gang, addiction and mental health problems, healing from
trauma, homelessness, and to empower children, families
and individuals to better their circumstances.
I dream of Civic Stadium
JENNIFER SPARKLEBRITCHES
, comedian
I want to see Civic Stadium turned into a beautiful
space that serves families, teens and senior citizens in our
community. This vision includes a gymnasium, used as an
indoor park in the day and a teen center at night during the
cold months. I want several classroom/meeting spaces and
a small commercial kitchen for use by individuals and area
nonprofi ts. The old ball fi eld would include a community
garden — half veggies, half fl owers — designed by
local landscape architects to accommodate weddings
and other events that would provide an income stream
to help maintain the facility. We need more community
connections and Civic Stadium is the perfect place to make
this happen!
number of bicycle-friendly businesses and add to them!
Why? Because I want our city to be the best it can be.
All the fi nest cities to live and work in are also fun places
to walk and bike; let’s create the infrastructure, policies
and recognition to make it happen here!
What should Eugene be like in fi ve years? Like Portland!
With a “complete streets” policy, completed and expanded
bike lanes and routes and recognition of our bike-friendly
businesses.
In 20 years? Like Copenhagen? Amsterdam? Eugene
should be so bike-friendly that families, young professionals,
happening employers and tourists want to come to Eugene to
live and bike! We should institute a complete streets policy
that helps ensure that our planners and engineers consistently
design and operate the roadway with all users in mind. We
should also complete and expand our existing bike lanes and
routes, including the routes to downtown and the missing bike
lanes on South Willamette Street from 24th to 29th.
I’d love to see this kind of natural reconstruction in an
urban area of Eugene. What did our valley look like before
we covered it up with concrete? Let’s give a city block
back to nature and see if we can attract a great blue heron
or two of our own.
CARY THOMPSON
, Helios Network
I would like to see our city value its history and have
Civic Stadium revamped for athletic leagues and events,
under the auspices of the “Save Civic Stadium” committee.
Eugene’s 4J school district owns the property for this very
purpose. It is on the National Registry of Historic Places
and should be preserved.
I would like to see the abandoned LCC building on
Willamette and 11th remodeled into a center for youth
services, a shelter for the homeless and single-room-
occupancy housing. There are far too few social services
in downtown Eugene.
CONSTANCE VAN FLANDERN
, old SLUG Queen
Eugene takes pride in its sometime slogan “the world’s
greatest city for arts and outdoors.” Sure, when you
say it out loud at a party you might get a few snorts of
disbelief — and maybe a few of those snorts have come
from me in the past — but no more! I’ve come around.
Why shouldn’t we have that slogan? It suits our style to
dream big and fi ll the pits later. “The world’s greatest city
for athletes” could have been a contender though. If you
are a participant or spectator of football, basketball, track
and fi eld, gymnastics, golf, soccer, BMX biking or even
extreme skating, Eugene has you covered in style. But I
have a vision to take that faux city slogan to the next level:
Think big ice.
I would love to see 4J sell the Civic Stadium property
to private investors interested in building a visionary
sports complex and ice rink. In my imagination this place
is gorgeous, an architectural marvel attracting visitors
from all over the Northwest. A world-class ice facility to
replace the one limping along at the County Fairgrounds,
and include the Eugene Generals, UO Ducks Hockey
Team, The ICHL (Local Hockey League) and LAHA
(Lane Amateur Youth Hockey Association), fi gure skating
training and competitions, recreational skaters and, of
course, ICE Shows!
It could include a state-of-the-art rock climbing wall,
indoor fl oating running track above the rink, weight and
workout rooms for athletes, a pool, indoor basketball and
volleyball court, indoor play park for toddlers, and viewing
deck to the rink with a stunning fl oor to ceiling locally
quarried stone fi replace, a coffee shop and juice bar, a few
desk stations with USB ports and free Wi-Fi all around.
