The Albatross Around City Hall BY JERRY DIETHELM Let's not mince words. So far our City Hall project has generated about as much community support as a pair of loose pants without a belt. No one I've talked to is ready to believe, proud and deserving as we all are, that Eugeneans will pungle up the $100 million or so it will take to build a new City Hall at any time soon. I've asked why that is, since moving the majority of EWEB off the riverfront is also a big deal project of this magnitude, and it looks like we're set to do it. So, where is the inertia about a new City Hall coming from? Is it the money? The economy? The times? A perceived lack of real need? The existing building? The design team? The albatross? And will there be enough time before a planned bond request in 2008 to build the compelling vision that will be needed to turn this project around? Starting from the top: Yes, it is both the times and the money. The state economy is slowly improving, but not for everyone. There are big needs out there for health care, public safety, schools, services, jobs, job training, roads, pensions … that are not being met. The county is in jeopardy of losing its replacement O&C funding, which would cause severe additional curtailment of local governmental services, more job losses and civic pain. And a large sector of the public really believes, no matter what is said, that public money is fungible, that right-thinking public officials should allocate the big pot of existing public dollars more efficiently. Those of us who have personally experienced the post Measure 5 cutback damage to our programs agree that there is probably more blood to be squeezed out of the fiscal rock but that it will require a whole new technology and an even meaner spirit to get at it. So, "Make do, use it up, go without," as Old Ben advised, is a lingering visceral phantom in the public works. Unfortunately there is also an additional segment that believes that the cost of doing the planning for this project is hurting the chances for its success. Most people don't understand why it should cost two to 10 times as much to plan and site City Hall as it took for our new library, train station, Ferry Street Corridor, North Bank, South Bank or Downtown Visioning projects, all but one of which we did locally through professionally led Citizen Advisory Committees. Unlike a number of my colleagues, I'm not fond of our present outdated, bland and anonymous City Hall and would like to see it replaced. I much prefer the tastefully remodeled shopping center in Springfield, where I don't have to stand and wait outside of inadequate meeting rooms in the cold. Heresy, I know, but I think Eugene's City Hall needs to lose its "fir coat," acquire a pyramid of glass over its dysfunctional courtyard and be remodeled into a striking Eugene Art Center with a strong and direct presence along 8th Avenue. With a little vision and commitment, this architectural legacy has the potential to become the world's greatest for the world's greatest at claiming to be the world's greatest. Now, what albatross? If I said it was blue, would that give you a clue? Despite the beliefs of some, including the Police Patrol program in City Hall is a political deal killer — at least for the present — for all the reasons that still fester in the public mind. The Trapdoor Trooper on I-5 adds daily to this unresolved resentment even though he isn't one of ours. I know it's not fair. We have an excellent new chief in Robert Lehner, are heading as fast as we can afford in the direction of community policing, and have added a new police auditing process for greater accountability. Nevertheless, I count one less vote for every seat-belt type ticket given while past abuses resonate and property crimes remain a serious problem. Architecturally, the Police Patrol program with its substantial requirement for secured parking is another large blue bird around the project's neck. It balloons the City Hall program so much that it would require a seven-story complex on the butterfly garage site. The resulting building mass becomes so big that it tends to overwhelm its neighbors, squeezes down the potential for reclaiming the North Park Block as a central plaza and market space and uses up critical central public space for secured police parking. The obvious solution is to forgive the police and build them their own building next to the Umpqua Bank on 7th Avenue, while consolidating the butterfly and secured police parking in an expanded county garage next door. A mixed-use police services building (with a doughnut shop at ground level) on this site could hook up to the existing tunnel that runs from the county garage under 7th to the Public Services Building and County Courthouse. Breaking the project into smaller incremental parts would free up Thom Hacker and his team to inspire us with a more appropriately scaled new City Hall and Park Block proposal. Combined with the possibility of a new Eugene Art Center, it just might be enough to turn back a skeptical and a very stubborn tide. Jerry Diethelm is a Eugene architect, landscape architect and planning and urban design consultant. A public forum on City Hall concept designs is planned for 6 to 8:30 pm Thursday, Nov. 2 at the First United Methodist Church at 13th and Olive.
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