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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 2002)
The ultimate search engine is @your library. Robin Paynter, Reference Librarian, Knight Library, U of 0. e» a m o a vQl v that fire in your belly With Army ROTC, youll get to fuel your desire to be the best. In the process, youll learn how to think on your feet, stay cool under pressure, really take charge. Register for an Army ROTC course today It’s time to stoke that fire. ■ Call 346-ROTC Hitting the betmch ’ on campus Nicolette Ong Freelance Reporter Panhandling may be annoying to students, but think about people ask ing for money or drugs every few steps down the street. Think about the over whelming smell of dog excrement em anating from the sidewalk and trying to dodge skateboarders in order to get through East 13th Avenue. Or imagine a bustling marketplace, filled with stu dents sitting on the curb and street en tertainers filling the air with music and laughter. It might be hard to believe that as re cently as five years ago, these were daily scenes near campus. Over the years, East 13th Avenue has changed dramatically. Once dubbed “the beach” and “the candy shop,” East 13th was more than just a street filled with restaurants, shops and pubs. It was a gath ering place for people, and it was also a place to seek drugs, women and money. Uncontrolled substances Several years ago, there was a string of transients and drug pushers on East 13th. These people preyed mostly on students because they were an easy target, Eugene Police Officer Jeff Collins said. “It was an environment of people who victimized other people,” said Collins, who has been working at the Eugene Po lice Department’s West University Pub lic Safetv Station for three vears. Above: Courtesy Jack Liu There were vendors everywhere, she said, carrying their goods on the street and laying them on a blanket. Given the blankets and the atmos phere, East 13th acquired the nickname “the beach,” Saylor said. People would sit on the curb, bask in the sun and sip on their coffees, accord ing to University Bookstore General Manager James Williams. It was like a so cial version of surfing, with waves of peo ple passing by. “The curb was like a chair,” said Williams, who has been working at the bookstore for 27 years. This beach image was such a phenom enon that at one time, the bookstore wanted to make it more realistic and throw sand on “the beach,” but the idea never took off. Street musicians and entertainers such as Eagle Park Slim and Frog were also part of the street scene back in the early 1990s. “The street musicians were well-re ceived, and they didn’t cause any harm,” Williams said. Policies for change East 13th was a place of transition for people. There were all sorts of char acters passing through the street to go home, to school or to work, Collins said. As time passed, students and mer chants began to feel more and more uncomfortable with the ongoing activi ties on the street, he said. Drugs were prevalent on East 13th, East13th Avenues, as seen in 1994 (above) and S<^^^*ptewiber 2002 (below). Dog excrement was everywhere, Collins said and it Below: Adam Jones Emerald and skateboarders brought along with it I ______ were a hazard to violence, crimes and transients. University Assistant Archivist Sharia Davis witnessed the drug ac tivity firsthand. “I’ve seen the sales go down,” she said. “Peo ple would walk by, make a drug sale, shake hands and leave.” Davis also said that the drug sellers would stand around the streets watching peo ple and approaching those who looked like potential buyers. The pushers weren’t only interested in mak ing sales, however. They also approached women. Innocent women were harassed, and the area became known as the the can dy shop,” according to Davis. “There used to be a lot more attacks on females,” she said. “Girls did not trav el by themselves after dark.” A ‘spanging’ district As in many larger cities, the busy shopping district along East 13th was a popular hangout for panhandlers. People were constantly being asked for spare change, Collins said. “You couldn’t walk up and down the street without a gauntlet of people ask ing you for money or cigarettes,” Collins said. Since students were the main popu lation on the street, they were the most common targets. The transients, often older male alcoholics and drug addicts who did not have a job, regu larly intimidated and demanded mon ey from female students and foreign ers, Collins said. “They were so addicted to alcohol that they couldn’t hold a job even if they wanted to,” he said. Davis said there were so many tran sients hanging around asking for money that it was easy to get hit by six or seven panhandlers “spanging” (asking for | spare change) within a block. Silting on ‘the beach’ Despite the shady characters and I dealings, East 13th was also known as a I good place for people to gather and in Iteraet with others. About eight years ago, the sidewalk I outside the University Bookstore was [filled with a myriad of street vendors, I musicians and vagabond entertainers. “People on the streets were selling pot Ipipes, but they called them ‘glassware,’” I Department of Public Safety Administra tive Lieutenant Joan L. Saylor said. pedestrians, Collins said. And the musi cians and entertainers at various spots all contributed to the de terioration of the street. In 1989, the first pol icy against skateboard ing was enacted. In the ensuing years, policies such as no dogs and no street entertainers have been enforced. In addition, area merchants, Sacred Heart Medical Center and the University joined efforts to have a patrol and probation of ficer on the street. “(East 13th) got cleaned up physically and psychologically,” Collins said. “Things luuicu aiuuuu iuu ut grees.” He said that today’s cleaner, safer East 13 th can be credited to EPD and Officer Randy Ellis. “It was just a pit, and a challenge for Randy to clean this place up,” Collins said. Today, East 13th Avenue continues to bustle with activities. It is still a gather ing place for people, but there is one big difference — it is a relatively safe and comfortable environment. Nicolette Ong is a freelance writer for the Emerald. 1 Don t be just a ta u 111 the crowd... Stand out and be in the know by signing up for the Emerald's e-mail sports updates — breaking news about the Ducks, delivered to you first. 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