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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 28, 2001)
Quieter, but far from dead Fewer patrons doesn’t turn the summer bar scene into a dreadful bore. Page 7 Free HIV testing today The Lane County Public Health office will also offer anonymous counseling. Page 3 Thursday, June 28, 2001 Singe 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Volume 103, Issue 2 FROM SMOKE-FRIENDLY... memm 1 ^——m a - na—magy. Jessie Swimeley Emerald Sitting in the Soriah Bar and Cafe, Meghan Besonen puffs her cigarette while Mara Ingerham wrinkles her nose. Starting Sunday, bar patrons will have to step outside to light up. TO SMOKE-FREE ■With Eugene’s smoking ban set to take effect Sunday, bartenders and bar patrons have varied feelings about the soon-to-be smoke-free scene By Jeremy Lang Oregon Daily Emerald If you’ve ever lit someone’s cigarette as an ex cuse to talk to him or her in a bar, you have three days left to think of some new pick-up lines. Eugene’s smoking ban will go into effect Sunday, as the Eugene City Council passed the ordinance barring smoking in public places by a 7-1 vote on Nov. 14. City officials, working with the Lane County Public Health Department, have spent the past month informing the public about the partic ulars of the ban and its first day on the books with posters, stickers and a Web site. Jan Bohman, an analyst for the city who has been working on the information campaign, said the city will enforce the smoking ban mostly through a complaint phone line, where people can leave messages detailing violations. “It’s confidential but not anonymous,” Bohman said. A violation will cost a business between $50 and $100, and fines will increase with repeat offenses. Although Bohman has no doubt that Eu gene’s ban will go into effect Sunday, a smoke free night life could be a short-lived phenome non. The Oregon Legislature is currently con sidering House Bill 3953, which would keep city governments from enacting smoking bans that are stricter than current state law, includ ing Eugene’s. The bill is currently being debated in the Senate Subcommittee on Human Services. Although the ban is citywide, bars and tav erns are handling the change in different ways. Some are simply waiting to see what, if any, fi nancial burden the ban will create. “When people sit to smoke, they tend to stay longer,” said Tom Kamis, a bartender at Sori Turn to Smoking ban, page 6 Officials, residents discuss Sacred Heart expansion ■ Community members aired their concerns about the removal and relocation of trees and buildings By Andrea Larsen Oregon Daily Emerald City and PeaceHealth officials met with concerned community members Tuesday night at Central Presbyterian Church to discuss issues surrounding the possible expansion of Sacred Heart Hospital’s downtown campus. The meeting comes less than two weeks before the July 9 deadline to in clude a bond measure on the Sept. 18 special election ballot. The proposed bond measure would ask taxpayers to cover a majority of the city’s costs in keeping Sacred Heart Medical Center downtown. “What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to work in good faith with the city of Eugene on a process that looks at the alternatives of keeping us down town,” PeaceHealth spokesman Brian Terrett said. “Our first choice, which we announced on March 9, is the north campus, but if the city wants to propose a solution to keep us down town that’s acceptable to the commu nity, then we’ll look at that agree ment.” City officials, PeaceHealth and com munity members alike agree that Sacred Heart is in desperate need of an update to prepare for the next 100 years of health care. PeaceHealth, a Washington-based or ganization that owns Sacred Heart, pro Tum to Sacred Heart, page 4 ENLARGED SECTION 11THHVE. Proposed area of expansion Existing medical facility Cell tower may arise in 10 area ■Sprint PCS has proposed building a cellular-phone tower in the Villard Street neighborhood, and some residents dislike the idea By Kara Cogswell Oregon Daily Emerald A proposed cellular-phone tower in the University area has residents in the area divided over whether they want such an addition to the neighbor hood. For the past few weeks, Zach Vis hanoff, who calls himself the “Moss Street Defender,” has plastered cam pus-area telephone poles and bill boards with fliers warning students of plans to build a cellular-phone tower on a lot near University housing. Vishanoff said he put up the fliers after learning a site adjacent to gradu ate school housing currently under construction at 14th Avenue and Vil lard Street is the location of a pro posed Sprint PCS cellulanphone tow er. The lot, owned by Williams Bakery, is currently the site of a house being rented by a contracting company the University hired to build the new housing complex. Vishanoff said the University has known about the proj ect all along but has failed to notify students about the development. “It’s been kind of secret meetings about this for months,” he said. And he contends that the cellular phone tower proposal is yet another indication of the housing department’s willingness to industrialize the area. “It’s really a broad issue,” he said. “It’s just about transforming a neigh borhood and barring students from the planning process.” Vishanoff added that if the Univer sity wants the tower it would help to keep its plans quiet. “There’s a huge incentive to keep students in the dark,” he said. “Be cause if they don’t, there’s a .chance they won’t get to implement their plans.” This is not the first time that Vis hanoff, a longtime Eugene resident, has gone up against the University Hous ing Department. Over the past several months, he has sparred with depart ment officials over the removal of Uni versity-owned homes from the Villard and Moss Street neighborhoods. But University Housing Director Michael Eyster said his department only learned about the possible cellu lar-phone tower site a few weeks ago. And even then, he said, it was only through a member of the news media — not a representative of Williams Bakery, as Vishanoff claims. At this point, he said, the informa tion that they have can only be consid ered rumors, and it is not something that the department will act on. Turn to CtH tower, page 5
