courtesy
A model of the courthouse that has been proposed was among others presented by fall term architecture students.
Courthouse siting raises
disquietude in community
■ Some citizens are questioning placement of a new
federal courthouse in downtown Eugene, but others say
it would help the town
By Brian Goodell
Oregon Daily Emerald
When Eugene citizens learned
earlier this year that the General
Services Administration would
possibly be placing a ten-story,
$70 million dollar federal court
house in downtown Eugene, cit
izens and academics alike found
cause for concern. Since the an
nouncement of the new court
house project, University archi
tecture students and faculty have
shown a vested interest in the
placement and design specifica
tions of the new facility.
Fall term architecture students
in Professor Donald Genasci’s de
sign studio studied the potential
impact of placing such a large
building in downtown Eugene.
Eric Black, a student in the
class, said although there has
been controversy over the proj
ect, a building of this scale can
do a lot of good for the down
town area.
“I am not as concerned with
the outcome of the design as I am
with the decisions being made
on the siting of the building it
self,” Black said. “This decision
is as important as the selection of
the firm itself. The community is
not realizing the positive poten
tial this building provides for
downtown Eugene.”
Last September, GSA Regional
Administrator Jay Pearson said
his decision to place the court
house next to the Fifth Street
Public Market was final. After
pressure from Congressman Pe
ter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Eugene
citizens, the GSA chose to recon
sider purchasing the current City
Hall block for the new court
house.
Now, seven months later, the
search for a site continues after
the GSA placed an ad in the Reg
ister Guard requesting to pur
chase land for the new court
house from anyone in the
Eugene/Springfield area willing
to sell. As a result, the GSA re
ceived 22 possible sites.
Lew Bowers, Community De
velopment Manager for the city
of Eugene, said the GSA will
now narrow their list to three
sites and then conduct environ
mental reviews of each site,
which he said will take several
months to complete.
“After the environmental re
views are done sometime in the
fall, a GSA committee will make
a recommendation to Pearson
and he will make the decision on
the final site,” Bowers said. “I ex
pect that the final decision will
be made by September or Octo
ber.”
Although the decision for the
building’s site has not been
made, a committee chaired by
Michael Fifield, head of the Uni
versity Architecture Department,
held a competition that selected
the firm that would design the
courthouse. Los Angeles-based
architecture firm Morphosis won
the competition.
“They’re a very dynamic firm
with some very innovative
schemes,” GSA Public Affairs Di
rector Bill Dubray said. “They
should come up with a very ex
citing design - maybe a little out
of the ordinary.”
Dubray said Morphosis will
not begin design of the court
house facility until the final site
has been selected.
Architecture students and pro
fessors are pushing for the place
ment of the new courthouse to be
in downtown Eugene. Fifield
said in a March 23 Eugene Week
ly article that the courthouse
should be placed downtown be
cause civic functions are an inte
gral part of the city.
“The fact is, Eugene is slated to
have a 270,000 square foot court
house in the next few years,”
Black said. “It might as well be
done right.”
“It would be a disaster to make
this into a suburban building that
has no response to the needs of
downtown,” he added. “It would
be wrong to site this building
outside of downtown.”
ASUO chief justice Jeremy Gibons
to leave UO, resigns from office
■ Gibons says he is secure
that his leaving will not
affect government issues
such as student elections
By Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
After two years of service on the
ASUO Constitution Court, Chief
Justice Jeremy Gibons announced
Tuesday that he is resigning from
his duties on the court.
Gibons, who presided over last
year’s special election and this
year’s public hearing against the
summer senate, is leaving the Uni
versity and is thus no longer eligi
ble to serve on the court.
He said he plans to attend law
school, although not right away.
In his resignation letter, Gibons
praised the members of student
government he’s worked with
over the years.
“I will sorely miss my position
and the opportunity to work with
all of you [in the ASUO], but am
encouraged to leave at a time
when such intelligent and moti
vated student leaders as your
selves populate the ASUO,” he
said.
Gibons added that his leaving
the court will not adversely affect
its business. Gibons removed
himself from the court’s decisions
on this year’s student election and
the grievances filed against candi
dates C.J. Gabbe and Peter Larson.
The final grievance appeal in
that case is still being deliberated
by the court and is keeping the re
sults from the March 1 general
election from being released.
The court appointed Justice
Robert Raschio to the chief justice
position Wednesday night.
Justice Daniel Vergamini said
Gibon’s knowledge of legal rules
and previous ASUO cases will be
missed most.
“It’s like losing our institutional
knowledge,” he said.
Justice Ashan Awan agreed and
said, “He knows so many [Univer
sity] cases over the past few years
just off the top of his head. ”
Gibons’ departure is the first of
three in the coming months for the
court. Vergamini and Justice El
liott Dale will graduate at the end
of theyearv . ;:Vs.v
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