Public comments ask Eugene to block Amazon megawarehouse

Presenter: The City Council hears public comments about an Amazon megawarehouse near the Beltline. On Nov. 10, Kelley Christensen:

Kelley Christensen: It can feel inevitable that a company like Amazon is allowed to set up a distribution center in our community. And look, LRAPA provided the rubber stamp because that’s what that agency has been designed to do. And who are we to stand in the way of progress in the way of a situation that has only ever been presented as inevitable?

[00:00:28] But this is not inevitable. We are the builders of our community and we can choose to support our local businesses, as you so eloquently said that we should do at the end of this month.

[00:00:40] Or we can choose to support a company that makes false promises to create jobs while actually planning to eliminate those jobs in favor of robots in a few short years, we can choose to protect our environment for the next seven generations, or we can allow Amazon to cause a massive increase in emissions for the purpose of moving cheap junk.

[00:01:01] That nobody needs largely manufactured in sweatshops on the other side of the world, will we allow them to build a data center here next to raise our electric bills and run our water dry. We can choose the democratic tradition of our nation like we are doing this evening, or we can choose to support a company whose founder has openly and actively supported tyranny.

[00:01:30] We are the authors of this story. We have agency. You have agency. We are writing the future of this community, not them. And I would urge you to say no to Amazon, no to flock. They are connected. These are all connected companies. They want to control us and our neighbors. Please say no.

[00:01:52] Brendan McCarthy: Hello, my name is Brendan McCarthy. As someone who has lived in the Eugene Springfield area all their life, I feel like I would’ve failed my city, my community, and my values if I didn’t take the time to come speak on Amazon attempting to build a new warehouse here.

[00:02:05] I bet you can tell by my attire that I do in fact work for Amazon. With that said, I wanna state that I do not represent their views or values. But I’m here as a constituent stating personal views on the matter. A big argument for building the new warehouse would be all the jobs that it would create.

[00:02:19] And as someone who currently works for Amazon, I can assure you that they don’t always deliver the promises that they make. For those of you who have ordered through Amazon, you likely know that feeling too.

[00:02:28] Amazon is my secondary job, and although the wage is higher here than at my primary job, the hours lack consistency. When the hours are available, they go on a first-come-first-serve basis, with not nearly enough hours to go around. When I start to get a decent amount of hours, it comes at the cost of a coworker who goes with less, or even without.

[00:02:44] If you happen to not be able to pick up a shift, even if you attempt every day, you will still be penalized for it. Then when you happen to do get shifts, you are unnecessarily understaffed and overworked.

[00:02:55] When speaking to higher management, which are all offsite, I find that the support they’re willing to provide is conditional on if it will positively affect profit margins. As an entry-level worker who handles the day-to-day on site, it hurts to bring up valid concerns only to be met with a profit-over-people mentality. How can Amazon afford to build a whole new warehouse while also failing to give us a full team at the busiest times of day?

[00:03:17] I also see our environmental impacts through daily waste, such as bagging every return item in plastic, dumping one-time-use metal that could be recycled, and trashing new equipment because, after mere days, they no longer fit the Amazon aesthetic.

[00:03:30] While I work at a Locker Plus location, many of these issues indicate shortcomings of what Amazon’s warehouse could look like. This new opportunity will focus on filling the pockets of Jeff Bezos rather than supporting our environment, our families, and our community.

[00:03:43] I ask each of you on the City Council to please consider an insider’s view of Amazon’s current standards. Does a corporate giant that takes profit out of our state and trashes our city while only providing us nothing more than unsustainable jobs really meet the standard of what it means to do business with Eugene?

[00:03:58] If you ask me, I believe the people of Eugene deserve better. Many of us in this meeting will leave this room asking the same question. Like Amazon, do our representatives choose profit over people? With all that being said, say, ‘Flock no’ to Amazon. 

Presenter: Ruth Wren:

[00:04:12] Ruth Wren: Amazon presents itself as a benign customer fulfillment company, but in reality, it’s in collusion with Trump’s authoritarian regime: providing tech infrastructure through Amazon Web Services for the mass deportation machine that targets immigrants, trans people, Muslims, people of color, activists, and others.

[00:04:34] And Amazon provides cloud technology to the Israeli government for its genocide in Gaza.

