Smart, strategic, and tough
Comments: Re-elect Mayor Kitty Piercy Campaign Kickoff and Rally
April 4, 2008, Davis’ Restaurant

Hello everyone. Thanks so much for being here tonight. We are calling this the campaign kick-off but most of you know this campaign has been “kicked-off” for quite a while. Tonight we are here to officially “ kick-it-up a notch or 10.” We are on the high-speed track to victory on May 20.

I am not going to give a “state of the city” type speech tonight. I am going to give you the straight skinny about why it has been important for us to have won this Mayor’s seat and why it’s important we keep it. This is not about me. This is about us and our city, and our future. This is about this special place we call Eugene and the role it should have in this world.

Let me tell you that it has been fun and it has been a ton of work. I have had to be smart, strategic, and tough to achieve the goals and to uphold the values we share.

I was hardly in the door of city hall before the LTD strike was underway. It was clear to me that there were many vulnerable people who could not do without bus transportation to get to the grocery, to the doctor and to work. Getting involved in the labor dispute of another agency is a chancy thing to do and one that I did not undertake lightly but the stakes were high. I brought some very talented community leaders together to work with both sides and luckily we were able to resolve it to the benefit of LTD, the employees and the people of this community. Bringing people together to solve problems has been a hallmark of my tenure as Mayor.

There were also a lot of issues that needed to be cleaned up when I took office.

Police Oversight: One of the biggest that remained unresolved was the need to rebuild our community’s faith in our police that had been left in shreds after the Lara/Magana cases and some other highly publicized incidents. I know that these two were the exception and the vast majority of our officers serve our community with honor.

Through bringing community leaders into the discussion, we were successful in gaining council approval to put a charter change before the voters to establish the independent police auditor and the civilian review board. With strong voter approval, the office is open and the auditor and Civilian Review Board are doing their job. There has been some controversy but I am confident that over time both the public and the police will benefit from the auditor’s work.

The West Eugene Parkway. Another issue of monumental proportions was the West Eugene Parkway. For 20 years the debate had raged and still Federal approval had not been given nor the promised money materialized. Of more importance was the Parkway’s path was to be right through our nationally recognized wetlands and would seriously endanger the already endangered native lupine and Fender Blue Butterfly. I had promised to end the acrimony and to look for solutions that would have broader support and protect the wetlands. There were threats, fingers poked in my chest telling me this little lady would not prevail. I had to take on some big agencies and wealthy people.

Today the archaic WEP plan is gone, the right-of-ways are being sold, and community leaders from across the political spectrum are really working together to solve those traffic and transportation problems. It’s called the West Eugene Collaborative and they are doing some great work. The irony is the old WEP would have reduced the traffic congestion by less than 10% for all those millions and would have stopped short of Fern Ridge where some of the real difficult transportation issues exist.

Transportation and Land Use Planning. When it comes to transportation and land use planning, things are changing rapidly. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has seen a dramatic reduction in state gas tax returns: People are driving less and using hybrid vehicles.

This lack of resources is creating an opportunity for new conversations; ones that ODOT would have been less open to in the past: less pavement and more creativity.

There is a growing concern that all US cities’ roads are in need of maintenance and preservation. Just last week a major national transportation report was released calling for a shift to taking care of infrastructure (like fixing potholes) over laying down new pavement and for an investment in alternative transportation at a much-increased level. Our EmX is a national model for alternative transportation for cities of our size. We need to ramp it up faster and to get this system put together.

Urban Planning: And, speaking of urban planning, there has been a lot of raving that we need to expand our Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) fast or we were all doomed to disaster. However, just recently the Homebuilders were quoted in the business section of the Register-Guard saying that we have not suffered the economic losses of other states because our land use planning and UGBs kept us from overbuilding like the rest of the country. Ah, the irony of it all.

I have called for comprehensive planning for our area in light of the all the changing conditions we are experiencing.

There are other tough problems that were left waiting on the doorstep of city hall in 2004: closed stores on West Broadway, our local hospital moving out of Eugene, and poor road conditions. We have been working hard on them all and making progress. We are working with Beam on renovation plans for two downtown buildings and an RFP is out for the lot across from the library. We are working to bring McKenzie-Willamette Hospital to Eugene and we have filled in $17 million worth of potholes. Contrary to what you hear, the city council does have a plan for increasing our ability to fill more.

When I came into office, the environment and business were often seen as mortal enemies. This city was full of dour talk about our bad business atmosphere, our problematic activists. This city had a seriously bad attitude. The University and the city ran parallel lives. Our students were treated like a problem.

I listened to you and identified the issue of sustainability as a place we could all come together. We all want to keep this beautiful place and to have our people prosper. So with the help of the university and the participation of community leaders and over 700 of our citizens, we put forward the Sustainable Business Initiative. Why wouldn’t we try to encourage the kind of businesses and the kind of economy we want. Why wouldn’t we try to capture the opportunities before us in responding to the challenges of climate change and finite resources?

Fast-forward three years. The city now has an office of sustainability and a Sustainability Commission. The city has measured its carbon footprint and is working on a whole number of strategies to reduce it and save money, including green building policies and local purchasing. The Chamber of Commerce has adopted sustainability goals. SeQuential Biofuels has the first station here. The two largest solar arrays in the state are here and the solar industry is growing. A new natural foods business park is in the making. A green Home and Garden Show is now a yearly hit at the Fairgrounds. We are national leaders and have been named America’s #1 green city by National Geographic’s Green Guide and were just recently named #5 Green City by Popular Science. We signed on to the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement and have influenced congressional policy changes.

The University of Oregon and Lane Community College are sustainability leaders in the nation and EmX has won international recognition. And this is good for business. Forbes just chose us as number 36 out of the top 200 best cities to do business in. We are on a roll and need to keep going.

And finally I take some heat for working on my “feel good” issues. You know those little insignificant things we hold dear like human and civil rights, the end of war, and having a community that is welcoming to everyone–even our “low-rent” young poets. I intend to continue to work hard on those “feel good” issues and that’s why I am the only candidate endorsed by environmental, human rights and labor organizations. This is the work we do together.

Opponents plan to spend a lot to defeat me and I would not be surprised if there will be an independent expenditure campaign against me as well. I am told by my primary opponent to expect personal and hurtful things to occur. I don’t take winning for granted.

I do know there’s more we need to do. We have to keep working on that smart forward thinking economic future, which finds the opportunities in the challenges we face in climate change and finite resources. We are on the right path. This is a great community and I work every day to keep it that way.

The economy is tough but we are better positioned than many. Keeping our eyes on the future, with real solutions that meet today’s challenges will serve us best. The world is changing rapidly and we need to be ready and to help lead this state and this country, so that our children and their children will be able to live in this place and enjoy the same unique beauty that is Eugene.

That’s why I am asking you to help me win this election–so we can continue to do this important work together–for four more years.