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Task force works to clean up neighborhood - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon,USA Page 1 of 3 <br /> www.registerguard.com I ©The Register-Guard, Eugene,Oregon <br /> May 11, 2003 <br /> Task force works to clean up <br /> neighborhood <br /> By Mark Baker <br /> The Register-Guard <br /> CORRECTION (ran 5/14/03): A story on page D1 Sunday <br /> reported the wrong Rotary Club that documented more than <br /> 100 cases of graffiti in the West University neighborhood on <br /> Saturday. The Southtowne Rotary Club of Eugene was the <br /> correct Rotary Club. <br /> Caution: Tree Planting Ahead. <br /> It was a triangular orange road sign, positioned on Ferry Street <br /> in Eugene's West University neighborhood Saturday morning, <br /> meant to warn drivers of what was taking place ahead. <br /> But it was also a symbol of how far the neighborhood has come <br /> since the last riot here, seven months ago, and what the future <br /> might hold. <br /> "You know, sometimes good things and opportunity come out <br /> of adversity," Eugene City Councilor David Kelly said, standing <br /> near the intersection of 16th Avenue and Ferry Street, where <br /> street signs in the circular, center median that had been <br /> damaged by fire last September were replaced with new ones <br /> earlier in the week. <br /> City and university employees, along with volunteers and <br /> members of the West University Task Force, came Saturday to <br /> plant about 20 trees along Ferry Street and help clean up the <br /> neighborhood. The task force was formed last fall after a Sept. <br /> 27 riot involving about 1,500 people, mostly University of <br /> Oregon students. The rioters set fire to furniture and other <br /> items in the intersection of 14th Avenue and Ferry Street, as <br /> well as other places in the neighborhood. <br /> The neighborhood has been plagued by student riots and <br /> excessive partying over the years. <br /> "This is something tangible that people could see," said UO <br /> senior Jackie Reed, a member of the task force who lives in the <br /> neighborhood and was the driving force behind Saturday's <br /> cleanup and tree planting. <br /> The task force met weekly for six months after its formation <br /> last fall, and has been meeting every two weeks recently, Reed <br /> http://vvvvw.registerguard.com/cgi-bin/printStory py?name=d1.cr.cleanup.0511&date=200305... 5/16/03 <br />