[00:04:41] Is this the neighbor we want to invite into our city? Why are city officials being so passive in letting Amazon push its way into Eugene?

[00:04:51] Why has Amazon kept this so quiet, demanding NDAs (nondisclosure agreements) from the real estate broker, and why has the public not been actively informed with opportunities to respond and be heard?

[00:05:03] Is it the expectation of good jobs? Amazon has a vehement anti-union stance and plans to replace 75% of their workers with AI robotics by 2030.

[00:05:16] Is it the hope that Amazon will boost the local economy? This will have the opposite effect, as Amazon undermines local businesses.

[00:05:25] Would Amazon pay their fair share of taxes? They have a clear history of tax avoidance.

[00:05:32] I see no advantages to allowing Amazon into Eugene, only disadvantages. Instead of inviting Amazon into Eugene, I believe we should boycott them permanently. 

[00:05:44] Presenter: Shelly Devine:

[00:05:45] Shelly Devine: Our federal government is an asinine kakistocracy clown show of cruelty, run and owned by corporate greed and oligarchs. Please do not subject us to their interests or their tactics. So this is a ‘Flock no!’ to Amazon. 

[00:06:02] The morals and ethics of Amazon are incongruent with what our city espouses to stand for, which makes us fundamentally not a match. Please do not consider allowing a global abuser to set up shop in Eugene. Amazon, and everything it represents, is the antithesis of who we strive to be in the world. This is an easy no.

[00:06:29] Amazon is not inevitable. The endorsement and allowance of this company is a choice. Don’t make Eugene a pillar of support for fascist oligarchs like Jeff Bezos.

[00:06:43] Amazon actively harms people and the planet. They just laid off 30,000 employees, and many of their former warehouses are now being designated for mass incarceration, and on it goes. 

[00:07:01] Barbara Stebbins: My name is Barbara Stebbins. I’m here to be one of probably many voices saying, We hope that Eugene will reject Amazon and the Amazon warehouse project. It seems really oversized for such a lovely college town, for one thing. But there are a number of real problems with Amazon.

[00:07:25] And you know, Amazon is really a bad actor altogether. It is run by the man who is probably sometimes the second-wealthiest man in the world (and sometimes the first-wealthiest man in the world), has little concern for what is going on in communities like Eugene.

[00:07:48] And the warehouse that will be built is going to be huge, taking up nine acres of, I guess that will be paved and the number of trucks, it’s like, what, 1,400 different vehicles they will have? And those trucks are not electric right now, so far as we understand. So it will be contributing a lot to the air pollution in our area.

[00:08:15] And the other side of it is what Eugene is going to lose, including a wetlands that was already there, that will need to be filled in with a whole lot of landfill.

[00:08:28] I just encourage Eugene the city to say ‘No to Amazon.’ 

[00:08:35] Charmane Landing: I’m Charmane Landing. My understanding is that Amazon, although they have remained anonymous, while filing for permits, wants to build a large distribution center in the Eugene vicinity. I was curious how such a megaoperation fits to the long-range planning for our area.

[00:08:52] So I read Section 9 .4150, purpose of the Clear Lake Overlay Zone, which is the area that Amazon is proposing. It’s an overlay that’s been developed and refined by city departments, elected officials, legal advisors, and community members, and approved by you the city council to become part of the city code.

[00:09:14] What the overlay says is that large lots in the Clear Lake zone will be provided as a means to quote ensure that future development fulfills the community’s desired outcome for economic prosperity and increased employment opportunities end quote.

[00:09:31] This plan implements policies that call for quote fairness equity in achieving a healthy environment ,vibrant community, and improved quality of life for surrounding neighborhoods.’ It ends with: future development is encouraged to build upon Eugene’s competitive advantages and recognize the community’s values around climate change, sustainability, local food systems, and natural resources.

[00:09:58] I was impressed with the goals of the overlay. It puts an emphasis on community values, sustainability, and prosperity.

[00:10:06] That’s why I felt compelled to speak tonight because the Amazon Distribution Center, in my research, does not meet this vision, especially regarding employment and sustainability.

[00:10:18] The employment that Amazon offers is labor-intensive, so intensive that to meet their goals, Amazon will be replacing local workers in just a few years– by 2030–replaced with robots that work faster and don’t need food or bathroom breaks or health care.

[00:10:37] And without dependable long -term jobs, workers can’t plan for a future, which might include owning a home, supporting elders, or sending kids to college.

