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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2011)
letters TO THE EDITOR 11th or Santa Clara — in the location of Civic Stadium should make us shudder and say with a collective voice NO! If you don’t believe its potential negative impact, look at the affect that Robert Moses’ projects had on New York neighborhoods in the 1950s. The proposed Fred Meyer will be a knife in the ribs of the immediate vicinity- separating the cohesiveness of the area as well as putting many businesses on Willamette at a huge disadvantage. Put a new Fred Meyer in Glenwood; not in South Eugene. The members of the school board in favor of the Fred Meyer option need a collective conscience that believes in long term good. Why should it? It should because the two injured entities, soon to be unemployed school district employees and neglected Civic Stadium, have provided an invaluable asset to the community. Each deserves respect that George Russell has yet to openly recognize. Respect is not found through bean counting but in a visionary outlook. The bottom line for the school district and city council should be to choose the option that will be considered friendliest to South Eugene’s Willamette gateway. However, I’m not confi dent that a fair and enlightened judgment can be expected from either the school board or city council. Foresight has not been a strong point of Eugene city councils. Jeff Simons Eugene PICKET CIVIC Eugene’s Civic Stadium is a lot like Little Rock Arkansas’ Ray Winder Field. That ravaged fi eld still stands today. On May 14, 2011 it was opened for the last time so that baseball hungry relic hunters could claim the remaining wooden seats. It has sat vacant since the 2007 baseball season. That is when the Arkansas Travelers minor league team moved to their new fi eld, Dickey-Stephens Park, in North Little Rock. Ray Winder Field is similar to Eugene’s Civic Stadium in many ways; both have a similar seating capacity, both have home plate in northwest corner, both stadiums were built in the 1930s, both are nostalgic and historic, both are facing demolition, both survived replacement attempts and both have an apathetic citizenry to the preservation of historic baseball stadiums. The motivation to build Ray Winder Field was different than that of Civic. Ray Winder Field was built in 1931 for their minor league franchise, the Arkansas Travelers. It was a tribute to the people and the franchise of Little Rock to build that stadium during the great depression. Civic Stadium, on the other hand, was built for the school district so that local high schools would have a football fi eld, and the municipality would have a baseball fi eld. The money was raised through Eugene taxpayers, fund raising and the Works Progress Administration — a 1938 Franklin Roosevelt initiative to help a struggling economy. The WPA provided the largest share of the money, $25,000. This was a major distinction between the two stadiums — Civic stadium had to meet WPA standards for its construction. Wikipedia writes about Ray Winder Field, “the fi eld has been purchased by the University of Arkansas for the medical sciences, with all structures to be razed and the land cleared for use as a parking lot.” This is an important point since historic stadiums are being systematically razed all over the country. When Ray Winder fi eld is demolished, Eugene’s Civic Stadium becomes even more rare, an unbelievable relic of baseball architecture. Eugene has an opportunity to save this unique piece of history. A friend of mine, a former assistant football coach at South Eugene High School, keeps prodding me to get him a piece of Civic when they tear it down. He can go to hell. If that comes to pass, however, I envision a line of trophy hunters from civic to PK Park. Yes, they would have a piece of Civic for their dens and garages. I say why not save the whole stadium, it is still not to late. Come on Eugene; let’s rumble! Let’s picket Civic. Joe R. Blakely Eugene Help Shape Your Transportation Future! Do you have ideas about how to improve the highway and mass-transit planning process in the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area? Date: Monday, June 6, 2011 Time: 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM Place: Oregon Department of Transportation McLane Room (2nd floor) 644 A Street Springfield, OR Federal officials are conducting a certification review of the Central Lane Metropolitan Planning Organization to ensure that the process meets require- ments and is working for the community. Plaza latina SuperMarket, Taqueria & Middle Eastern Deli We Have One Of The Largest Selections Of Middle-Eastern & Latin American Products Come & Check Out Our New AUTHENTIC MIDDLE EASTERN DELI Falafel Sandwiches, Freshly Made Hummus, Tabouli Tzaziki, Shawerma & More! OR YOU CAN TRY OUR POPULAR MEXICAN RESTAURANT INSIDE THE STORE! 1333 WEST 7TH AVE • EUGENE • (541) 344-6101 MON-SAT 8-8 • SUN 9-7 a pint is just right! Dari Mart proudly introduces Lochmead ice cream in a convenient snack-sized pint. Public comments will be accepted through Monday June 13, 2011. Submit comments at the meeting or in writing to either: Count on Dari Mart for the freshest milk and ice cream. Satvinder S. Sandhu Federal Highway Administration 530 Center Street NE, Suite 100 Salem, OR 97301 Email: Satvinder.sandhu@fhwa.dot.gov Phone: (503) 399-5749 All natural Lochmead ice cream, now in pints! Ned Conroy Federal Transit Administration 915 Second Street, Room 3142 Seattle, WA 98174-1002 Email: Ned.conroy@dot.gov Phone: (206) 220-4318 For more information, contact either person listed above or www.TheMPO.org. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENE WEEKLY JUNE 2, 2011 7
