Democratic State Rep. Bob Ackerman of Eugene announced Tuesday night that he will help the Save Westmoreland Coalition in its push to nix the University’s proposed sale of Westmoreland Apartments.
Ackerman pledged his support during a two-hour public forum sponsored by the coalition, a combination of various student and community groups opposed to the University’s plan to sell the 404-unit complex in west Eugene.
A number of elected officials attended Tuesday’s forum as well as a meeting Monday afternoon with University administrators in which Senior Vice President and Provost John Moseley outlined the reasons for selling the apartments and took questions from officials. No one from the University administration attended Tuesday’s forum.
Ackerman, who is not seeking re-election, said the University won’t get as much as it thinks it will from the property purchases it’ll be making with the money from the apartment sale and said the overall reasoning for the sale is flawed.
“I was not persuaded by the dog and pony show I heard yesterday at Johnson Hall,” Ackerman said.
Ackerman, who graduated from the University’s School of Law, said “I’m so convinced that this is a bureaucratic boondoggle” that he will be meeting with a friend today to form a plan of legal action.
“He and I have done some public interest litigation, and we’re ready to rev up the engines,” Ackerman said.
More than 25 people spoke during the forum, emphasizing the ethnic diversity Westmoreland boasts and attributing the fact that they’re able to attend the University to the low rents at Westmoreland. Ackerman, Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson, Mayor Kitty Piercy, State Rep. Paul Holvey of Eugene, City Councilor Chris Pryor, State Sen. Floyd Prozanski of Eugene and Rep. Terry Beyer of Springfield attended the forum along with more than 110 students, faculty members and Eugene citizens.
Chris Miller, vice chairman of the Westmoreland Tenants Council said Westmoreland brought in more than $400,000 in profit for University Housing and said money from Westmoreland has been used to pay off debt for Spencer View Family Housing.
ASUO President Adam Walsh criticized the University administration for not attending the forum and for scheduling a meeting with the invited elected representatives the day before “in an attempt to subvert the discussion somewhat and be able to answer questions behind closed doors,” Walsh said.
Moseley said during Monday’s meeting that the apartments should have been sold long ago, and he said selling the apartments will benefit thousands of students, whereas keeping them will only benefit about 400. The turnover rate at Westmoreland is about one-third each year, and about 600 people currently live there.
Moseley said the money from the sale will all go back into University Housing eventually.
Walsh said that to assume that selling the apartments will only benefit 400 students “is not only misleading but is completely insulting” because it doesn’t take into consideration that future students could benefit from having Westmoreland Apartments available to rent.
Officials and speakers emphasized the fact that selling Westmoreland to a company interested in operating it as low-income apartments will still mean many current tenants will be displaced because students aren’t eligible for subsidized, low-income housing, which is what the apartments would become if any of the affordable housing companies took them over.
Ackerman and Sorenson pledged their complete support for the coalition’s cause, and Prozanski and Holvey said they remain concerned about the affects of the sale on access to affordable housing and education for current and future students.
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Senior News Reporter Eva Sylwester contributed to this report.