Fee proposal for vacant buildings rejected.Byline: Edward Edward killed his father at his mother’s instigation. [Br. Balladry: Edward in Benét, 302] See : Patricide Russo The Register-Guard A proposal to levy a special fee on vacant downtown buildings died for lack of support at the Eugene City Council on Wednesday. City Councilor coun·cil·or also coun·cil·lor n. A member of a council, as one convened to advise a governor. See Usage Note at council. coun Betty Taylor wanted the council to consider imposing a fee on unoccupied buildings, especially the empty storefronts on West Broadway, between Willamette and Charnelton streets. But Taylor failed to get another councilor to second her motion, so the idea went nowhere. Most of the underused buildings on the two-block stretch are owned by Eugene businessmen Tom Connor and Don Woolley. Some of their buildings are partly filled with tenants. But their five-story Centre Court building at Willamette Street and Broadway is entirely vacant. Critics have said the vacancies in the buildings hurt downtown. If landlords had to pay a special fee on their unoccupied spaces, Taylor said, they might try harder to attract tenants. The vacancies on West Broadway create demand for police patrols and other public services Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing private provision of services. , Taylor said. `I don't see (the fee) as being punitive pu·ni·tive adj. Inflicting or aiming to inflict punishment; punishing. [Medieval Latin p  n ,' she said.
"It's really about doing your share."
Owners of vacant commercial buildings pay property taxes. Connor and Woolley paid $12,847 last year on the Centre Court building. But most councilors said a fee could hinder hin·der 1 v. hin·dered, hin·der·ing, hin·ders v.tr. 1. To be or get in the way of. 2. To obstruct or delay the progress of. v.intr. West Broadway redevelopment. To avoid the fee, landlords might rent to undesirable businesses or convert their buildings to warehouses, they said. "Lord knows, the tenants might be worse than the empty buildings," said Councilor Chris Pryor. The city should use incentives instead of penalties to promote downtown redevelopment, he said. "I still think we are trying to work on the carrot carrot, common name for some members of the Umbelliferae, a family (also called the parsley family) of chiefly biennial or perennial herbs of north temperate regions. ," Pryor said. In addition to paying property taxes, downtown property owners pay the city an annual assessment of 16 cents per square foot on occupied space. Most of that money goes to Downtown Eugene Inc., which provides marketing and advocacy for downtown businesses, and downtown guides for security. Owners do not pay the fee on unoccupied space. Mayor Kitty Piercy "Kitty" Piercy is the current mayor of Eugene, Oregon, sworn in January of 2005. The press dubbed Piercy's election part of a "shift to the left" for the Eugene City Council. and Councilor Bonny Bonny (bŏn`ē), town, SE Nigeria, in the Niger River delta, on the Bight of Biafra. In the 18th and 19th cent., Bonny was the center of a powerful trading state, and in the 19th cent. it became the leading site for slave exportation in W Africa. Bettman were not at the meeting because they are in Washington, D.C. Downtown Eugene Inc. Director Russ Brink noted that the council on March 12 will review proposals from two Portland developers interested in Broadway properties. New or renovated buildings on the street "will be the key" to resolving the problem of empty storefronts, Brink said. |
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