EDITORIAL
Outlet plan makes
good sense for city
Who doesn't complain about the Eugene downtown
mall? In recent years, the mall has lost almost all its ma}or
businesses — including the Bon Marche. Sears and New
berry’s. Walking by the lew remaining stores can be eeri
ly depressing, reminiscent of plodding through a ghost
town.
These days, the public does its shopping at Valley Riv
er Center or Gateway Mall. Why? Because both offer a
semi-efficient, clean environment in which to shop. Peo
ple don't worry about unsavory citizens hanging out by
their favorite store. The area is polished; no stores are
boarded up. Parking your car is convenient, with lots
located right next to the two shopping centers.
Eugene now has a chance to revitalize downtown, to
give Valiev River and Gateway a run for their money. The
community should jump
at tho opportunity.
Grog and Erika Baker
of Visions Development
Inc. want to buy the
empty Bon Marche
building and convert it
intofi fartorv outlet cen
ter. It would house national retail outlet stores and offer
brand-name products at substantial discounts. Similar
outlets are located in Lincoln City. Bend and Troutdale,
and all draw customers from miles around.
Factory outlets would bo beneficial for that reason alone.
Lincoln City, for example, draws tourists from hundreds
of miles away, primarily because of the outlets. More
tourists load io more money, which benefits other busi
nesses in the area, such as restaurants and shops.
Downtown Eugene could desperately use that expo
sure. Remaining businesses would have a reason to stay,
while now businesses would bo enticed to move there.
In addition, the project’s developer estimated the cen
ter would create about 300 new jobs and an annual pay
roll of about $*i million, further helping Eugene's econ
omy.
The main snag is the developers want the City Conn
i il to pay for a parking garage at a cost of $5.1 million.
Hut the city has the money in urban renewal funds —
money that is supposed to be spent on the city center.
Because nobody has suggested any viable alternative uses,
the council should take a chance and go ahuad with the
project. Eventually, the city will earn the money back
from the shoppers who pay to park there.
The main argument against the development has come
from citizens worried that increased traffic at the mall
will turn Eugene into a California city. This development
should not be shunned for such irrational fears. One fac
tory outlet center will not destroy the local environment,
it will be housed in an already constructed building and
will, frankly, make an ugly area more attractive.
The City Council needs a vision for the mall’s future.
It can no longer afford to stall its way through develop
ment plans, as it has with the proposed library at the old
Sears store. If Olive Street was allowed to open — a move
that has of vet done very little for the mall — the council
should definitely put its weight behind this plan.
The City Council
needs a vision for
the mall’s future.
„„.Emerald
PO OO* 31M IUC4NI OftCGOM
t»« i !U , ! ~er*d •» pu(».ah«d d*':> Monday thicHjgh I-day *mng the kMoi
vita* and Tuesday and Thu/sdar du-ng me jummei by me Oiegon Oa/ly Emerald
Pvtem.no Co UK at me Umveixty 01 Oegcn t ogene Oegon
The f<ee<aK! ope<aiaa •ndependentiy ol me Un/ve'S/ty «*m offices ai Suae 300 of the
ftb Memonal Un*o*i and <s a membe< o’ the Associated Piss
The ( me/ tu j private property The unlawful iemova or use o< pipe's a prosecutable
O v 143*
Editor l*»! Maiach
Now* tan of
to* tew 1*1 Editor
QtapMcft Editor
Fnt*rt*»nment Editor
Martin f
><*« PaMty
Ff*v» Morrt
c-uiii* iwaw
Editorial Edit cm
Sport* Editor Dm C**rt»'V'®au
Supp4em«nts Editor Cato* Anck**on
Night Editor: l.hostel Aloe
Associate Editors 'ai"m> Batey S\/J6nt Gov#"*'*>eni Acf-v-nes. Da.-aiyn Trappe
Como*' Porwg. Mgher f ouraOiyt Adow.jf/aoori
News Sutt Scott Andre Chester Aston. Malt Bandar. Justm Brow Saiah Dark. Oytan,
Coo#O' Meg Dedoiph. Amy Davenport. Amanda Feme Teresa Hunt*«nger. l.sa Kneetet
I'Sa Maun Dem.ts McLean Redacts Merntt. Steve Mens T.ftm Tr.sta Noe
Mathew Schuster tile* Shaw. M«haei SrwxAer trek Studenefca Menon So-ten Meheto
Thompson-Ag.,,*. Amy Van Tuyt. Todd W-tkams
General Manager Jody R*» Production Manager Meheto Ross
Advertising: Tom leech Sharon Vai. Sates Managers Shawn Berber Otdce Ua-ogw
Jarre Ireks Teresa lSAbe«e Phi® Johnson II Ova Kanof* Jersmy Mason. Van V OByren
It. Gki.an Oh, Kachan Trull. Ange WirxPurm Bran yr.ndhn.ih
Classified i’egjy McCann. Manager Barry t ogan. Sharon Saov*
Distribution: Rebecca B<oo*s Knst Van Gorde> Anthony A,-.r
Business kathy Carttona Superv-sor Jody Conno«y
Production ingna Whte P>odUtion Ceon»«ato' hnsme Granger Dee McCodb Stacy
Mr.-r-n. Jenrhie Round Jenn-ier Smith, Anne Stephens-:—
**#wvoom
34^5512
CJ «»»«*>•<* Advertising 346-4343
NEW im. ZOOLOGICAL SOOFTY
Www wfla
T»W Lux.
V* (J&
Utivfce,*
\
U T* *f ~
I--'
IT’S ftuTlCM. COKREONESS 6one mkd — The olp name now applies TO
Tme rest of me City only/ '
COMMENTARY
Conference embraced Middle East
By Alon Tal
It was an honor to be invited
to participate in this year's
Public Interest Environmen
tal Law Conference to discuss th«
Environmental Aspects of the
Middle East Peace Talks.