[00:10:47] I honestly believe Amazon will not be a good partner for Eugene or improve our quality of life in any way.

[00:10:55] Ron Burley: My name is Ron Burley. I live very close to the new megawarehouse and hub that Amazon is proposing. I have several concerns about this facility, but I want to focus on one main issue, which is the placement of the new Amazon hub, on the north side of Awbrey Lane, adjacent to Northwest Expressway.

[00:11:10] It indicates a greatly increased burden on one of the most congested byways in Lane County: The Beltline highway is our neighborhood’s most direct route to RiverBend Hospital, the only emergency medical facility in our two cities.

[00:11:21] The next closest crossing of the Willamette River is at Jefferson Street, which adds approximately 12 minutes to the trip. But you already know that.

[00:11:30] The Oregon Department of Transportation’s River Road to Delta Highway Improvement Plans completed and distributed in August 21, 2025, and referenced in the developer’s own proposal, the ODOT analysis makes clear that the Beltline Highway already handles the traffic burden well in excess of its 1960s design limit, and the traffic along that critical corridor would be severely and negatively affected by this project without substantial traffic and infrastructure improvements.

[00:11:57] However, that’s just the planning aspect. That leads to an obvious question. How can it be that the Amazon Hub project is breaking ground next month and scheduled to go online in January of 2027– just 14 months from now– that planning and funding and researching is going to take seven to 10 years, according to ODOT.

[00:12:17] If this goes on with infrastructure inadequate to support such a facility, it will severely impact the quality of life, mobility, health, and safety of the Northwest Eugene community. Therefore, I strongly urge you to halt any further progress on this project until the numerous quality of life and transportation infrastructure issues are addressed. 

[00:12:36] Presenter: Teresa Mueller:

[00:12:37] Teresa Mueller: I want to second all the comments, all the downsides I’ve heard about the Amazon warehouse (which we think it is). I know that Eugene really needs jobs, so I tried originally to be open-minded about it, but when I do research, I see Amazon’s labor track record is very grim.

[00:12:55] I did research showing that many different towns and cities around the country have found ways to discourage and ultimately block Amazon’s overtures. I ask you as our policy shapers to follow that lead.

[00:13:09] In a different bit of research, I looked at the city of Eugene’s Equity Atlas online. I really recommend it to everybody. It’s a really neat resource telling a difficult story. It’s described as documenting ‘ how historic land use decisions have shaped today’s patterns of land use.’

[00:13:30] Given the valley’s outstanding rivers, soil, wetlands, farms, orchards, and much older nature-centered uses by our Aboriginal people, I hope you’ll one day create an environmental version of this atlas as well.

[00:13:47] However, welcoming a ruthless corporate entity with no moral compass and no connection to the quirks and qualities of Eugene may well become a tragic note in such an ecological atlas.

[00:14:02] Please look beyond all the minimal permit checklists and the legalities that I’ve been looking at to consider will serve the city in the long term.

[00:14:11] Maybe our new city manager should be assigned to research what sorts of businesses, collectives, cooperatives would best suit the land and the people here. Seeking out and attracting quality sustainable businesses would be a great use of public time and money.

[00:14:27] Lastly, I have an online petition posted on change.org (I hope other people will sign it) and would like to give you the text and the list of the current signers in opposition, all of them, to this supposedly anonymous warehouse and transportation depot in West Eugene.

[00:14:45] Hannah Deibert: My name’s Hannah, and I’m here to say like many of my other peers, to do anything in your power to prevent the Amazon warehouse being built in Eugene. And I know that the impulse may be to say that the City Council does not have power over this process, but I cannot think of anyone else better to ask than you guys.

[00:15:03] And I ask on behalf of my postman who I have seen disheartened that he will soon lose his job that he thought he would retire in.

[00:15:11] I ask on behalf of the warehouse workers at Amazon who face horrible working conditions and twice as many severe workplace injuries as the industry average.

[00:15:19] I ask for myself, and I ask for you, and I ask for everyone else in Eugene, and all working people everywhere, to stand up to billionaires who do not care at all about us.

[00:15:29] I ask you to stand up in the way of expansion of Amazon and stand up for local businesses. Let’s make an example of Eugene by standing up to the megacorporations and following the footsteps of those who have before us.

