Maybe other good reasons to take action now to clean up Eugene.....
"Wow, that's quite the compilation of disgusting downtown photos. This could be a solution to our density issues. Any normal person that stumbles across this website while Googling Eugene will think twice. Maybe this will even scare off some those wealthy college parents to such an extent they'll choose other cities and other colleges.
I totally agree that the downtown is sad, the library stinks of BO, and the mayor is generally useless, but I'm concerned about advertising a visually negative image of our community to the whole world.
The biggest thing that would help downtown in my opinion is getting rid of Urban Renewal District. The URD has historically failed and done nothing other than artificially inflate real estate values in an area that doesn't deserve it. A good example of what can happen if the city wasn't always sitting around picking the downtown scab is what is currently happening on Blair. You have an area that the city has neglected, prices were low, and now true capitalism is flourishing. The same thing could happen on Broadway if the city would stop meddling.
Just my two cents..."
(signed by a citizen who has a genuine concern for the condition downtown)
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"I should point out that line workers often provide their supervisors with clever programs that could save the city/county money, but nobody tends to listen.
To give you an example, I heard of this program being implemented by another city as a cost-saving measure. This city decided they wanted to save money on overnight training where travel and housing expenses were rising. Eugene has a huge training budget. What this city did was they started a program where a worker could earn money by helping the city save money on travel/hotel expenses. If the city gave him/her $100 a night for motel, and $20 a day for food, he could earn half of the money he saved. For example, if he found a cheaper motel on his own, or even found a friend who lived in the area to stay with, the worker would get 50 percent of the savings and the city would get the rest. If I'm staying for three nights at $100 a night, and I stay with a friend, the city just saved $150.00 just for that one employee. Often times multiple employees are sent to training at the same time. If I went out to eat at McDonalds and only spent half of my meal stipend, the city gets half of that back as well (providing receipts of course). This is just one example that came to my mind, but I have heard of many great plans, brought up by line workers, who were just ignored because we don't have anyone in place to help us implement these plans. Supervisors are either too busy with their normal duties, or just don't care. I'm not speaking about any department specifically, but all of them. Another example would be motion sensors in rooms/bathrooms etc. that don't have people in them 24/7. Bathroom lights stay on all day long in most city buildings. How much would it cost to put a motion sensor in there to turn the lights off when no one was inside? The ides are endless and we could literally save hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions. There are many many great ideas, but no one to bring them to get them implemented."
(signed by a concerned citizen with a good idea)
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"The people downtown can throw their ticket in the trash, not show up in court, and they will not spend very much time in jail. Maybe and hour or two. Long enough to book them in and the jail to let them out the back door. The people on the street have come to the realization they can get away with anything because we don't have the jail resources to punish them.
Go back to Rudy Guiliani's reign in New York. He brought crime stastistics WAY down just by creating jail space and arresting criminals for outstanding cases. Simple as that.
Get the politicians, city and county, to stop spending money on BS things and fund the jail and your problem will go away."
(signed by a concerned citizen with their views)
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"Way to stay on this! Keep it up."
(signed by a previous person who posted)
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Another suggestion from a concerned Eugene business person and citizen regarding the budgeting process and where to look for savings:
"Fire department vehicle$ City staff Prius' Metermaid dept. expense vs. Revenue. Taylor's actual travel expense.
Look for the less obvious categories, there are probably a large number that add up to even larger numbers. Pennys to dollars cliche."
