Representatives from Sponsors, Inc. will be at tonight’s West University Neighbors meeting to answer questions about the program. Sponsors, Inc. is looking to buy a house in the West University neighborhood to provide a place where parolees and ex-convicts currently residing in the area can live together in a supervised environment.
The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the Central Presbyterian Church on the corner of East 15th Avenue and
Patterson Street.
Eugene Police Chief Robert Lehner will discuss policing and crime-related issues in the neighborhood and answer questions for neighborhood residents at the meeting. West University Neighbors board member and University student Don Goldman has lambasted the police at past meetings for unfairly targeting college students and writing tickets without proper justification.
West University Neighbors Chair Drix Rixmann said Lehner will participate in a group discussion about how to throw safe parties in
the neighborhood and how to
party responsibly.
“I’m all for parties; it’s just getting people to be aware that there’s neighbors,” Rixmann said.
There are two open spots on the group’s board of directors, and Rixmann said members of the ASUO contacted him to express their interest in attending the meeting and seeking election to the board.
Rixmann said the ASUO representatives were not very friendly to him and left him feeling rather disheartened about the state of the University’s student government.
“I just kept thinking, ‘Man, what a shitty way to be,’” Rixmann said.
ASUO President Adam Petkun said he is not sure who spoke with Rixmann on the phone and said the ASUO has not decided which staff member will attend the meeting.
Rixmann said he has been bombarded with phone calls in the past month from people interested in talking with the neighborhood association, and he is excited about
the responses.
“The bottom line is we have activity, and that’s what we wanted,” Rixmann said.
— Meghann M. Cuniff