opinion
Area parking plan
will gouge students
These days it seems everybody has their hands out with it
ching palms. Now the city of Eugene has its hands cupped and
palms itching demanding an exorbitant amount of money from
students.
Why are their palms itching? Because a large number of
students drive to the University.
What's worse, the accomplice in this act of extortion is the
gun-toting Eugene police department.
It's the West University Neighborhood's new parking plan
that has the Emerald using such strong symbolism and crying
"extortion.'' We vehemently oppose this proposed parking
plan.
If there isn’t a hitch the city will start limiting on-street park
ing to two hours in certain areas of the West University
Neighborhood. The proposed parking area is bound on the
south by 18th Avenue, the north by Franklin Boulevard, the west
by Hilyard Street, on the east by Ferry Street and a portion of
Oak Street. In order to park longer than two hours within this
area drivers are required to purchase a special permit. If drivers
don't the Eugene police will be slipping a parking ticket under
the windshield wiper.
The permits cost $17.50 a month or $1.50 a day. What this
means to students is that parking in the West University
Neighborhood will cost more than $150 per academic year.
Proponents of the parking plan say it will alleviate the
automobile congestion in the area, promote pedestrain safety
and increase parking for residents.
The proponents are wrong. The proposed parking plan
seems destined to create more parking confusion and
headaches for the residents of the West University
neighborhood.
What about visitors to area residents? Will they be required
to buy a day-only parking permit? What about week-end guests?
There are too many questions for residents and students
about who will be exempt and who will be required to buy a per
mit. It's bound to cause all sorts of confusion. All this points up
that this proposed parking plan is poorly conceived.
The attitude of proponents of the plan is also suspect. West
University Neighborhood representative Harold Lannom has an
especially cavalier attitude. He says he doesn't "think it's
idealistic to expect (students and employees of the area) to find
other places to park. If you worked downtown you would be fac
ed with the same problem. There's no free lunch there, either."
The arrogance of Lannom's "free lunch" comment is in
dicative of those who want this proposed parking plan im
plemented. . regardless of students or area employees.
The Eugene City Council will be hearing testimony from the
public concerning the proposed parking plan Monday at 7:30
p.m. in the council chambers. The Emerald urges students to
voice their opposition to the parking plan at the hearing Mon
day. If you don't, you will pay. It's as simple as that.
Students won't be alone in opposing the proposed parking
plan. The University affairs department and the student ad
vocacy office have joined in the opposition.
The city's office of parking administration acted more with
greed than adequate knowledge of students' and residents'
needs in the West University Neighborhood. They repeatedly
claim to be seeking to ease the parking problem but underneath
it all they seem more intent on generating revenues and figured
students were ripe for gouging.
They picked their shots well. Students are an easy target as
they are captive consumers. Students aren't year-round
residents. They don't own property in the West University
Neighborhood. And students are notoriously uninformed of the
city's administrative activities.
Probably what lead the West University Neighborhood
Association and the city's parking administration to formulate
this extortional parking plan was that students rarely initiate and
carry through with an organized opposition. They must have felt
they could act with impunity.
The Emerald strongly opposes the West University
Neighborhood parking plan and strongly opposes the attitude
of its perpetrators. Students and residents of the neighborhood
who disagree with the plan need to voice their opposition to the
City Council in the hearings Monday.
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letters
Confused
Michael Cross, in his letter,
seems to be a bit confused by the
tacts concerning the peace groups
in Western Europe and in this
country. Perhaps he spends too
much time listening to the RCYB.
Or perhaps as a political science
major he is incapable of viewing
any situation other than
politically.
These peace activitists are not
drawn exclusively, or even largely
from the ranks of the communists,
"radicals," or "liberals" (whatever
these last two terms mean.) They
come from all walks of life in
cluding "moderates" and
"conservatives," and even those
apolitical souls who have simply
become fed up with the kill or be
killed approach to international
relations and world affairs.
The real issue concerning peace
groups here and in Europe is not
political, but humanistic. The vast
majority of these people have no
desire to live under a tyranical
government of any sort, be it
Soviet, U.S., or any of a thousand
other possibilities; they do,
however, desire to live, rather
than die as bystanders in some
one else's nuclear power play.
