When I lived in Eugene in the ‘90’s, the Fountain at the downtown mall no longer worked, and it was essentially a place for punks and homeless kids to hang out. Colin, Kiisu & I used to spend time there – late at night, occasionally on acid – where we would perform ceremonies for The Church of Blasphuphmus (Not Jesus), and in general, be weirdos for the sake of being young and bored.
By 1995, Eugene decided to get rid of the mall, by re-opening Willamette Street, which meant that the fountain was being torn down. The thinking was that this would save the businesses downtown, which had been in decline since the late ‘70’s. If the roads were open, and parking was easier, it might help revitalize the businesses in the area of the mall, and improve Eugene overall.
Flash-forward to now. The businesses downtown are still in decline, in-spite of Willamette being re-opened, which was a little depressing for the locals, who were hoping downtown would be cleaned up. (wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Mall) So now, 20 some years later, there’s still weirdos hanging out where the fountain was, getting high and talking about philosophy and politics.
Some things never change.
Austin Rich 