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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 1993)
EDITORIAL A piece of history benefiting everyone Amazon family housing residents have recently filed a request to preserve their community as a historic land mark. The University has plans to tear down the build ings this summer and continue with its rebuilding of the low-income housing. Returning to squaro one of the project, the original intent of the University was to demolish the existing Amazon hous ing and replace it with new buildings. Howev er. as problems escalat ed. the project snow balled into a disaster that culminated in the firing of the architect Wednesday. The contract between the architect and the Historic preservation will benefit both the University and, not only the current residents, but future tenants. university nogonerateu into an unworkable relationship. The intended plans and climbing construction costs were sending the new housing into a rent district that would bo out of reai h of students requiring low-income housing. The people of Amazon have developed a very per sonable living environment. In an attempt to keep the environment intact and avoid the demolition of their homes, they have proposed the idea of a historic, land mark. If it passes, the low-income Amazon housing will remain standing, estimated to be livable until 199fi. The buildings, when first moved to their present loca tion in 1047. were intended for use for five to 10 years. They are now going on f>0. Obviously, they will be tinlivablo soon and must lie refurbished if kept intact. The current residents may have found a way to preserve their environment at least until they are finished here. The real issue does not seem to stem from the fact that the buildings are a historical landmark. Instead, the his torical landmark is a way to prevent the demolition of tin* buildings. liven if the buildings are found to be of historic sig nificance. the University will be left with 50-year-old buildings that are still occupied today. Second, the peo ple who are living there now have a community that will stay intact. This sounds like the University is the loser and the tenants come away with a win. However, this could work to the benefit of both. If approached appropriately, this idea of historic preservation will benefit both the University and. not only the current residents, but future tenants. Amazon has been functioning well for quite some time. If the buildings wore refurbished rather than demolished, the University and the students would positively benefit. If refurbished in an economical way. then the Uni versity will provide low-income housing for future use. the tenants will continue to exist in the same environ ment, and future low-income students will have an enjoyable environment to live in. However, this would have to be done in a way that administers to the restraints involved in the demands of a historical sight. Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon My £maratt a pubfahad CUu»y Monday through Friday during the achool year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Otegon Daily Emerald Publishing Co . Inc . at Bre University o< Oregon. Eugene. Oregon The Emerald oparalaa vrdapandenBy of Bra University with office* al Su*a 300 of Bra Ert> Memorial Uruon and a a member of Bra Associated Press Tha fmaau a private property Tha unlawful removal or u»e of paper* a proMcutabfe by law Editor-I rvChlef Jaaa Bara Mmiglna tdnot Editorial Editor Qnphlca Editor Froolanco Editor Caftay AnOvton Oav*J Thom Joff Pavlay J«n Wm«ar> Sport* Editor Editorial Eddor Pttoio Editor Supplamanta Editor Stave JeflftcMura Anthony Forney Kaly Solo Night Editor: SIM Mvns Associate Editor*: Scot Clement. Studtnt GotommmV'Actnnliot. Rebecca M*rnl1. Communty. Rwtrl Janssen Itgher fducahcmAdmmstiHion N*wm Stott: Laeh Bower. Dave Charbonnaeu. Meg Dadolph. Amy Davenport. Make Folds. M*1m Fiaher. Sarah Henderson. Ai* Hesaeldahi Edward Kloplenilem. Yin Lang Laong. Tnata Noel- E Isabel h Heenst|*rna. Li* Sataccia. Scotl Simonaon. Stephana Sisson. Suaarvw Slertens Juke Swenaen. Mcheie Thompson Aguuu. Keen Tripp Amy Van Tuyi. Darner Weal Qtontfil HsnsoAr: Jixtv RnkI Advartlalng Olractor Man. Waller Production Manager: UchtKe Rosa Advertising: Fiei.me Ball, lyndaey Bamalarn. Subn Oulla. Nicola Hor/mark Taraaa latoMAe. Jeremy Mason. IWcnaei AWette Vwr V O'Bryan II. Rachael Tru*. Keiaay Waken Angw Wmrpiemi Classified: Becky Mercfiant. Atonager Victor Mena Srm Tre Teck Distribution: Brandon Anderson. John Long. Graham Simpaon Business: Kathy Carbone. Supervisor Judy Conno«y Production: Dee McGoOt. Production Coorxtnator Shown* Abeie. G>eg Desmond. Tara Gauitney. Brad Joss. Jennifer Roland. Nan Thangvigrt. Clayton Vee Newsroom-- M6-U11 Butinou Omc« ——..MB-5912 DUplay Advertising -346-J712 ClaaalfUd AdvartUlna.»