Oregon doily
emerald
SEARCH
Comes under
scrutiny
Page 6
Thursday, October 6, 1983
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 24
City looks to tag West University parking
By Michele Matassa
Of (he Emerald
It's a typical morning.
You wake up late, break every traffic rule on your way to
campus, frantically circle the streets just west of the Univer
sity to find a parking place near your class, which started 15
minutes ago. In your frustration, you play "chicken" with
crowds of bikers and pedestrians.
Those days are over, unless you're willing to pay $17.50
a month for parking privileges.
Late next week, "barring complications," the city will
begin limiting on-street parking in the West University
Neighborhood to two hours for drivers without a special
permit, says Jarvia Shu, Eugene's assistant parking
administrator.
Students, hospital outpatients and employees in the
area who wish to keep parking in the area will have to pur
chase a permit for $17.50 a month or $1.50 a day. Residents
may obtain tree permits from the parking administration of
fice or at the West University Neighborhood office.
The Eugene City Council will hear public testimony
about the plan Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council
Chambers, 777 Pearl St.
The chambers might end up resembling a battlefield
during the hearing, because the project, which has been in
the planning stage since November, is stirring up controver
sy among Sacred Heart Hospital officials and some area
business people.
And as students find out what's planned, they're
becoming involved in the controversy.
Opposition to the plan may be suprising, especially for
Shu, who said Tuesday morning that she has letters of sup
port from representatives of the University, Sacred Heart
Hospital, the Small Business Association and the University
Community Liaison Committee.
Paul Reed, a Sacred Heart representative, says Shu's
claims are misleading.
All of the groups Shu lists supported an original
$293,000 federal grant to explore the area's parking pro
blem. But for some of the groups, the support stops there.
In a second conversation, on Tuesday afternoon, Shu
refused to comment on the letters of support after she was
informed of remarks from Reed and others.
"She's been asked to stop announcing that we're in
support of that parking plan," Reed says.
Reed says the hospital supported parking refinement in
the area bound by 13th and 18th avenues and High and
Ferry streets. But the affected area has been expanded to
Hilyard Street on the east and Franklin Boulevard on the
north.
Reed says the hospital did not oppose the plan until
)une, "when we discovered the scope (of the project)."
Because the project includes areas adjacent to the hospital,
it will adversely impact employees and outpatients, Reed
says.
Another "supporter" of the plan, the SBA, switched its
stance.
"The plan is not going to be considered ideal by the
SBA" because it limits shoppers and employees, says Phil
Kimmel, an SBA representative.
The plan would increase parking for residents "at the
risk of completely turning people off of this area as a com
mercial area," Kimmel says.
mm
Emerald photo
More people who park in the West University area may be receiving parking tickets next week after a new
regulation goes into effect limiting parking on the street to two hours without a permit.
"We were very much in support of looking at the park
ing problem but I'm not sure that the plan released by the
city is the best plan for all of the inhabitants of this area,"
Kimmel says.
Shu says she doesn't see the plan as a huge inconve
nience to anybody.
Shoppers should not take longer than two hours in
most cases, and all-day parkers can work around the
problem.
"We strongly encourage them to find alternate
transportation modes," Shu says. She suggests carpooling
and utilizing off-street parking.
West University Neighborhood representative Harold
Lannom agrees.
"I don’t think it’s idealistic to expect (students and
employees) to find other places to park," Lannom says.
"If you worked downtown you would be faced with the
same problem. There's no free lunch there, either," he says.
"I think it's unrealistic for people to assume that the
purpose of the streets is for car storage. It's for the move
ment ot vehicles," Lannom says.
He says there are many alternatives to on-street parking
and that people don't utilize parking lots like they should.
"It's a great waste to build a huge parking structure and
then not fill it," Lannom says.
University planner David Rowe admits that campus
parking lots aren't used as much as they should.
Rowe says the "Bean lot," across from the Bean dor
mitory complex on 15th Avenue is never full but he admits
that the lot is "not where we really need it."
Because parking around campus is a definite problem,
Rowe feels the plan deserves a try.
