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Record of Decision Attachment C -Agency Comment and Responses
<br />I ~ C:7:i: .,a:. to SUnw;vt araoruery [oat Fan~3
<br />E mgmni 1u, ation. Salpln would be n ouudidafe, Uut Euganohas betterauxrea W rile jxglulatiun
<br />oancentraLione of southern Oregon: At the time of the building of the previous enurthnuse,
<br />SpringCieldwasaSmaIlcity.
<br />+ That decision; and ethers like it far Goth puhlir.and privtite :developments, reinfarc~l '
<br />~ I:~ sine's yoaition as the region`s crontral city. I~:.zilities tliatwerd regional in scope and rl:ac
<br />uc~~.~.ted frequent, rapid ihtgraatioiis,eepcCiuGr I:.eeda•faaE COritaats, chose the ~ugeau
<br />drwntown. Tictse ehoicaehave craat?d a atuster of employers aelliitgspecialized sarvicei to
<br />utdivtduals, firma, and b'ovrrmtienGtl agonaroa, i+nd 6uying'fn>m yet other slustcrs of
<br />sii~itxrting 6tisineasaa_The, e£Aeienpies thsttlie~,a buym•a and sellers fiiim acivssthe region
<br />..and within the Iatgene•5pringfield metropplitxn areaenjoy stem from the size cittd
<br />on ot`the primary ciustsr of epecialixedfucsHties and services. 13reak',up the cluster'
<br />;,r.~ ~ o ~ iminiah the efhcienciea; that is, we -the entire legion, not just Lugene--Iose the
<br />~~.-i,uic i,i thelower-coats and kvgherrevenues '-
<br />~ourcnovee is a texttwok cttae al's regional Cacihty. Lven ns a~ncra] cities have Inst thE~ir
<br />w:~aufacturmgemploymentk,tbusinessparks,und~tlteirretailemployinettLiouxlTa,the
<br />,vornmenf functions have generally remained,centralized, primarilybecauso oTthe
<br />i [ieienciea they therebyenjoy and generate, and accondarily Gecanae public policy has
<br />rcc.-,gn3zed thaZmportance of maintuinrng ukealthy dowtttvwu even as busineasas
<br />,~.:; ~urhanize,l5ed to thelegal funetions of goveinmsnt are the legal fltnctiona o£ the private
<br />_~:. _ar: primarily attarn.opa, but:iiso allthe buainoea?esthst support attorneys with
<br />piofeseional, and commercial services.
<br />SnECO'a walk an eatnomic rlevelepmentisaueat with ]ocaY~gctvornments to the Nor ~ ,,, r,
<br />~ ourconsistentac(vicehrs6c+an"Tfynuarelryingt(trevitali~.eyourdowntotvn,thuiti _~.-
<br />nathmg else, ac least make sure that you buildymtr public faoilitioain the downte~t-,n Ycu
<br />Lhoro nm examples of police stations, libraries, post offices," and ao on that goc bui! t „: i r c
<br />peiiphery,'primarily,becr3u~: of clytapar l~tdand the desire for atnplG~parktug. ,
<br />'L'lie GSA may,view the, courthouaa loeatian decision as a problem of minmiizing ik own
<br />~ internal or insular coNte,7f so; then it mightliiok to lees central IocaLious, including
<br />~.. 9p}in(;Gold, far cheaper land. Suchlarations, pvcu ifthoy reduce costs to Lhe federal
<br />government;: tIo so by, inerea4m g the caste to grarttcally iitl of the other users of ills
<br />coi'r[houaa, Moat of kEiatisera would,:travel taXther,.pecauae businesses have mn3c ]u~.ation
<br />'dscisiunsba~ed on the. reasonable expecW tionkhat the federal courthoucc wouldalwnys be
<br />'locntad in Eugene -
<br />i aen aware Chat the fe legal cwtrtlwuse serves arx area much larger than the southern
<br />~'i Willamette VuLloy, andYhat +he attorneys aitd;pu}ilic that, _use it come from xcliatance. How..
<br />much the people in ]aw Yirma and other govornmont agencies m downtown Lngene use the
<br />~~ coiirfhouse, wmpnred to ptropla from ether pisses, is anempirical queettoa for vrhtch I have
<br />} noinformation. h4y guess ie that many rf tbnatfnrnnys and interested partteacanung from .
