05/08/1989 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e Mr. Holmer said the opening of Olive Street should not be viewed as an adequate substitute for the opening of Willamette Street. He also said he has no fear of abiding by the opinion of the voters on this issue. He said he was frustrated by members of the City Council who think they know how the public would vote on the Willamette Street issue. He said the community should be given an opportunity to hear both sides of the debate and to make a choice. Mr. Brown said he believed that people with substantial financial investments on Willamette Street would support the reopening. He said consideration should be given to views of these business people. Mr. Boles said the Willamette Street issue needs to be discussed in conjunction with another--namely, the fact that the 8th and Willamette site, the traditional location of the Eugene Celebration, may be developed soon. He said the downtown needs a central place for major public gatherings. Mayor Miller said evidence from other communities indicates that downtown malls tend to be much more successful when they have good vehicular access to them, while malls with poor vehicular access, such as Eugene.s, have done poorly. Mr. Bennett supported Mr. Boles. suggestion to discuss the broad downtown issues and Mr. Holmer's suggestion to place the Willamette Street issue to a public vote. He said the City Council should not avoid the Willamette Street reopening merely because it perceives a lack of support among the public. He said such support does not simply appear; rather, it takes leadership, on the part of City Councilors and others, to generate this type of public consensus. Mr. Bennett said one does not have to be a downtown expert to realize how important vehicular access is to economic health; one only has to compare the mall with the parts of downtown that have been reopened to vehicular traffic in recent years. Ms. Ehrman cautioned that the opening of Willamette Street will not be a panacea. Vehicular access is not the only component of a successful downtown--just look at the downtowns in the country that have plenty of vehicular access but are nonetheless in economic decline. Mr. Rutan agreed; however, he said Eugene has done a lot to establish some of the other components of a successful downtown (a good mix of retail, professional, and government uses, for example, as well as a performing arts center). He said it makes sense to complement these elements by improving downtown's vehicular access. Mr. Rutan also said the City has not done a good job of exposing the community to the studies that have been done of downtown issues. There is a perception, for example, that opening Willamette Street would mean creating a four-lane, high-speed roadway, when it actually means creating a street that effectively combines vehicular access with pedestrian activity and amenities (as in the Downtown Public Spaces Study done by Don Miles). Finally, Mr. Rutan stressed that malls such as Eugene's have not succeeded in the United States. MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 8, 1989 Page 4