At least this much may be said for
the adage "Where there is life,
there is hope": alive, one might
work for change within even the
most tyranical system; when one
is dead politics become
meaningless.
Furthermore, the idea of deploy
ing nuclear weapons as a deter
rent to nuc lear war is as assinine
as that of putting more cars on the
roads as a deterrent to traffic
deaths. When one side builds
"deterrents," the other side feels
behooved to build more "deter
rents"; it will not end until both
sides have a Doomsday "deter
rent," and what will we do for
deterrence thenf If Cross is of
draft age and truly believes m this
government's idea of deterrence
he should immediately quit
Oregon daily
emerald
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lean Ownbey
school and enlist in the Armed
"Services," putting his money
where his mouth is. When
enough persons of his persuasion
do this, the rest of us may be freed
from the threat of the draft to get
on with the business of living.
It is interesting that those who
believe in force and intimidation
as the only viable means of hand
ling international affairs find it so
convenient to label as "radical"
anyone trying to keep Europe
from becoming a radioactive
graveyard. Interesting and unfor
tunate But the fact that most of
the peace activists are not
radicals, but simply justifiably
worried about their continued ex
istence is obviously confusing
Cross and others like him.
Hiawatha
graduate, music Jnd philosophy
Omission
I was happy to see the Emerald's
extensive coverage of the Con
vocation ceremonies on Monday,
Oct. 3; however, I think the omis
sion of Prof. Edward Coleman’s
name from the group photo that
included Pres. Paul Olum, stuck
out as odd as a person wearing
snowshoes during the rainy
season here in Eugene. Reading
"clockwise," you skipped Cole
man's name and mentioned the
ASUO president's name. If a
photo is worth a thousand words,
then Coleman was clearly a com
municative part of that group's in
teraction and his name was wor
thy of being mentioned. Not only
was the omission blatantly insen
sitive, but bad reporting as well.
I am sure Coleman could care
less whether or not his name ap
peared in print, but I hope the
oversight is not an indication of
the kind of reporting your staff in
tends to show certain groups on
this campus.
lohnnie Parks-Terwillegar
Spelling
How do you spell audacious? P
A-C-K-W-O-O-D. This is especially
true in light of Packwood's
remarks against Sec. James Watt
which, among other things, in
cluded labeling Watt "immoral."
Packwood certainly has no
record which could propel him
towards sainthood. After all, is a
man who fights to insure that 1.5
million American children still in
the womb can have their lives
ended, in a position to condemn
Watt for immorality?
Packwood's halo certainly could
use some repairing before he
goes on any more crusades
against others in Washington D.C
Joseph Hegarty
graduate, computer science
Moonie taboo
I think we help the "Moonies"
by our cultural taboo against
meaningful religious discussion. If
we want people to have critical
skills about religion, let us pioneer
a cultural mechanism to develop
them. In the Middle East, men
crowd into espresso shops to
argue nose to nose about religion
and politics. Americans pretend
that religion is a non-public issue,
and we ignore our personal
hunger for a reference point big
ger than ourselves. So when a
“Moonie'' slips past our cultural
barriers, that hunger causes or
dinarily bright college students to
lunge for the dangerous stupidity
of the Unification Church.
Maranatha preachers are different
in that they bash into barriers
rather than slip past them. They
are more frustrating, but safer.
Jim Moon
linguistics
Returned
After playing tennis recently, I
walked away from the courts leav
ing my racket. My reaction, upon
discovering its loss, was "It's
gone." But then I realized that
reaction may have been prompted
by my having recently lived in
California.
It was turned in. Thanks, dear
“Returner," for reminding me of
why I returned to Oregon — and
I’m sure glad to have my racket
back.
California certainly excels in
climate but Oregon exceeds in its
social climate. I'll take the latter.
Donna Wilson
graduate, health education
letters policy
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on topics of interest to the University community.
Letters to the editor must be limited to 250 words, typed, signed and
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in. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length, style or
content.
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the university community. "Your Turn" columns must be limited to 500
words and typed.
Letters to the editor and "Your Turn" columns should be turned into
the Emerald office. Suite 300 EMU.