I dream of a green city
KELSEY MOORE
, Arriving by Bike
I would like to see the city of Eugene step into a national
leadership role in bike policy and infrastructure creation. I
would also love to see Eugene recognize our amazing
BETTY TAYLOR
PETE SORENSON
, Lane County Commissioner
Eugene has a lot of really talented bright people who
aren’t being paid enough for the work they are doing or
would like to be doing. This includes almost everyone. So,
higher wages and benefi ts would help a lot of people.
Our community needs to respond in a signifi cant way
to the environmental crisis staring us in the face — the bees
are dying, climate change is real and must be addressed,
our forests should be valued to clean the air and mitigate
the impacts of climate change, our fi sh (whether lake,
stream, river or ocean) are the aquatic canaries that need
protection, and unregulated genetically modifi ed food
further threatens our environment.
CAMILLA MORTENSEN
, EW associate editor
and reporter (staff pick)
I would like to see Eugene fully embracing its need for
clean water and protecting our rivers through town and out
of town both in deed and in legal policy. I would like to
see Eugene continue to improve in how we take care of
those who are helpless, homeless or in need. I would like to
see Lane County (because I’m going a little broader here)
be more transparent and accountable in its governance —
it would make my job a little easier and the environment
and politics a lot better. Also a downtown water park that
doubles as a skating rink in the winter would be awesome.
AMY SCHNEIDER
, EW calendar editor and
reporter (staff pick)
On a day trip to Portland earlier this year, I turned a
corner and stumbled on Tanner Springs Park, a miniature
wetlands about the size of a city block nestled in the Pearl
District. An incredible pocket of nature plunked down
amidst pavement and buildings, the park featured tasteful
art made from old railroad tracks, a boardwalk and a small
pathway that wound its way through native plants. To top
it all off, a wild great blue heron had taken up residence
there, gently preening as Portlanders snapped pictures
from the boardwalk and admired the painted turtle that
swam freely in the pond.
, Eugene city councilor
The Amazon Headwaters should be protected in its
natural state — for recreation, for wildlife protection,
for protection of our water and air, for its accessibility
by foot, bicycle and bus. Kesey Square should have
substantial, attractive tables, movable chairs, a small stage,
one attractive kiosk (selling coffee, hot chocolate and hot
cider) with school groups (and other local music groups)
invited to perform in the evenings.
Eugene should be a compact, attractive, friendly city,
surrounded by a green belt — with protected forests and
farms nearby. There should be pedestrian paths everywhere,
off-street bike paths and secure parking places for bikes.
Local businesses should be encouraged by government and
patronized by residents.
I hope for the elimination of tax exemptions and for a
new, equitable source of revenue to support city services.
SHANNON FINNELL
, EW features editor and
reporter (staff pick)
Good infi ll: Sometimes it feels like nobody wants
Eugene to change at all, but we’ve seen beautiful, dense
urban areas in Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. Infi ll and
densifi cation don’t have to mean destroying neighborhoods
or creating a butt-ugly cityscape. Eugene can do it.
Traffi c signals that feel your bike: Loop detectors
embedded in the pavement know when cyclists interrupt
the electromagnetic current, and the lights turn green.
Cyclists don’t have to punch buttons in right turn lanes or,
ideally, wait 100 years for a go-signal (we’re looking at
you, 6th & Monroe). Check out the loop detector installed
on Blair this summer and feel the dream coming alive.
Light rail from LA to Seattle: Connecting Eugene to
the whole West Coast via light rail may seem like a far-off
fantasy, but the Oregon Passenger Rail project is already
studying options between Portland and Eugene. Let’s
dream big, and let’s dream far.
Citywide Wi-Fi: Access to information is the closest
thing we’ve got to a great equalizer. We dream of a Eugene
that does its best to ensure the ability to communicate with
loved ones, apply for jobs, learn about faraway places and
educate ourselves enough to improve our lives. Isn’t the
internet amazing?
Random dreams
RAFAEL ALDAVE
, retired attorney, author of EW’s
‘Lighten Up’
The main thing I would like to see happen in Eugene in
the future is to have my name still in the phone book.
eugeneweekly.com • December 26, 2013
13