LET TERS
TAKE DOWN THE SIGNS
LAZY SOLUTION
Now that the election is fi nally over,
I hope that we can once again remember
that we are all Americans. Citizens of the
United States of America. A bitter few will
nurture their resentments and bias, but
the rest of us will take down the political
signs and get back to rebuilding our
economy and moving our nation and our
community forward. We, the people have
spoken. Voting is the most patriotic thing
most of us will ever do. Democracy is a
messy business. But respect and tolerance
and cooperation is what made this country
great. Not hate.
Mark Murphy
Creswell
We have been told as EWEB customers
that the proposed 2013 rate increases
are necessary to make up for a shortfall
in demand. EWEB maintains that the
downturn in the economy has led people
to use less water and power resulting in
less income for the utility. The proposed
solution to this is to make the cost of basic
services (the fl at fee charged every month
regardless of usage) even more expensive.
To me this seems very counter-intuitive.
Doesn’t logic dictate that an increase in the
basic cost would lead to an even greater
reduction in demand as people try harder to
use less water and power? How can EWEB
be confi dent that income generated by this
rate increase will be more than the income
lost in a further shrinking demand? I know
that an 8 percent increase in the cost of
power and a 20 to 30 percent increase in
the cost of water will certainly make me
think twice before I turn on the faucet or
hit the light switch.
Furthermore, every month EWEB
includes pamphlets on energy and water
saving tips with the utility bill, and has an
entire section of their website devoted to
ways in which customers can save money
by using less power and water. Apparently
EWEB encourages this behavior, so it
seems a little hypocritical that they use
decreased demand as one of the reasons to
raise rates.
TOO MUCH UGLY
Ten minutes of deliberation decided
the fate of the Courthouse Garden block.
Unbelievable! I do thank Judge Hogan for
bringing us this outstanding architectural
designed building to Eugene. I also thank
Judge Aiken, Ann Bettman and the UO
students for their important community
garden.
Doesn’t anyone at City Hall understand
how important this block is? It has been
discussed as part of the planning for the
Great Street — but not during the 10-
minute deliberation. With the East Coast
and Midwestern drastic weather problems
our promotion of growing food with
students might be a much better use of the
block than another credit union. At least
we had two councilors, Betty Taylor and
George Brown, who spoke up for more
time to make a city-changing decision.
No design suggestions were discussed
DESIGN MATTERS
and the only drawing showed a four-story
building with a large parking lot. Maybe it
is time to have an Eugene Beautiful Design
Board. Too much ugly stuff happens.
Ruth Duemler
Eugene
BY JERRY DIETHELM
A Regrettable Error
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CANNERY SQUARE?
Y
ou’ve heard of the cart before the horse? This is
the property sale before the plan. It’s also swift
action to forestall any prolonged controversy over
the Courthouse Garden. Even more potentially
disruptive than students demonstrating against
pesticide spraying and people protesting coal trains
seems to be the fear of students carrying shovels and hoes,
brandishing tree limbs and marching like Burnham Wood out
of Macbeth to save their garden. That fear is misplaced.
One of the hazards of a largely policy-oriented and
opportunistic downtown plan is that proposals come along that
the city is not prepared for. That seems to be what is happening
right now with the proposal by Northwest Community Credit Union to buy the
two-acre block next to the new U.S. Courthouse along 8th Avenue.
The issue isn’t whether a credit union is a good use on the site, although I admit
it wasn’t at the top of my list. It’s how a proposed three- to four-story building, and
especially its large parking lot, might help to further an urban design concept plan
for the end of 8th Avenue, our Great Civic Street, as it arrives from downtown and
connects to the riverfront.
The problem really isn’t the garden or the credit union, although it’s a shame to
lose all that food production and a place for offenders to till the soil. The problem
is that there is no agreed upon concept plan for the area and the realization that our
civic design aspirations aren’t adequately present and shared so that they might
infl uence the site planning of this iconic site. It is an important site that has a bigger
role to play than any one particular use.
Does anyone remember our Downtown Plan? Eugene downtown was to be
4
November 8, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
open for business and set into a framework of Great Streets.
In the plan, Willamette Street is recognized for its importance
as our Great Butte-to-Butte Street, the spine of Eugene;
Broadway is an entrance into downtown from the east; Historic
5th Avenue would carry us right into the EWEB riverfront
development. 8th Avenue, running from Willamette Street and
the Park Blocks to the U.S. Courthouse and Cannery Square
to the downtown riverfront, was to be our Great Civic Street.
Remember?
A regrettable error, I believe, was to leave this triangular
block, which is the forecourt to the courthouse and the foyer
to the riverfront out of the EWEB master planning — not
to mention the leftover need to improve connections in all directions from an
awkwardly sequestered courthouse.
Access and arrival at the riverfront needs to be more of a crescendo than just
a parking lot and street and railroad crossing. A proposal by Wallace Roberts and
Todd, a San Francisco fi rm the city hired to look at the area some 10 years ago,
proposed an arrival at a Cannery Square on the corner of 8th and Ferry. They
showed a smaller Park Blocks-like square, on this end of 8th, mimicking the one
downtown. The idea was to create a public space at Ferry Street, honoring the
former cannery and serving as a hinge to the riverfront. We should be asking
ourselves, “What ever happened to Cannery Square?
Cannery Square, Courthouse Garden, Northwest Community Credit Union,
access to the riverfront, a fi tting U.S. Courthouse foyer, perhaps even a reappearance
of the Millrace — couldn’t they all get along? ■
Jerry Diethelm of Eugene is an architect, landscape architect and planning and urban design consultant.