<br />out•of-town atilt have coiinectionawitlilrugenelegabfinns,andgtse h „~,~fn life
<br />shat are closeto rho ctisrent caurtlieuso (and dp not e>E'ist'iit the Sprinxf ~ lit ~.lov, n-,:~wnj,
<br />Even if GSAwere to take u purelyiutexr>nl pessyectivn--one that aims ai mStin:izin,• i,-+
<br />oven coats-Lhe Bugpna site may dominate despite its higher land co`sE; F tr t as 1 L see
<br />noted, those higher crsta reflrrthigher value: oat only other 6usinesal L..t a;ao ~-~ :.~mus~
<br />operations, bEnefit from havingtha'dourthouso`in the downtown. Seaor,u i! it not c~eur t ~
<br />~. :
<br />'hhi(elawta5.,.r:..r. 3EPGtvary2001 _ Rol;=s
<br />ne t}rat iho GSA wilfiietualtp pay the £uR dit~erence iii efts vnlue~ ichas a budget £or Itznd
<br />.icguinition,.and it wilbprabably,epnnd ¢gpcoicimately that budget to acquire either site. The
<br />aitevitlue in EaKene; as rofieatad in propertyvnlueb, roust 6e iwa hfuur tuuea that vi
<br />Springfield; Tn athex words, rho Eugene site could ba the better deal'
<br />"re ~ r car way, from'nn econquiio gerapecti~e, Eat`htk, at na t u ,.tLulae d, ~, -:.s~, a to
<br />r .,~nr.:e ckiat in ayexp alternative, a new fodm•a1 euutroia~ ,r~ ~~ t : t ~ ~;t-c b~a'.i
<br />~ ,tih:„intheEtigette•Spritit~eldarru+.[vloatofthebtn_htscithntnu..c%~~arthouo~iit~.
<br />condtruytivn and operation) acerua to the region independa,t ..i,tb 1 ...tw.... o the t... u~ 3
<br />about what lo(:atton is'.going to maximU.e Lh9 net 11en6~ite--hene~t5I888 CpBtS-~t0 the
<br />„-i ;n,
<br />14~. - a regional perspective, it is impoasitilefor mo to see how pissing the new courthouaa
<br />~ a Gaon outaidt; o£d~wntown EuBoue could do unythinBhut tedu,:e Lhe not Lone&ts
<br />i r ~ ue•Springfield region Gom what they would have been hod the cnui~thouse bcs,,,
<br />t ~, u. the l',~tgenedowntnwn.
<br />I . - nossiltte (though I think unlikely}, that,.3pring&nld itself could bo better off by having
<br />,t..- ~.ourthouse Io¢ate'in its downtown. AtCicet Blanca; ono mig64 conclude Spiingfield '
<br />would'benofit from the conatciiction, the federal jobs, and (Later)."the professional and
<br />suppoit jabs. But such an outcome requires that matt ofthe Erontracwre, lahtrcers, fedeeal
<br />workers,:xnd professionals come from 9pi'utgfield, andthat thole purchases he madein
<br />Springyold. The extout to which'that would heplam is an empirical question; but I a:
<br />relntivaly con£dent that, oapecally m the'abart run, u,lot o£ the benefits of coiietavcGo: ~ v 1 t,i
<br />opaxRtidii are falling outside of SpnngHe}d.
<br />Focusing on Springfield alrnta, howevor, misses ilia lwint. hat`s ace+~pt that 5p::c:r:ield
<br />ttaoifwilTbehettezoffeconomicnlty,inwayeandmngiiitudosaimilaru~whatile Gmt'~a
<br />(IvTamornndum From Johnsen Gardner, & Jxt?uary 2DOI}, If the catigthousc K nc~ bw 1 ~ u;
<br />Eugene instead otBprinBGeld; all those imp2ota on Spttngfiold wopldinewad b ^ I ,rn o.,
<br />Eugene; The kaypoinf horo~-#6o point my previous er~mentsleaii to and that [ .ii:.,: airy
<br />urban economist would make-e that whatever Springfield mightgain ie marl; tLE:n clSsc•t
<br />by what Eugenaloana.
<br />One rnri'dnbata the location decision u^ 1wliticnl grounds to ~trua of fairness: u.;u t,...t a
<br />Sprin~nld's turn, ar mgylie its ecomm~y is more duepeintvly in deed of the stimulus of '
<br />e~~ . comsat inves~trnent. Bi~tthe issue of faii°nrsw is diatinet fcatn the issue of pfficie,icy.
<br />t l a nrn5'ttakn a regional farility~ne which benefits fivm a central lueution'in ganoral,
<br />.,v ;fie d~x:adsa of investment in creating the highly intarrelntcd public and prvate
<br />in£raatructuro at that central loestiou--and move it to a tags control arts ttlthout rulucing
<br />acnnomir.: gf6cioncy: another wards, mt avetnga and in total, the >:egion is wogao oft.
<br />t _ • :.~il[, YHWECI'd H671 Fa,y~ro f ,vtbw 3fC6bIf.1 . "~ _ u /'M'lt .~ ~-
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