether to condition it in ac cordance with subsection (5) of this section•• (5) If the permit applied for is not for fommercial display or sale of goods or ser vices, within 16 regular city office hours after the filing of the application the city manager or his designee shall determine whether the permit shall be granted In granting it he may condition it by requiring a deposit authorized by subsection (1) of this section or by requirements and restrictions conducive to achievement of the purposes and objectives indicated by Section 4 870 of this code and by subsection (8) of this sec tion (6) A party aggrieved by the issuance or denial of a mall activity permit under subjection (5) of this section may within 15 regular city office hours after that action appeal to a committee of three members of the city council whom the mayor shall ap point Notice of the appeal shall be filed at once with the city manager and shall suspend the permit until the appeal is decided Within forty regular city office hours from receipt of the notice of appeal or before the time set for the activity, whichever is sooner, the committee shall (a) Conduct a hearing on the appeal, 24 hours advance notice of which shall be given the appellant and the permittee, and, (b) Within 48 hours make a determination, which shall be final, whether the permit shall be granted and. if so, whether it shall be conditioned in accordance with sub section (5) of this section (7) After a permit is granted m accordance with subsection (4), (5) or (6) of this section, a copy of the permit shall promptly be posted on a bulletin board in the mall and remain so posted until after the time for the activity has expired (8) In (Continued on Page 23) Urban renewal gives $18-million face-lift The piles of rubble and the skeletal frames of old buildings reaching their broken, jagged fingers towards the sky are visible on almost every block. A European city after World War II? No, it’s just downtown Eugene on the way to being rebuilt. An $18-million face lift is being given the older parts of the city, with the effort spear-headed by the Eugene Renewal Agency (ERA). The Agency, which began its original planning in 1965, is now in the middle of the plastic surgery—and the operation will be a long one. First, each ‘old, substandard building" is purchased from its owner at market value, according to Theron Rust, assistant director of the ERA. "Then we clear off the old building and sell the land to a private developer—we’re getting the private enterprise back into it again," he says. The Agency came from a seven member citizen board established by the City Council in December of 1965 to carry out a planning study for renewing downtown Eugene. The ERA is entrusted with the redevelopment of a 17-block section of downtown Eugene covering about 70 acres. This area, which in cludes the Downtown Mall, will be rehabilitated at a total cost of $18 million two-thirds of which is being supplied by the federal govern ment. The Mall has cost only $1.6 million of the allocated funds and when finished will cover eight blocks, with Olive closed to 10th, Broadway closed to Oak and Willamette closed to 8th. Next summer is expected to see the completion of the Mall from Broadway to Oak “We extend the Mall in coordination with redevelopments downtown, otherwise you would have to tear it all up again,” said Don Hulbert, community relations advisor to the ERA. Another part of redevelopment, according to Hulbert, will be the rebuilding of other downtown sidewalks. “All of the sidewatxs in the downtown area will be rebuilt or resurfaced, benches and wheel chair ramps will be built." The sidewalks downtown will all be redeveloped to resemble the plan followed in the Mall. A major concern of ERA is coordination of design in the Mall with new and rehabilitated buildings, according lo Hulbert. The ERA plans each segment of renewal to complement the other. “Some of the standard buildings see what is happening around them and are willing to invest money to improve their buildings in renovation or redecoration," Hulbert said Completed redevelopment in the downtown area totals $640,000, according to Hulbert. This is the combined cost of the new Broadway department store and the new Harry Ritchie’s jewelry store. Another $3.4 million dollars worth of redevelopment has been contracted "Contracted means we’ve (ERA) signed a contract with a redeveloper to develope a parcel of land in a specific way," said Hulbert. The ERA must see plans of any proposed new buildings and approve them before they sell the land for development, according to Hulbert. The City Council has developed and approved qualifications for any new buildings which may be built in the downtown renewal area, he said. "Another aspect of redevelopment is rehabilitation, taking buildings which don’t meet the building codeand which can feasibly be brought up to the standards," Hulbert said “If the building is too bad to fix up you tear it down," he said. “If the owner can fix it up he does," Hulbert said. "When you tear down the building you sell the land to someone who will build new buildings," he said. "The prime consideration is the health and safety of the general public and a second consideration is the esthetic value of new and rehabilitated buildings,” said Hulbert. The ERA dot's a great deal of relocating when it is divided that a building must be torn down. “We relocate not only businesses, but charitable organizations and families, anyone who is in here when we redevelop is entitled to relocation if they meet the qualifications," Hulbert said We ve relocated about 120 businesses, he said, Inis might be one man in an office or an insurance man who has two companies, that’s two businesses in terms of regulations,” “We don’t tell people where they have to go, when relocation is being done, we help them find some place to move to and move them and help them get settled in their new place,” Hulbert said. “The relocation aspect has proved very fortunate for many people who had decided it was time to get out of business,” he said. "For a lot of people who have gone out of business the FRA has provided them the golden opportunity to get out without losing their shirts," said Hulbert "There are a number of downtown businessmen who were renters before relocation and have gotten out of that rental situation and were able to build their own buildings and are now landlords,” Hulber said “The individuals or families that moved out of downtown, (relocated), moved out of crummy apartments and into standard housing,” said Hulbert There are still a few finishing touches to be completed downtown According to Hulbert there will be 450 trees planted in the downtown area and an equal number of plants and hushes Utility wires will also disappear as the city undergrounds all those in the downtown area The rehabilitation of the downtown area has not been without criticism, however. Groups of persons have attended meetings of the City Council to protest the plans especially the proposed Convention Auditorium complex which is to be built at the north end of Willamette Street The critics have charged that much of the character of Eugene will disappear with the removal of the old buildings now on Willamette Early this summer, it became apparent that the auditorium wasn’t the only section of the plans being disagreed with when painted slogans of “Stop Urban Renewal” appeared on buildings throughout the downtown area Even with this criticism, however, ERA plans remain the same The renewal of the city—painted slogans aside will continue until the face lift is complete.
