The next generation of Eugene voters will surely thank Mayor Kitty Piercy for supporting the $1.6 million purchase of 40 acres in the Amazon Creek headwaters. As population increases and development continue to gobble up precious urban open space and drive up land prices, preservation of the pristine forestland in Eugene's south hills will look wiser with each passing year.
The more important question for Piercy is this: How does the current generation of Eugene voters - the ones who'll cast ballots in November's mayoral election - feel about the controversial acquisition?
Clearly, the south Eugene residents who have pushed for protection of the headwaters for years will be delighted. For the most part, these are voters Piercy already had in her camp, but she also captured any fence-sitters who were passionate about this issue and would have fallen the wrong way had she failed to pull off the purchase.
Piercy also stands to gain some bounce with skeptics who supported the acquisition in principle but felt the original $3.4 million asking price was outrageous for a piece of property purchased just four years ago for $325,000. Some of these folks may think $1.6 million is still too much, considering the city turned down earlier opportunities to buy the land for much less. But other previous opponents of the purchase, such as North Eugene Councilor George Poling, will be able to live with the $1.6 million price and be glad to finally put the contentious deal in the "done" basket.
"It puts this issue to rest, gets us the property, and we are not completely draining all of the money out of the parks bond measure that we passed two years ago," Poling said.
One person who's certain not to let the issue rest is Piercy's opponent, former two-term mayor Jim Torrey. Torrey recognized during the primary election race that many voters far removed from south Eugene had serious questions about the whole idea of spending millions to protect the headwaters of what becomes a concrete-lined drainage ditch in west Eugene. Many have been waiting years for the city to develop parks in their neighborhoods.
Without ever having to oppose the concept of acquiring and protecting the headwaters, Torrey was able to raise questions about the timing, purchase price, funding sources and park needs of other parts of the city. They were good questions that resonated with many voters.
Torrey gambled during the primary that he could turn up the heat on Piercy by calling for a public vote on the headwaters purchase. But Piercy brushed him off and won that round by completing the purchase long before the November election.
Expect Torrey to shift his focus now to the timing and funding sources for the purchase. The $1.6 million will come in about equal $500,000 shares from parks systems development charges paid by developers; storm water fees paid by all property owners; and the 2006 parks and open space bond measure.
Torrey has no quarrel with the $500,000 portion that will come from the 2006 bond measure, because it's money that was earmarked for the purchase of open space. But he argues that it's wrong to tap the parks systems development charges, saying such fees are meant to pay for parks in newly developed areas, not to acquire open space in an established area.
Like potholes and parkways, the Amazon headwaters property purchase figures to be part of the ongoing debate between Torrey and Piercy. Voters will have ample opportunity in the coming weeks to examine both candidates' positions on the subject.
Piercy might want to take a page from Torrey's book in her responses. On his campaign Web site (www.jimtorrey.com), Torrey says, "I've adapted this quote from Upton Sinclair, which expresses my feelings about people who follow their conscience, and commit themselves to work for the public good: 'Public service is the spirit that prompts someone to plant a tree that he or she may never sit under.'"
That appears to fit Piercy's motives in the headwaters purchase to a T. It remains to be seen whether this generation of voters will appreciate those motives enough to overcome the doubts Torrey hopes they'll have about her timing.