"There's really a serious problem in that area. I'm not
sure this is going to solve it but it's worthy of a try," he says.
If anything, the plan will provide "stimulation for us to
do a better job !n administrating the parking we do have,"
he says.
The University may look into using Autzen Stadium for
additional parking, Rowe says.
Another possible impact of the plan is an increase in the
number of students who buy student parking permits,
which sell for $18 a year or $7.50 a term and provide access
to all student parking lots on campus, he says.
Because of the heavy impact the parking plan will have
on students, the University affairs department and the stu
dent advocacy office are teaming up to fight it.
"Judging by the calls we've gotten, people are very
angry and want to do something," says Barbara McCarthy,
assistant coordinator for University affairs.
"We'd like to organize students on campus to protest
this. It looks like they pushed this through this summer
when no students were here," McCarthy says.
Student representatives plan to attend a WUN meeting
tonight at 7:30 and the City Council public hearing Monday.
Sales tax referral... is it legal?
By Brooks Dareff
Of the Emerald
Now that the Oregon Legislature has concurred
on a property tax relief package — featuring a 4 per
cent sales tax — the eyes of Oregon and the burden
of further approval now shift to school boards, city
councils and county commissioners.
And one local official — Lane County Commis
sioner Peter DeFazio — doesn't appreciate the atten
tion, but doesn't think the Legislature's decision to
bypass a direct referral of the package to the voters
"will survive a legal battle."
The property tax relief package which passed the
legislature on Tuesday night — the 21st and final day
of the special session — includes an unprecedented
local ratification measure requiring a majority, in
each category, of the state's 603 cities, counties and
school districts before it could be held up to the
voters in a general election.
The constitutionality of the local ratification is
questionable on several counts, says John Reuling,
special counsel to Attorney General Dave
Frohnmayer.
The constitution provides for immediate referral
of statutory measures to the voters, but not for refer
rals of constitutional measures, nor of any measures
through an intermediary body.
Also at issue is whether city and county
authorities have veto power over state authorities.
The Attorney General's office is declining to offer
an opinion on the constitutionality of the package, at
least until the courts make a ruling, Reuling says. But
as yet, no one is taking the package to court.
The local ratification provision is the brainchild
of Senate Pres. Ed Fadeley, D-Eugene, an outspoken
critic of both a sales tax, and of referring a sales tax to
the voters. Fadeley's justification for local ratification,
DeFazio says, is to give a voice to those bodies that
spend the tax money and to provide "a statewide
platform to heighten the level of debate."
But the legislature's inclusion of a local ratifica
tion clause is basically a concession to Fadeley's will,
says Jody Miller, intergovernmental relations director
for the city of Eugene.
Bob Baugh, secretary treasurer of the Oregon
AFL-CIO, did not hold much credence to the sugges
tion that Fadeley may have anticipated the constitu
tional question and therefore conceived the local
ratification provision as but another method of
heading off referral of a sales tax to the voters. The
legislature simply prefers to defer responsibility for a
sales tax referral to the local bodies, Baugh says.
Constitution court hears
OSPIRG funding case
By |im Moore
Of the Emerald
The ASUO Constitution Court heard testimony from the prin
ciples in the Burr vs. OSPIRG case Wednesday and met in closed
session for an hour to reach a decison. Court Chair Alan Con
treras announced the ruling would be released next week.
Each spokesperson, Rich Burr who filed the complaint and
Daniel Malarkey of OSPIRG, stated his case before an interested
crowd in EMU Room 110. Both were granted 20 minutes to state
their cases and five minutes of rebuttal at the conclusion of
testimony.
One of Burr's complaints centered on whether students have
the right to commit funds further in the future than one year,
such as the constitutional amendment voted by students last spr
ing allows.
In that vote, which passed with 72 percent of the vote,
students voted to fund OSPIRG on a two-year basis at the rate of
$1 per student per term in incidental fees. At the end of two years
OSPIRG is required to go before the student body for another
funding vote.
But Burr said that vote violates the ASUO Constitution
Continued on Page 7