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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 12, 2004)
in ^bicdo^ue Faith & Its Role in Higher Education 1d Annual fyacutiu fyosium There will be a panel discussion led by faculty, followed by questions/comments and a wine and cheese reception. UO PROFESSORS Daniel Falk, Religious Studies Steve Shoemaker, Religious Studies Deborah Green, Religious Studies Timothy Gianotti, Religious Studies Jack Maddex, History LCC PROFESSOR Eileen Thompson, English NCC PROFESSOR Loren Crow, History and Biblical Studies HSU PROFESSOR EMERITA Dodi Poelzer, Sociology Friday, May 14th, 5:00 p.m. Event will be held at the Newman Center 1850 Emerald Street (across from Hayward Field) For more information, call 346-4468 HOUSING continued from page 1 was recently evicted from her Eu gene apartment, told the City Coun cil that her landlord had refused to fix her "non-functioning" toilet promptly, leaving it unusable for days at a time. When Loew com plained to her property manager, she said she received an eviction no tice in the mail two days later. "1 had to call during work hours and I wasn't reassured that my toilet was going to be fixed when it was going to be fixed," Loew said. "I think having a toilet is a human rights issue and I think the reason it's taken seven years for the adop tion of some sort of local enforce ment for housing standards is that it's a class issue and the poor people and the working poor in this com munity are not adequately repre sented." ASUO President-elect Adam Petkun, who addressed the City Council, said he was looking for ward to continuing the work toward a housing code and discussed the importance of the council taking progressive action. "I think it went well," Petkun said. "We had a lot of support here, it's something that's been building for a really long time." Asuu president Maciay Melton said at the meeting that the push for housing standards was really a push for a mechanism for enforcing the standards already in place at the state level. After the meeting, howev er, she said she felt the council had misunderstood her. "My point on the enforcement mechanism was kind of missed," she said. "I don't think that we can enforce these standards for all citi zens unless we adopt (a code) on the local level, and I don't know that the councilors are getting that." The history of housing standards in Eugene stretches back to the ini tial code created in 1966. The Eu gene Housing Code remained in place until 1983 when the City Council voted to eliminate the code because of high vacancy rates, re dundancy with state laws, inconsis tent enforcement and the need to cut costs. Melton said the issue of a new code has been on the back burner for many years. "Back in 1997 was the last time that the full council had a proposal," Melton said. " The council has been hearing about this issue in some way, shape or form for some time." She said the West University Task Force gave the council its recom mendation last summer and hous ing standards were the No. 1 recom mendation in the proposal. Ward 3 City Councilor David Kel ly said the issue has been studied over and over again and no more in vestigation is required. "There is a proposal out there from Eugene citizens that is a proven proposal, it's working in Corvallis ... so 1 hope we can move forward." After the meeting, Loew said she was hopeful. "As far as how the councilors took it, I feel that the same people who in the past have exhibited a resistance HOUSING CODE TIMELINE • July 1966 — Eugene Housing Code created. • June 1983 — City Council votes to eliminate the Eugene Housing Code citing cost savings, the passage of the State Landlords Tenant Act, inconsistent enforcement, and high vacancy rates. • December 1994 — City Council requests a report of possible strategies to address the critical need for affordable housing, including housing code options. • March 1995 —The Planning and Development Department presents the finished scoping report and staff recommends the council not pursue the development of a housing code. • June 1995 — Council directs staff to develop housing standards or a code for rental properties for later consideration in the fall of 1996. • June 1996 — First meeting of the Department Advisory Committee (DAC) for the Housing Code Project. • July 1996 — The West University Scoping Report is released and recommends the development of housing code as a long-term effort to improve the neighborhood. • November 1997 — City Council hears DAC’s recommendation at a work session and refers issue to “appropriate council committee.” No further action taken by the council. • June 2003 — West University Task Force presents its final report to Mayor Jim Torrey and University President Dave Frohnmayer, recommending the implementation of housing standards. • February 2003 —City Council agrees to schedule a work session on housing standards, set for May 24. SOURCE: Eugene Citizens for Housing Standards to the housing standards were vague in their responses to the testimony and the facts presented to them and I'm wondering how they're going to go," Loew said. "This is not an issue that's going to go away because it's very overdue, so I guess I'm hope ful." Melton said the council's reaction represented a step forward. "There are still some people, for whatever reason, who are dragging their feet on the issue," Melton said. "Nancy Nathanson has been on this council the longest and she was quoted saying that this city is 'process happy' — well, we've been in this process for 20 years and we're ready for it to be done." Contact the business/science/ technology reporter at stevenneuman@dailyemerald.com. Oregon Daily Emerald. A campus tradition - over 100 years of publication. Oregon Daily Emerald P.O. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403 The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Friday during the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.The Emerald operates inde pendently of the University with of fices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private prop erty. The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. NEWSROOM — (541)346-5511 Editor in chief: Brad Schmidt Managing editor: Jan Tobias Montry Freelance editor: Jennifer Sudick News editors: Jennifer Marie Bear, Ayisha Yahya Senior news re porters: Chelsea Duncan, Jared Paben News reporters: Moriah Balingit, Lisa Catto, Parker Howell, Steven Neuman Pulse editor: Aaron Shakra Senior Pulse reporter: Ryan Nyburg Pulse reporter: Natasha Chilingerian Pulse columnists: Helen Schumacher, Carl Sundberg Sports editor: Hank Hager Senior sports reporter: Mlndi Rice Sports reporters: Jon Roetman, Alex Tam Editorial editor: Travis Willse Columnists: Peter Hockaday, David Jagernauth, Marissa Jones, Chuck Slothower Illustrators: Steve Baggs, Eric Layton Design editor: Tanyia Johnson Senior designer: Sean Hanson Designers: Killian Mcllroy, Kira Park Photo editor: Danielle Hickey Senior photographer: Lauren Wi mer Photographer: Tim Bobosky Part-time photographers: Erik R. 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