Eugene weekly., March 06, 2014, Page 6, Image 6

LET TERS
for his claim that radioactivity might be
benefi cial, biologically, in small doses. He
will share the stage with the David Brower
awards even though Brower was an early
opponent of nuclear power.
A disclaimer: PIELC 2014 rejected my
panel requests: 1) “Running into the Limits
to Growth: Peak(ed) Energy and Climate
Chaos,” 2) “Peak Traffi c and Transportation
Triage: a Legal Strategy to Stop Trillion
Dollar Highway Expansion Plans and
Prepare For Post Peak Travel,” and 3) “The
Surveillance State is the Military Industrial
Complex’s Preparation for Climate Chaos.”
I hope these topics become acceptable
to the fossil fuel foundation funded
environmental
establishment
before
gasoline rationing arrives.
Mark Robinowitz
Eugene, PeakChoice.org
WEALTH IS GOOD
In response to Ann Tattersall’s letter
about “Resolving the Gap” [2/20]: What
have you been smoking, Ann? What did
that wealthy person ever do to you? There
are legal means for removing wealth if it
was obtained through deceit, oppression or
DESIGN MATTERS
some other unethical means, but removing
it just because he is wealthy would be
outright theft.
I suspect jealousy may be fueling your
temper tantrum and hatred of the wealthy.
Wealth is a good thing. Why not focus
your energy on ways to earn a few million
yourself and contribute as a taxpayer
instead of taking it from somebody else? I
suggest you move to a communist country
and keep your hands off of other people’s
wallets.
Todd Anderson
Eugene
ARTISTIC MEN
That was an interesting article [“Sexy
Beasts,” 2/13] and a good clue about the
sign of the times. Eugene’s slogan is “A
Great City for the Arts and Outdoors.” It is
about time we live up to the slogan. It is time
to support the great revolutionary revival
of psychedelic, artistic, talented eligible
bachelors, right here in Lane County, the very
epicenter of the Merry Pranksters, where
these men thoroughly appreciate women who
are athletic, strong, completely natural, down
to earth and free of conventional standards of
plastic beauty and a lot of rigid gender roles.
BY JERRY DIE THEL M
The Third City Hall
KEEP TWEAKING IT UNTIL WE GET IT JUST RIGHT
I
see the present City Hall design process in
Goldilocks terms. The fi rst one at $130 million
by THA from Portland was too big but initially
in the right place. This second round is going to
prove to be too small and in the wrong place. But
if we’re willing to stop and reassess, the third try could
get it just right — the right building in the right place.
We’ve gone through this sifting process before with
both the Eugene Public Library and our Hult Center
for the Performing Arts. Each painful loss at the polls
forced the necessary reconsiderations that eventually
brought strong public support for two high-quality
downtown buildings. I remember vividly when my
old classmate, Norm Pfeiffer of the former New York
fi rm of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer, came to town to tell
Eugene that we deserved a performing arts center as
good as we were — and we did. It was a stretch but we
came together as a community and we got it.
Remember the fi rst library proposal? It was to
occupy the fi rst two fl oors of a proposed Pankow tower
at 8th and Willamette. It didn’t fl y. And the second:
The library was to be incorporated into a remodeling
of the old Sears building. The nice renderings of
wrap-around brick facades made the project appear
respectable, but knowledgeable people, and especially
librarians, knew in their bones that it was a mistake to
try to shoehorn a 21st century library’s needs into that
old concrete bunker. The public, that’s us,
once again wisely demurred.
Like the previous buildings, I believe
that any new City Hall should be fi nanced
by a public bond, not the present set
asides of general funds that are presently
needed to close the city’s $2.5 million
budget gap. We should have learned by
now that each major public building must
earn and inspire real public support. Why would we
demand less for our Eugene City Hall?
Going back to go forward. THA’s fi rst City Hall
site analysis and selection process looked carefully
at all downtown possibilities and then selected two
sites. First choice was the North Park Block, home of
the Butterfl y garage, and second was the existing City
Hall site. But fi rst choice didn’t work out. The main
reason was that the building’s program with all its
police circulation, security and parking requirements
just wouldn’t fi t. And so the attention shifted back to
the original site, gave us the too expensive proposal
and left us where we are today, not having suffi ciently
recognized that the situation has changed.
By moving the Eugene Police Department to
their remodeled home at 300 Country Club Road, the
original City Hall program size has now been shrunk
to fi t. It has lost all the awkward
weight around its middle that was
forcing the project off its fi rst and
best choice. Everyone knows —
well, almost everyone — that City
Hall has always wanted to be on
the Park Blocks but never made
it. And now with a little timely
reconsideration, backtracking and
realignment of the consultant team, it can.
The Butterfl y parkers can use the existing City
Hall parking while the project is under construction
and the community has more time to consider the
older building’s best repurposing.
A new stately City Hall along 7th Avenue on the
north end of the North Park Block is what we really
want and will support, one that opens to the south on
a market square for the Saturday Market and Farmers
Market and gives us the two-for-one of a restored park
block and a City Hall that is as good as we are.
Maybe it will take another bond election loss to
provide the kick-in-the-pants needed to get us there,
but Eugene, like Goldilocks, has shown before that
it has the savoir-faire and resilience needed to get to
just right. ■
Jerry Diethelm is a Eugene architect, landscape architect and planning
and urban design consultant.
Fashion Design Instructor Needed!
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March 6, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com