PAT KILKENNY
INVESTED IN
COURTSIDE?
Will Pat Kilkenny profit from
developments next to the Matthew Knight
Arena he pushed through when he was UO
athletic director? Mega-donor Phil Knight
has lauded Kilkenny for making the arena
possible, and we heard from multiple
reliable sources that Kilkenny is one of the
unnamed partners in the costly Courtside
apartments next door. Portland attorney
Russell Kilkenny, agent for 1410 Orchard
Street LLC, which bought the Courtside
property in February 2010, confirmed via
email, “Pat Kilkenny has an ownership
interest related to 1410 Orchard Street,
LLC.”
A search of registered corporations in
Oregon shows 1410 Orchard Street, LLC is
managed by developer Thomas Cody, and
the agent is Russell Kilkenny; the other
partners in the project are not named on the
business registry document (available at
uomatters.blogspot.com). Russell is also the
agent for Pat Kilkenny’s PJK Oregon, LLC
and several other of Pat’s nonactive LLCs.
Courtside is an “affiliate of the University
of Oregon” and “the new center of campus,”
or so says the website (www.livecourtside.
com) which looks very similar to the Matt
Court website. Courtside is being built in
what the developers are calling the soon-to-
be upscale “Arena District.” According the
R-G, Cody is joined by Steve Romania and
happening people
four other partners in this project.
A three-bedroom apartment at Courtside
rents for almost $2,000. That’s more than
$600 per student per month, but it includes
wireless internet and access to an onsite
hybrid “WeCar” carshare program. Cody
and partners are also involved with the even
bigger and spendier Center Court
Apartments, next door to the arena and to
Courtside, on the site of the former Villard
Street Pub.
California Bank and Trust of San Diego
financed the $12 million Courtside project,
and CB&T has apparently shown interest in
financing Center Court as well. Why would
a San Diego bank fund Eugene projects?
There’s a football connection: Tory Nixon,
the senior vice president of CB&T, is a
former pro football player who was born in
Eugene. And there’s another connection:
Nixon serves with Pat Kilkenny on the
board of trustees for the San Diego Sports
Commission. CB&T is also a supporter of
Kilkenny’s Lucky Duck Foundation, which
raises money for effective treatments and a
cure for Fanconi anemia, the disease that
has taken the lives of two of former UO
President Dave Frohnmayer’s children.
According to the UO website, Pat
Kilkenny is still a part of the university as
the “Special Assistant to the Athletic
Director,” and, according to the UO
unclassified personnel list of March 1 to
May 31 2010, his 12-month appointment is
a 50 percent full-time equivalent (FTE),
enough to be eligible for the state benefits
package. His salary is $25,883.
As an employee of the UO, which is a
public body, Kilkenny can be considered a
public official. According to Oregon state
law, "A public official may not attempt to
further or further the personal gain of the
public official through the use of confidential
information gained in the course of or by
reason of holding position as a public
official."
The Courtside project is ecofriendly,
seeking LEED gold certification with native
plants, and water and energy efficient
fixtures, and it would allow students to shop
locally and walk and bike to school.
One question still unresolved is why Pat
Kilkenny chose to not publicly disclose his
financial interest in this housing project
from the beginning. — Camilla Mortensen
CITY TAX
OPTIONS
TO SAVE
SCHOOLS
The Eugene City Council has voted 7-0
to consider a variety of city tax options to
help local schools facing severe budget cuts.
The council asked city staff for
information on several tax options including
a graduated income tax, a flat income tax
and a restaurant tax. The council will
schedule a meeting this month to discuss the
options.
A progressive, graduated city income tax
with rates set at 0.5 percent for income
(AGI) $50,000 to $99,999, 1 percent for
$100,000 to $249,999, and 1.5 percent for
BY PAUL NEEVEL
KATHY NORRIS
“When I was 4 years old, I’d find little kittens, tame them and
bring them to the house,” says Kathy Norris, recently named
president of the Stray Cat Alliance, a local nonprofit that helps
low-income cat caregivers with spay/neuter costs, medical
care and cat food. “We’d have to find someone to adopt them.”
Norris lives on the same property, west of Fern Ridge Reservoir,
where she grew up. She and her partner of 30 years, Les
Davis, operate the Christmas tree farm started by her father.
They spend one month each year, Thanksgiving until Christmas,
selling trees from a lot in the San Francisco Bay Area, then 11
months replanting, fertilizing and pruning trees on the farm.
“Les and I do it all,” says Norris. “I go up and down the ladder
all summer long.” A life-long rescuer of uncared-for animals,
Norris currently has 11 house cats, including Tillie, who appears
in the photo, three dogs and two 20-plus-year-old horses. She
also feeds many feral cats. “The SCA does not operate a
shelter,” she says. “We focus on spay and neuter. The big thing
now is TNR: trap, neuter, and release. We work with people
who try to manage colonies.” Phone SCA at 607-4219 or send
donations to SCA, PO Box 26043, Eugene 97402.
6
JANUARY 6, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
incomes more than $249,999 would
generate roughly $40 million per year.
That’s based on an EW analysis of state tax
data that assumes Eugene has a similar
income distribution to Lane County and
generates about 63 percent of the Adjusted
Gross Income in the county.
A flat 1 percent income tax would
generate roughly $44 million a year for
local schools, according to the EW analysis.
A 5 percent Eugene restaurant tax would
generate about $4 million a year, based on
adjusting a previous city staff estimate of
restaurant tax revenue to account for growth.
The 4J School District may cut scores of
teachers and effectively limit school to four days
a week to close a $22 million budget deficit.
Bethel also faces millions of dollars in cuts.
Based on local voting experience, a
graduated, progressive income tax could be
the easiest to pass.
Last year a state income tax increase on
income exceeding $250,000 passed 3-1 in
Eugene.
The proposed graduated tax on incomes
above $50,000 in Eugene would impact
roughly a third of local taxpayers, according
to EW’s analysis. The proposed 1 percent
flat tax on all incomes would affect all
voters, but would generate only 10 percent
more revenue than the graduated tax on
incomes above $50,000.
If the graduated tax were limited to
incomes above $70,000, the tax would
impact roughly 20 percent of taxpayers and
generate roughly $22 million a year. A
graduated tax above $100,000 would affect
roughly 10 percent and generate roughly
$19 million a year.
A proposed flat county income tax to
fund the jail failed 2-1 in Eugene in 1999
amid criticism that it was unfair to the poor
and emphasized prisons over crime
prevention and treatment.
A proposed 5 percent Eugene tax on
restaurants in 1993 to help with a city
budget deficit failed by a 20 percent margin.
Restaurants organized to oppose the tax,
which they argued, could send business
outside city limits, and citizens expressed
concern the tax could unfairly impact the
poor, who spend about a third of their
limited income on fast food.
To refer a city tax measure to save local
schools to the May ballot, the Eugene City
Council will have to vote for the referral by
the middle of next month. — Alan Pittman
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