Last updated on 05/31/2018
UO will permanently close 15th, build plaza for Slusher’s Schlong. The RG has the story here,
With the usual PR flack BS:
Closing East 15th Avenue would result in the loss of 115 parking spaces used by students, employees and visitors, said UO spokeswoman Molly Blancett.
“Based on our most recent evaluations, we have a net surplus of parking spaces today and can absorb this change,” she said.
In other news, the formerly historic Bill Hayward now has an anti-teardown website, here.
Hayward Field teardown public info meeting Th May 31st at 7PM:
No, of course the UO Foundation is not hosting a public event to explain what’s going on, what with the FBI investigation of the IAAF bidding process still underway. This is from the teardown opponents:
Hayward Field East Grandstand Public Information Evening
FACILITATED BY: East Grandstand Supporters
EVENT: East Grandstand Public Information Evening PLACE: Agate Hall, 1787 Agate Street
DATE: Thursday, May 31, 2018
TIME: 7-8:30pm
TOPIC: Presentation, speakers, and interactive conversation about the Hayward Field renovation project and concerns about the East Grandstand, including discussion regarding public process, campus and neighborhood impacts, historic preservation, design, and potential impacts to the sport of track and field. The meeting is offered to provide the public with the information needed to better understand the scope and impact of this project, and how citizens can contribute to the public discussion.
SPEAKERS:
Peter John Thompson (former IAAF coach)
Robert Melnick, Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture UO
Don Peting, Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Historic Preservation UO James Tice, Professor of Architecture UO
with other notable legal, sport, and architectural contributors.
WHO ARE WE? East Grandstand Supporters advocate for the retention of the East Grandstand and its rehabilitation as the historic cornerstone of a fully renovated, state-of-the-art Hayward Field design. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/haywardfield2021/
The university’s strategy seems to be to get the trees cut and the grandstand bulldozed quick, given the potential for indictments to cause people to think twice about what the hell is going on.
Video of UO’s initial pitch to the IAAF here:
And follow the Track and Field link below for more history and documents.
Oh, great, now that the parking situation is finally somewhat bearable, they want to make it wretched again. Way to go!
UO has a “net surplus” of a lot of things, including but not limited to PR bullshit, but parking spaces is not one of them. Fake news!
It’s insulting to everyone who works at UO to suggest, as Molly Blancett does, that there’s an “abundance” of parking on campus. That can only be true to someone who lives in a world of spreadsheets — or gets to campus before 7 am. As for that parking garage she says the UO wants to build north of Franklin, it doesn’t take one of the genius PR flaks to figure out that’s obviously going to be for (and filled up by) the folks in the Knight Campus. At least we’ll have Priapus Field!
Didn’t some admin push the notion of razing Mac Court to build a parking structure? Somehow, gettin rid of parking is the catalyst for the claim they need another $200 million in debt for a place to park….
This will not help the circulation of traffic on campus; nor will it help move-in day.
Unfortunately, none of this is for the student”s benefit. That concern ended a while back….
As professor WHH once told me, “It’s not as if universities were ever run for the benefit of the students. But at least I can remember when we ran them for the faculty, instead of for the administrators.”