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.
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Public comments will be accepted through Monday June 13, 2011.
Submit comments at the meeting or in writing to either:
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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!
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Federal Transit Administration
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Email: Ned.conroy@dot.gov
Phone: (206) 220-4318
For more information, contact either person listed above or www.TheMPO.org.
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EUGENE WEEKLY JUNE 2, 2011 7