By Meghann M. Cuniff
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
University, city and county officials will soon be presented with a request from the West University Neighbors to hold public hearings to allow citizens a voice in the administration’s plans for a new
basketball arena.
The neighborhood association unanimously approved the resolution in a two-hour meeting attended by more than 30 people Thursday night at Central Presbyterian Church.
“It’s a multifaceted issue,” community activist Zachary Vishanoff said, adding that a public process for a project like the arena is “common sense stuff that should have been happening anyway.”
The resolution, proposed by Vishanoff, was modified to include the University in the request for a public process at the urging of Ward 3 City Councilor David Kelly.
Kelly said a demand for a public process is best directed at University officials because city zoning laws can only require the University to answer the question of how it will mitigate potential traffic problems.
“It is not the city or the county that will be a decision-maker,” Kelly said.
The association also passed a resolution asking for improved services to parolees living in the neighborhood after hearing a presentation from Richard Green, chairman of the board of directors for Sponsors, Inc.
Sponsors, Inc. is a non-profit organization that aims to aid prisoners with the transition back into society.
Between 70 and 100 parolees currently live in the neighborhood but do not have the supervision Green would like to be able to provide.
The organization is looking to buy quads in the neighborhood for parolees to live in to improve a post-prison supervision system that is already in place in the neighborhood.
City Planner Steve Gallup gave an update on the alley-paving project slated to begin in the spring.
It was calculated that the cost of repairing the alleys would total about $30,000 per block, and Gallup said property owners would pay for the project.
Board member Don Goldman questioned Kelly about the constitutionality of the Eugene “party
patrol,” admonishing the police department for “busting into people’s houses and giving thousands of dollars worth of tickets.”
Kelly said there are no actual laws or rules specifically put in place for the so-called party patrol; rather, it is a question of whether the police are obeying the search laws that have always been in existence.
Eugene citizen Jana Jackson was scheduled to make a presentation concerning a petition that is circulating in support of Eugene police officer Randy Ellis but left instead.
Ellis made national headlines in December for placing “no trespassing” and “no soliciting” signs around the neighborhood, which were ordered to be removed after questions arose regarding their legality.
Jackson said outside the meeting it was obvious a petition in support of a police officer would not get support from the “hostile” meeting attendees.
“It seems like an extremely anti-police meeting and an extremely pro-party meeting,” Jackson said.
The association held a moment of silence at the beginning of the meeting for Victoria “Hatoon” Adkins, a popular campus figure who was hit and killed by a car on Tuesday.
Homelessness will be a topic of discussion for the association in the coming months, association chair Drix Rixmann said.
“We all know what it’s like to go whiz on a wall,” Rixmann said, stressing the importance of empathizing with the homeless. “We need to provide a place for these people to go.”
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