Concerned members of the Eugene community visited Market of Choice on Wednesday afternoon for an opportunity to speak one-on-one with Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy and University-area city councilor Alan Zelenka.
The conversations took place behind closed doors, but the mayor and the councilor spoke about the issues that arose.
Zelenka discussed some of the ongoing issues he faces regarding the University.
“There is, of course, the ongoing issue of the arena,” Zelenka said, referring to the University’s plans to build a new basketball arena on the current site of Williams’ Bakery on Franklin Street, which was acquired by the University in 2005.
“How will it get developed? Will there be a new basketball court? If so, will there be enough room for parking at games? These are all questions that haven’t been answered yet,” Zelenka said.
Some of the current issues with rental housing codes are relevant to students because so many of them are tenants in rentals, Zelenka said.
“Updated rental housing codes require landlords to keep up with maintenance. In the past, if a tenant had an issue with maintenance, they would have to go to court. Now they have somebody else to go to, such as a building inspector or safety code enforcement agency,” he said.
Zelenka stressed the importance of students knowing their options and keeping up on laws and ordinances.
The setup of neighborhoods in and around Eugene drew substantial community-member comment, Piercy said. One person was concerned with the number of students living in multi-units. Many of the units are designed to fit as many students as possible into a small space, sometimes resulting in parking issues. The citizen also expressed concern for the integrity of the neighborhoods in which these apartment complexes reside, Piercy said.
“I have deep concern about preserving the variety of housing and quality of life in our older neighborhoods,” Piercy said. “The older neighborhoods have wonderful mixed housing that is rarely found in newer more mono-culture housing developments. It is to our benefit to protect and keep intact our older neighborhoods.”
Another community member felt that planners’ housing patterns should make a better effort to go hand-in-hand with Eugene’s primary and secondary school districts.
“The concern was about some neighborhoods and schools having such high numbers of kids on free and reduced lunches, indicating areas of poverty,” Piercy said. “I promised to look into this.”
Although most of the issues raised were building-related, some concerns were more personal.
“We had a transgendered person ask for help,” Piercy said. “Apparently since the nondiscrimination legislation passed, the individual is constantly approached by some religious zealots who express their condemnation of this person’s life.”
Piercy recommended that the citizen visit the office of Eugene’s Human Rights Center at 833 Willamette St. for support and advice.
Mayor Piercy was happy with the turnout and said all the people who approached her were well worth her time.
“It was altogether quite an interesting mayor’s one on one,” she said. “I am always impressed with the variety of requests and conversations.”
Eugene provides mayor and councilor with food for thought at Market of Choice
Daily Emerald
May 31, 2007
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