Public comment: Anger at the decline of a great city

Presenter: The City Council heard public comment March 10 on the budget gap, tax breaks, and the attempt to clean up downtown. Residents suggest that while downtown still smells the same, Eugene is creating new problems in the city’s neighborhoods, killing off CAHOOTS, and presenting an image of decline. Lin Woodrich:

Lin Woodrich (Active Bethel Community): My name’s Lin Woodrich. I’m speaking for the Active Bethel Community board. I will continue to repeat this speech until something gets done. I’m aware that there’s a budget shortfall, but Bethel cannot be put on the back burner. Bethel needs a police substation on Highway 99 now.

[00:00:37] The city located the Lindholm Center in the Active Bethel Community. It’s a magnet of services for the homeless all over the United States. You need to either move it or take care of the businesses and residents that are being impacted by the situation it’s causing.

[00:00:51] You’ve been getting regular emails from the owner of the Gilbert Shopping Center with photos of the tents and garbage accumulating along Highway 99. There have been incidents where people visiting our local businesses have been threatened or attacked.

[00:01:04] The community safety payroll tax needs to support Bethel too. Some of the funds need to be routed to Bethel.

[00:01:10] The city hired a downtown incident commander in 2023 to focus on public safety and cleanliness, ensuring appropriate police presence and coordinating resources from across the organization in a rapid response team. Bethel needs this.

[00:01:25] Rich Locke: My name is Rich Locke. I’d like to make a comment tonight on the last Feb. 24 work session where you folks had a report back from the downtown initiative and how that’s going.

[00:01:38] And many of the difficult questions that you put out there in front of those folks—it was kind of like a deer in the headlights, you know. I don’t believe that they were adequately prepared to answer some of those questions. And I appreciate the questions there.

[00:01:52] And as I did many times prior to coming to a Council meeting, I would go walk downtown, just to see, when it used to be over there at the LCC. And tonight was no different. It kind of reinvigorated my senses. It still pretty much smells like beer, urine, and pot smoke.

[00:02:12] I saw mostly folks that your efforts are trying to keep away from the downtown area. And I heard words that you mentioned in the beginning of the meeting I couldn’t say in this room.

[00:02:24] So my senses were telling me that things haven’t changed dramatically downtown, although they might have. I think your downtown initiative is driving the folks that you’re focusing on downtown into our local neighborhoods: the Westside community, the Whiteaker community, the River Road communities, and I’d like to thank Lin for bringing this up two meetings now. And I want to switch my focus to the Eugene image.

[00:02:54] Who in this room is responsible for Eugene’s image? (silence) I didn’t think any of you were. Do you realize that, you know, they’re saying Lane County tops over $1 billion worth of travel into Lane County, right? So that’s a lot of money coming in here and the passage of Highway 99 into the heart of our city says it all: We have no respect for the Eugene image. You folks are responsible for the Eugene image.

[00:03:26] Joel Vaughan: My name is Joel Vaughan. I reside in Trainsong in Ward 7, and I am co-chair of the Trainsong Neighbors. I also wanted to thank Lin (Woodrich) for getting us reactivated in Trainsong.

[00:03:38] I’m here tonight to address the city’s funding, and I would like to add that these opinions and ideas are specifically my own. While I support the idea of the fire fee, I think we should find new revenue streams to fund our city’s infrastructure. The fire fee places too much stress on the residents simply trying to survive.

[00:03:55] The recent EWEB rate increases are a direct blow to Eugene citizens already struggling with the rising costs of living. These increases jeopardize basic necessities for many Eugene residents. We must acknowledge this burden and seek solutions that don’t solely fall on the residents.

[00:04:14] I propose that the council adjust the transient lodging tax for the city of Eugene to supplement revenue rather than relying solely on the fire fee which already doesn’t fully cover the cuts in city funding.

[00:04:25] It’s important to address the reality that property owners who rent their properties out will pass EWEB increases onto renters, exacerbating their financial strain. The fire fee is no different in this aspect.

[00:04:38] To mitigate the immediate impact of the EWEB rate hikes and the possible fire fee, I urge the council to first implement a two-year freeze on rent increases in the Eugene area. This will prevent landlords from unfairly burdening renters with the added cost and instead take from the owner’s bottom line.

