Art museum to close its doors for 60 days
By Harry Esteve
Of tx Emerald
The director of the University’s art museum, Ri
chard Paulin, becomes eligible for unemployment
benefits Friday So does his assistant, Norine Arens,
and so do four other museum employees
For the first time in its history, the art museum will
shut down during August and September as part of a
campus-wide effort to balance the University's slim
budget
As a result, six museum wokers and two employees
at Visual Arts Resources, an office connected with the
museum, will be out of work for two months
Besides Paulin and Arens, the museum custodian,
the museum registrar, the registrar's assistant and the
museum receptionist will lose their jobs for two months
The superviser at Visual Arts Resources and his secre
tary also will be laid off for the closure
In the past the museum has closed to the public in
the middle of August and reopened in October but the
staff has stayed to continue museum operations and
make improvements This year only three maintenance
workers will stay to install a special elevator for the
handicapped, which is being paid for with private
contributions, not state funds, Arens stresses
The two month lay-off "is not a vacation," says
Arens who has worked at the museum for 10 years and
at the University for a total of 15 years.
"When we come back, we re going to have two
months of work to catch upon"
When the museum employees are reinstated in
their jobs in October they will be hired only for the
10-month academic year, Arens says. So far, all the
employees plan on returning
University Pres Paul Olum, in consultation with his
vice presidents, decided to make museum personnel
jobs 10-month posts last winter when the University was
coping with a state mandated budget cutback and
revenue shortfalls
Ray Hawk, vice president for administration and
finance, calls the decision a "compromise alternative"
that will "still maintain the vital functions of the mu
seum and save the University money. University
officials estimate the closure will save about $20,000
per year
Well over 50 percent of the museum funding comes
Photo by Mark Pynes
University art professor, La Verne Krause s exhibit will be the last shown at the University Art Museum The museum
will close for two months due to financial cutbacks
from private donations and the sale or rental of art
works, Arens says Many museum patrons expressed
disappointment and even outrage over the closure, but
the sentiments were aimed at the University adminis
tration and not the museum
"So far people have been very sympathetic, very
understanding,” Arens says, adding that no one has
withheld any donations.
"But what the cuts will mean as far as long-term
repercussions, i really couldn't say.’’
However, since the museum's Rainbow Gift shop
and the Showcase Gallery will also be closed, summer
revenues from the sale of gifts and artwork and from
rental paintings will be lost
"We will lose quite a bit of money on that," Arens
says
The museum will reopen Oct. 1 from noon until 5
p m daily except Mondays, Tuesdays and holioays
150-mile city bike plan
growing 11-miles a year
By Frank Shaw
Of th« Emerald
There are those that consider Davis,
Calif,, to be the bicycle capital of the
United States But Charles Nordgaard,
one of Eugene s two bicycle coordina
tors, says that Eugene is probably a
U S, leader in bike facilities
In 1975 Eugene brought in some
consultants from California to help
design a bike plan for the city The plan
called for 150 miles of bike paths run
ning through Eugene There are cur
rently about 75 miles completed, Nord
gaard said
The 75 miles of completed paths
consist of 18 miles of off-road paths, 36
miles of dotted bike lanes along streets,
and 21 miles of signed street routes
The number of miles of paths has
been growing at about 11 miles a year,
estimates Diane Bishop, Eugene's
other bicycle coordinator She expects
growth to continue at this rate, which
she calls slow
"It's not because of the economy,"
Bishop says "But more because we re
waiting for streets to be widened "
The city installs dotted lines and
signs every time it repaves or widens a
street designated for a bike path under
the plan The bicycle committee does
not have to pay for either lines or signs
They are budgeted into traffic
department costs
The committee receives approxima
tely $110,000 a year, most of which is
spent on off-street paths Bishop es
timates that a mile of off-street path
costs $45,000 Both Bishop and
Nordgaard agree the maintenance
of the bike paths suffer from the city's
budget crunch
"Last summer we had a person with
a bike cart and tools who rode along
AM
Hholo by Mark Pynes
About 2,000 to 3,000 people travel some Eugene bicycle paths on nice days.
the paths and did some maintenance,"
Nordgaard says "But this summer we
have to depend on commuters to let us
know where the problems are "
While the city might not have money
for maintenance, they are building a
fourth pedestrian/bicycle bridge over
the Willamette River Nordgaard ex
plains that the money for the bridge
was budgeted over two years ago If the
committee didn't spend it this year,
they wouldn't get another chance, he
says
Ten percent of Eugene commuters
ride bicycles to work, Nordgaard says
The attitude of bicyclists in Eugene
is really positive," he says. "They 're out
there, not polluting, getting exercise
and having fun
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