Shame on the Weekly for printing Paul Conte’s gish-gallop (“Housing for the Rich” EW, 8/12). Any of his statements is rebuttable. Space does not permit.

He says, 15th and Olive, oh my! The rent is high! The developers are coming to get us! Oh my!

Look, the guy is a perennial NIMBY. Lives mostly in Sun River or east…

Eugene is a big city. There’s 44,000 residential lots averaging more than 6,000 square feet. Ask any landless person or camper whether they would be happy with 1,000 square feet? 25×40 feet? Free, and unmolested. A large RV might be 8 feet wide, 20 feet long; that’s 160. The cost of 1,000 square feet of land is like $200. Provable.

The home owners are hogging the land with their 6,000 square feet. Let’s be honest.

Thank god the Legislature passed HB 2001, allowing duplexes and even, four-plexes, oh my! And they also passed SB 458 that allows partition of our oversized lots. History is a-making, Oregon.

I notice the bubble has peaked. Look at any random property on Zillow. They’re goin’ down. Yaay!! 

Now we’ll see, finally, whether allowing duplexes, ADUs, etc. results in higher rents for the bottom 20 percent. Wait for it. The rents will go down.

Todd F. Boyle

Eugene

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