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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1993)
EDITORIAL LTD bus station: Is it really needed? Walking down Kincaid Street along the west sido of campus, one stumbles across the new Lane Transit Dis trict bus station. Immediately, the question arises: Why is it there, and, perhaps more importantly, do we need it? Just a football field's length down the street, there's another station that has been serving the campus area for years, and it always seemed to be doing a pretty good job. The now station, built at a cost of 5225,000, represents a substantial investment. Is this money well spent, and why was it spent there? LTD officials argue that the original station, located immediately across Kincaid from the University Book store, had become overcrowded in recent years, as rid ership has escalated. The number of passengers from the University has tripled in the past six years, and the number of routes serving the station has risen from five in 1987-88 to 16 today. This has led to increased congestion along the street, as buses, bicycles and automobiles each compete for a limited stretch of pavement. But with parking on the west side of campus as scarce as it is. was it really necessary to gobble up all that space just to add a now station? Why not just enlarge the exist ing one? 1/11) reportedly preferred that course oi action, dui agreed to build a now station after the University object* t>d, arguing that the expansion of the original station would take up too much extra space between the University (Computing C'amter and the street — space that was appar ently deemed more valuable than the parking that was lost when the now station was built. On the upside, one apparent benefit of the new station is an enlarged biko-parking area, which is certainly a worthwhile addition, as anyone who has tried to park a bike on 13th Avenue will attest. But why a new bus sta tion had to be a part of the deal isn’t immediately clear. Fortunately, most of the funding (90 percent) for this new project came from a federal grant, with the remain ing portion being divided between the city, LTD and tho University. So at least wo can rest easy that the cost of this improvement won’t be passed on to us in the form of higher tuition. The alloviation of bus congestion and ease of service to the south-side neighborhoods is another objective of the new station. Bus traffic coming up 13th can be over whelming. Yet bus traffic is not being alleviated, just rerouted. And with a new station, there is the very real possibility that there will be even more buses. The con gestion will still be there, with the only difference being that students will now have to dodge buses turning to the right as well as to the left at tho corner of 13th and Kin caid. If the existing station right down the block had been enlarged, or tho two combined elsewhere, then no park ing spots would have been lost. Yes, the majority of the cost was a grant, but thorn are many things that money can be spent on to improve our transit system. After all, it seams that there are many more poopie searching for a parking spot for their car than p(X»plo looking for a place to park their bodies and wait for the bus. Oregon Daily Emerald PO BOI 31V* IlX*t Nf 0«€GON<T*OJ Ihe Osgon 0*iy Emerald« published daily Monday enough Friday during me school year and Tuesday and Thuisday during Ihe summer t)y me Oregon Oady Emerald Publishing Co . Inc at me University o' Oregon t ugene. Oregon The Fmerakl operates independently of me Umvervty wrm ohicos at Sort# XX! 0< me f rb Memorial Unwn and is a member Ol me Associated Press The Emerald is private property The unlawful removal or use ot papers >s prosecutable Managing Editor 1 Editor Edttor-tn-Chlel: Jake Berg Sports Editor Editorial Oraphici Editor Freatanca Editor Stave Urns Jed PrcAhardt Anthony Fomey Kaly Soto Galley Anderson Oovrd Thorn Editorial Editor Jett Paslay Photo Editor Thor Wasbotten Supplement* Editor Night Editor: Scott Srmonson Associate Editors: Scot Clemens Student Government Activities. Rebecca Merrill. Commuort) River s Janssen Hgher £duejlfron.Adminisrrahon News Start Dave Cbarbonneau Meg Oeoolph. Amy Oevenport. Mj a Fields. Martin I sht* Lesley GaMno. Sarah Henderson. Ai,« Hessetdahi. Edward Kloptenstem, V* long leong. Tnsla Noei. f urabelh Re«nsi|erna, l a Seioccia. Scott Simonson. Stephanie Sisson. Susanne Stehens, Julie Swensen. M<heie Thompson Aguiar. Keen Trtpp. Amy Van T uyt. Danier West Qenerai Manager: Judy Rtedi Advertising Director Mars Waiter Production Manager: Michele Ross Advertising: t ie:.me B*« Te'esa Isabel'*. Jeremy Mason. M<h«r Malette. Van V OBryan II Rachael Trull Ktvsey Worm Angie Wndhwm Classified (techy Merchant Manager Victor Mei.a. Slrn Ty* Tec* Distribution Brandon Anderson Graham Simpson Ed Talmadge Busrness Kathy Carbone. Supennsiv Judy Connoi'y Dee McCdbD Pro** v Coo J -at* Shawn* Abeie id j .i Jennifer R rnd Nat1 Thangvrgl, Qayf :n y*e J46-S5I1 Display Advertising Production Gauaney.Br Des< Newsroom Business Office Classified Advertising J4* 3712 34B-S343 ^EUSiN is A Dictator*. co^srav OUT Of Touch Win/ REAUTV VJE'RE K»CKlM<b M«M OUT/ AMD IN HiS tt-ACE... PML10, &STU) too Hi A OY J LETTERS Lottery’s losers Did you know ... No Oregon Lottery tickets are printed in Oregon? They come from Georgia. None of the Megabucks or Powerball terminals are pro duced in Oregon? They’re from Rhode Island. None of the video poker games are made in Oregon? Rhode Island. Illinois. Montana and Nevada. In fact, more than 80 percent of the lottery's dollars for goods and services are spent outside of our state! And all of this from a state agency whose mission statement includes "... the creation of jobs and economic development in Oregon." When an Oregon business anticipates a need and does try to meet the requirements of the lottery, as one Oregon firm did &T OUT OF SONNAL/A { with video poker games, the lot tery arranges the bidding process to guarantee that only their pre-selected bidders will qualify. Now the lottery is requesting proposals for a “New Genera tion" of video machines to replace the existing ones, and based on past experience, we'll be importing these new machines too! Oh well, there's another $50 million in jobs shipped out of state by bureau crats in Salem who are sup posed to be creating jobs and economic development here in Oregon. The state Senate is about to confirm a new lottery director to replace Jim Mavey. who left Ore gon for a lucrative job with a Montana manufacturer of video poker games, which happens to be the largest supplier of these games to the Oregon Lottery Imagine that' IT'S A NnESS. A QUAGAMRe Oregonians deserve a better role in lottery operations than just being suckers with cash to feed the state's gambling habit. Stu Rasmussen Oregon Lottery Games Special thanks On behalf of Douglas Kenecht and myself, I would like to thank ail those who participated in the World Party, which took place Sept. 25. The ovent was a great success, and it would not have happened if it were not for the extra effort and hard work of those international and Ameri can students who helped out with this event. I would like to give special thanks to every sin gle individual who made this night happen. Thank you and have a great academic year. 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