In an attempt to prevent University Housing from transplanting homes on Moss Street near 15th Avenue, local residents organized a protest Saturday to show their disdain for the project. One protester was arrested following the demonstration.
Zach Vishanoff, who calls himself the “Moss Street Defender,” organized the meeting at 1649 Moss St., a house being prepared to be moved to another location in Eugene for restoration.
Katherine Wilson, owner of the company moving the house, attended the meeting. She said her company, House Set Design, intends to restore the home to its original condition.
Wilson said she paid the University a $1 demolition bid for the right to remove the house, but will spend approximately $150,000 moving and restoring it.
“I’m not doing it out of self-interest,” she said. “I’m doing it to save pieces of Eugene. I love this town. I love these houses.”
Wilson said the University sold her the demolition rights to the house at 1649 Moss St. and several other properties in the neighborhood because it could not afford to restore the houses.
“To make this livable is outside the budget,” she said.
The Department of Public Safety and the Eugene Police Department both stationed officers at the meeting this weekend.
Vishanoff said he was concerned about a lack of communication between residents of the neighborhood and University Housing.
“It’s a sinister plan to remove the whole neighborhood,” he said. “I’m calling it conspiracy. If anyone had a chance to get their two cents in, I believe these houses, the classics, would stick around.”
Toby Grant, who lives across Villard Street from the boundary of University property, said he was concerned about the effects that a future University Housing project could have on the neighborhood.
Grant said the area between Moss and Villard Streets act as “a buffer zone between the University and homeowners on the other side of Villard. I want to keep this as a buffer.”
University Housing Director Michael Eyster said the University has no plans for future housing developments in the Moss Street area.
“We plan to mow the grass there and maintain the lots,” he said.
Eyster said the houses are being relocated because “it didn’t make sense financially for the University to continue to operate them. They were in very bad physical shape.”
Laura Marriott, president of the Fairmount Neighbors, said that University Housing’s actions were “not really shocking at all.” Marriott said that Vishanoff acts on his own and does not represent the neighborhood.
Following the meeting, Grant was arrested. He said that he, Vishanoff and a few other area residents walked to his house at 1914 E. 17th St. to plant protest signs in the yard and continue discussion of the issue. Grant said he became angry with a campus security officer who was patrolling the area and yelled obscenities as the officer drove past. The campus security officer then called in an EPD officer, who arrested him for disorderly conduct.