[00:15:41] Deb McGee: My name is Debra McGee. 350 Eugene submitted this letter to you last month in order to bring your attention to some of the adverse climate impacts of the proposed e -commerce distribution facility.

[00:15:55] The proposed distribution facility, located east of the airport off Highway 99, does not align with the goals of the city climate recovery ordinance and the climate action plan, neither in structure nor in operation of the facility.

[00:16:10] The developer’s projection of 2,500 daily trips in light duty vehicles will contribute to greenhouse gas and particulate emissions, undermining the CRO community transportation reduction goals, which remain unmet.

[00:16:28] It is our belief that a strong public statement by the city, urging the developer to be a partner to help the city reach its climate goals, would alleviate some public opposition.

[00:16:40] There are several measures the developer could take to achieve this. Renewable energy sourcing of the facility through rooftop solar with batteries could assist in powering the facility’s operation as well as charge a fleet of electric delivery vehicles.

[00:16:59] A 320,000-square-foot roof can accommodate a huge power supply and lessen the load on the grid along with reducing energy billing costs.

[00:17:11] The project would need football fields worth of soil to infill wetland areas which will require payments into a wetland mitigation bank. Considering the sizable amount of required wetland destruction, the payment amount should be doubled to optimize wetland preservation elsewhere. The 320,000 square foot concrete floor should be required to be low fly-ash concrete. Locally sourced timber should be used with local contractors with prevailing wage requirements. 

[00:17:47] Anna Lardner: My name is Anna. Early in this session, Mayor Knudson gave a beautiful reflection on small businesses in Eugene. This is echoed in the plan, Envision Eugene, which I know all of you are familiar with, which talks about all of the industrial sectors that you wanted to bring to our community.

[00:18:07] Amazon’s warehouse does not meet any of those definitions. The good news is there is a way in the city code for you to amend this. You could initiate a Type V amendment process to amend the city code to close the current loopholes that allow for Amazon to do warehousing and wholesaling out of those parcels. This is something I know you can do, and we ask you to do this as part of resisting Amazon’s incursion into our community. 

[00:18:33] Joella Ewing: Hello, my name is Joella Ewing. I’m here to speak against Amazon. Did you know that Amazon is a prime driver of ICE’s deportation actions? By providing ICE with data storage services, Amazon has helped expand the growth of ICE’s surveillance data, accumulation, arrest, imprisonment, and deportation of immigrants. ICE can’t do the job without the infrastructure that Amazon provides them. 

[00:19:09] Did you know that Amazon is complicit in Israeli genocide in Gaza, with a $1.2 billion contract called Project Nimbus to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military?

[00:19:28] Amazon has promised warehouse jobs that will soon be replaced by AI robotics. Amazon continues to automate its warehouse with humanoid AI robotics. They are also going to be eliminating driver jobs that will be phased out. 

[00:19:51] Amazon is anti-union and violates workers’ rights to breaks, safety and reasonable work hours. Amazon workers are under surveillance and pressured to meet huge quotas, risking physical and mental harm. As Amazon continues to expand, it’s undermining working people in the community.

[00:20:20] Amazon has a poor climate record that sells services to fossil fuel companies, supports new nuclear power plants, destroys returned products rather than finding another use for them and consumes vast amounts–

[00:20:39] Rick Osgood: My name is Rick Osgood. I live in North Eugene. Please don’t allow Amazon to build a distribution center here in Eugene. It may seem worthwhile because it’ll bring new jobs to the area, but unfortunately, many of these jobs are likely to be low-paid, high turnover positions.

[00:20:52] For example, delivery drivers. Amazon doesn’t even hire drivers directly. Instead, they use what they call the delivery service partners or DSPs. The idea with the DSP is that someone else starts their own delivery business and assumes the risk that goes along with that, and then Amazon hires the DSP to deliver packages on its behalf.

[00:21:10] As a DSP owner, you’re completely reliant on Amazon for everything. They’re literally your only customer. So if Amazon cancels your contract, you’re done. Your entire business is tailored specifically to Amazon, and this means Amazon can transfer risk to the DSP while maintaining enormous leverage over them.

[00:21:28] If Amazon demands something of a DSP, the DSP can either oblige or risk going out of business.

[00:21:33] Amazon dictates many details of the DSP, including: what vans to use; branding to include on the outside of the van; installing AI cameras in the cars and the vans to monitor the drivers; Amazon-branded uniforms for the drivers.

