Eugene Weekly : Views : 01.19.06

Bridging the Divide

Between the ivory tower and the distant city

BY MICHAEL COCKRAM

In many university towns, the synergy between the college and the city seems to evolve naturally. The relationship benefits each partner with the integration of educational, cultural, social and economic forces. But one of Eugene's major blindspots is lack of cohesion relationship between the civic and academic spheres.

Part of the divide is physical — the distance isn't great (nine blocks between Kincaid and Willamette) but the distance is magnified the lack of connective tissue — there's little to pull the pedestrian along either 13th or 11th avenues.

Professor, your theory is correct - there does seem to be a town down there!

In my old hometown of Fayetteville, Ark., less than half the size of Eugene, Dickson Street connects downtown to the university. Imagine 13th Avenue as a two-way street starting at Kincaid and transitioning to downtown at around Oak Street — a kind of secondary mainstreet with a mix of shops, restaurants, clubs — that's Dickson Street. It's where students go to escape dorm food, and party — it's where my 86-year-old mother goes to meet her French Club. Diverse groups mix — not always in the same places but in the same district.

At the other end of the scale is Austin's roiling 6th Street scene — club after club drawing the university population (tipping the scales at 60,000!) a good distance away from campus. By creating a focussed district (with the help of a famous appetite for live music), the area pulls students and town people together.

The UO student population now at 20,000 would seem to be a grossly under-tapped market. Students don't go downtown much because there's not much to do. There's a few scattered clubs and restaurants but nothing that would constitute a "scene." It's also interesting to note that west campus student parties have the somewhat unusual tendency to erupt in to riots. Part of the answer may be that students need someplace to let off steam — dilute the house party concentration with an entertainment district that's diverse and lively. It seems to work elsewhere.

For years, voices such as those of UO landscape architecture professor Jerry Deithelm have called for a stronger physical link. One proposal by the Emerald Waterway Citizen Committee was to develop the millrace from around Patterson to downtown — a pedestrian commercial promenade on the order of San Antonio's successful waterway. It would be a huge undertaking, but with our population projected to double again in the next 20 years, now is time for broad, thoughtful solutions.

Ironically the new Conner-Woolley-Opus development would supplant the oft-uprooted club John Henry's as well as other venues. The club, living up to its resilient namesake, is one success story in drawing students downtown — despite being a lightning rod for the developer's boot (this would be the third time, I believe). Incorporating or moving the venues, along with development's 16-theater multiplex cinema, presents an opportunity to establish a plan for an entertainment district.

The university could do much more. It is, after all, the most prominent and bulky member of this community and bears a significant responsibility to use its tremendous resources and energy to serve the community that cradles it. The tiny, basement-dwelling Environmental Studies program is a good example of involvement — its Service Learning Program connects its students to community based projects And the planning program also has some community outreach opportunities and faculty members involved in the mayor's sustainability initiatives.

The Law School and design programs could also increase their participation. Architecture and Allied Arts lacks any kind of structured outreach programs. However, a group called Design Bridge is forming to help fill the gap, largely through the energy of students. Again, at my alma mater in Arkansas, the school uses student power to build an affordable house every year and to fuel a regional community design consulting office downtown.

The lesson for planners, developers and architects is that a focussed destination is needed in Eugene — at least to reach some kind of critical mass. Eugene's pattern has been one of dispersal — left unimagined and undirected. As a city planner recently told me, it's going to take "intention" to change that pattern. That intention could start with the city, the university and developers coming together and forming a plan to build tangible links. Mayor Piercy is doing a good job in beginning to build consensus in a number of areas by using the diverse resources from the community and the university. Perhaps its time that the university/city link becomes a priority and that we stop dating and commit.