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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2004)
J Michaels BOOKS USED • RARE • NEW Fine books bought & sold • Art • Architecture • Photography • General Stock Chosen as “one of the 10 best independent bookstores in the West' since 1975 160 E. Broadway 342-2002 EXPERIENCE the benefits of aromatherapy! FREE Tuesday Jan. 20th at noon in the Rogue Room 114 EMU Presented by http//perf<»ct®ssence.younglivingworld.com toures mm 947 Franklin Blvd. (near UO) • 343-4480 Individual, Family Style, Banquets to 100, Take Out Tues.-Thurs. 11-10:30, Fri. 11-11 Sat. 12-11, Sun. 11:30-10 Restaurant and Lounge Authentic Chinese Cuisine Fresh, Quality Ingredients litres 2/29/ 04 To go & charge cart) extra utncutic Mexican hoc • MARGARITAS • BEER • STUDENT SPECIALS (subject to change) 610 E. Broadway (At the corner of Broadway & Patterson) » 686-8226 017764 Voted "Best auto repair shop" TOYOTA • HONDA • MAZDA SUBARU • ACURA Mon-Fri • 8:30 - 5:30 Tuned into your car and the environment! 1301 Lincoln • Eugene 343-9427 Yoga Supplied Video# & Booh For Body, Mind, & Spirit * Rare Video Rentali) * Crydtald * CD '<* * Postera § 1374 Willamette* 342-8348 "Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?" -MLKJr. ^►January 21, 22 —► EMU Concourse I 1 ► From 10AM to 3PM Danielle Hickey Photo Editor Senior Tim Johnson (left) and Sophomore David Kurushima (right) prepare in the ASUO office Saturday morning to petition door-to-door for housing codes in Eugene neighborhoods. HOUSING continued from page 1 Associated Students of Lane Com munity College are trying to change that with a concentrated campaign to get housing standards in Eugene. The combined group, called Eu gene Citizens for Housing Standards, is asking the Eugene City Council to establish a rental housing program with minimum habitability standards covering structural integrity, plumb ing, heating and weatherproofing. "We're just wanting to get basic needs met," ASIIO Campus Outreach Coordinator Shannon Tarvin said. Group officials need the support of four city councilors to get a council work session on the issue. They said they already have the support of three councilors and are working to get the other five councilors on their side. Ward 3 City Councilor David Kelly, the University-area representative, is one of the group's supporters. "In the same way that we as a city government try to make sure people don't get robbed.. .1 think that it's an important role for the city govern ment to ensure that people have de cent housing standards," he said. Group officials said Ward 1 City Councilor Bonny Bettman and Ward 2 City Councilor Betty Taylor also support the standards, al though neither councilor could be reached for comment. Renters' rights are already protected in the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, but renters must take any complaints to state court, which requires time and money. Many renters have low incomes and can't afford to go to court, Tarvin said. The proposed housing standards the coalition is pushing for don't ac tually create new codes. Instead, they augment existing codes by offering a local mechanism to enforce state law. "It's just providing renters a way to force their landlords to come up to standards," Donahue said. The state law enforcement model is based in large part on one recently en acted in Corvallis, he added. In Corvallis, city inspectors act on written complaints from a renter. If the renter has notified their landlord of a problem and it hasn't been fixed, an inspector examines the rental. If the inspector decides the problem is actually a violation of city housing standards, the landlord is given about a week to either fix the violation or be fined. The system is supported by a year ly $8 per rental unit fee paid by landlords. "(The system is) not meant to be burdensome," Donahue said. Eugene is the largest city in the state without housing standards, and their absence has long been an issue in the city. Eugene had a housing code that was abolished in the early 1980s, Kel ly said. He added that before he was elected, the city council talked about bringing the code back in the mid 1990s but decided against it. The West University Task Force brought up the issue again in June 2003 when it chose housing standards as its top pri ority for improving the neighborhood in the long term. The city council directed staff to look into housing standards after re ceiving the task force's report but has yet to hear anything back, Kelly said. Assistant City Manager Jim Carlson said little progress has been made on the recommendation in part because the city doesn't have the money to do public outreach. The Eugene Citizens for Housing Standards, however, has made edu cating the public a major priority in its campaign. Volunteers canvassed the Whiteaker neighborhood on Saturday, giving out information about housing standards and col lecting signatures. "The overall majority that I talked to were very exited that there was a possibility of rental standards because they didn't think they had much re course, " Tarvin said. Volunteers gathered 240 signatures in two hours in support of housing standards, she said. The group has also been gathering signatures outside the EMU, and the response so far has been very positive, Donahue said. Yeung said he was among the sup porters of housing standards because his experience as a renter has shown him the need. Even though he and his roommates are thinking about mov ing, they've had little luck finding a suitable substitute. "I've seen other people's houses and I think they're a lot worse off than ours," he said. Contact the city/state politics reporter at nikacarlson@dailyemerald.com. CAMPUS BUZZ Tuesday Guest Artist Recital, Beall Concert Hall, 8 p.m. Ac claimed jazz violinist Diane Monroe joins the award winning Oregon Jazz Ensemble for a performance during her weeklong residency as Robert M. Trotter Visiting Professor at the School of Music. AAA Brown Bag Lecture, Room 231, Lawrence Hall, 12 p.m. Kurt Lango, Landscape Architecture, speaks. Architecture Lecture, Room 177, Lawrence Hall, , 5:30 p.m. Renowned architect, educator and au thor Ed Allen discusses 'The Passage."