«6 ♦»«» VIhat every Senator is doinq tomqht ww **v.v j 60/Mi, wflvt to vvtfirf rws ' LETTERS Rah! Rah! Rah! After rending 1-in Suli i< i in's column on "boring, pointless” letters to the editor {ODE Nos 2). I had to stop and ponder. Yes. I thought, she's right Some letters to the editor ore boring and pointless Some are poorly construe te<i and poorly written Some are elitist, some insipid, and some are just plain insult ing. Come to think of it. some let ters to the editor are a lot like Ida's column Hay! Keep those sills letters (and columns) rollin'! That's entertainment! Kali! Rah! Rah! Lee Baxter History Open Meetings This letter addresses (he "open meeting" issue of (he Assembly Committee on Multi cultural Curriculum Last spring, the initial reading by attorneys was that this com mittee is like most other Univer sity committees It is not u deci sion-making body and so it would not fall under the open meeting requirement of state law. The Assembly is the deci sion-making body for any rec ommendations that might emerge from ACMC. The autumn, attorneys con cluded that some obscure aspects of open meetings regula tions may apply to ACMC, so that open meetings are appro priate. ACMC will operate in that manner, but that includes the ability to meet in executive session if appropriate. Last Spring ASUO officers asked the provost to add student members to ACMC and to give assurance that committee meet ings would be open. I indicated that only the Assembly could add members and that only the committee can determine its operating procedures. The assumption was that only ACMC members plus Davison Soper as Senate President would attend the organizational mooting; home the apparent surprise in some mem Iters that the student representative had invited another student to attend Davison Soper and the A(SM( members wen- operating in good faith and in keeping with the advice that meetings could he "closed ' It is time to put mis understandings. politics and positioning aside and to see what this faculty and i ommuni ty wants to do in the area of multicultural education. Norman K. Wessells Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Grave danqer In tin* Emerald's editorial for ()t ! 22. "Congress can't be com mander of army." the editorial stalf claimed that putting all the president's foreign policy deci sions up for congressional scrutiny is "unnecessary." Although not every foreign pole v decision should be sub ject to congressional oversight, it is obvious that the executive branch has had far too much control over "national security" policy throughout our history. One needs only to look at the terrible ways in which the CIA has been used in the second half of this century to realize the degree to which presidential power has been grossly abused. The CIA has helped oust demo cratically elected leaders in countries like Chile and Guatemala, and has assisted in the implementation of brutal dictators like Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990 and still has control of its military. By stating that scrutiny of the president's foreign policy initia tives is unnecessary, the editor ial staff is essentially saying the Congress and the American peo ple do not need to know about the grave dangers that our mili tary and covert operations pre sent. Such a view is extremely elitist and absolutely appalling when one considers the lives that have (men lost and the anguish that has been created .is a result of unchei ked prtisiden- f lial power Justin Delacour International Studies Missed point Concerning vour editorial ol Nov. 2 ("How to improve the Ferry Street Bridge”), I'm afraid you've missed the point entire ly. Briefly: Eugene is now in the process of evaluating several proposals to restructure traffii flow across the Ferry Street Bridge. This bridge serves both as the principal link between north and south Eugene, as well as a symbolic gateway to motorists entering the city from Interstate 5. In choosing a linal plan, Eugene will have the opportuni ty to dramatically affect the growth patterns in the lackluster "heart" of the city. Unfortunate ly, most of the debate on the issue thus far has centered on how to alleviate traffic "fric - tion" into and out of the city Thus, people have tended to frame the issue in those terms. The proposals put forth by the University architecture students last week were not mere pipe dreams; rather, they were intended to introduce wider civic considerations into the dis cussion. They tried to show how to make relatively simple yet tremendously effective improve ments to a city which now admittedly is, at best, a testimo ny to the unattractiveness of the "urban renewal” development schemes of yesterday (i.e. vacant concrete buildings and so forth). So the students tried to pro vide the city with an expanded menu of thought and to show the public at large what is real ly possible with limited resources, given a little ingenu ity. In short, they tried to intro duce to the policy-makers of Eugene something we can sim ply call vision. Peter Grimm Architecture