Online
The first Duckling Street Fair will be held today in the EMU Amphitheater
to recognize and honor children of student-parents.
www.dailyem8rald.com
Sports
A dozen Oregon track and field athletes
are invited to the NCAA Championships.
Paae 5A
Friday, May 24,2002
Since 1 900
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 158
Walk this way
Adam Jones Emerald
James Szczesny and Jessica Knight, right, enjoy a warm spring afternoon while strolling through the newly constructed maze that surrounds the
Downtown Mall. The renovation of Broadway, which will reopen the street to vehicular traffic, won’t be completed until the fall.
Rejuvenation through renovation
■ Establishments in downtown
Eugene are looking forward
to a newly remodeled business
and shopping area in the fall
By Brad Schmidt
Oregon Daily Emerald
Construction on Broadway has be
gun, and city planners hope the reno
vation — which will open the street to
vehicular traffic — will rejuvenate
downtown Eugene, bringing life back
to the business district, enticing buy
ers to shop at new venues and provid
ing new local housing.
During the first three weeks of con
struction, however, the effects of the
project have been the opposite.
While remaining Broadway busi
nesses expect the renovation, sched
uled for completion in late August, to
benefit them in the long run, sales have
dropped in the wake of construction.
“Most people don’t want to look at a
construction site when they sip their
coffee,” said Doug Randels, co-owner
and manager of Theo’s Coffee House.
Randels said business didn’t decline
too much during the first week of con
struction, but added it has since dwin
dled by 15 to 20 percent.
Randels said he expects the finished
project to boost business, but right now
it is difficult to gauge the end result.
The Broadway Opening Project, ap
proved by more than two-thirds of vot
ers in the September 2001 Lane County
special election, will open Broadway to
motor vehicles from Oak to Chamelton
Streets. The project, costing about $2.4
million, will create landscaped medi
ans, 10-foot wide traffic lanes, wide
sidewalks and street-side parking, said
Bud DeSantis, engineering project man
ager for the city of Eugene.
DeSantis said the result will be simi
lar to the section of Broadway between
Pearl and Oak Streets.
Jeff Passarelli, owner of Blooms on
Broadway, said retail stores on
Broadway have been declining dur
ing the past five years. Many busi
nesses, he said, were hurt by a lack of
motor accessibility.
Passarelli said the construction
stigma has brought about a decline in
his business.
About 90 percent of the sales at his
flower shop come from people who
drive, he said. And while the business
es’ parking lot isn’t on Broadway, Pas
sarelli said he believes many locals
think Blooms is closed.
“They see the fencing and think
businesses are inaccessible,” said Pas
sarelli, who has been at his Broadway
location for five years. “Perception be
comes a reality.”
Passarelli said it is too early to tell
how construction will affect long-term
business. After a busy Mother’s Day,
the following months will be the most
telling, he said.
“The end result is going to be a good
thing,” Passarelli said. “It’s just a mat
ter of making it through the construc
tion period.”
City Councilor Scott Meisner, who
represents the downtown ward, said
Turn to Broadway, page 4A
A congressman who has criticized
| President Bush’s conduct in the war
| on terrorism and who wants to create
a national peace department will
I speak on campus Saturday.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ghio, is
| known for his activism in the areas of
| human rights, worker’s rights and the
environment. He is the chairman of
the Progressive Caucus.
Kucinich has introduced legislation
to create a U.S. Department of Peace, a
cabinet-level body that he believes
would “make nonviolence an organiz
ing principle in our society.”
He will speak at 8 p.m. in Agate
. . .■
Hall. Has appearance is sponsored
by the Eugene Children’s Peac:e
Academy, the Democratic Party of
Lane County and the University’s
Wayne Morse Center for Law and
Politics. For more information, call
685-1335.
Brooklyn, Nair
ready to give up
ASUO positions
■The 2001 -02 ASUO Executives are preparing
to hand over the reins to incoming Pilliod and Buzbee
By Danielle Gillespie
Oregon Daily Emerald
For the past month, ASUO President Nilda Brooklyn and
Vice President Joy Nair have posted a sign counting down
the days left until they leave office..
The white butcher paper countdown is the biggest sign on
the bulletin board behind their desks in the ASUO office,
dwarfing small fliers for University events and student gov
ernment programs.
After three years working for different ASUO positions,
Brooklyn, a junior, said she won’t be going near the office
anytime soon.
BROOKLYN
NAIR
I am done after spending the last
three years there,” she said.
Today, Brooklyn and Nair will hand
over the executive office and all of its re
sponsibilities to newly elected ASUO
President Rachel Pilliod and Vice Presi
dent Ben Buzbee.
As Brooklyn and Nair leave office,
they said they did not accomplish as
many of their goals as they hoped, and
left some partially completed. Despite
successfully reducing the energy fee
during the year, they fell short of their
promise to eliminate the fee complete
ly. Originally, the fee was $30 fall term,
and was reduced to $20 for winter
term, then to $15 spring term. The re
duction in the fee was the result of stu
dent efforts, lower natural gas bills and
higher enrollment, and the women said
they hope that effort continues.
“We hope the fee will be eliminated
next year,” Nair said.
Brooklyn added that she is still proud
that the executive established five new
ASUO positions for energy conservation,
paid for by the Provost’s office.
Nair, a junior, said she plans to work on diversity issues
next year with the Office of Student Life. Nair also hopes to
earn the position of the Diversity Affairs Coordinator for En
rollment Services.
“I have built relationships with the people most directly
involved with diversity issues on campus and that will be a
foundation to work from next year,” she said.
She and Brooklyn built that foundation during their term,
in part by advocating for more representative multicultural
requirements, although they said they did not accomplish as
much as they had hoped.
Brooklyn said they lobbied administrators and looked
into how other universities implemented their multicul
tural requirements. This spring, the Faculty Advisory
Council agreed to officially explore revising the multicul
tural requirement, but they hoped to do more than just
“start a conversation.”
“We simply wanted a review process for the multicultural
requirements,” Brooklyn said. “The requirements are 10
years old, and a lot has changed in education.”
Brooklyn said classes that fulfill the multicultural re
quirement often fall outside of what many perceive as mul
ticultural, and only certain departments offer these courses.
One of Brooklyn and Nair’s campaign goals was to im
prove ASUO “outreach.”
ASUO Student Senator Peter Watts said he thinks the two
did a good job of getting to know members from all the stu
dent groups.
“I thought they made all the student unions feel comfort
able coming into the ASUO office and expressing their con
cerns,” he said. But Brooklyn and Nair said it took the
Thru ta Last day, page 3A