It’s no secret that the City of Eugene has a long-standing relationship with media attention. The more airtime, the better. And with the arrival of the World Athletics Championships hosted at the University of Oregon’s newly rebuilt Hayward Field, a great deal of emphasis was placed on making the city camera ready.
As part of the effort to provide comfortable accommodations and ambience to welcome so many national and international tourists, the state portioned off some of the $40 million dollars invested in these preparations to remove any visible trace of the houseless population from view.
In response to the devastating impact these decisions have had on our city, members of the organization Stop The Sweeps-Eugene came to the John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Student Athletes on the corner of Franklin Blvd. and Agate St., to stand in protest against the city’s misuse of public funds for a photo opportunity.
Around 3 p.m., on July 19, STSE set up a table and chairs and offered passersby pamphlets and fact sheets on the state of the city’s housing crisis. While some visitors were polite, a few even taking the papers offered to them, the majority of people walking by either outright refused the information, or began to go around the group altogether.
Jessie with Stop the Sweeps passes an informational pamphlet to a passerby and explains the group’s mission. The group’s goal for this protest was to call attention to Eugene’s treatment of the homeless in the shadow of their big global event, though many passing tourists chose to ignore the activists. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
As the various groups of tourists came and went, coming from shuttles and the Lane Transit District’s EMX bus at the Agate St. stop, decisions were made to shift from outright discussion on the housing crisis to more friendly offerings of “Would you like to know more about our city?” and “Hi, Tracktown USA Factsheet?”
A handout that Stop The Sweeps-Eugene handed out to passersby in front of the John E. Jacqua Center on July 19.
A handout that Stop The Sweeps-Eugene handed out to passersby in front of the John E. Jacqua Center on July 19.
However, even when the tone changed to a more obviously positive one, the continued majority of those walking by outright refused to even consider what their impact had on our community.
After almost an hour, having given out as many of the pamphlets and fact sheets as they had brought, the members of Stop The Sweeps, in their bathing suits, took their signs directly into the John E. Jaqua Center’s fountain to make a more splashy statement. They stepped into the water around 3:40 p.m., each taking bets on how long they’d be able to sustain this aspect of their protest before law enforcement appeared.
The moment that activists first entered the pool, with onlookers strolling past toward Hayward Field. Though estimated attendance numbers vary, between ten to twenty thousand people have attended the event every day, giving Stop the Sweeps a huge potential audience of non-local residents. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
An activist makes a splashy statement in front of the John E. Jacqua Center. Temperatures in Eugene topped 90 degrees on July 19th with no cloud cover, so activists had to find clever ways to stay cool while trying to convey their message to passing tourists. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
An activist makes a splashy statement in front of the John E. Jacqua Center. Temperatures in Eugene topped 90 degrees on July 19th with no cloud cover, so activists had to find clever ways to stay cool while trying to convey their message to passing tourists. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
As passersby do their best to ignore them, activists try to call attention to the City of Eugene’s treatment of the poor and homeless. As is often the case, people attending the event rarely engaged with the protesters, focusing instead on their walk to Hayward Field. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
Activists stand in the reflecting pool outside the Jacqua Center, just down the street from Hayward Field, where thousands of spectators and athletes were gathering. The City of Eugene invested over 40 million dollars in preparation for the World Athletics Championships, while allocating about $750,000 dollars in the most recent budget for homelessness services. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
Activists stand in the reflecting pool outside the Jacqua Center, just down the street from Hayward Field, where thousands of spectators and athletes were gathering. The City of Eugene invested over 40 million dollars in preparation for the World Athletics Championships, while allocating about $750,000 dollars in the most recent budget for homelessness services. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
An activist with Stop the Sweeps stands in the decorative pool surrounding the John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Student Athletes on the campus of the University of Oregon. Stop the Sweeps, which primarily focuses on the issues that impact the homeless in Eugene, were protesting the World Athletics Championships down the street from the Jacqua Center. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
Activists with Stop the Sweeps try to call attention to the ongoing housing crisis in Eugene while straddling the edge of the pool around the John E. Jacqua Center. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
Activists stand in the reflecting pool outside the Jacqua Center, just down the street from Hayward Field, where thousands of spectators and athletes were gathering. The City of Eugene invested over 40 million dollars in preparation for the World Athletics Championships, while allocating about $750,000 dollars in the most recent budget for homelessness services. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
At 3:53 p.m.—about twice as long as anyone had bet—two UOPD officers came up to the group and simply asked them to get out of the water. The exchange was short and polite and the officers said they understood the impact of the heat and the reasons behind the protest but insisted the group could not be in the fountain.
Police confront the Stop the Sweeps activists about fifteen minutes after they first entered the pool outside the John E. Jacqua Center. UOPD has taken the lead on event and venue security during Oregon22, but tens of millions of dollars have been spent between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure that events don’t get disrupted. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
Activists explain themselves to UOPD officers while standing in the water outside the John E. Jacqua Center as a few people look on from the sidewalk. The police moved in about fifteen minutes after the activists entered the pool, but only asked them to leave without incident.
An officer with the University of Oregon Police Department sheepishly confronts the activists with Stop the Sweeps after they entered the pool around the Jacqua Center. No arrests were made on this day. [Robert Scherle // Double Sided Media]
A walk down Agate St. to ask some of the many visitors waiting in line to get into Hayward Field if they’d like to discuss the impact of the World Athletic Championships on the city they are visiting yielded a continued dismissive response, as no one wanted to know anything about this town or its residents.
Excellent coverage and photos! Was remembering how we all thought China was such a police state to try to hide their impoverished neighborhoods in Beijing before the Olympics there. How is this any different?
Excellent coverage and photos! Was remembering how we all thought China was such a police state to try to hide their impoverished neighborhoods in Beijing before the Olympics there. How is this any different?