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EDITORIAL
Banning dogs won’t attract long-term renters
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gon.edu
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■ OUR OPINION: If revitalization of
the University area is the goal, the
city’s proposal has missed the point
r | ''he city of Eugene has proposed a
JL_ between Kincaid and Patterson
Streets. According to city officials quot
ed in last Tuesday’s Emerald, this legis
lation would revitalize the area by
attracting home owners and long-term
renters. The goal is also to ease conges
tion in the busy three-block area.
This proposal has several problems,
and they stem from the fact that a ban
on dogs and skateboards simply does
not address the real issue. City officials
have said that the goal is to improve liv
ing conditions in the area. In order to do
that, officials say it is necessary to have
renters stay in the area longer than the
typical nine-months. Of the 5,500 peo
ple living in the West University dis
trict, approximately 97 percent are
renters.
How is a ban on dogs and skateboard
ers on a three-block stretch of one street
going to keep renters around longer?
The answer is: it won’t.
The reason renters typically stay only
nine months is because this is a univer
sity district. A lot of students only live
here nine months out of the year and go
home for the summer.
If the city and the University truly
want to revitalize the East 13th
Avenue area, they should look at
other ways that will actually address
the issue.
Ordinances should be established
and enforced that would make landlords
more accountable for the condition of
their property. Additionally, the city
could make a number of physical
improvements to solve the congestion
problem. To begin with, parking could
be eliminated between Alder and Kin
caid Streets, sidewalks could be made
wider, more trees could be planted and
more room made for bike racks. These
improvements would immediately alle
viate congestion for bike riders and
law banning dogs and skate
boarders on East 13th Avenue
&ee...E\jer since, days were.
prohibited on I3+**, +hinjs
unproved
■--—i t 7 A/)» 1
pedestrians.
Making these changes will make it
easier to attract a wider variety of busi
nesses to the district - something
beyond the bagels and coffee that cur
rently reign over East 13th Avenue. A
first-run movie theatre and clothing
stores would be a great start.
The goal should be to create a place
where everyone can be comfortable. The
city needs to stop being short-sighted
and look for real solutions to develop
ment issues. Banning dogs and skate
boards is equivalent to putting a
Band-Aid on a finger when it’s the leg
that is broken.
This editorial represents the opinion of
the Emerald editorial board.
HISTORICAL
March 2,1995 the City of Eugene passed an ordinance
making aggressive panhandling illegal. The ordinance was
passed in response to several complaints from community
members and business owners.
August 5,1996 the city will hold a public hearing to
discuss whether or not to ban dogs and skateboarders in
the West University district. A proposed ordinance seeks to
improve living conditions by banning dogs and»
skateboarders on East 13th Avenue between Kincaid and
Patterson streets.
August 7,the city will decide on the ordinance.
The Oregon Oally Emerald Is published daily Monday through
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the summer by the Oregon Dally Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at
the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon A member of the
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Unsigned editorials representJhe opinion ol the Emerald editor
ial board; signed columns represent the opinion of the columnist.
Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250
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verified when the letter is submitted. The Emerald reserves the
right to edit any letter for length or style.
The Emerald is private property. The unlawful removal or use of
papers Is prosecutable by law.
Editor-In-Chief: Steven Asbury
Associate Editors: Andrea DeYoung, Kristin Bailey
Editorial Editor Tiffany Smith
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Early targets
How is banning skateboards on East
13th going to solve the problems of “falling
down landscaping and other residential
maintenance?” If 97 percent of the people
living in the West University neighbor
hood are rental tenants that would seem to
imply that the majority of buildings in the
neighborhood are rental properties. If this
is so, shouldn’t landscaping and mainte
nance be the responsibility of the buildings
owner or the landlord in charge of the
building? I don’t recall ever having signed
a lease or rental agreement that held me
responsible for landscaping or the mainte
nance of the exterior of the building. Ten
ants are generally only held responsible for
maintenance to the interior of the apart
ment or house that they are renting.
Furthermore any interior damage that
the tenant inflicts on the rental property
is not visible to the general public and
therefore shouldn’t negatively affect the
quality of life in the neighborhood.
As for Rosie Pryor’s assertion that a
“densely populated area makes for a shab
by looking area” I would ask what alterna
tives she or the City Council would
suggest. Perhaps they feel more University
students should move to the suburbs and
commute by car. Maybe the University
will split the profit it makes from selling
more parking permits than there are park
ing places with the City Council.
I would argue that the West University
neighborhood is a “shabby looking area”
because landlords and rental property
owners do the bare minimum in landscap
ing and maintenance to keep their profits
as high as possible. Skaters and dog own
ers are easy targets for the Council but the
ban will probably do little to improve the
livability of the neighborhood. The true
problem lies with the rental property own
ers, but their economic clout makes it
unlikely that the City Council will chal
lenge them. Scott Andrew Armstrong
Student, French
Which is the justice?
Regarding your story on the Warner
Creek activists (6-25), I found the com
ments of Patti Rogers of the U.S. Forest
Service very interesting. In the article she
states, “Our intent is to prosecute the peo
ple up there to (the] full extent possible for
the damage that has been done and that the
taxpayers will have to pay for to repair.”
Grammar aside, her statement is
admirable. I only hope that she will be just
as vigilant towards the Timber Corpora
tions as she is with regard to the amassed
citizenry which is the object of her threat.
This, however, would seem unlikely.
The U.S. Forest Service has yet to make
a profit on any of its salvage timber sales,
when all costs are factored in. And when
the government operates a program at a
loss, taxpayers make up the difference. I
would find it heartening if Ms. Rogers
would enforce the same stringent penalties
on the logging corporations that she savors
directing toward the private citizens. And,
if so, would this include the great financial
losses from the past winter storms? Publi
cized studies showed over 70 percent of
damaging landslides occurred below
recent clearcuts, thus exacerbating the
environmental destruction and causing an
influx of taxpayer dollars in the form of
FEMA assistance. Here, the taxpayers foot
the bill for repairing damage to their own
public property (roadways, etc.) caused by
private corporations purchasing other pub
lic property at below market value in order
to destroy it, and Ms. Rogers wants to pros
ecute those doing their best to prevent
identical future taxpayer liability.
As Shakespeare asked, “Which is the
justice, which is the thief?"
Steven L. Baird
Eugene