viewpoint
BY CARLEEN REILLY
Time for Cohesion
Rethinking northwest Eugene neighborhoods
T
he Santa Clara-River Road Outreach and
Learning project (SCRROL) will host two
forums from 6:30 to 9 pm Oct. 4 and Oct.
13 in the Santa Clara neighborhood. The fi rst
Forum will be held at Madison Middle School
at 875 Wilkes Dr. and the second at the River
Road Annex, 1055 River Road. The purpose
of the forums will be to build a cohesive voice
for our residents’ vision for the future of our
communities. Pizza and beverages will be provided,
but please RSVP at info@SCRROL.org or call 688-1406.
The SCRROL Leadership Team emerged at the beginning of the year
to help our neighbors rethink our neighborhoods as we transition into the
coming decades. We have functioned for 30 years with a patchwork of
properties under the governance of either the city of Eugene or Lane County.
With citizens of countries around the world taking the initiative to question
their governance, it seems natural that we, too, should consider how our
neighborhoods could become less confusing and more fair to all. As Lane
County properties transitioned to the city of Eugene, the taxbase for our
services districts for River Road Parks and Recreation, Santa Clara Fire and
Lane Rural Fire has eroded. Our land use laws have allowed the construction
of houses and strip malls but the development didn’t grow in a fashion that
enhanced the sense of community or provided goods and services needed.
Our current situation allows more cars to travel faster without taking into
consideration the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians. In some instances, it
doesn’t allow unincorporated properties to build granny cottages in large
backyards.
When a neighborhood has become stagnant and edges toward decline
and deterioration, some residents and businesses seek ways to learn
what neighbors think the p roblems are and what possible solutions could
streamline and protect properties and allow the neighborhood to grow in a
healthy direction. The SCRROL Leadership Team has undertaken the task
of talking with hundreds of our residents. More than 70 volunteers have
assisted in collecting our neighbors’ stories and the options they suggested.
We have participated in 14 community events to listen to neighbors concerns
and held deeper conversations at home gatherings.
We are interviewing local businesses and Latino neighbors to gain their
perspective on community needs. SCRROL hosted with the city of Eugene
the fi rst Concert in Park in Santa Clara and a crime prevention stop for the
Police Caravan for National Night Out at North Eugene High School. We
conducted interviews with our service districts to learn their strengths and
what they need to continue to serve us.
SCRROL has communicated with elected offi cials from the city of
Eugene and Lane County Commission. We met with city staff to keep them
informed of our progress and to discuss our information needs to educate
our neighbors about our unique and confusing circumstances.
SCRROL is now planning these forums to meet with as many neighbors
as possible and share with them what we have learned about our confusing
governance, unusual land use patterns, transportation concerns, and parks and
recreational needs. The purpose of the forums will be to build a cohesive voice
for our residents’ vision for the future of our communities.
The culmination of this work will be to use this information to advocate
for neighborhood priorities and inform the updating of new regional planning
for our areas. Planning that the neighborhood undertakes will provide us
predictability about how and where we will grow and protect the valued
trees, natural stormwater drainage, larger lot size, and other amenities.
This is an exciting time, and we need as many neighbors participating in
the forums as possible to accurately represent their views as we build a vision
for our neighborhood. If we don’t make plans for ourselves, others will.
Carleen Reilly is secretary of SCRROL and writes on behalf of the SCRROL Leadership Team. She can be
reached at carleen@scrrol.org and the website is http://www.scrrol.org Jerry Finigan is the chair and can be
reached at jerry@scrrol.org
4
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
letters
TO THE EDITOR
NOT A RACIST
I’m writing in response to the alleged
hate-crime accusations about Emilio
Nichols. Emilio is a very good friend of
mine; I went to high school with Emilio
and have spent time with him recently.
Emilio is not a racist. Maybe he punched
this kid in the face, and that’s not cool
at all; but it was not a hate crime. I’ve
watched Emilio give hugs and genuine
smiles to friends of all skin types, and he’s
been kind and generous to many people;
he’s not a bad person.
I think a lot of hearsay has contributed
to the accusations, some about Emilio
using “racist terms/phrases.” I’ve heard
him use the term “nigg” while referring
to a friend, and I have used the phrase
myself, but that doesn’t mean we are
racists; it means we were being insensitive
assholes. There is a big difference. Emilio
would never hurt a person, or think any
lesser of them based on their skin color. I
know this for a fact, but when I look on the
news I see my friend being made out to be
a monster, and it worries me.
I don’t want my friend to spend time
in prison for a hate crime that he didn’t
commit. If he really did assault the kid,
then charge him with assault, but don’t
blow this out of proportion and ruin his life.
Stephen Batura
Eugene
MONEY CORRUPTS
As EW pointed out recently, one-third of
the total values of all the buildings on the
UO campus are sports-related. Moreover,
during the 2010-11 fi scal year more than
one-third of the gifts donated to the
university ($43.6 million), a $1.1 million
state subsidy and a $1.5 million student-fee
subsidy went not to academic departments
but to the athletic department.
Chip Kelly and his assistant coaches
are paid astounding salaries, plus perks.
Palaces are built only for athletes. Recent
large raises for top-level administrators
on campus are railroaded through. Those
who do the teaching, their assistants and
their staffs are asked to do more with less.
And more for less. A troubling pattern is
emerging here and nationwide: The well-
fed athletic tail in schools is wagging the
woefully underfed academic dog.
Football teams in particular have be-
come symbols of the American Empire
and, inexplicably, of institutions of high-
er learning. Football — a gladiatorial
sport based on brute force, speed, and
deceit — creates in many of its follow-
ers a passionately unquestioning, com-
petitive, bullying, at-times bloodthirsty
attitude that is totally and essentially at
odds with the inquiring, scientifi c, hu-
manistic, rational and cooperative values
at the heart of the mission of colleges and
universities.
Money corrupts. Sports can, should, and
sometimes do, of course, teach important
lessons and impart decent values. The more
big bucks are involved however, the less it
seems that sports do so.
Jerome Garger
Yachats
MORE THAN JUST A BARN
Although the Cottage Grove Historical
Society announced recently that they have
halted their effort to purchase Dr. Pierce’s
Barn, the Historic Preservation League
of Oregon (HPLO) remains an active
partner in seeking out alternatives to the
building’s unnecessary demolition. Listed
as one of Oregon’s “Most Endangered
Places,” the barn is not just an artifact
of days gone by, but a prime example of
a signifi cant resource ripe for innovative
adaptive reuse.
In an increasingly global marketplace,
Oregon’s small towns must differentiate
themselves from others in order to stay
competitive. Dr. Pierce’s Barn is unique
in western Oregon and sets Cottage Grove
apart to attract its share of Oregon’s $7
billion annual tourism industry. This
unique icon gets people off I-5 and into the
community to stroll, shop and dine.
The HPLO and other public and private
preservation organizations offer grants,
tax incentives and technical assistance
to property owners to help offset the
regulations that some local governments
place on historic properties because those
places benefi t the community.
The HPLO would like to see a civic-
minded investor purchase and repurpose
Dr. Pierce’s Barn as an income-generating
property, thus providing extensive envi-
ronmental, cultural and economic benefi ts
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