From: <br />Dr. David Illig <br />To: <br />Eugene RR -SC Plan <br />Subject: <br />Santa Clara Plan and Quality of Live....... <br />Date: <br />Monday, October 30, 2023 9:22:16 AM <br />IYou don't often get email from drdavidillig@gmail.com. Learn why this is im oa rtant <br />[EXTERNAL <br />Hello and thank you for looking into the future of SC/RR. I would like to reinforce some <br />issues that seem to get insufficient attention in all of the discussions in the last months <br />concerning Santa Clara/River Road area. <br />I have worked in mental health my entire life and am well aware of all of the large and serious <br />problems facing every community, including ours. So it is a given that I support wise and <br />effective programs that support and help the needy and struggling in every community. <br />However, in most meetings related to the future of Santa Clara there is little or no focus on <br />what I call quality of life, aesthetics, beauty, pleasure, fun, social interaction. <br />Why is Santa Clara River Road so ugly? Why isn't it more attractive and pleasant and fun and <br />nice to hang out in? Why do we have to drive to anything nice? <br />Why are there so few attractive buildings? <br />Why are there almost no nice restaurants? Why isn't there a nice brew pub? Why isn't there a <br />good bakery? Why isn't there even a nice family bar to watch sports in? Why are so many <br />business sites either ugly or homely at best? Why isn't there an urgent -care center. Why are so <br />many businesses of low quality rather than high quality in terms of appearance, inside and <br />out? Why is strip mall considered good architecture? <br />And businesses that are said to be good really wouldn't qualify as good, anywhere else in <br />Eugene or other towns or cities. <br />And it is always brought up that there are so many poor people, so nothing can be nice. Or <br />when all the poor people are taken care of, then things can be improved. I find this insulting, <br />given that I grew up in a family that had plenty of poverty, and we still knew the difference <br />between low quality, ugly, and high quality, beauty, or good design. We just went to really <br />nice places less often. Even poor people can have good taste. Why is Santa Clara business <br />areas probably the homeliest neighborhood in the area of Eugene? Public areas the least <br />inviting? <br />And if asked, it is always said there isn't any money in SC/R. And yes, there are plenty of poor <br />people, just like everywhere, but there are plenty of people with lots of money. Look at the <br />many nice expensive houses. But people in Santa Clara are supposed to drive 5 miles to get to <br />something nice, no reason to have anything really nice, and also really nice. Why doesn't it <br />seem like anyone is in charge of making Santa Clara a really nice place to live like so many <br />other areas in Eugene/Springfield? <br />And the excuses are bogus and don't apply to many other areas in Eugene or other <br />24 <br />