Oregon daily emerald., January 28, 1985, Image 1

Oregon dail
Monday, January 28, 1985
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 86, Number 86
Project slated for summer
Airport to be expande
By Cynthia Whitfield
Of the Emerald
The long-awaited expansion of Eugene’s Mahlon
Sweet Airport is just around the corner, according to
Bob Shelby, airport director of aviation.
The first stage of improvements, expanding the air
port’s airplane parking space, is slated for the summer,
says Shelby. Mahlon Sweet administrators are waiting
for the go-ahead from the City Council before beginning
the rest of the project. This includes improving and ex
panding the airport building, as well as providing land
scaping, access drives, and better parking.
However, when City Council members met last
week to review the airport project, they decided to meet
with the airport commission in February to discuss
“why some of the project items would be added,” says
City Councilor Ruth Bascom.
Bascom says of particular concern to Mayor Brian
Obie and the council was the inclusion of a larger con
tingency cost.
The estimated contingency cost — extra funds add
ed in case of unexpected construction expense — has
doubled says Bascom.
The entire cost of the project is estimated at $16
million, with $2.5 million coming from federal funds,
and another $4.5 million from airport revenues. It is
still uncertain how the rest of the project will be
funded.
Improvements and additions considered less
crucial to the project may have to be dropped if suffi
cient funding is not found, says Larry Schoelerman, air
port operations manager.
Bascom says some of the "additive options’’ ques
tioned include building a covered walkway and adding
a second story to the airport building.
But this summer's expansion of the airport ter
minal apron is 90 percent federally funded, with the
rest of the money coming from airport revenues.
The present parking area was originally designed
for four airplanes “but there's six, seven or eight planes
in there sometimes. Spacing is now much too close and
too hazardous,” says Shelby.
Congestion and the hope of stimulating the
economy through tourism and business led the council
to declare restoration of the airport a major priority,
says City Councilor Emily Schue.
“There won’t be enough money from federal
funds,” says Schue. “We’re aware we have a problem.
We have to decide which improvements we can afford.
We should come to an agreement this spring.”
Schue says Eugene-Springfield and other surroun
ding areas served by the airport have “doubled in size
over the years. At certain times, that airport is like a
madhouse.”
Schue says additional funding for the project will
have to come from “some kind of tax money. Usually a
city will sell bonds and pay that off with property tax,
but that doesn’t seem feasible right now. But if we have
a sales tax, property tax will be cut, and people might
vote in favor of bonds. A local gas tax is also being con
sidered,” says Schue.
Schue says taxes raise the question of whether or
not the city of Eugene should be wholly responsible for
providing the revenue for the improvements.
“This is a Eugene airport, but it’s actually a
regional airport. If you live in Springfield, for example,
you pay nothing. The airport was once self-supporting,
but with the present need for improvement and expan
sion, that has changed. That’s one thing we do need to
talk about,” says Schue.
The airport building in particular, is in sore need of
expansion and repair, says Schoelerman.
“The building was designed to last 20 years — it
was 20 years old in September, 1984. We plan to ex
pand the building in all four directions, going from
24,000 square feet to 52,000 square feet,” says
Schoelerman.
“We have to take some of the pressure off the in
terior. We need more space for the baggage area, for the
lobby, for carriers, and for people sitting. In addition,
we want to expand the lounge and restaurant and
enlarge and move the gift shop. The building will look
totally different when we’re done,” adds Shelby.
In the meantime, only the expansion of the
airplane parking space is fully funded. Work will begin
on the rest of the project as soon as the City Council
gives the go-ahead. If weather permits, it will take an
estimated 30 months from that time to complete, says
Shelby.
“I think the improvements will enhance our ability
to attract other airlines. Right now we have four airlines
stuffed into a two-airline terminal, but our consultants
say we’re a five-airline market. American Airlines
recently told The Register-Guard it was considering
providing Eugene service. Pacific Southwest Airlines
told the Wall Street Journal they would like to begin
service in fall, 1985,” says Shelby.
“To take in new airlines you need room. Right
now, there’s no place to put them. One of the things
companies need is good air service. We want to make it
easy for people to come and go. Inevitably, they’ll com
pare our airport with others,” says Schue.
"I’m very excited about this project. It’s something
we’ve been working on for close to five years,” says
Shelby.
Singapore sojourn
Traditional dances, live music and delicious
Far Eastern delicacies livened up the EMU
Ballroom during an evening of Singaporean
culture Sunday night.
The event, sponsored by the Singapore
Students Association and the Foreign Students
Organization, began with a buffet dinner
followed by a lion dance, slides and a film.
After the lion dance one cautious member of
the audience moved in for a closer look at the
beast.
Photos by Ross Martin
Women establish escort service for women
Laura Romano
By Chris Hazen
Of the Emerald
For women who find themselves in
need of an escort on or off the campus at
night, but don’t feel comfortable using
the present escort services, the Women’s
Referral and Resource Service is offering
an alternative — an escort service for
women that is run by women.
The new service, which will begin the
second week of February, will give
female students a choice between having
a male or female escort them around
campus when they call Campus Securi
ty, says Laura Romano, WRRS director
and organizer of the new escort service.
“We just saw the basic need that
women need women to escort women,”
Romano says.
In addition to escorts, the WRRS ser
vice will also oversee a four-person foot
patrol on campus starting immediately
before and after evening classes in poor
ly lit areas, Romano says.
The foot patrols are intended to pro
vide students with added security at
night, as well as check bathrooms and
stairwells for possible rape incidents,
she says.
The patrols will supplement the anti
rape efforts of Campus Security, and not
replace them, since any incidents will be
reported immediately to Campus Securi
ty, which would then be called in to
assist, Romano says.
"We won’t take anything into our own
hands,” she adds.
‘We just saw the basic
need that women need
women to escort women. ’
—Laura Romano
Escort service participant Ann Marie
Piazza, who is among the approximately
40 persons involved in the WRRS ser
vice, calls the women’s escort service "a
third choice.”
"We don’t want to kick down anyone
else’s service, just add to what’s
available,” she says. "The more choices
we have — men and women — the better
it is.”
The Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and
Campus Security are two such services
currently offering escorts.
Piazza believes that the women’s
escort service will provide safety for
those women who would rather walk
alone than be escorted by a man they
have never met before.
“I heard about the fraternity’s (Lamb
da Chi Alpha’s) escort service, and I’m
kind of afraid of men escorting women,”
she explains. "I decided it would be
good to have a women’s escort service so
women would have a choice.
“Those people who really want an
escort service and are afraid of the alter
natives we have now will have an alter
native to walking alone,” she says.
Members of the women’s escort ser
vice have been meeting during the past
months, Romano says, organizing and
talking about the goals of the service and
what it should provide.
Continued on Page 8