The Greyhound bus station is ugly, small and inhospitable, and the train station is not much better. Government buildings leave much to be desired. City Hall and the Lane County Public Service Building are fortress-like structures with massive, blank walls at street level. Vertical bars on the windows add to the sense of hostility. Big rocky walls make for a defended castle feel at the courthouse.
Sterile plazas removed from the street add to the bleak atmosphere.
The corners of the downtown have been revitalized at the expense of the core, and so everything seems poorly linked. A good example is the Fifth Street Market at one corner and the new library at the opposite one. There are few symbiotic relationships. Likewise, there is no connection to the river. One of the best physical settings of any city of its size in America is wasted.