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"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."