Journal Entry VIII

The following is part of a series of reposted journal entries made for a reporting class I am taking right now. They aren't particularly edited, or necessarily even interesting (though hopefully they are), but they do a pretty good job of expressing what I am doing right now. And, of course, they are pre-made content. Reader beware.

Journal Entry 8: Oakway Center

One more neighborhood entry. I wanted to talk about the Oakway Center (and by extension much of Coburg Road and the Valley River Center to the West), because it is an interesting element of the Cal Young Neighborhood. These two major economic areas bound the neighborhood by either side to the Southeast and Southwest, and comprise the highest level of contact between the neighborhood and the rest of Eugene. Most Eugene residents have visited one, if not both, of these sites, but few have ventured northward to explore the rest of the neighborhood. While talking with people in the Oakway Center, I found customers who had travelled from as far as Junction City so that they could shop at some of the stores. The VRC attracts shoppers from all over the region, from as far away as Albany or Cottage Grove.

To me, these economic centers of the neighborhood have a lot to say about the values of the community. The influx of nonresidents certainly has an impact on the openness and trust of the residents. The heavy commercialization of the South is reflected in the insular residential districts and the relative lightness of commercial businesses in the residential areas. Another thing to note is that the area provides an in between Eugene and Springfield. Eugene’s preference for small and local business is contrasted with Springfield’s wont for chain stores. Cal Young achieves the happy mean of the yuppie community-conscious chain store, meaning something like a Borders bookstore.

Journal Entry 1

The following is the first in a series of reposted journal entries made for a reporting class I am taking right now. They aren't particularly edited, or necessarily even interesting (though hopefully they are), but they do a pretty good job of expressing what I am doing right now. And, of course, they are pre-made content. Reader beware.

Journal Entry 1: Neighborhood Meetings

In following the neighborhood coverage, I have travelled all over the Cal Young Neighborhood in an attempt at finding out what made the neighborhood tick. I went from Coburg to the VRC, North to the tip of Eugene, and East – deep into what I consider Springfield but is part of the neighborhood. But in addition to my exploration, I made contact with the neighborhood association in an attempt to find out more about the concerns of neighborhood members. The association president invited me to a couple of their meetings, which I gladly accepted.

As I drove into the heart of Cal Young, I could not help but make comparisons between the neighborhood and that of my home town of Corvallis. The populations are very similar demographically, with a predominate white, liberal, upper-middle class. They are educated, many professionally, and are willing to get motivated for causes they believe in (often local issues). Corvallis has many of the same little streets leading to big houses, with few big roads but lots of cul-de-sacs surrounded by two-story houses with front yards. The houses are neither old, nor young, and tend to be guarded by children’s toys instead of iron bars. It is very different from my expectations of a divided-class neighborhood.