vides says the team expects to raise another $10 million
through parking fees, advertising and naming rights and
sponsorships. But right now, Benavides says, “It's hard
to sell naming rights to a stadium that doesn't exist.”
The Ems’ only direct investment: $10 million in prepaid
rent for a 20-year lease.
In 2022, Lane County increased its transient lodging
tax (TLT) and car rental taxes from 9.5 percent to 11.5
percent. (The rates are 12 percent in unincorporated parts
of the county.) The proposed amount of $35 million will
have to be paid back into the fund by taking 1.5 percent
of all TLT annually for 20 years.
The Lane County Board of Commissioners has yet
to allocate any funds from the increase. Lane County
Administrator Steve Mokrohisky plans to have a fi nal
slant
• What we're reading : Kwame Alex-
ander's This Is the Honey: An anthol-
ogy of contemporary Black poets.
It's a read that takes you to another
world, as all good poetry will do.
• This week is our annual garden-
ing issue — and we noticed that down-
town grocery Kiva says Double Up Food
Bucks can be used to purchase produce
starts! Any other places making it easier
for folks to grow healthy food? Let us
know at Editor@EugeneWeekly.com.
• Just when we were pondering if it
was time to do a dog story, The New
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operational agreement ready to be presented to the Board
of Commissioners before the May ballot. Only then will
it be decided if the commissioners keep the Lane Events
Center location and TLT funding on the table.
The Eugene City Council has approved a measure that
will authorize a $15 million general obligation bond to
help pay for the stadium. Property taxpayers in the city
— and not revenue from the stadium — will cover the debt.
The measure would authorize an additional 0.08 cents
per $1,000 of assessed property value. For a home valued
at $300,000, that’s an additional $24 a year.
Emblazoned in his Ems gear, Eugene City Councilor
Matt Keating is confi dent that putting forth the bond
measure vote to his constituents was the right decision.
He says this will give Eugene voters a choice to say, “Yes,
York Times, Sunday March 17, beat us to
it with “How exactly did dogs take over
the world?” We have two big offi ce dogs
at the Weekly. Go to the beauty shop
and a little dog greets you. Go to the
barber shop and a little dog greets you.
It would be better to have dogs running
the world than some candidates we can
think of. With the May primary election
on the horizon, it’s time for us to start
interviewing candidates for endorse-
ments. We will see what the dogs think.
• After many weeks of hoping
that the Duck men basketballers
would be invited to the NCAA tour-
nament, the Ducks did not wait for
an invitation. They knocked down the
front door by winning the Pac-12 tour-
nament. They had to come from behind
we believe in a project that benefi ts this community.”
Eugene City Councilor Jennifer Yeh was the lone vote
in opposition to the plan in February. She says that it is
the city’s responsibility to send bond measures to the
voters only when a project, like the construction of a
minor-league baseball stadium, is fully planned out with
all other funding determined.
“Voters should be able to rely on their city council to, at
a minimum, determine if a project or plan is viable before
they send a bond measure for consideration,” Yeh writes
in an email to Eugene Weekly. “We can’t tell voters how
this project will be paid for, how it will be maintained or
if it will even happen, yet we are asking for their money.”
For more information from opponents to the stadium, check out
100MillionDollarStadium.com. The Ems are pitching the stadium at
SaveOurEms.com.
three nights in a row in the most impres-
sive and entertaining stretch of Duck
basketball in years. As the No. 11 seed in
the South Region, Oregon’s fi rst tour-
nament game is March 21 against No.
6 seed South Carolina, and from here
on out it is win or go home.
• News we are following : Anony-
mous Student News and the Daily Emer-
ald recently covered the protest over the
University of Oregon student govern-
ment’s decision to schedule its spring
concert on the same day as the Native
American Student Union’s annual Moth-
er’s Day Powwow for the second year in
a row. ASUO said on its Instagram it is
working to cancel the concert. The UO’s
annual powwow is May 10 and 11, and
Lane Community College’s is April 6.
• The largest pickleball facility in
the Pacifi c Northwest is aiming to
break ground in May 2025 and fi nish
construction by that fall. This future
location is at Lane Community College.
Seems like the biggest complaint we
hear about the sport is the sound of the
balls and the loss of tennis courts — is
the new facility the solution?
• A panel of the three Eugene
mayoral candidates spoke at the
City Club of Eugene meeting March 15:
Kaarin Knudson, Shanaé Joyce Stringer
and perennial candidate Stefan Strek.
We were impressed by Knudson's report
that she has knocked on 500 doors as
of last Thursday. City Club will meet at
noon on Friday in the Maple Room at
Inn at the Fifth to discuss STAR Voting,
which will also appear on the May ballot.
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M