Park: A land swap plan'
could solve safety issues
Continued from page 1
“and bringing a lot of positive activ
ities will combat the negativity with
their presence.”
Ellis said he did not disagree, but
that some of the “positive feeling”
on 13th Avenue will be lost if the
park is re-opened because the peo
ple the park attracted will filter out
onto West University’s most popu
lar stretch.
“It doesn’t take long to overrun
the park,” Ellis said. “You will start
the war over again. The negative
potential outweighs the positive po
tential of doing this. But I don’t
think you should give up on it.”
The WUN board went on to dis
cuss some small improvements they
could make before giving their pro
posal to the city to reopen the park
in case it is denied.
University student and board
member Kellyn Gross suggested a
test run where interested neighbors
and board members could start to
clean up the park little by little.
“If it doesn’t work out and we see
problems, then we’re not so invest
ed,” Gross said.
At the meeting Bob Quinney an
nounced that he and his wife, Leslie,
the owners of the land next-door to
the park, are planning to tear down
the house on the corner of 14th Av
enue and Hilyard Street. Part of the
proposed rebuilding plan includes a
possible land swap that would ex
change his corner lot for land facing
14th Avenue Alley. This would
improve visibility from the street
and close off the back portion of
the park.
The Quinneys would also like to
build a two- or three-story apart
ment complex that would include
second- and third-floor balconies
and windows looking down on
the park.
“The reconfiguration would
eliminate alley access and improve
visibility by making it shallower,”
said landscape architect Robin
Hostick from the City of Eugene
Parks Department. Hostick has
been working on a plan with the
Quinneys and developer Gordon
Anslow of Anslow and Degeneault,
a design and construction firm
in Eugene.
“I would begin to suggest that a
land swap would eliminate the
problem, but you can increase the
success of the park by reconfigura
tion (because) criminals want
places that are out of sight, dark ...
as it is right now the park feels like a
no-man’s land,” Anslow said.
“Lots of eyes seems to make peo
ple feel safer,” Anslow continued.
“It’s not breaking any new ground
to say that if you reconfigure the
park it won’t be quite as appealing
to criminals.”
Property owner Bob Quinney
said reconfiguration makes sense
for everybody.
“It’s a win-win, we think. Once
(City Councilor David Kelly) hears
that the park is behind it and the
neighborhood association is behind
it, it... will go a long way.”
The board moved to vote on
the proposal, which passed unani
mously. WUN board member and
secretary Deborah Healey then
wrote a statement to send to the
City Council:
“The West University Neighbors
Board supports the proposed land
swap by Bob and Leslie Quinney in
order to create a shallower, wider
park with greater visibility.”
Hostick said that the council must
approve this before the plan can be
gin and emphasized the need for
community input in the decision.
“We would need councils in
volved and the neighborhood asso
ciation showing support; that would
be a step in the right direction,”
Hostick said.
WUN Board Chairman Drix Rix
mann said that if WUN Park can
make an improvement like this, “it
could spread to other parks.”
Noting that about 60 percent
of West University residents are
students, Rixmann said it is
extremely important that students
get involved.
“If you live here now, it’s your
community,” he said. “People need
to feel that it’s their neighborhood,
because it is. The city wants all in
put, so just come in and talk.”
Healey agreed, “five out of nine
board members are students,” she
said, including ASUO President
Adam Walsh.
“The board works well when
we have sophisticated representa
tion of students,” Healey said.
“The students’ energy is what
restarted (the West University
Neighborhood Association).”
The next WUN board meeting is
Thursday at 7 p.m. in Central Pres
byterian Church located at 555 E.
15 th Ave.
Contact Rixmann for more infor
mation on how to get involved by
calling 485-1585, e-mailing him at
Drix@msn.com, or by mail: West
University Neighbors c/o 307-1/2 E.
14th Ave. Eugene, OR 97401-4207.
nwilbur@dailyememld.com
New programs will prepare
students for an economy
closely tied to East Asia
Oregon has an interdependence with East Asia
because of location and similarities in industry
BYGABE BRADLEY
NEWS EDITOR
Several departments at the Univer
sity are teaming up to better prepare
students for the challenges of work
ing in an economy that is closely tied
to East Asia.
The enterprise, spearheaded by
the University’s Center for Asian
and Pacific Studies, involves lin
guistics, political science, history
departments and the business
school, among others.
The initiative is partially fueled by
the projections of economists and
business analysts, which claim China
will soon overtake the United States
as the world’s largest market.
“The new economy in Oregon has
a huge interdependence on East
Asia,” said James Bean, dean of the
Lundquist College of Business.
Bean said many Oregon firms
have operations in East Asia while
many East Asian firms have opera
tions in Oregon.
Many businesses in this state have
told the business school that they
need more students who are comfort
able with and informed about East
Asian culture, Bean said.
Bean said the increasing impor
tance of East Asian culture on Oregon
businesses has several causes, rang
ing from geography to a similarity of
business types.
“Partly we’re on the pacific rim and
partly the economies of China, India
and Korea are exploding in the area of
high tech — the area that Oregon is
very into.”
“We have a long-term partnership
with Japan at the University,” Bean
said. “This is partly because East
Asian Studies in the College of Arts
and Sciences is one of the strongest in
the country.”
Relying on the strengths of several
schools and departments will be vital
to the success of the new programs.
“We don’t have a lot of internation
al business faculty,” Bean said.
Faculty from other parts of the Uni
versity would be involved in teaching
the new programs. Bean said the
process has been highly collaborative,
in order to “make the whole bigger
than the sum of its parts.”
However, the final details of the ini
tiative have not yet been decided.
“We’re in the process of plan
ning the new programs,” Bean
said. “We’re putting together some
proposals for the federal govern
ment right now. ”
The federal grant proposals that
would fund the project are due in
the fall.
According to Bean, the program
will involve learning modules in East
Asian culture and East Asian busi
ness practices. Also, the program will
culminate with a trip to East Asia and
tours of several businesses.
“Each year we would do a different
emphasis. The first year we have
planned is sports business because
we already have close contacts with
the 2008 Beijing Olympics Commit
tee,” Bean said. “And every year we’d
do something else, like manufactur
ing or electronics.”
Bean said each year’s trip empha
sis would be selected by the adminis
tration with the help and advice of
faculty and students involved.
Estimated participation for the first
year of the program is between 20
and 30 students, according to Bean.
Bean said the goal of the initia
tive is to make participants more
competitive in the job market and
the global economy.
gabebradley@dailyemerald.com
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