West Broadway Advisory Committee Final Report

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Thomas Lincoln presented different concepts for what such a park might Comment by Rob. Handy look like to WBAC. Unfortunately, we did not have adequate time to fully explore these options given all the other tasks at hand. Had we the time to CPA'is excited about opportunities for our Downtown. A significant group fully dialogue with them and to hear their responses to the few objections of downtown property owners and business people were appointed to the raised, I believe there would have been more support for a park. West Broadway Advisory Committee (WBAC). As a member of Citizens for Public Accountability (CPA), I was honored to be asked to participate on the . Mr. Gillem and Mr. Lincoln have now combined their respective ideas into Committee. ~ ` - one concept previously not seen by the committee (see below). I believe their idea is one worthy further study. This is a once in a lifetime oppor- What went wrong? One member's view: tunity to bring a park to our downtown. Let's not bury it in buildings and concrete! 1) BEGIN AS WE MEAN TOGO ON - Dan Bryant t , -When CPA was asked to artici ate on the Committee b several decision- makers, CPA made it clear that our issues and interest reside in discussing and considering the balance of public investment with demonstrable pub- . ^ ;t~ ~ 1,6 ! . lit benefit---how will the public money be spent and for what. Il c~. s y ~ ' F ~ ~ ~ We were assured that though the Council motion was silent on the topic, it ~ ~ , , , was inherently obvious that the Committee needed to address the Five Ele- . 1 ` ~ ments in a climate of fiscal discipline, with a goal to prioritize the ultimate 1,~., ~ + ; recommendations to Council. Given this, CPA agreed to participate. .,:N ~ Once the Committee began to meet, support for the CPA perspective van- ' _,t < a., , g fished. Our hard-working Co-Chairs and one City Councilor unilaterally de- y ` ` tided on a narrow interpretation of the Council motion. ~ . 1 M Il.. y t~ ~ 1.~ 1 h a ' 1`~ ~ 2) CART BEFORE THE HORSE a , ~~R ~ Many communities have successful downtowns by first having public char- ~ ` * - t' ~ a r {'4 ~ rettes that identify design principles and a communityvision, before asking ~ b. 9~_ 1 _V _ ~ y'; ~ y e for bids and specific design proposals from the development community. T " ~ ' A-~_, ~ ~ , City of Eugene chose to skip engaging the public as an important first step. _ ~s~. Instead, by issuing an RFQ for West Broadway redevelopment, out of town ~ ~ developers essentiallytookthe lead on designing our downtown. 2 ~ Appendices