[00:21:45] Drivers also use Amazon’s routing app, which tells them which routes they have to take, how many packages to deliver and how quickly they’re expected to deliver them.

[00:21:53] Delivery quotas are notoriously bad. Drivers have admitted to urinating in bottles in the back of the vans to avoid stopping for bathroom breaks so that they can make quota. And while Amazon essentially dictates each driver’s life on the job, the drivers are not Amazon employees. They’re employed by the DSP.

[00:22:09] Why would Amazon do things this way? Well, in September, 2024 in New York, Amazon delivery drivers unionized in an attempt to bargain for better working conditions. And just two months ago, Amazon responded by canceling the contract with Cornucopia, the DSP that had unionized employees. This resulted in 150 unionized employees losing their jobs.

[00:22:29] It’s illegal to fire your employees for unionizing, but Amazon’s DSP model means that they were never Amazon employees in the first place. So Amazon didn’t fire anyone. They just canceled the contract with the DSP. But if the DSP loses its only customer, what will happen to the DSP and what happens to the drivers?

This is just one tiny aspect of the Amazon way. They’re unethical and any jobs they bring in are likely to suffer high rates of burnout. And they’ll probably automate them all away as soon as they’re able anyway. So please don’t allow them to come here and also please cancel the Flock contract.

[00:23:02] Linda Ague: Hello, Linda Ague. First, it’s Amazon, and I just want them to go away. 

[00:23:08] As much as I am able to understand, the developer is asking for an indirect source pollution permit–a ‘we-know-we’ll-be- adversely-affecting-the-air-quality-but-it’s-not-our-facility-it’s-the-pollution-of-the-trucks permit. However the welcoming responses of nearby businesses including the airport are not to the pollution problem but the traffic flow concern. Air pollution, traffic flow, apples and oranges.

[00:23:38] What I really wish is that the reason these businesses are not addressing air pollution is because all the Amazon trucks will be electric. And to support this fleet of trucks feeding this cheap instead of local economy, Amazon will invest millions in expanding the electric charging grid for themselves and with their big, generous hearts for all of us as well.

[00:24:00] Maybe a requirement worth considering.

[00:24:04] If jobs are weighing in on the ‘Yes’ side of your vote, make sure you have an honest knowledge of how much AI and robotics will be employed, compared to real honest human jobs with the real cost of living and real benefits.

[00:24:20] It’s the same smell of money versus the smell of good clean air, not to mention farmland and our wetlands being destroyed. No need to say ‘Yes’ until you know you have the best answer for our community and for our planet.

[00:24:36] Stan Taylor: My name’s Stan Taylor with Indivisible Eugene Springfield. And part of what you’re seeing tonight is a campaign to keep Amazon out of Eugene.

[00:24:48] I’m disturbed by the process that got us to the point that we’re at. I know there’s a lot of problems with the way a city manager-council relationship can work. But this is a good example of a big gap that needs to be addressed.

[00:25:06] So we have a permit that’s requested from the permit department, but part of that permit that’s requested includes plans that are submitted by an architect that’s signed a nondisclosure agreement.

[00:25:18] It includes a broker who also signed a nondisclosure agreement. As far as I know, we haven’t officially heard from the city that it’s Amazon that’s coming into town, yet they’re talking about breaking ground next month.

[00:25:35] This is a big problem. And there’s been no opportunity, really, for public input at the front end. The permit requirements require that the neighborhood association be notified, but there is no neighborhood association operating in that neighborhood.

[00:25:53] It requires them to put signs on the roads for traffic to see that property is going to be developed, but the signs that were put out to give public notice were put on side roads, not on (Highway) 99.

[00:26:06] So what we’re seeing is a huge gap between the process of a permit being required and the notice to public to be able to actually weigh in, not at the back end, but at the front end.

[00:26:25] And it seems to me with issues like Flock or issues like a organization or business like Amazon, that it ought to be obvious to people in the city that when these issues come up, they’re important enough to require you to weigh in on it at the front end, not the back end. So I’m asking you now that we’re at the back end: Move us back to the front end.

[00:26:50] Presenter: Residents ask why city officials didn’t push for transparency and public comment on what is believed to be an Amazon warehouse coming to Northwest Eugene.