PART 2
in that they are legal political subdivisions of the city
of Eugene, with assigned authority. A resurgence of
neighborhoods in the public life of Eugene must not just
be encouraged, but incentivized for more active, inclusive,
informed and consistent participation by residents.
Form a task force, including all cities and Lane County
to develop a plan for implementing ranked voting or instant
runoff voting.
Accelerate a plan for Franklin Boulevard between
downtown and UO. That corridor has always been very
unfortunate. It can be so much more than a “hamburger
heights” segue between two destination points.
SHANNON FINNELL
WHAT DO
EUGENEANS WANT
FOR OUR CITY’S
FUTURE?
COMPILED BY EW STAFF
E
W asked an assortment of community and socially
involved folks to please tell us what they would
dream of for Eugene. As we head into the New
Year, what do people think we as a community
should change, improve, build or renovate in our
built and social environment?
This is part two. Be sure to see last week’s issue for the
fi rst set of dreams.
COURTNEY STUBBERT
, Eugene Contemporary Art
I’d like to see city growth that favors contemporary
creative culture — either in the fi ne arts or creative
professional industries. One that breaks from our cities
historic ties to utopian, activist ideals. I think the political,
pervasive mindsets I’ve grown up with in Eugene, both the
progressive and the conservative, are a hindrance to growth.
One favors a mediocre cultural output by way of labeling
anything that is not “all-inclusive” as being intellectually
elitist, and the other wants to build culture in the form of a
collegiate, athletic spectacle. Businesses and organizations
that don’t pander to either of these have to work extra hard
to gain a foothold. As a result, opportunities and successes
outside those ideologies are few and far between.
JOHN BROWN
, Evans, Elder & Brown real estate,
EWEB Board
Never having the mayor vote to break a tie on Eugene
City Council votes.
Having the Willamette River be as clean as the McKenzie
(above Weyerhaeuser).
No need for Lane Regional Air Protection Agency
(LRAPA).
Never having to clean up abandoned camps along our
waterways.
Downtown Eugene being as safe as midtown Manhattan.
CYNTHIA WOOTEN
, founder of Oregon Country
Fair, Saturday Market, etc.
A planned corridor focused on walking, strolling,
talking and eating between the EWEB Plaza and 7th and
Willamette, much like the Highline Park in New York City.
A community or shared solar project with proactive
participation from EWEB.
While petty, a design review process for food street
vendors, i.e., Kesey Square (they look like crap), and
regardless of taking away tables for eating because
of encroachment of the generational-looking-for-an-
alternative-to-it-all kids — put them back and occupy the
space with a diversity of people.
Encourage and expand, license, designate and market
space for our food truck society.
Acquire the Willamette Street Post Offi ce building for
Lane Historical Society and/or other nongovernmental
agency, commercial, retail development. Look out for the
Obie development to gobble up.
Offi cially designate the area around West Broadway
and Charnelton Street the Eugene Arts District. Follow the
model of city of Berkeley and other communities in fi scal
assistance for renovations, relocations and ownership
acquisition.
Appoint a working group to develop a plan that better
utilizes the downtown Lane County “butterfl y lot” for
higher and better purposes. That would be in contradiction
to the wishes of the Lane County Circuit Court judges who
cherish their underground parking.
Convene a task force to develop plans for design,
allocation and development for the use of bond money,
already approved and on hold, for Farmers Market site
development and other related projects.
Allow Opportunity Village to remain on a city site and
to expand. Find additional sites for Opportunity Village to
initiate new encampments. As with San Francisco, develop
a mayor-appointed full-time position to be “homelessness
czar” to develop short- and long-term plans and funding
for continuum of homeless services; coordinate with all
other agencies, public, non-profi t and for-profi t entities.
The city and county cannot continue to do this on a crisis-
to-crisis basis.
Create public parklets — two parking spaces that create
new places to engage, eat, etc. See wkly.ws/1nq.
Expedite new Willamette Riverfront Development (with
connecting corridor from EWEB building to downtown).
Focus on all tech companies in the area, highlight,
nurture and promote; market much more aggressively to
companies for expansion, particularly those in the San
Francisco Bay Area. Hire a liaison from the Bay Area with
good connections in tech for contact and recruitment. In
the past this was a frustrating and expensive undertaking,
but now it is explosive and the timing is right.
Neighborhood organizations in Eugene are unique
I’d like to see city growth that favors
contemporary creative culture
COURTNEY STUBBERT
Eugene Contemporary Art
, EW features editor and
reporter (staff pick 2)
The Eugene Public Library wins a multimillion-dollar
grant. With all the budget talk of closing branches of the
Eugene Public Library, we wish for a Eugene where the
library is able to restore hours at all of its branches, add a
branch in west Eugene and share with us all the books on
its wish list.
Lane County Farmers Market grows and goes year-
round. The crowded outdoor aisles of the Lane County
Farmers Market are SO worth it. Picking out fresh produce
and staying connected to local farms is the very foundation
of healing the U.S. culture’s broken relationship with
food, and the farmers market makes it fun. The so-called
“butterfl y lot” is ripe for the picking.
Mexican food on every corner. We love ALL the
Mexican food, from oh-so-Americanized Tex-Mex to
Maya-descended sustenance from the Yucatán. Let’s face
it: Each region deserves a restaurant or two in town to
showcase the amazing variety of the different cultural and
climatic regions of Mexico.
KEVIN MATTHEWS
, former Southeast Neigh-
bors board president, current Lane County Commission
candidate
I dream of Eugene at the heart of a new kind of Lane
County, where a thriving local economy works in concert
with the bold spirit of our rural and urban communities,
and with all the beautiful nature that still surrounds us.
Take the billion or so dollars that we spend on fossil
fuel every year in Lane County. By increasing energy
effi ciency in several sectors, we can shift millions from
outside spending back into our local economy. Part of
the savings can pay for skilled jobs to create additional
effi ciency.
Take our growing local food movement. We can organize
small farmers, cooperatives and local entrepreneurs, with
warm community support, to build strong small grocery
stores in places like Churchill, Creswell and Pleasant Hill,
where they are going or gone. We can keep these villages
resilient and vital.
Take the over-harvesting of timber on public and
industrial forest. We can reform the timber sale process
to let in small contractors, widen the use of Forest
Stewardship Council certifi cation and sell harvested logs
openly through a public sorting yard, to raise more funds
with more jobs, while logging less overall. I dream of a
local timber industry that is truly sustainable and that we
can all be proud of.
Most of us in Lane County share a common love of
this amazing place, from snowy mountains to turf and sea.
Building on what we share, I dream that we will do better
together, by working better together.
eugeneweekly.com • January 2, 2014
13