Let's Get Political

So, W and I have become letter to the editor writers. Yes, we are now old enough to write letters to the editor complaining about noisy weed-whackers, traffic, and those darn kids today. No, we are just trying to get people to support the downtown Eugene revitalization measure on the ballot next month. Will had a letter in the Eugene Weekly a couple of weeks ago. Here is a letter I composed to the Eugene Weekly. We'll find out tomorrow whether it got published or not.

I’m just curious. How many of you so opposed to revitalizing downtown actually work, live, or play there on a regular basis? My husband and I live and play, and someday hope to work in downtown Eugene. We love Eugene. We especially love downtown Eugene. We’ve lived downtown going on 5 years now. We shop, play, or eat in downtown as much as we possibly can. We love our little apartment, less than a five-minute walk from the river and numerous parks. We love being next to world-class restaurants and lovely shops. We love being able to buy organic produce and attend Saturday Market every weekend. We love not having to drive a car, but when we do we love being able to park in the convenient city parking. We love the arts and cultural opportunities. We love being close to government and public services.
We also “love” watching the weeds grow in the pit next to the Center Court building in the spring and the rainwater fill up the pit where the Sears building used to be in the winter. As we walk by the empty buildings we imagine the condos and apartments above new storefronts that we COULD be living and working and shopping in, if they only existed. We imagine being able to raise our children in the downtown, small foot-print, community oriented lifestyle we want to give them—a little piece of city nestled in the middle of the natural wonder that is the Willamette Valley—without having to move to Portland like so many of our 30-something, professional friends have done. The good things about downtown Eugene will not disappear with revitalization, because the people that make Eugene so amazing will want to stay and live and work and play there.