The City of Eugene bills itself as the “greatest city for the arts and outdoors.”
But East Broadway Street’s vacant buildings, broken store windows and “dead walls” paint a different picture.
Tod Schneider, crime prevention specialist for the Eugene Police Department, studied downtown buildings’ design, attractiveness and use of space to explain why homeless people and criminals tend to linger on street corners and by store fronts.
Vacant spaces weaken a sense of the community’s territoriality and hinder pro-social behavior downtown, Schneider said.
As people cruise Broadway, the downtown strip, they perceive that criminals run the street, Schneider said.
Downtown’s lifeless atmosphere deters local residents and visitors and has stalled business development since the 1990s, he said.
The chain retailers Sears and Bon-Marché both had imperative roles in downtown economic activity in the mid-1980s, City Councilor David Kelly said.
Both anchor stores left for malls with cheaper rents by the early ’90s, and a commercial downward spiral began without them, Kelly said.
Today, most of the vacant businesses on Broadway Street are owned by landlords Tom Connor and Don Woolley, Schneider said.
The real estate duo has continually expressed interest in undergoing a multimillion-dollar economic revamp, which would include constructing new apartment buildings and businesses.
As of right now, the development plan has halted, Schneider said.
The city can try to influence more business development, but it ultimately depends on the motivations of private companies, Kelly said.
“The downtown is back at square one,” Schneider said. “Where do we go from here?”
After critical analysis of downtown’s condition, Schneider believes he has answers.
In August, Schneider finished compiling a 50-page report detailing reasons for the criminal mischief populating downtown and what the community – business owners, residents and city officials – must do to revitalize the image of Eugene through environmental design.
The report shows pictures of downtown Eugene streets compared to other city centers in Chicago and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Schneider contended that downtown non-vacant businesses still lack clear and creative store signs to draw shoppers.
A city ordinance prohibits businesses from displaying gaudy, plastic signs in front of stores, but stores must think of creative ways to advertise their businesses attractively, Schneider said.
Universal Studios, a prominent example in the report, has a strip of stores, restaurants and entertainment venues that look alive with “dramatic signage,” something Eugene lacks, he said.
Another significant design disaster is the amount of what Schneider called “dead walls,” which are blank walls that have no use.
The report provides several suggestions to spruce these up, including community artwork and vibrant, colorful paint.
“It’s paradoxical because Broadway is so beautiful,” Schneider said.
Kelly agreed, saying Broadway negatively affects all of downtown because it is a main street.
Assault, disputes and disorderly and intoxicated subjects are among the hot crimes in the downtown area, according to the report. Graffiti and theft, however, have the highest numbers.
“Graffiti artists have figured out dead walls are ripe for communication,” Schneider said, joking how businesses haven’t.
West Broadway Street has the highest volume of criminal activity in the city’s center, according to the report.
Kelly said nevertheless, he sees hope for downtown’s depressed economy, noting how the completed remodels of Fifth Street Market and the Lane Transit District bus station look promising.
However, the LTD station is among the top ten downtown areas that generate the most calls for “person” crimes, the report shows.
Kelly said the goal is not to remove lingering transients, but to bring more positive people in.
“You want (downtown) to be magnetic,” Schneider said. “We should be making downtown a great place to be that’s exciting.”
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