Thank
you for inviting me to join you today. I appreciate the opportunity
to talk with you and to spend time with those who often volunteer
and give a great deal to our community. The city of Eugene
and I value our partnership with you.
These last three and a half years have been quite an honor
for me and I am grateful for the opportunities it has offered
me to work for this wonderful city and all our families--to
help keep it the community that is well known and respected
nationally and beloved by those of us who live here.
Protecting our natural resources, taking
care of people, and doing well economically. When I first ran for this office,
I spent a lot of time talking to individuals and organizations.
At that time I heard from many people the desire for more jobs--a
deep concern for our economic future. I also often saw the
protection of our natural resources posed in opposition to
our economic progress. As I talked to people from all across
the political spectrum, it was clear to me that people want
to protect our natural resources (our beautiful environment),
take care of our people and do well economically (People need
to be able to raise their families). They want the triple bottom
line of sustainability, not a false choice between them.
Responding to that, I put together a five-point economic plan,
aimed at building a healthy economy that fits Eugene. As Tom
McCall said years ago “we don’t need to go with
just any hussy who shows up, we can determine our future with
the choices we make.
Given our University and its intellectual capital, our entrepreneurs,
and our high level of interest in sustainable practices, it
seemed a natural for us to latch on to business clusters like
alternative energy, alternative fuel, green building, alternative
transportation, natural foods and products, health care, and
education.
Sustainable Business Initiative. Shortly after taking office
I established the Sustainable Business Initiative (SBI), appointed
a task force that held sector round tables, engaged hundreds
of our citizens and came to the council with recommendations
for how the city could help foster these sustainable businesses
and practices. The Council adopted the recommendations, established
a city office of sustainability and put in place the sustainability
commission to begin to implement the other strategies. Our
timing seemed to be perfect because a year later, the state
essentially decided to foster the same future for Oregon as
we had been putting in place for Eugene. Our own Chamber of
Commerce has also adopted sustainable business goals.
Eugene is well on the journey with the first bio-diesel fuel
station in the state; the two largest solar arrays in the state
with more coming on; a natural foods business park being planned;
and proposals for turning community waste into energy. We are
fortunate to have great partners like EWEB and LTD who have
helped our city be chosen the #1 green city in the country
by National Geographic’s Green Guide and #5 green city
by Popular Science. LTD has received international recognition
for the innovation of the EmX and is being looked at as a national
model for communities of our size.
Other huge boosts to our local economy include securing the
2008 Olympic Track and Field Trials, which will bring thousands
into our community this summer. And if that is not good enough,
we have also been awarded two national track and field events
and the 2012 Olympic Track and Field Trials. We are positioned
well on all counts. Hundreds of our community members have
been working to prepare for this. We could not do it without
them.
Establishing an Enterprise Zone with
Community Standards. We have also reestablished an Enterprise Zone in Eugene to
foster job growth but we did it the Eugene way by applying
community standards such as wages and benefits and opportunities
for advancement for full participation in the program. Many
of local businesses have taken advantage of this program to
grow. This is part of the social equity piece of sustainability.
Our University is providing many jobs as it continues to expand
on many levels – they received $45 million in building
permits this last year.
Other good news in the last three years has been public support
for our Parks bond and the ability to build our wonderful Riverplay
Play area in Skinner Butte Park- well loved and well used already.
Our library levy passed and our library usage has soared.
Affordable housing. We have continued to build affordable
housing projects like the one nearing completion downtown,
WestTown on 8th. We also offer low interest loans to help families
purchase their first homes. We have an affordable housing land
bank program that won a national award this last year from
Harvard.
Community Development. We have opened two new fire stations
with green building features and reopened the station at Valley
River. We were awarded the first Forest Legacy Grant in the
state of Oregon to acquire unique oak habitat along our ridgeline.
We have helped our school districts build new playing fields
and supported the Green Schools Program. We have opened new
public safety stations and established police bike patrols
of our parks. We have been working to re-energize our neighborhood
associations and have added to our neighborhood matching grant
programs. Our council meetings are web-cast. We have put audible
street crossings in place, making our community more accessible.
I know businesses and people are constantly choosing our community
to be in. We see all the activity at Oakway and along Coburg,
the Slocum Orthopedic Surgery Center, or the Crescent Village
Mixed Use area--east, west, north and south, there is activity.
We have lots of visions for new waterfront opportunities as
EWEB moves, the changing face of Franklin and the Courthouse
area, perhaps a new Arena. We are working hard to grow up and
not out while maintaining the quality of life in our neighborhoods.
It’s important work.
Downtown. We have pushed hard on reinvigorating our downtown,
working to return it to a place our entire community can enjoy.
There are many successful parts of downtown such as the 5th
street area and east Broadway. Most of Willamette, Pearl, Olive,
Charnelton, and Oak are full and busy.
Even after three years of steady effort, we have not solved
it all. There are still those two unsightly pits (that were
there three years ago) in our downtown and some closed stores.
However the plans for the renovations of the Centre Court and
Washburn buildings are underway and RFPs are out for the lot
across from the library. We will know in May how both of these
projects fare. There are new restaurants and coffee shops opening
and Enterprise moves into the newly spiffed up Symantec building
in a couple weeks, bringing 200 new employees into the area.
