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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1978)
Vol. 80, No. 11 i.. Eugene, Oregon 97403 Thursday, July 27, 1978 Board sets housing talk By JACK DESMOND Of the Emerald Amazon tenants will be speaking out about a housing decision once again next week when the Amazon Appeals Board will hear testimony over whether Amazon tenants should help pay for the Westmoreland housing project out of Amazon rent fees. The hearing is scheduled August 1 in the EMU, room to be posted. The board has solicited written comments from the Housing Office, the Amazon Community Tenants (ACT) and other interested parties for the last several months. However, the board has been slow in reaching a decision, apparently to avoid a veto by University Pres. William Boyd. “Neither side has given us persuasive arguments,” says Keli Osborn, member of the Amazon board, “as we haven't received very much information. We’ve been taking a long time getting our information together because we would like our decision to be valid. We have to make our decision carefully so it will stick." ACT spokesman Dave Mason claims Amazon tenants should not have to pay $12,000 for Westmoreland's debt. He says the money can be better spent at Amazon by building a playground, nursery school and community center. Mason says he wants Amazon to remain liveable. “I’m concerned about the condition of these buildings. For the next few years I want to live here.” In the past Amazon tenants have bitterly fought rent increases. Last summer, Amazon tenants staged a three-month rent strike to protest $10 per month rent increases. Tenants eventually voted to accept the rent increase after being granted greater say in the management of the Amazon complex. The Housing Office makes no comment on the Amazon Appeals Board hearing. That office, according to Osborn, would like to be given greater leeway in setting rental rates. Currently, Westmoreland residents pay $35 more than Amazon residents and housing officials are worried that too great of a rent differential will cause a vacancy at Westmoreland. No matter what the board decides about the issue, the decision will have only a small impact on rental rates. Amazon residents currently pay $80 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, while Westmoreland residents pay $115. Osborn estimates that there will be a $3 maximum difference resulting from the board’s decision. “It’s mostly a matter of principle,” says Osborn. The housing office decided this year to include about $11,000, or 7 and % percent of the Westmoreland debt-service in Amazon rent budgeting. Some Amazon residents fear that once the sharing of debt-service is accepted in principle, the percentage Amazon residents pay could be increased, as has been recommended by some fiscal accountants reviewing University Married Student housing. Housing officials predict no rent increase in next year’s payments even if the rent-sharing is accepted due to other offsetting budget factors. Emefakj photo Amazon residents will again have a chance to voice their opinions over rent budgeting when the Amazon Appeals Board meets next week in a public hearing about debt-service funding for married student housing. Toda/ When a band performs before an audience, any number of things can happen. That's the way Slow Buck bass player Lee Jones describes his feelings about his band. See Page 5 Nuclear power in Oregon got a jolt during hearings of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency in Portland Tuesday. Nuclear power foes also got stung by a court decision. See Page 7. Sacred Hfeart General Hos pital says it needs a six-story parking garage and medical office complex now under con struction west of campus. Others don't think so See Page 12. It's about the middle of the summer and Eugene residents are already bored with every kind of jogging story a news paper can dream up. That may not be the case. Sit still tor just one more See Page 15. Concert only a rumor By ERIC BENJAMINSON Of the Emerald Local Beach Boys fans may be disappointed, but according to Athletic Director John Caine, there is no truth to the rumors of an upcoming concert featuring the group. After the seeming success of the Oregon Music Harvest Con cert in Autzen Stadium last month, speculation has abounded con cerning a second extravaganza. The Beach Boys was the foremost name on the prophets’ tongues. The University athletic depart ment sponsored the recent Grate ful Dead/Santana concert as a fund-raising activity. Caine is quick to dispel any hopes for a similar festival in the near future. “Negotiations were being con ducted with Bill Graham’s Promo tion Company, yet all talks were on an exploratory level and no commitments were made,” Cafne' says. The Harvest Festival, however, wasn’t greeted with much en thusiasm by County Commis sioner Archie Weinstein and Sheriff David Burks. The concert, they say, didn't do the Eugene area any good. The noise, the traffic congestion and complaints from several busines ses along Centennial Boulevard that cpncert goers had scared away their customers, made fu ture concerts in the stadium un likely, Weinstein says. Burks, complaining that his of ficers were ineffective at control ling use of drugs and liquor at the concert, promised that he and the Public Safety Department would oppose future rock music festivals with large audiences. • Several other factors influenced the indefinite postponement: “The administration staff was worn out after the NCAA track meet and the Autzen concert, and certain con cerns of county commissioner Weinstein and the Police Chief had to be taken into considera tion," Caine says. At the same time, he stressed that “the decision had no connec tion with the Autzen concert. After all,” he added, “the Beach Boys and the Grateful Dead were here before, and we have no com plaints about them."
