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
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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