The Emerald has a brief story here. For a deeper dive Try this Christian Hill story in the RG from last year. Just $2.5M for consultants? Presumably this is just the start of what the city will pay:
Eugene city officials expect to spend $14 million on the planned three-acre riverfront park, the showpiece of the community’s years-long effort to connect downtown with the Willamette River.
And they anticipate spending another $4 million on the neighboring one-acre plaza, which will be constructed in a future phase.
The park, scheduled to be completed well before the 2021 world track and field championships, includes green space, a rebuilt section of the riverfront path that separates cyclists and walkers, narrower pedestrian paths that connect to overlooks, interpretative exhibits and public art. It is part of the overall transformation of downtown Willamette riverfront land across from Alton Baker Park into an accessible riverfront neighborhood and community destination.
…
• $10 million for construction;
• $2.5 million for consultant fees;
• $850,000 for utility relocation;
• $650,000 for permitting and fees.
The city has committed $9 million in capital funding to the project already. The funding comes from fees paid by developers and money from parks and street repair bonds that voters approved in two prior years.
Typically sleezy UOMatters clickbait-like title…the approved bond was explicitly for parks and street repair, and these expenditures are for…a park.
I’m not a huge fan of what I’m are real and unnecessary costs associated with the Worlds, on campus and off, but public development of the river, in the heart of the city, in the planning for years before the Worlds came to Eugene, isn’t really part of the bill Bill.
Forgive me. I was a little pissed off because my Caballero almost lost a fake wire-wheel hubcap in a sinkhole on Fairmount. I’ll be sure and read the voter’s guide more carefully next time the city asks for bond money.
The path money comes from the portion set aside for bike and pedestrian projects exclusively. Fairmount will still be rebuilt as part of the 2017 bond: https://www.eugene-or.gov/1086/Bond-Measures-to-Fix-Streets
The bigger deal is the city keeps trying to sucker the citizens into paying 30m+ for a new city hall. Now they’re calling their city hall pet project “a town square”
Turning old buildings and poorly maintained land mostly used as drug dens by homeless people into a river front park that is walkable with restaurants. The city will probably over pay for this, but overall this seems like an ok thing.
Sorry, this redevelopment does nothing but move money from one part of the city to another. Eugene doesn’t have a restaurant deficit, so all that happens is moving the same size market segment from downtown to along the river. But, of course, a small group of people make a profit from the shell game…
Well the city is growing, and millenials want density. So why is this a bad thing to open up what were vacant lots over run with blackberries, trash, and eye sore building into a river front park?
The park is themed to celebrate UO sports and 2021 event.
Please fix the multiple factual errors in the headline. It’s your blog, but really.
got a suggestion?
Sure. How about “City of Eugene keeps promise to use public bond money for park improvements and non-motorized transportation upgrades”? Sorry if it doesn’t get as many clicks.
If you are trying to make the Eugene govt sound like it is doing well even though it is in a deathspiral that sounds great. You ought to get on the city sustainability committee. They eat lots of salads and engage in lots of happy talk.
Another thing-instead of cleaning up the 13 million dollar toxic waste dump near the park site (projected cost for adequate removal) the city and developer have decided to spend about one million into some minimal work that will put a asphalt cap on the superfund site and let some future residents or developers dig it up later. For now the toxic slime will continue to seep into the river at what the deq has decided are tolerable levels. Want the proof ? I delivered two large printed deq reports about it to our interim city manager. If contacted maybe she can dig em up for your amusement.