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Saving Scobert Park . Advisory committee submits suggestions L ast September, Eugene officials banning the sale of beer and fortified reached an inescapable conclu- wine throughout the areas near sion: Scobert Park at Fourth Scobert, would require City Council and Blair in the Whiteaker area had approval. Others, such as organizing become an intolerable scene for drug art shows and putting on summer dealing and other illegal activities. workshops on gardening and history, The city's only hope of reclaiming the would require major commitments of park for neighborhood residents with - time and energy by neighborhood res- in existing resources lay in partially idents and their friends and contacts closing it. throughout the city. Still others, such That unfortunate but correct as the installation of playground choice gave the city and Whiteaker equipment, would require money. area residents a little breathing room, The most important aspect of the time to come up with a long -range committee's recommendations is that plan for driving the riffraff out of the they represent the collective will of park and restoring it for neighbor - Whiteaker area residents to retake hood use. their park. Whatever the details, that Toward that end, the 14- member theme is woven through the 21 pro- posals. And that determination, more , =IMMO= than money, will ultimately be the The most important aspect force that reclaims Scobert for its neighborhood. of the committee's recommendations is that In times, there would be more police patrols in the area of the park, they represent the will of there would be city - funded playground Whiteaker residents to equipment and there would be a drug - retake their park. And that and alcohol -free environment for the determination will be the . area's residents — and especially force that reclaims Scobert. their children — to visit Scobert with- .1•■•■ out fear. But these are not ideal times. Bar - Scobert Park Advisory Committee ring unexpected lifelines from the was created and has been working on courts or the. Legislature, passage last a reclamation plan ever since. Earlier fall of Measure 47 will require the city this month, the committee released a to trim an estimated $10 million from list of 21 proposals aimed at sprucing the next fiscal year's budget. That up the park, cracking down on viola- won't allow many beefed -up police pa- tors of park rules and returning a trols in Scobert or anywhere else. It valuable resource to the area. probably won't allow the city to buy The proposals are as diverse as the amenities such as playground Whiteaker area itself. They range equipment. from the unusual (tai chi classes be- Still, the measure's passage does ing taught in the park) to the obvious offer opportunities, and the neighbors (more citizen - oriented events) to the are looking for ways — creative ways charming (changing the park's name — to use those opportunities to save a to Scobert Garden) to post- Measure 47 special site in their area. They should wishfulness (beefed up police patrols be applauded for their innovative ap- in and around the park). proach to a difficult problem. The en- Somf of the suggestions, such as tire city wished them luck. ,2 -419