LET TERS
THE CITY HALL VOID
Where, oh where has our City Hall
gone? We ask ourselves that question as
we pass the barren site daily. It stands there
as the largest “kitty litter box” in the world.
The most symbolic project for our city
in 50 years has received little or no public
input, display or conversation. So what’s
the problem? The current version shown
is certainly not radical or particularly
imaginative.
We see the same perspective rendering
over and over and hear that if we make the
building more seismically resistant it will
extend the time to occupancy an additional
year and cost more. Experience says it
would take no more than a month to revise
any structural engineering to the higher
“essential” seismic status. And based on
what we know, the building does not house
any function that could be classified as
“essential” for seismic purposes anyway.
The delay suggests that something else
is happening under the covers.
We also note the curious proposal
to eliminate any office space for city
councilors and the provision that the open
council space provided be segregated from
the mayor and the manager. Doesn’t this
organization send just the wrong message
to its citizens? And furthermore, it
physically “builds-in” the manager-council
VIEWPOINT
form of government because it would then
require a substantial interior renovation to
change the layout to a mayor and councilor
form of government, probably a better fit
now for a city of this size.
Are there any answers out there and
does anyone care?
Otto P. Poticha, FAIA
Eugene
GET ON WITH IT
Round about the time we were
carving November’s tofu turkey, Marco
Rubio said, “We need more welders, less
philosophers.” (We won’t belabor his
diction herein.) Had Marco received and
embraced a better education he might have
opined, “We need more welders who are
philosophers; more philosophers who are
welders.” Where did he learn that you
can’t be both at the same time? Not in my
classroom, I hope.
I applaud EW for its “Our Kids Deserve
Better” lead story in the annual Education
issue Feb. 25. Some good stuff. A
cautionary note: More time in a classroom
isn’t necessarily more learning. Our Little
House on the Prairie model is limiting.
Kids are not cordwood. Sometimes the
very best we can do is get the hell out of
their way. Common Core? Forced algebra?
Don’t get me started.
IP 28 is a cop-out, isn’t it? A necessary
cop-out, maybe. But I tend to agree with
the suits who tell me it’s regressive and a
sales tax in disguise. So, let’s get on with it
and commence with the sales tax.
An administrator and school board
member, quoted in the piece, are pointedly
said to “not take a stance on the initiative.”
That’s a head scratcher. I recognize the
problem, but I’m not willing to piss off
the constituency? Get out there like Ian
Paisley — damn the Molotov cocktails —
and beat the drum.
Kids, pay attention. Understand that the
Earth travels ’round the sun, and the moon
’round the Earth. And you have your sacred
place in that orchestration, no matter what
the standardized test tells you.
Dave Sheehan
Eugene
service, because we live longer. The cause
of the problem? The high cost of medical
school discourages young people from
going in the first place. Those who incur
debt choose fields that promise to pay the
most so they can free themselves of debt.
This situation leaves some specialties
lacking sufficient practitioners. In the
event of a real health emergency, we are
forced to resort to emergency services,
which are shorthanded, bringing us back to
the underlying problem.
I no longer feel that if I need treatment
it will be available. What to do? Can
others offer ways to deal with this urgent
problem? In the meantime, we will all have
to make the best of a bad situation and
hope that when we need a doctor, we can
get the care we deserve.
Penny Jennings
Eugene
ACCESS IS DECLINING
I am a member of a large medical group
in Eugene, and I am worried. In the past
couple of years I have noticed that it is
more and more difficult to see a doctor in a
timely manner. Regardless of the urgency
of the problem, the wait time can stretch
from one month to three or more before
getting an appointment. This is crazy.
The basic problem? There aren’t
enough doctors and more people need
TRUE MONOPOLIES
Regarding the Feb. 18 letter about the
monopoly status of attorneys, physicians
and dentists. The number of phone
book pages devoted to listings for those
professions (79) indicates a great deal of
competition, not monopoly status. The
author may have confused the concept
with licensure requirements, which exist
at least in part to protect consumers in
BY PAUL NICHOL SON
Tool for Development?
URBAN RENEWAL IS THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION
I
n the beginning, “downtown renewal” in Eugene was really about greasing
the skids for the controversial Valley River shopping center. The development
community embraced this “tool,” and a chorus of the optimistic and the self-
interested promised an attractive, renewed downtown and a gigantic mall.
Every 10 years for the past 49 years, the Eugene City Council acting as the
board of the Urban Renewal Agency declares downtown a blighted area and signs
us up for another 10 years of urban renewal (UR). Next year will mark the 50th
anniversary of downtown urban renewal.
I will argue that urban renewal has been a program that primarily benefits only
real estate speculators; that UR has diminished, not enhanced our downtown; that the
whole approach is rife with waste and nepotism; and that City Council and the mayor
should honor their prior assurances that downtown urban renewal should now end.
Here’s how Eugene and many other cities were seduced by urban renewal:
The 1972 California innovation of tax increment financing (TIF) was the first of
two major changes in the way UR could be implemented. TIF works by diverting
taxes from the increase in taxable valuation of property in a tax increment district
after the date of the creation of the district. UR districts were permitted to borrow
money, subsidize development projects and repay the loans with diverted property
taxes. UR was sort of a “pull yourself up by the boot straps” concept. In theory, the
actions of the Urban Renewal Agency would enhance the value of downtown, which
in turn would pay for further downtown improvements.
Around the same time, in the face of the failure of UR as an element of affordable
housing policy, Congress enacted the Housing and Community Development Act of
1974. In short, the responsibility for administering UR was largely shifted to local
city planners, who were given greater scope and encouraged to form public-private
partnerships. UR became an opportunity for a mutually beneficial alliance between
local developers and the ever-expanding city planner bureaucracy.
What’s wrong with investing some money to fix the downtown?
The problem is that, in 50 years, we have not fixed downtown. Essentially, taxing
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March 3, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
the “incremental value” was really just a tax on inflation. The real dollar value of
property in the downtown UR district is practically unchanged.
How we know that urban renewal has failed:
• Every 10 years, our own City Council declares downtown a blighted area — so,
how can it be a success?
• The real dollar value of the downtown UR district has risen only 3 percent in
49 years, even though Eugene invested more UR funds than the entire $126 million
current taxable valuation of all the property in the downtown UR district! In short,
our entire investment was lost.
• UR thwarted genuine investors and entrepreneurs who would have renewed
downtown at no expense to the public. For example, the historic part of downtown
north of 7th Avenue between Charnelton and High is not in the UR district. Yet,
without benefit of UR subsidies, taxable valuation has increased by 284 percent. The
Whiteaker neighborhood is also gaining value rapidly without UR subsidies.
• Most of our historic downtown buildings were torn down or ruined with UR
subsidies.
• The UR program is grossly deficient in transparency and public involvement.
• Also, the city’s general fund has been tapped to subsidize UR projects. For
example, since Jon Ruiz became city manager, the city of Eugene’s rent expenses
have doubled, adding $60,000 annually to the city’s rent expenses. And this is
because Ruiz moved city offices into the UR projects, and agreed to pay rent even
on the developer’s unrented empty space.
We cannot afford street maintenance unless the voters agree to pay extra. We
cannot sustain library services unless taxpayers agree to pay extra, but we can
always afford a subsidy for a downtown developer.
If council fails to honor its promises to end downtown urban renewal, it is time
to take your pitchfork to the next City Council meeting — express your outrage!
Paul Nicholson is a former city councilor and is the longtime owner of Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life.