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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2004)
TORREY continued from page 1 chance to create a new home for some of the city's most important adminis trative offices. "I want you to think, and I want you to dream and I want you to talk about what might be," Torrey said. Torrey also expressed regret that little progress was made on the goals he set in the previous year's address. He had hoped to improve road maintenance in Eugene and Lane County, relieve the understaffed po lice department and provide free ac cess to city libraries for children liv ing outside city limits, whose households currently pay $80 per year for access. Torrey ran quickly through his re view of the past year — emphasizing the inadequate funding for education in Oregon — before moving on to his broad vision for the new year. Though he said money for trans portation improvements in the state are at a minimum, Torrey asked that the best bridge possible be built to replace the one on Interstate 5 that crosses the Willamette River. The new bridge, he said, should have off-ramps to Franklin Boulevard and into Springfield. "There is an opportunity to revitalize and connect our two cities in a positive way," he said to applause. "We need to work together to make it happen. * Torrey's second goal was for the dty to update the economic development strategy that was last revised in 1984. "Downtown Eugene is not alive," he said. 'It's a long way from being alive." In conjunction with the Eugene and Lane County communities, the city needs to examine its economic opportunities and its strengths and weaknesses, he said. Finally, Torrey proposed a vision for a Eugene Civic Center. He asked the city to create a committee to "think outside the box" and explore opportunities for relocating the Eu gene Police Department, City Hall of fices, the municipal courts or other lo cal bureaucracies. He shared his idea of tearing down the existing City Hall on Pearl Street, building a police department in the nearby parking lot and constructing a combined city, county and 4J School District administrative building. "None of this may happen, but I don't want to see the opportunity es cape us," he said. The mayor did not say how much this project might cost. Eugene City Councilors will even tually be in charge of approving and developing any of the mayor's plans into policy. "Those are his broadly stated may oral goals," Ward 7 Councilor Scott Meisner said. "The Council has yet to come up with its own set of goals." Meisner added that the speech raised no "alarm bells" in his mind and said for the most part, the mayor talked about ideas that are shared by most of the council. Ward 3 Councilor David Kelly, who represents the University area, said he was "very pleased" with Torrey's emphasis on the need for partnerships, though Kelly was cautious about endorsing any ideas without details, facts or input from the City Council. t? & Comfercnce (filter Tim Bobosky Photographer During the State of the City Address at the Eugene Hilton on Wednesday, Mayor Jim Torrey said that among other things, he would like to develop Eugene further economically. "Every issue he raised is certainly worth further work," Kelly said. "The question, as always, is if there is enough money. Will the voters be willing to pay?" Contact the city/state politics reporter at nikacarlson@dailyemerald.com. WAGE continued from page 1 Senior Paul Manokore said the in crease was good news. "In a good way, it will really im prove my budget," Manokore said. He was quick to add, however, that the positive effects depend on whether or not there would be increases in the price of commodities. "If they raise (minimum wage), they have to subsidize it with something," he said. "If wages go up, prices go up." Junior Kimberly Schwarm, who works two part-time jobs, said she is excited to get more money, but feels the increase will not make much of a difference. "I'm kind of frustrated because tu ition is rising," Schwarm said. "The 15 cents isn't going to make up for the $2001 have to pay." She said the last wage increase hardly made a difference because reg ular consumer goods seemed to get more expensive. "It makes me wonder why we have one of the highest minimum wages and we're one of the poorest states and one of the hungriest," she said. Departments around campus had to readjust their payrolls for the new wage and are still trying to determine what the repercussions of the increase might be. University bookstore Human Re sources Manager Natalie Eggert said it is too early to state how much the wage increase would cost them financially. "The increase this time isn't going to be as significant as the last time," Eggert Source: Bureau of Labor & industries Kim Premore Design Editor said, referring to the 2003 wage rise to $6.90 after it stayed at $6.50 since 1999. While the increase comes during a period of challenging economic times in the state, Eggert said she doesn't believe it will affect the bookstore negatively. "We're pretty strong financially, and so 1 don't think it will have a big im pact, " she said. She added that it is un likely the store would hire fewer stu dents, but there may be some areas where the business might have to try to cut costs, such as shipping charges. According to an article on the Ore gon Employment Department Web site, http://www.qualityinfo.org, some consequences of higher wages may be decreased employment is some sectors, reductions in raises or workers fringe benefits, or higher consumer prices. "Minimum wage affects mostly retail and services that compete locally, so costs can be passed on to consumers," said Brian Rooney, the Oregon Em ployment Department's regional econ omist for Lane County. He added that some agricultural services might hurt more from labor cost increases because they compete internationally. Economics will determine if mini mum wage will increase next year. Ac cording to Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries Web site at http://www.boli.state.or.us, starting this year, the commissioner of tire Bu reau of Labor and Industries must cal culate annual adjustments to the wage for the following year, based on any increases to the U.S. City Average Consumer Index for All Urban Con sumers for All Items. Contact the news editor at ayishayahya@dailyemerald.com. 017628 New Releases weekly VHS&DVD 5-day Rentals Over 3,000 DVDs HE & SHE I HE & SHE II 290 River Rd., Eugene 720 Garfield, Eugene 688-5411 345-2873 ALBANY 1-5 EXIT 233, 3404 Spicer Dr. 541-812-2522 Make Sure You Are Covered Sign up for Student Health Insurance It'S easy... Just go to the UO Health Center at 13th and Agate. But don’t miss the deadline. Sign-up runs now through January 23. Any questions? Call 346-3702 017200 Review details of the plan on our web page: ;?■: http ://healthcenter. uoregon. edu i o UNIVERSITY OF OREGON University Health Center
