Opportunity to speak your mind

At the last minute, the Mayor scheduled a public forum for tonight:

"Community Forum on West Broadway Advisory Committee (WBAC) Recommendations"
Wednesday, September 19 - 5:30 p.m.
City Hall, 777 Pearl Street, Council Chamber

The result of the "WBAC" meetings, were milquetoast recommendations, which hold the developer to no public standard whatsoever. Their recommendations certainly don't save the Tango Center, or anything else along West Broadway. The relocation compensation will not save us, or our affordable commercial neighborhood.

This was all expected. The WBAC was formed for PR purposes, and stacked with Urban Renewal boosters. If the KWG Urban Renewal spending Measure passes this November, we're doomed.

The press will be at tonight's meeting, so you could go and make your opinion heard, if you're concerned about any of these things:

1. Deceptive PR exercises to give the impression that the City responds to citizen input.
2. $40 million in City subsidies to develop expensive, upscale shopping malls
3. The destruction of an affordable commercial district
4. The destruction of a downtown district that is revitalizing already
5. The destruction of historic buildings (The Public Market and Bristow buildings) continuing the wasteful legacy of Urban Renewal.
6. The huge negative impact Urban Renewal districts in Oregon have on funding for Schools and Social Services.
7. The lack of an empowered, democratic planning process.
8. The lack of clarity, transparency and democracy in City spending.

I personally have found the City planning staff, supported by the Council majority and City staff management, to be very disrespectful of, and deceptive towards, local small business and non-profit activity. The planners are very indoctrinated -- they believe that creating high-rent districts is the best way to spend public money. Do you disagree? Please tell them so, publicly, so Eugene's citizens begin to realize that Urban Renewal is NOT a public-interest activity.

Here are the very abstract "recommendations" of the WBAC:

http://www.eugene-or.gov/westbroadway

And here's the far more informative minority report, by one committee member:

http://downtowneugene.blogspot.com/2007/09/minority-report-from-wbac.html

Urban Renewal is a drain on all of us -- on our schools, our small businesses, our social services, and our wallets. Let's do what we can to stop this disaster!