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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2001)
City Council votes to extend Broadway Mall ordinances ■The regulations, which prohibit activities such as sleeping and loitering on the mall, will apply until July By Sue Ryan Oregon Daily Emerald The Eugene City Council debat ed for close to an hour Monday night before it voted to extend two sunset ordinances for the Broad way Mall in downtown Eugene for 90 more days. The ordinances, which would have expired April 30, prohibit loi tering on the mall between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. and also allow police to exclude individuals who commit crimes on the mall from the area for up to 60 days. The regulations af fect the area between Willamette and Olive streets. Police staff had recommended the ordinances be come permanent, a suggestion with which members of the business community agreed during the pub lic comments period preceding the vote. “This tool — mall exclusion or dinance — gives police a tool to ex clude people; it’s been effective,” said Russ Brink, the president of Downtown Eugene, Inc. Since the ordinances went into effect in 1998, police have issued 698 citations for exclusions. “It’s an endless cycle that [the vi olators] get tired of,” said patrol of ficer Julie Smith. Council members raised multi ple issues about the ordinances. Councilor David Kelly recom mended amending the ordinances to include show-cause wording. The amendment would require a judge to decide whether a person who is issued a citation would be excluded from the mall. The coun cil voted against the suggestion. “I’m concerned with the issue of due process. There is a clear sepa ration between the actions of police and the laws of the judiciary,” Kelly said. The ordinances will now expire in July, but the council will re-ex amine the issues before including the possibility of increasing the size of the zone. Some of the acts prohibited on the mall include climbing trees or structures, lying down, sleeping (except for children under age 6), riding a bicycle and riding or using a skateboard or roller skates. In other business, the City Coun cil approved an exemption to ex tend hours for Alton Baker Park for the 20-30 Club of Eugene to hold a Fourth of July fundraiser. Spokesman Mike Clark said, “It’s an event we’ve held for 52 years in Eugene and gives the club a chance Broadway Mall Ordinances Police officers can hand out citations for exclusion from the downtown mall to any person who commits offenses defined in Eugene City Code Chapter 4. Prohibited acts include: Interfering with an authorized activity Bringing or allowing any uncaged animal onto the mall (except for aide animals) Lying down (except in an emergency or on grassy areas) Conductingan activity with four or more people which might attract an assembly of more than 25 people to raise $10,000 to $15,000 to give to children’s charities.” The club held the event at the Lane County Fairgrounds' last year. It said in its request that returning to the fairgrounds would be cost prohibitive because of a large de posit that would wipe out any prof it it would make from the event. Councilor Scott Meisner op posed the motion, saying he had a problem with the council support ing an event that would sell alcohol at a beer garden. Students address State Board with business policy concerns ■ A group of students protested the policy, saying its vague language may harm future student activism efforts By Beata Mostafavi Oregon Daily Emerald When the State Board of Higher Education passed a policy govern ing business agreements last Febru ary, the University slashed its ties with the Worker Rights Consortium, and students across the state began a furious fight against the change. In the months since the board’s decision, University students and students from other public universi ties have been preparing themselves for a fight against the policy, which they say is too vague and could limit the effects of student activism. On Friday, about 15 students from Ore gon University System schools fi nally had the chance to bring their case before the board. Some students presented their concerns about the “business prac tice policy” to the board during its meeting at Western Oregon Univer sity Friday, in the hopes that it would reconsider adopting the poli cy. And while the board met, others rallied against the policy, which is set to be enforced by Dec. 31., in an attempt to educate students about its potential ramifications. Much of the controversy sur rounds the policy’s wording, which says that the seven OUS institutions cannot ’’adopt limits” on business agreements unless based on the “ability to perform, evidence of ille gal activities” or other criteria. This prevents universities from being members of labor monitoring groups such as the WRC and Fair Labor Association. It may also con flict with parts of the University’s own code of conduct. Although some board members said the policy aims to ensure all OUS schools conduct business in a straightforward and politically im partial manner, some students ar gued that the policy is too vague and could impose harmful restrictions. For example, a company’s failure to follow human rights standards could no longer be reason to refuse business with it, which would numb many student activism ef forts, some students have said. Tim Young, an OUS board mem ber and a University student, was the lone “no” vote in the decision to pass the policy in February. He said the biggest problem with the rule is broad language that could cause confusion in the future. Who de cides what “evidence” is appropri ate, and whether business practices are deemed legal on a national, in ternational or statewide level are just a few unanswered questions about the policy, he said. “How the policy will be interpret ed is where the battle is now,” Young said. Many students also worry that the policy will cripple their power to initiate change through boycotts and protests. Christina Bondurant, a facilitator for the sociology club at WOU, said the school is boycotting NORPAC because many students disagree with its treatment of farm workers. She said the policy could take away her school’s right to con duct such a boycott. “This basically says that we can’t question any business practices,” Bondurant said. She added that many students aren’t aware of the policy, which is why concerned students held the rally Friday. Young said he believes the policy was passed in direct response to the WRC issue and was a way for the OUS to avoid making a decision on the labor issue. But Shawn Hempel, a board member and Oregon Institute of Technology student, said there is al ready a state policy supporting that of the OUS. He said that although the creation of the policy may have been triggered by the WRC issue, it mostly just reinstates current policies already in place on the state level. “The [WRC membership] just brought the issue to public aware ness,” he said. Although Hempel voted in favor of the policy, he said that he agrees with arguments on both sides of the issue. The policy doesn’t allow uni versities to consider “moral” and “ethical” reasons when making business agreements, Hempel said, which he believes is a problem. But, he said, it does make universi ties impartial in their business agree ments. “It keeps out political preference ... that was the original intent,” he said. “But I’m not going to say the policy is good just the way it is.” Bondurant said that although stu dents have had the chance to speak out to the board, it is now up to the board to decide whether to consider their concerns and change its deci sion.“I feel like they now know it’s a concern of students,” she said. “It’s important for them to know we have a problem with this.” Bondurant added that the policy has prompted the University and other schools, including Portland State and Willamette universities, to join the Oregon Student Action Network (OSAN) — a coalition in tended to act as a support system when issues similar to the business policy arise in the future. Although it is unlikely the vote will be overturned, Young said, many board members still want to hear the student voice and perspec tive. “All in all the students who spoke to the board were very professional and well received,” he said. “Some comments I heard from the board were very encouraging... the board is committed to continuing this debate.” lsat farty bird gots the firm. Hie earlier vo school, the $ ‘-SAT fire, thing^ emp<oyed, *« » ’ ,0 reser« wur seat! KAPLAIt ’•OO-KAP-Test Test „rep ad ^ -^^^ISSIOns andguidance. Forlife. registered trademarks Room still available! Saturday, April 28th,12:30-4:30pm In the Wesley Center, 1236 Kincaid Susan Selig is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America. You may remember her one-woman show,"Satur day Market & Beyond,"at the Jacob's Gallery, or her pastels which were included in a recent exhibition at the Eugene Airport Gallery. The Pastel Workshop is designed for beginners to advanced students. There will be demonstrations of underpainting, overpainting, and layering of pastels on various papers. Susan will explain the secrets of setting up an effective still life, the importance of composition and color, and how to reform pastel dust into usable sticks. Participants will receive individual instruction as students work from classroom setups. Registration Fee: $40. Preregistration and prepayment are required.Please call 346-4331 ext.240. Required materials may be purchased at a 15% discount at the UO Bookstore with your registration coupon. UNIVERSITY of OREGON BOOKSTORE y/e Vy/e V fut* Don't miss out. Work for your college paper. inrormation on how to freelance tor the Oregon Daily Emerald call 346-5511.
