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How
To Fix Downtown I hate shopping, I am not a Eugene native and I have a city planning masters degree I've never used — which of course makes me the perfect person to weigh in on what Eugene's downtown needs. Besides, since I never get any reader mail by pontificating on politics, I figure why not kick up some dust with this here 10-point plan for fixing downtown, guaranteed to offend everyone (dammit). So here goes: Point #1: No more holes! Maybe it's just me, but in general it would be good to stop digging huge holes downtown without any actual plans to fill them. Point #2: Enough parking structures! There's plenty of parking — and ugly parcades — downtown. Really, there are plenty of spaces. I hate to be the bad cop here but bring an umbrella if walking a block or so is a problem. Point #3: Four lanes are for highways, not downtown streets. Vehicle traffic on parts of 6th, 7th and Oak downtown needs to get seriously calmed down, and nothing works better for that than angled, front-end parking like they have up in downtown Salem. By doing this, we'd actually pick up a few parking spaces downtown while making the place seem less, well, drafty. Point #4: Make the Eugene Hotel a hotel again. If we are going to spend public dollars on anything, why not take this great historic landmark and turn it into the heart of a bustling downtown district? Point #5: Plug the leaks. I am tired of hearing blabby city employees being quoted in The Register-Guard about development "deals" that are still in the conceptual stage. What's with that? How does that help anybody, especially folks trying to make something happen, to have potential projects leaked prematurely? It's unprofessional and perhaps in the R-G's case, it's unethical (it's no secret that the R-G, a former downtown "resident," is a big landowner out on Chad Drive (what I like to call NewGene) and so they should be very, very careful about how they cover downtown deals that might be in conflict with their own development schemes. Point #6: So what are we for? I consider myself a "pro-concrete progressive" — I want big stuff happening downtown and think that Mayor Piercy is doing a good job trying to get things going in that can-do direction. But of course the devil is in the details, so check out points 7-8-9 for my take on what we should like — none of which will be perfect, but dammit we need something to fill the holes don't we? Point #7: Big brands vs. Saturday Market — don't make us choose. I am tired of false choices being made between Paul Nicholson and other folks I respect with great homegrown stores and the notion that I can't also have a Hard Rock Café downtown that's embracing Eugene's hippie music past and serving up a good burger next door to a Border's bookstore with some of the energy that Oakway has on Friday nights? I am sorry — I want both if I can get 'em and I think we need both. Beads alone does not a downtown make. Point #8: Whole Foods half-baked? Personally, I don't get the Whole Foods market idea: I like the Market of Choice folks and don't think this will be a panacea for downtown, unless (cough, cough) you want more parking at night near a deserted new federal courthouse that is nowhere near the river. On the Connor-Wooley mega-proposal, while I haven't a clue what that really is — thanks, city leakers — I do think that a big development in the core of our downtown makes way more sense than the inevitable congestion near Franklin and the Ferry Street bridge that Whole Foods plus the new courthouse will bring. So I hope some kind of sliding scale could be worked out where existing downtown die-hards like Lazars agree to sell-out at realistic rates and taste the upside of this project if in fact it's a financial success. That seems fundamentally fair to me. Fingers crossed that our town gets this all right. Point #9: More on the river. We need more than the Valley River Inn and Roaring Rapids Pizza along the river. Here's hoping that the UO can point the way and finally end the gap between town and gown via some new, eco-friendly developments. Point #10: Eugene vs. Springfield. Enough already. Out of state companies are playing both of our towns for chumps and getting ridiculous tax breaks. I say it's time to start working together to create a great metropolitan area. So before we plunk down cash on a new City Hall, how about exploring a merger? The only holdup I can see is the name. Eugene has the bigger "brand" of course, as there are like 21 other Springfields nationwide. But clearly a compromise is in order — can you say Glenwood? Dan Carol of Eugene is a political strategist.
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