Thursday’s wind storm lasted only a couple of hours, but people living in apartments and greek houses on Alder Street between 14th and 15th avenues spent the entire weekend without power, and, in some cases, heat and phone service.
The Eugene Water and Electric Board spent the weekend restoring power to many of the 18,000 Eugene-Springfield customers left in the dark after 70-mph gusts blew into the area, and power was restored to the Alder Street area by 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
EWEB crews worked 18-hour days restoring power, and eight crews from Portland lent a hand. But some residents and business owners said EWEB improperly ignored University students and gave preferential treatment to other community members.
A crowd of greek students welcomed the arrival of utility crews Sunday afternoon, but criticized the slow response.
“What’s the deal here?” Sigma Alpha Epsilon member Shane Morrison said. “In Portland they work ’round the clock.”
Paul Reader, who co-owns Pegasus Smokehouse Pizza on 14th Avenue, said his campus-area shop lost considerable business because of the outage.
“We’ve lost business for four days,” said Lori Reader, the other owner. “I’m beside myself.”
“The city and the city agencies have no respect for the students,” Paul Reader said, adding that he thinks the city gives student renters worse service than owners who pay property taxes.
“Students are three-fifth citizens, like slaves,” he said.
The Readers said they placed more than 50 calls to the city and the utilities board, urging them to make the area a priority.
But an EWEB employee fixing lines on Alder Street on Sunday said that with more than 300 trees and 60 utility poles down, the process wasn’t going to be completed overnight, and students weren’t the only ones affected by fallout from Thursday’s storm.
“Do you realize how many people are out of power?” EWEB crew supervisor Bob Hardin said. “There’s still a lot of old people without power.”
With the lights out and the heat off, neighborhood students said they did their best to stay warm and occupied during the weekend.
“Last night we had a bonfire on the porch,” Pi Kappa Alpha member Mike Wilder said.
“It’s like camping, but no fun,” housemate Jeff Hendryx added.
Senior business major Scott Furey said he ditched his Alder Street apartment and stayed at friends’ houses.
“We can’t really sleep here — it’s really too cold,” Furey said.
Sara Henderson of Kappa Kappa Gamma said many members of her house had reserved hotel rooms Sunday night in case the power wasn’t restored.
“We have all the windows and doors open because it’s warmer outside,” she said.
Once the power came on, students went back to postponed papers and homework previously ignored.
“The second the computer comes on, I’m gonna start typing,” Pi Kappa Alpha member Jesse Harding said Sunday afternoon. But Sunday night, after power was restored, Harding had changed his priorities.
“The first thing I did was turn on the heat,” he said.