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Task force works to clean up neighborhood - The Register-Guard,Eugene, Oregon, USA Page 2 of 3 <br /> said. Consisting of both city employees and university faculty <br /> and students, as well as residents, the task force is getting <br /> ready to forward its findings to both the city and the UO, she <br /> said. <br /> The group has come up with a list of short-term and long-term <br /> goals to improve the densely populated neighborhood between <br /> 14th and 17th avenues and High and Hilyard streets. <br /> Saturday's event was one of the short-term goals, Reed said. <br /> Mayor Jim Torrey and UO President Dave Frohnmayer showed <br /> up to dig the first hole for a scarlet oak tree in the median at <br /> 16th and Ferry. "I'm proud to be the mayor of a community <br /> that's willing to step in and do something in a situation like <br /> this," Torrey said. "And the president and I get the easy end of <br /> the job. We get to pretend to go over and dig a hole." <br /> The city's Neighbor Woods program, created by the Public <br /> Works Department in 1992, provided the trees and planted <br /> them with the help of the Eugene Tree Foundation, a nonprofit <br /> agency that educates the public on the benefit and function of <br /> neighborhood trees and works with the city on various <br /> projects. <br /> Another goal of the task force is to re-establish the West <br /> University Neighborhood Association that dissipated a few <br /> years ago, said Steve Norris of the city's Neighborhood <br /> Services division in the Planning and Development <br /> Department. "It would just keep the energy going in this <br /> community," Norris said. One of the problems with the <br /> neighborhood is the high percentage of renters, he said. The <br /> neighborhood is one of only a few in the city that does not <br /> have a neighborhood association, Norris said. <br /> Such a group would carry on the work of the task force, <br /> identifying, discussing and resolving neighborhood issues, like <br /> how to reopen the West University Neighborhood Park on 14th <br /> Avenue between Hilyard and Patterson streets, closed a few <br /> years ago because of drug use and other inappropriate <br /> behavior. <br /> Saturday's event did draw one protester. Zachary Vishanoff, <br /> who described himself as someone involved in "planning <br /> issues," stood at the corner of 16th and Ferry. He held a sign <br /> that had the word "node" with a cross through it. Vishanoff <br /> lives near 17th Avenue and Villard Street in Eugene, where the <br /> UO is considering expanding the campus eastward, which could <br /> affect several older homes. <br /> Such "nodal" development is "predatory," Vishanoff said. <br /> "When I see the mayor and university president down here <br /> planting a tree - give me a break," he said. "I'm down here to <br /> say that the city and university are predatory toward <br /> neighborhoods." <br /> http://www.registerguard.com/cgi-bin/printStory.py?name=d l.cr.cleanup.0511&date=200305... 5/16/03 <br />