A string of government centers — city, county and courts all have Eighth Avenue addresses — cannot make a Great Street. Unless your civic buildings are so monumental that people will walk to gawk, people won’t want to go there. They’d rather shop or eat or drink.
W2W: Eugene’s Pretty Good Idea
October 16th, 2015 No Comments
Tags: Brian Obie · Eugene Oregon · food trucks · Kesey Square · Ruth Bascom · Valley River Mall · Willamette River · Willamette Valley
Earning a Raise Requires Earning Trust First
October 2nd, 2015 1 Comment
Voters taxed themselves (twice) to expand the park system. Voters approved the money with relatively few restrictions, trusting city officials to be inventive and opportunistic. The city has leveraged those funds with creativity and consistency.
Tags: Civic Stadium · Eugene City Council · Eugene Oregon · Kesey Square · Parks and Open Space Division · Ridgeline Trail · Ruth Bascom Riverbank · Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail · Spencer Butte · Willamette Valley
Eugene Must Seek Greatness of Spirit First
August 14th, 2015 2 Comments
The greatness must be inside before it can be seen outside. A very good first step came 20 years ago….
Tags: Eugene Oregon · Robb Hankins · Willamette Valley
Bakers’ Newspaper Legacy Surrounds Us
June 5th, 2015 3 Comments
When Alton Baker came to Eugene and bought the Eugene Guard in 1927, he followed his father’s lead, earning the trust of skeptical business leaders. But the Bakers were just getting started.
Tags: Chris Anderson · Elbert Baker · Eugene Oregon · Newspaper · Publishing · The Register-Guard · Tony Baker
You Can’t Spell UGB Without Arithmetic
April 10th, 2015 2 Comments
The raw number of people matters, because those people compete for our jobs or become our customers or get in line ahead of us at the grocery store. The percentage of people arriving just sits on a spreadsheet and stays there.
Tags: Eugene Oregon · STEM · Urban Growth Boundary · Willamette Valley
Time For Belt-Tightening to Get Creative
February 10th, 2014 2 Comments
Let’s reconnect our schools with their neighbors, model lifelong learning for students, and reassure Eugene’s citizens that public agencies can team up to reduce costs.
Tags: Education · Eugene Oregon · Eugene’s 4J School District
Restripe the Street
August 2nd, 2013 9 Comments
After staging literally hundreds of different shows in the same space at Actors Cabaret in downtown Eugene, Roberts knows how to make people suspend their disbelief. He has “street cred” about how to give this stretch of street some credibility.
Tags: Eugene Oregon · Road transport · Traffic · Willamette Street
Eugene’s Other Homeless Population
July 29th, 2013 8 Comments
Tolerance is supposed to be in Eugene’s wheelhouse, but apparently not when it involves wheeled houses.
Tags: Eugene Oregon · Food cart · Food truck · Homelessness
Boulder’s No Eugene
June 28th, 2013 2 Comments
Boulder doesn’t really resemble Eugene. Boulder is more like a cross between Corvallis and Beaverton.
Tags: Boulder Colorado · Eugene Oregon
Looking for Eugene Under Every Boulder
June 28th, 2013 No Comments
Boulder’s total population is 99,000, giving it double Eugene’s density of university students. By that measure, Boulder is twice the “college town” as Eugene.
Tags: Boulder · Boulder Colorado · Eugene Oregon · Oregon