AMAZON
Continued from Page 1
rent buildings mn\ he demol
ished before plans for rebuilding
are in place.
Sorenson said that ho has writ
ten a letter to Higher Kducation
Chancellor Thomas Harllett urg
ing tin' moratorium and that he
will meet with University I’res
ident Myles Brand soon to dis
cuss this and several other topic s
Sorenson expressed three
major otnninis about the- projex t
First, no plans are currently in
place to rebuild Amazon after the
scheduled demolition.
"I have requested to see the
plans, but I haven't seen any I
think it would be good to see
them so that we know the cost
and when all this will happen I
certainly hope that lh« t 'niversi
ty will have some plans in place
anti that students will have the
opportunity to participate in the
prut ess If that t an i*> done quick
1 v. that's OK with me." Sorenson
said.
Sorenson, the newly appoint
ed senator of the district that
includes the University and the
Amazon community, also said he
is concerned that the ongoing
controversy will erode the image
of the University, lx>th in the U>g
islaturu and statewide.
"I want to make certain that the
University's importance in the
state is put forward, and that the
University is not seen as a group
of people who are bickering. It
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ALDER
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t
concerns me to see a decision
that involves so main people
become so difficult." he said
Sorenson also mentioned a
1992 engineering study that
housing and administration offi
cials often use to argue in favor
of current evacuation and demo
lition He said the report by
MS&G architects of Eugene did
not conclusively find that the
facility must tie rebuilt
The report recommends that
the Amazon facility should he
abandoned after 199ft, but also
s,i\s the fat ility's life span is "n
highly suh|et live issue without
any dear conclusive information
triggering a calculable life-span.”
The report bIso found that
there is not a clear and imme
diate life safety hazard." but rec
ommended a study to improve
the fin* alarm system
Critics of the report say it was
done in a hurried fashion and
that the findings were inconclu
sive and misleading They fur
ther say that the report lumps the
two-story and single-story units
together, and that the two-story
units an- in an obviously worse
condition than the single stories
One Amazon tenant, Bruc e
Gibbons, who is a licensed gen
eral i ontractor. attacked the
report in a written statement dat
ed Sept IT. 199.1.
"In tin experience as a builder
I can see no justification for the
demolition of the single story
units the two-storv units are in
worse condition than the single
sior\ units and could possibly !»■
candidates for demolition. I think
that the two-story units need fur
ther study," l.ihlxins wrote
Sorenson said there is no def
inite c onclusion over the need to
rebuild.
We noed to got a definite
answer, yes or no." Sorenson
said "If the answer is that we
need to rebuild, and that answer
comet after a longer study, we
should go out anti get an archi
tini that will incorporate the var
ious needs of the project Right
now we don't have an engineer
ing study and we don't have an
architect with any plans I don't
think we should be taking any
further steps without plans."
Amazon tenants released a
statement the same day renew ing
their call for a moratorium on
demolition plans, evacuation of
current residents, for the Uni
versity to sever its relationship
with Christopher Alexander, and
his firm. CES/T&E Venture, and
to halt plans to construct Alexan
der's Amazon Master Plan.
The statement further called
for greater student involvement
and i ontrol in decisions madeby
the University and the housing
department
After all, we pay for those
decisions, the statement said.
Residents also demanded an
additional independent study of
the Amazon facility that "estab
lishes the condition of all units
and takes into consideration the
possibility of maintaining units
that nn> safe and habitable."
Residents also complained
that the closure of roughly too
units, which is set to be com
pleted by March 1994. is unnet
essary and costly. Thirty-eight
units have been emptied so far.
at a cost of roughly $7,000 per
month in lost rent payments.
"As citizens of Oregon and as
residents of I.ano County we
insist that the University pre
serve what low income housing
already exists in South Eugene
until they provide us with a
plan that they intend to build
new units that are truly loyv
cost," the statement said.
Alexander and his firm are
currently under investigation by
the state Architect Examiner’s
Hoard to determine the Alexan
der's exact role in the Amazon
project.
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nfford to attend the University.
lit* said that he. his wife Ruth and his 7-year-old
son Gabe hove put a lot of effort into pointing and
dec orating the two bedroom unit that they have
lived in for the past six weeks
"This is our home." he said. "It's not much, but
if you work hard enough you can make it comfort
able and safe "
They were evacuated from their original unit
because it was part of the impact zone in the first
phase of demolition, whit h is scheduled to start
this summer.
Sheryl Hogan, an Amazon resident for 1H months,
was also ovai noted from that zone
Nonetheless, she said that the hassle of mov
ing, and Amazon's warped floors and lead point
are a small inconvenience when compared to the
higher rents she would face in non-university hous
ing.
She said that the Amazon community is a unique
place to raise her 10-year- old son as she pursues
an architecture degree
Closure of Amazon, she said, "is really going to
affect single parents. It may eliminate them from
getting a college education.”
She said that she believes the units an’ worth sav
ing and should be restored instead of torn down.
Former Amazon resident. David Zupen said that
he also feels that Amazon should be repaired and
preserved, and that University officials may have
ignored tenant's endorsement of this option when
officials decided to demolish Amazon and build
Amazon Village.
Zupen, a representative of the Eugene Council
for I.ower Income Housing, said that University
officials promised in 1980 to maintain the current
Amazon structures for an indefinite period of time.
He claims that University housing officials have
reneged on this agreement by labeling Amazon as
temporary housing and portraying the facility as
unsafe.
"Isn't it alKiut time that wo realized that these are
permanent structures and a permanent part of the
community that we feel very attached to." he said.
“Amazon is part of our culture, and we don’t
want to star it torn down."
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