[00:04:56] Finally, I suggest proposing attacks on the corporations that purchase Eugene properties purely as rental investments. We need regulations that prioritize housing for Eugene residents, not corporate profit.

[00:05:09] We must give the people of Eugene the means to survive in their own city. Let’s find solutions that distribute the financial burden relatively and ensure a sustainable future for all Eugene residents.

[00:05:22] City staff: Alexander Chamberlin:

[00:05:23] Alexander Chamberlin: I’m here because I read a KVAL story that mentioned the cutting of CAHOOTS and their city contract. It was said that the mobile crisis response team could substitute for CAHOOTS, and I think they are doing a good job, but I don’t think it is a substitute.

[00:05:42] I think what CAHOOTS has is a decade of institutional knowledge, community trust, people who have been there a while, learned skills, all these things have made that organization far more effective and efficient than our brand-new clone. So I would ask that you don’t cut that and you find somewhere else to look for your money.

[00:06:07] Stefan Strek: My name is Stefan Strek, I was made aware in the local paper recently that there’s an issue with the old Lane County building, LCC, being bought or not really bought, but apparently it’s been proposed to pay millions of dollars for a private company to take possession of the city property and use it for their benefit, which seems like a bit of an oversight and continuance of mismanagement.

[00:06:39] People might recall that the steam plant, just a few blocks away, was sold a few years ago for $1 and it has not been developed. It’s an eyesore with broken windows and it’s a pretty sad example for the deal making.

[00:06:59] Now the city is millions of dollars over budget, and when you don’t have much money, when you’re millions of dollars over budget, that means you can’t afford to pay someone millions of dollars to take property to enrich themselves.

[00:07:18] I’m not an accountant, not an expert, but maybe something to think about.

[00:07:22] And as an alternative, I brought some cards down here today, vintage 1995 Pokemon cards you might see. Just so everyone knows, they’re shiny cards, which makes them extra valuable. I’m willing to trade the city, not all for one piece, but I’m willing to give you guys one card per piece of prime downtown or riverfront real estate.

[00:07:49] Scott Oakley: My name is Scott Oakley. I’ve lived here in Eugene for more than nine years now. Oregon is a wonderful state. Eugene is a pretty nice city. I believe Eugene could be a wonderful city. However, my perception of Eugene has not gotten better over time, it has actually gotten worse. 

[00:08:08] A city is more than buildings and pavement, it is community. And this city has a role in building, growing, and maintaining community. However, for years now, our community has been in somewhat of a state of decline.

[00:08:21] Several years ago, Eugene held coffin car races. Some of you may remember them. I was a competitor in both years of the races. In fact, I came in seventh in the second year. It was a wonderful event that was well attended by many Eugenians. When year three came around, it didn’t happen. I asked why? Money. It always seems to come down to money. There is not enough money, revenue, in the city to build, grow, or even maintain community.

[00:08:50] Without revenue, what suffers? What suffers the least are critical services, you know, Fire, Police. They always seem to get the money that they want. What suffers most is everything else. Yes, everything that makes Eugene a community.

[00:09:03] Do any of you use the city pools, parks, community centers? Did you drive on any of the roads with de-icer on them this winter? These things that make our community better and safer cost money.

[00:09:16] Eugene and all cities in Oregon are constrained by law—you know, Measures 5 and 50—and how they can raise revenue. These constraints, not waste, have put us against a revenue wall. Facing this revenue wall, this Council enacted the fire service fee in February. I applaud you for doing so.

[00:09:35] But let’s be honest, it’s not really about fire services. This is about that revenue wall. A wall is not really the correct word. You can get over, around a wall. This is more like a cliff. A cliff that all of us as Eugenians are about to go over. So you did the right thing. You put forth and passed the fire service fee.

[00:09:57] And then what happened? Next was the Chamber of Commerce and their effort to stop the fire service fee. If anyone associated with the Chambers here are listening, they should be ashamed of themselves. You know the city is running on empty.