There’s a lot more happening. Monday and Tuesday of this
week I went door to door on West Broadway letting tenants know
that the city is offering a no interest loan for fixing up
fronts of some of those buildings. We want to help them look
good for our visitors.
Taking on tough issues. I have taken on some other tough issues
these last three years.
The hospital. Before I came into office Peace Health decided
to leave Eugene and build RiverBend in Springfield. While I
am pleased that they will maintain a new and significant presence
on 13th and Hilyard, I have been working hard to get McKenzie-Willamette
to locate in Eugene. This has proven to be very tough. They
want something easy, no landuse issues, a short time line and
within budget on 25 acres. That is hard to find in Eugene and
they have refused to consider West Eugene as an option. We
are trying now to see if the research park location will work.
It’s challenging. I think it’s important for Eugene
to have one of the full service hospitals in the area and I
believe we will deeply regret it in the future if that is not
the case. I also think it’s important to have a hospital
on this south side of the river, in the case of an earthquake
or other emergencies.
Public confidence in police. Before my time we had some horrible
incidents occurred within our police department, the Lara/Magana
cases. I know that these two were an exception and the vast
majority of our officers serve our community with honor. Still,
I have had to work hard to re-establish the public’s
confidence in our police. We have put in place an Independent
Police Auditor and a Civilian Review Board. They are up and
running and working hard on behalf of our community. Over time
I believe both the public and the police will see the value
they gain from this new function.
West Eugene Parkway. We had a 20-year battle in this community
over the West Eugene Parkway. It became a litmus test for every
election--business vs. the environment--a 50/50 split in the
community. In reality, only a tiny bit of the funding had been
found. Federal agencies had not signed off on the environmental
issues over the impact to our wetlands. The project could not
go forward without their approval. Traffic and transportations
issues remained unresolved. The public felt they had voted
for the parkway and did not understand that local votes could
not make it happen. Over the 20 years time and conditions had
changed but nobody wanted to take the responsibility or the
blame for this project that was never going to get built.
I determined we could be having this same fight 20 more years
and that seemed unfair to everyone. We decided to end the parkway
discussion and to put together the West Eugene Collaborative,
made up of community business and environmental leaders (pro
and anti parkway), agencies and elected officials to look for
new solutions that could gain broader support and really get
something done. We have been working together successfully
examining the West Eugene corridor and a new EmX route to put
forward a proposal by next January. Just this morning we were
narrowing down the design solutions.
Potholes. And then there are those darned potholes everywhere,
growing before I came and still growing. We have about 534
total miles of street in Eugene We are using 100% of the proceeds
from our 5 cent gas tax or about $3.5 million a year to repair
our roads. We know we need about $27 million a year to catch
up. Council is considering a bond measure. I am fine with squeezing
some funding out of our general fund but it won’t be
much unless you want to take it out of fire, police, library,
parks, and other very basic services. You probably know that
the financial support from the federal, state and county has
been diminishing while the costs have been going up. It is
simply a fact. The county has lost its financial underpinnings
and that affects us in many ways, including roads. The state
will be looking for solutions to help cities across this state,
all with the same problem.
Bringing people together to meet our
challenges. Bringing
people together to solve our problems and meet our challenges
has been the hallmark of my work as Mayor. I have reached across
the community meeting with community members as I open new
businesses, attend meetings, rallies, fundraisers, teach classes,
speak at events, and do the Mayor’s one on ones. Whatever
the issue our community faces, I am trying to bring the talent
together to address it.
I hear people talk about our divisive city council. I want
to say that each councilor represents a different part of our
community. They all work extremely hard. When I came in as
Mayor, the council could not agree on any goals. Since that
time I have worked with them to establish nine goals they all
agree on: improved race relations, reduced homelessness, neighborhood
empowerment, placement of a hospital, reinvigorating our downtown,
police staffing, transportation infrastructure, sustainable
business development, arts and the outdoors.
Relations with neighboring communities. And let me comment
about our relations with neighboring communities. I have been
a strong supporter and ally of the county as they have wrestled
with their funding issues. I have gone to Washington three
times with local partners to lobby for our common needs in
our larger community. Last year, Springfield’s delegation
was held up by airplane problems and I personally made a pitch
for their goals (wearing the Leiken hat). We work together
all the time. Just this week Mayor Leiken was quoted as speaking
of us a having “the best collaboration in 10 years.” There
are differences. Springfield has wanted to grow as fast as
it can so it can afford basic services and amenities for the
city. They have a lovely theatre now that adds much to our
entire area.
The Urban Growth Boundary. Eugene grew first and is now in
the mode of smart and managed growth. We have had some differences
of opinion with Springfield about Urban Growth Boundary expansions
and are now headed into a much needed regional planning effort--a
comprehensive one that reflects the new realities we live in
of finite resources and climate change--one that looks at land
use and transportation together.
With the recent economic downturn, the Homebuilders were quoted
in the Register Guard as saying the reason we have not experienced
some of the drastic loss of homes and incomes experienced in
the rest of the country is because of our land use planning
and our UGBs. We have not been able to overbuild and thus we
find ourselves in a much sounder economic condition.
There’s more
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.
I would very much appreciate your support in the upcoming
Mayoral race. There is much we have left to do together.
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elect Kitty by