Indeed, the conference orga
nirers went to extraordinary ends
to include a session on the top
ic among the past weekend's
«* loctic and stimulating panels.
Hence, the Emttrald's dm ision to
feature a commentary titled
■'Conference Ignores Middle
East'' in the Friday. March 5. edi
tion was particularly inappro
priate
Beyond this fundamental inac
curacy. the commentary is so rid
dled with falsehoods that it is dif
ficult to offer a reasonable
rebuttal. Where does one start?
Perhaps a few facts can set the
record straight
The underlying presumption
of the article is that Palestinians
in Israel constitute "indigenous
people" exploited by Israelis who
(it into some sort of "neo-colo
nialist" role. Yet anyone who has
rend the Bible knows the Jewish
people lived in the Land of Israel
thousands of years ago. Indeed,
environmentalists know it was
them they institutionalized sus
tainable agriculture with the saU
Iwtical fallowing of fields, issued
religious prohibitions against
environmental destruction dur
ing wartime and lived a divine
order to "Work and Protw t" the
Garden ol Eden
SuItJanlivoly.M. Hum Behnam's
commentary suggests that in uti
lizing water from the Mountain
Aquifer recharged in the Judean
hills. Israel is stealing the Pales
tinian West Bank's water. It is a
pity that before repeating such
tired propaganda, he didn't Ugli
er to check with any hydrologists.
In fact the Mountain Aquifer,
which provides a third of Israel's
drinking water, represents a com
plex situation. Although 80 per
cent of the rainfall that recharges
the Mountain Aquifer falls in the
West Bank, the majority of the
underground reservoir actually
lies inside of Israel.
There is a legitimate debate as
to how to divide the water. Inter
national law is not completely
instructive on this subject, allied
the Helsinki Convention suggests
theories about surface water
stream flow should apply to
groundwater. In other words, just
as Mexicans are not stealing U.S.
water when they utilize the Col
orado River, Israel is not stealing
groundwater that flows from the
West Bank. Indeed, the deep
waters of the disputed Mountain
Aquifer are ancient, evaluated hy
geo-hydrologists to he roughly
3,000 years old. Hence, oven if
recharge should he a dominant
criteria for water rights, Israel cer
tainly has claims to proprietor
ship. It was when the rains fell
during the days of king David
that the West Bank was undeni
ably under Jewish sovereignty
The commentary featured
numerous other inaccuracies.
Israeli agriculture was assailed as
wasteful, as it was allowed
"unlimited water." The fact is
Israeli agriculture is the most effi
cient in the world, pioneering
drip irrigation. Between 1970 and
1990. with no increase in water
allocation, using the new drip
technology, agricultural produc
tivity doubled. Two years ago,
after extensive drought, water
quotas to agriculture were cut 40
percent across the board It was
a painful hut necessary cut. As
an environmentalist, I know there
is ample reason to criticize Israeli
agriculture. Use of the ozone
depleting pesticide methyl bro
mide. or overfertilization and
inadequate soil testing are two
that bother me But Hchnam
would do well to learn a little
about Israeli agriculture before
disparaging it
Behnam also attacks the fact
that Israeli military government
sets water policies in the West
Bank Perhaps he needs to lie
reminded that in this year's
national elections, the Israeli pub
lic threw out the old government
because it wasn't moving expe
ditiously enough to end the mil
itarv occupation and move the
peace process into high gear
Recently, the Israeli Hebrew
University and Palestinian
Maqdes Institute of Jerusalem
convened a conference for water
scientists in Zurich. With equal
Israeli and Palestinian delega
tions. it was an apolitical attempt
to talk about water in the region
sensibly.
It was discouraging for those of
us attending from Israel to find
that the Palestinian Liberation
Organization representative from
Tunisia decided to attend the
conference. As a result, under his
watchful eve almost all of the
Palestinian speakers felt com
pelled to begin their lectures with
truculent lip service to the tradi
tionally hostile Palestinian posi
tion.
Only in informal meetings in
the corridors, away from the PLO
big-brother presence, were more
conciliatory positions offered.
Israelis attending returned with
a greater sense of the urgency that
Palestinians feel toward their pre
sent inadequate water allocation.
The water bureaucracy that is
perceived as an irritation to most
Israelis is perceived by Pales
tinians as an additional form of
occupational oppression. Pales
tinians, I lielieve, came away with
the sense that limiting the dis
cussion to allocation of existing
water sources will not serve their
national needs.
Israeli and Palestinian envi
ronmentalists are hopeful the
peace process can be leveraged
to invest in water pollution pre
vention controls throughout the
region. Despite the discomfort of
the PLO leadership, discussions
between local professionals are
becoming more pragmatic and
productive. We are going to work
this thing out. Uninformed com
mentaries on the subject and
repeating inaccurate propaganda
cliches make for shoddy schol
arship and lousy journalism.
I. for one, am grateful that the
Public Interest Law Conference
offered the opportunity to high
light this issue and the potential
of tlie environment to facilitate
reconciliation in a part of the
world that has suffered from acri
mony for far too long
I go to many law- conferences
in Israel and Europe and tend to
find them a little on the dry side.
The approach of the Eugene Con
ference came as a total surprise,
as it was remarkably fresh, vital
and passionate It reflects the ide
alism of students and faculty who
organize it each year and the
resourcefulness of this year’s co
directors. Kari Grabowski and
David Evans. Thanks to the wis
dom encountered here. I will cer
tainly return to Israel a more
thoughtful and creative advocate
for protecting the environment in
Israel and the Middle East.
A Ion Tal loach os environ
mental law at Tel Aviv Univer
sity and is director of the Israel
l ’man for Environmental
Defense