Students will soon have the opportunity to shape downtown Eugene as part of an on-going effort by the Eugene City Council to improve the downtown experience.

Last Thursday and Friday, Eugene residents expressed opinions for the future of downtown’s public spaces to a consultant group. The group, Project for Public Spaces (PPS), is a “nonprofit planning, design and educational organization,” according to their website, that was hired by the City of Eugene this year.

Will Dowdy, City of Eugene urban design planner, works along side PPS and plans to reach out to University of Oregon students in October to collect their opinions of how downtown should change–all as part of an on-going survey to spend a $5.2 million ordinance for urban renewal passed by the Eugene City Council in June, according to the City of Eugene website.

“For students, we are trying to engage them and understand what they want,” said Dowdy. Dowdy and PPS will focus on gathering input from UO student groups, such as ASUO, with an online survey.

Downtown Eugene draws many University of Oregon students like Bree Nicolello, who is looking to see downtown Eugene continue to improve.

“I’ve seen downtown blossom in the last five years,” she said.

Nicolello is a Planning, Public Policy and Management major, works at a planning firm called Schirmer Satre Group located downtown, and serves on the City of Eugene Planning Commission.

Nicolello frequents downtown for meetings, restaurants, library visits, and the bar scene. She envisions the future of downtown to have more benches and places to sit and relax.

Another UO student, Kentaro Hoeger, wants to see “more buskers and less beggars.” Busking is performing or playing music for money. Hoeger, a physics grad student, said he is often asked for money when he goes downtown, but usually just says no.

Comparing other cities to Eugene, Hoeger said, “It feels like there’s a higher proportion of wandering vagabond-types”: something he’d like to see less of.

The city has been working on improving the experience of downtown Eugene for years. A plan to create 20 murals in downtown by 2021 is part of their ongoing revitalization effort, according to Nicolello. A bike share program is also in the works—-a way to “make it easier for people to get from the University to downtown,” Nicolello said.

“The question is, ‘Is downtown a place where someone as young as eight and as old as eighty can find something they like to do?’ and I think that we’re on our way there,” she said.