What began nearly three years ago as a proposed expansion of the EmX bus route into West Eugene has developed into a contentious issue that has yielded alternatives and possible solutions.
“What we have been talking about is just the tip of the iceberg,” Joshua Skov, a City Sustainability Commission member, said at a meeting on Tuesday. “In fact, it’s just a small flake off of the tip of the iceberg.”
To facilitate the ongoing talks between the City of Eugene, Lane Transit District, and Eugene residents, the city gave the nine-member Coordinated Land Use and Transportation Action Committee the task of sorting through issues, as well as identifying the most important ones.
“I think there are many possible tasks here, and we want to figure out the one that actually makes sense for us,” Skov said. “We’ll be digging into a lot of detail of which there is a giant heaping mountain.”
At issue during the committee’s meeting Tuesday was whether LTD’s most recent analysis of possible alternatives accurately reflected all the possible consequences the EmX expansion project would have on the West Eugene area and identified concerns that were expressed by the local community.
“This is not about coming and favoring ‘this route’ or ‘no build’ or whatever is the preferred alternative,” Skov said. “Rather, from what I have seen from the alternative solutions analysis and the non-digesting of it has made me think that this is what we need to do — we need to facilitate a clearer discussion. Some things are getting ignored here and there, and some things are being breezed by because of the large amount of information in the report.”
For some committee members, certain consequences and issues raised by alternatives may be an attempt to divert attention from other more important issues.
“It’s not to say that certain things don’t matter, but the question is whether certain measures of effectiveness can be moved down, because they’re not helpful in distinguishing among the build options,” Skov said. “If something is not useful in distinguishing among the build options, then not focus on it. Let’s then focus on the stuff that really does make a difference.”
Other committee members also noted that lessening impact to community members may have a negative impact on LTD as well.  
“The more you mitigate the impact to the current landowners, the less of an opportunity you’ll have in the future to create a light rail,” John Belcher, a Eugene Planning Commission member, said. “That is not something that I see here, so I definitely think that it needs to be taken into account.”  
West Eugene resident Carlis Nixon said that not all the alternatives are being openly discussed as viable alternatives to the expansion or “no build” arguments. During the committee meeting, Nixon proposed investing in a transportation management system that would redesign transportation operations and could save the city nearly $80 million.
“I am usually in favor of public and rapid transit, but I have come to find that I am strongly opposed to the EmX, which I believe is not the same thing as rapid transit,” Nixon said, who has used the Eugene public transportation system for the past 20 years. “The more I hear LTD talk about it, the more clear it becomes to me that what it’s really about for them is reducing their operating costs, and (they) are not looking at what is good for the community.”
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