A strong neighborhood doesn’t come easy. At least, it hasn’t for Drix Rixmann and the rest of the West University Neighbors association.
Saturday marked what Rixmann said will be remembered as a golden day in the history of the West University neighborhood; the West University Neighbors hosted an information session and neighborhood meeting in West University Park on 14th Avenue between Hilyard and Patterson.
“I think it was a tremendous success,” Rixmann said. “It was a perfect blend of people.”
The event drew more students than any previous meeting of the neighborhood association, Rixmann said, with an estimated 40 students stopping by throughout the afternoon.
Mayor-elect Kitty Piercy spoke at the meeting, commending Rixmann and the rest of the neighborhood
association’s efforts to unify the University and the rest of the Eugene community and encouraging them to continue working with students.
“We need to make our University and our city even closer allies together,” she said. “Students bring talents, ideas and a future into our community.”
The West University Neighbors association had been dormant for nearly a decade, making the neighborhood the only one in Eugene without a community forum until Rixmann and a handful of other neighborhood residents decided last fall that the neighborhood was in desperate need of help.
A string of riots had strained the relationship between the neighborhood and the University, and city officials had long been looking for a way to solidify a healthy student presence in the neighborhood west of campus.
West University Neighbors was created, and now meets once per month to discuss issues pertinent to the lives of neighborhood residents, such as riot prevention, improved communication between neighbors and neighborhood beautification.
Larry von Klein of von Klein Property Management was at the meeting to discuss a proposal to build a 27-unit apartment complex near 10th and Patterson, similar to Von Klein’s Hilyard House, located at 725 E 14th Ave.
Von Klein is asking for the West University Neighbors’ endorsement for Eugene’s Multi Unit Property Tax Exemption program. Twenty neighborhood residents must be present for the association to vote on the issue, and only 12 were present for the meeting.
Rixmann said attendance at meetings has shown slow but steady improvement, and he is positive the improvement will continue.
“If this was my QuickBook, I’d be happy because we’re getting more,” Rixmann said. “Like skin, we’re healthy and we’re growing.”

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