[00:10:11] Scott Fife: My name is Scott Fife and the reason I’m talking to you today is you had a press conference last week pointing out the $11.5 million budget shortfall, and there’s one reason we have these budget shortfalls and it’s MUPTE. It’s the Multi Unit Property Tax Exemption. You passed one after another of these things, and you basically make setting us up for future generations are going to have the same kind of budget hole.

[00:10:36] Then it’s pitting citizens against the library. I went to a meeting, I’m part of the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance and it was, Atkins Dame and Obie were there. And I found it kind of ironic ’cause the library had just had shortened hours. I don’t know what was passed today, but I know that there were some, two MUPTEs, were passed earlier today.

[00:10:55] And I would agree with the gentleman that was talking about the coffin races. Also Sunday Streets, a lot of things that when I first moved here 16 years ago, it was really cool and we had all this stuff going, but now we just have to subsidize developers. They don’t need it. We’ve gave them enough largesse.

[00:11:09] And now we’ve got the Chamber of Commerce, so we’re going to have to spend money fighting them.

[00:11:13] But I mean just, tax after tax, fee, all these different things, it’s just death by 1,000 cuts and then those are regressive taxes. This $10 tax, well that adds up to $120 a year. And to some people it’s a mere pittance, but other people, it’s like the gentleman said earlier today, it is a problem, you know.

[00:11:30] And then also EWEB gave an automatic $5 a month tax to the EWEB bill and that’s, you know, on top of the rate change. So everybody on the bottom especially is getting the squeeze.

[00:11:43] City staff: Danny Patch:

[00:11:45] Danny Patch: I think $11.5 million deficit is not a very good job performance. And isn’t it coincidental that that’s pretty much what you bought this building for, plus remodeling? The numbers just make you look like you’re lying to us. They just do.

[00:12:03] I still call for an audit of the Eugene city finances because how you bought this building, you said you scrimped and saved, it sounds more like you scraped, misappropriated funds, and you put it somewhere else so you could buy this building.

[00:12:19] Why don’t you trust us? Why don’t you give us some credit? You’ve destroyed our relationship, that bond that we share, our vote. You’ve completely thrown it in the garbage and you wonder why we’re mad: because you don’t give us any respect. You act like somehow you can get whatever you want if you just tell us how much we have to pay you.

[00:12:42] We’re mad and we should be, because you’re a disgrace. You don’t allow us our right to vote. You do things on your own and then you make us pay for it. You’re like spoiled children.

[00:12:57] We don’t buy your stories and I’m not the only one that’s mad.

[00:13:04] City staff: Our next and final speaker is Sarah Boom: 

[00:13:08] Sarah Boom: My name is Sarah Boom. The police do so much to keep people safe in our community. They prevent violence and theft with their mere presence. Cops work long hours, putting strain on their families to make sure Eugene is a good place to live.

[00:13:21] Well, I think it’s time we stop working our men and women in blue to the bone. As budget deficits spiral upward, you may ask, ‘Can we do more with less?’ I’m proposing that we do less with less.

[00:13:32] Cops have a power called discretion that allows them to decide whether a particular crime deserves a particular response. This is where the rubber of the law meets the road of enforcement. I am asking you to empower cops to use their discretion to focus on the worst crimes in our community instead of the most crimes.

[00:13:48] I was beaten, robbed, and sexually assaulted in 2018, but EPD didn’t have the resources to respond to my case. However, they have had the resources to throw my friends who use drugs in jail many times since then. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather see someone smoking or shooting up in public than someone experiencing actual violence at the hands of another.

[00:14:09] There are many other situations like this. Armed robberies go unpunished while panhandlers asking nicely get harassed. Sexual violence runs rampant while consenting adult sex workers take up limited jail cells.

[00:14:20] To summarize, we don’t have the resources to punish drug users, sex workers, and panhandlers when thieves, rapists, and murderers are still among us. I know you barely have control over the police despite your control over their budget, but I might ask you nicely to ask them nicely to stop wasting resources that can be used elsewhere. You might just save a Eugenian’s life.

[00:14:39] Presenter: The City Council hears criticism and anger, as residents describe how a city once known as ‘A great city for the arts and outdoors’ is now known for the nation’s worst rate of homelessness and a police department that must respond to an unending series of trespassing calls.