New childcare facility planned for east campus
■ I he building will provide care
for a wider age range, and
greater number, of children
By Marty Toohey
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Campus Planning Commis
sion approved the location for a new
childcare facility Thursday, and
only a rubber stamp from Universi
ty President Dave Frohnmayer’s of
fice remains necessary before plans
are drawn and construction starts.
The new $2.6 million center,
called the East Campus Children’s
Center, is sited for the southeast
corner of 17th Avenue and Colum
bia Street. It will replace the EMU
childcare facilities and three other
facilities in separate University
owned houses adjacent to the east
part of campus.
“This has been a long time in
coming,” said EMU Childcare Co
ordinator Dennis Reynolds, who
will manage the new 200-child fa
cility. “Now we can finally provide
the kind of care facilities the chil
dren deserve.”
The University has used off-cam
pus houses for childcare since June
1970, Reynolds said, and childcare
directors requested a new facility in
1985. But the multiple places made
coordination difficult, and some
parents picked up children from
two or three sites.
“It’ll be much more convenient
now,” Reynolds said.
The EMU and off-campus facili
ties care for about 120 students, ac
cording to Reynolds, who said the
move was not made because of
space issues.
The new site will allow the Uni
versity to offer care for infants and
school-age children. Previously, the
EMU and off-campus facilities only
offered care for children older than
18 months and younger than
kindergarten-age.
The Campus Planning Commis
sion met with University and local
community members, including
the Fairmount Neighborhood Asso
ciation, in a series of planning
meetings, University Planning As
sociate Christine Thompson said.
All parties’ concerns were consoli
dated into three issues: the need for
childcare, wise long-range use of
land, and the relationship with the
neighborhood.
“There was quite a bit of discus
sion,” she said. “I think at this point
‘Citizens’ State of the City Address’
calls for development of urban areas
■ Friends of Eugene and
, Citizens for Public Accountability
work to maintain the city’s
sustainability in urban areas
By Ben Hughes
for the Emerald
Urban sprawl and migrating busi
ness policies are leaving the heart
and culture of Eugene on the cutting
room floor, according to Friends of
Eugene and Citizens for Public Ac
countability.
FOE and CPA met at Harris Hall
in the Lane County Building on Fri
day to focus on what Mayor Jim
Torey called a needed “cultural
r
shift” in Eugene’s business policies.
The meeting was titled the “Citi
zens’ State of the City Address” and
focused on maintaining Eugene’s
uniqueness. For FOE and CPA, this
means developing the urban area
rather than bringing in large corpora
tions and placing them on the out
skirts of town with a no-tax incentive.
Jan Wilson, a local environmen
tal attorney and main speaker of the
event, discussed some of the oppor
tunities and choices that may affect
the small-town atmosphere and
outstanding environment Eugene is
known for.
“Clearly, Eugene citizens recognize
that continuing to finance infrastruc
ture development at the edge of the
urban growth boundary, while aban
doning existing investments in urban
form is fiscally irresponsible, de
structive of our sense of community
and unsustainable,” Wilson said.
CPA Secretary Bob O’Brien said,
“We ought to be subsidizing things
downtown. I think we ought to be
subsidizing small business. ”
Although Wilson and CPA agree
with the mayor on projects such as the
building of a new library and federal
courthouse downtown, they disagree
with business recruitment strategies
used in the past and present.
Wilson said inner-city projects
Turn to Eugene,page 6
—
everyone’s concerns have been ad
dressed.”
Some residents said their con
cerns were not fully addressed,
however.
Jeff Osanka, a Fairmount Neigh
borhood Association board mem
ber, said a recently constructed
graduate student apartment com
plex on Moss Street increased traf
fic congestion and parking difficul
ty. He said that “parking has not
been as perfect as they assured us it
would be, and we hope the Univer
sity will include parking space for
the childcare facility in the plan.
“They need to put parking on the
site,” Osanka said. “That is some
thing the University has not tradi
tionally found attractive.”
E-mail community reporter Marty Toohey
at martytoohey@dailyemerald.com.
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