EDITORIAL
Open Willamette,
vote yes on 20-43
The opening of Willamette Street c ould mean eco
nomic rebirth for the downtown mall area.
Eugene voters will dec ido whether to open the section
of Willamette Street between 8th and 10th Avenues in
a mail-in ballot oJck turn this month. The measure. 20-42,
asks voters to approve a plan to allow vehicular traffic:
back into the downtown mall
If the measure passes the street would haver two lattes
for two-way traffic and raised crosswalks outlined with
bric ks at the intersections of Broadway and the alien s.
This is a positive move for the city of Eugene In the
mall now there arc* several buildings that have no ten
ants, inc luding the largest buildings, which housed
Newberry's and Wool worth's in the past.
Without reopening the street, it is hard to believe that
nesses are going to he interested in moving to these
buildings
Tile fountain, which hasn't worked in several years
and is costly to repair, would he removed to accommo
date the street. This eyesore serves no purpose other
than providing sealing and being a tmb receptacle
The days of thriving downtown malls have boon shad
owed by strip mails in outlying areas of the city. The
Bon Marche and Sears mover! to malls taking with them
large groups of downtown shoppers. Othei areas of the
downtown mall have positively responded to the
( ha ages, including Olive Street, which was reopened
in 11)92 and has been thriving.
Voters should pay attention to Olive Street and allow
Willamette to thrive the same way.
It the mall opened it would entice private businesses
to renovate those largo buildings and make the space
linin' user inenuiv
Opponents of the measure say that once the new U S
Bank building opens and several hundred people move
in there will be more activity in the mall. But 750 pin*
pie are not going to bring life back into the mall. Busi
nesses like U.S. Bank ant only open Monday through Fri
day during the day. Other businesses will not be able to
survive on customers during hanking hours atone.
After the renovation, businesses will have visibility.
Shoppers will be able to see the store from the streets
and want to go in them.
Some say the design would take away one of the only
places Fugeno has to hold i (immunity ac tivities, but the
design of the street will allow it to be closed for civ ic
activities so the plaza atmosphere would still be avail
able.
The existing situation in the downtown mall is not
ot onomically responsible Many businesses could bene
fit from the added traffic; on the reopened street. As cit
izens of Fugeno we can no longer ignore the problems of
that area. This solution can benefit thousands of people
and should Ire approved.
Vote yes on Measure 20-43.
Oregon Daily
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_WOW MA.VY
HURT?
i
260
MILLION
AMERICANS^
(
■ OPINION
White men not victims of discrimination
"minority " makes up HO pen ent
of the (amgress, 00 [>er< amt of the
Senate, 02 pert cut of the Forbtts
400 and ho percent of oil tenured
university fat ulty According to
the Hirt Census, hint ks hold
about 10 pert t<nt of all manage
rial and professional jobs: His
pnnit s hold less than H percent.
Until these percentages reflect
or at least come ( lose to reflect
ing our society's make-up.
affirmative action will be neces
sary These programs help undo
some of the inequalities in our
society, and have successfully
integrated under-represented
people into the economic
scheme.
Hut the system isn't perfect,
and critit s love to point out its
imperfet lions as reason to abol
ish it They often cite examples
of w ealthy people, w ho are also
minorities, taking advantage of
their skin colors or their last
names to prosper from federal
programs that they don't really
need Such occasions are not the
much.
Under affirmative action
despite popular misperception
qualifier) workers are not los
ing their jabs to less-qualified
people. It's pist that with these
laws as safeguards, a qualified
person who is black or Hispan
ic or female will not be locked
out of a job or a promotion on
account of his or her race or gen
der This may indeed be bad
news for some white men. Their
free ride is over. It s now time to
play by the same rules as the rest
of us.
However, 1 do agree with the
affirmative action critics on one
point. The program is not sup
posed to lie permanent or inflex
ible Just as our society fins
i hanged in the Inst (U years, so
too should affirmative action.
Programs need to evolve and
cfiange with the times and maybe
one day they will realize their
goal.
That hasn't happened yet. and
from the looks of it. we have a
while to go Still, there are those
who will carry on whinnying
about the process of affirmative
action taking too long and crying
for its destruction Hut this coun
try is 219 years old For a good
part of our history we have svs
(J\Hi Forman
(iff 30 years of affirmative
action. foes have sudden
-X Jk.lv df-i idt«d (hat tin- legis
lation has made them an unliko
ly minority. From the ranks of tin*
angry white malt* has cornu a nuw
rallying cry for freedom and
oquality “Save the white male!
We re an endangered spur.ins!
Affirmative action is reverse dis
i riminationf White men are the
new minority!"
Oh, please The fragile rat e of
supposedly Udeaguered white
males is not going anywhere
And affirmative at lion has vet to
take our sot letv where it needs
to tie For while critics of the pro
gram claim that it s not working
or no! net essary, the truth is that
we still have a long way to go
Hut if the present political cli
mate prevails anti the scores of
paranoid and disenfranchised
folks have their way, we'll never
got there Affirmative action,
which was not even an issue dur
ing the 1094 elections, has
Us ome the newest symbolit tar
get for conservatives who am des
poratoly trying to hang on to an
ruin anti !o advertise thorn ns
commonplace ts bogus.
Others cry that affirmative
action favors racial minoritros
arui women. Programs, thc\ say.
should bo based on need, not
rat <> Why should the [tour white
guy lose out over a comfortable
Korean woman? That's a good
point. Perhaps we need more pro
grams that provide help based
upon need. That is still no reason
to abolish a program that brings
people into realms that have been
exclusively white and male for
too long
That is the point of affirmative
action — not just to help poor
minorities become wealthier, but
to make the American workplace
representative of American soci
ety And maybe that is what
sr ares the angry white guys so
tematii ally exploited, derided
and discriminated against blacks,
native Americans, women and
any other group that didn't qual
ify as white male Perhaps in
another 170 years, when affir
mative action's tenure rivals that
of our history of institutionalized
and legislated racism, mavis’ then
we will be ready to dismantle it
In the mean time, I have some
advice for the angry white male
deal with it
Gayle 'Pvrninazi" Forman is a
columnist for the Kmerald
via ji'uni*
The r S House wants to ahol
ish il GOP presidential hopefuls
Sen. Phil Gtamm and Sen. Bob
Dole an* opposing it. making affir
mative action a kec issue in the
upc oming politic ,il frenzy. Cali
fornia governor and presidential
hopeful Pete Wilson told a group
of men that "white men are the
new, silent vic tims of disc rimi
nation in this country " tialifor
nia citizens are trying to get a ref
erendum question on the t99fi
ballot that would in effect ban
affirmative action.
Why is it that white men are
suddenly sweating, worry ing that
their once-socred grip on the
higher echelons of American
society may be starting to slip'
They needn’t worry too much, for
despite the general panic:, white
men are still very much in charge.
As Jesse Jac kson puts it. this new
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