Public comment: Eugene has a leadership problem

Presenter While ICE, Flock cameras, and the Amazon megawarehouse drew most of the attention Jan. 26, public comments also touched on long-running local issues:

Noah Birnel I am Noah Birnel. We’ve heard lots of very importful stuff at public comment tonight. And I’m going to talk about something that people usually regard as less important, which is the violent deaths of about 50 of Eugene’s residents the years between 2022 and 2024. The numbers have not been totaled for 2025.

That’s traffic deaths. That’s how people are dying prematurely, violently in Eugene. Yesterday someone was killed on a bike. The crash report is not complete yet.

These are streets that city planners and engineers know are unsafe. And in 2015, this body passed a resolution saying that ‘no loss of life or serious injury on our transportation system is acceptable. The life and health of the city of Eugene’s residents are our utmost priority.’

I would like to ask the city manager to direct staff to make that a priority. I would like to ask City Council to direct city manager to pass that directive on. Thank you.

Presenter On the city’s forthcoming panhandling ordinance, known as ‘illegal transfer,’ Wayne Martin:

Wayne Martin I’m Wayne Martin. I’m here because I have learned that there may be a possible action to punish people who offer money or food to people on the street—people on the street that might have a sign that says they need it.

This has always been called in our national history ‘begging.’ Begging for money or food has been part of this national history since the mid-1600s. It has been a lawful action for those in need. Individuals and social and ecclesiastical institutions have been generous in offering help. Freedom of religion is the freedom to act in conscience by offering items of necessity and charity to those who rely on the goodness of their fellow human people.

Finally, I want to say—related to that—that it’s not right for law enforcement to roust people who must sleep outdoors before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. It is also not right to take their belongings, including tents and sleeping bags and all their personal effects, and impounding them or tossing them into trucks to be discarded as trash.

As a chaplain of Neighbors Feeding Neighbors, I have encountered dozens and dozens of Eugene homeless citizens who have had to replace their valuable papers and their licenses and their IDs. Please do something to rectify this.

Stefan Strek My name is Stefan Strek, and I personally am quite disappointed that there’s been talk of a proposal to criminalize the donation of items from cars to anyone, and this particularly negatively targets the most vulnerable people in our community. And it really stands to show there is a sickening level of hypocrisy that comes from elected officials.

There is a certain type of person who just refuses to get a job. They coast through life. Often they have mental issues. All they do is just go around asking strangers for money wherever they go. We call these people politicians.

And it’s very sad that people who would act this way would turn around and try to criminalize the exact same behavior from those who cannot survive with any other method in their disposal at the moment.

So what does it say when people who are supposed to be at the top of society take the opportunity to punch down at those who are simply trying to survive and get ahead?

‘Oh, I just need some money so I can get a job.’ ‘Oh, I just need some money so I can get reelected.’

It sounds familiar, and I’m sure that every single elected official here today has gone door to door, knocking on strangers doors with the hope of getting money, which is honestly much more agitating than someone who stands on the street corner asking strangers for money. And this is an important thing to consider when you’re voting on this upcoming legislation.

Similarly, a man in Eugene, for trying to collect cans, was executed, and his killer was acquitted just last November. None of you have mentioned this killer. You all can do better.

Presenter Bethel residents continue to ask for help on Highway 99. Steve Gilbert:

Steve Gilbert Hi, I’m Steve Gilbert, and I’m a lifelong Bethel resident. Eugene’s 2035 transportation plan lists Highway 99 as a major arterial. I’m here to say today that Highway 99 is dangerous by design.

Smart Growth America is an organization that advocates for safe streets for all users. They report there is a pedestrian safety crisis in America where streets are dangerous by design, and low-income people and communities die at much higher rates.

A recent article on Lookout Eugene highlights the risks on Highway 99. This is a four-lane highway. This is a place where the harshness of life on the streets intersects with the challenges of heavily traveled corridor. It is also a hot spot for pedestrian traffic deaths.

When Eugene and Lane County developed a plan ‘to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring,’ Highway 99 was selected to become Eugene’s critical homeless services hub that we now have today. This is a vulnerable population, and the risk to public safety from this plan were knowable. Did the city or county have any discussions or reservations about developing these services on a major arterial?

St. Vincent de Paul continues to add services on 99. The city and county continue to support expanding services here as well.

According to Lookout Eugene, these pedestrian accidents and deaths have caught the attention of city leaders, and the city plans to hire a consultant to now study this corridor. I have a feeling that any consultant that the city uses for 99 will state what should be obvious: You never locate or concentrate homeless services directly on a highway. And then they will ask the city to use Highway 99 as a prime example on their website, Dangerous By Design.

Lin Woodrich My name is Lin Woodrich. I’m the co-chair of the Active Bethel Community and Bethel resident for over 30 years.

At the ‘State of the City’ address, Mayor Knudson said: ‘I think we need to begin thinking differently about Highway 99, its future as a safer, greener, multimodal boulevard. It needs to be reimagined, and as with so many other examples, we can bring a new spirit of collaboration to this work.

For Bethel, this would be a dream come true. Today, Highway 99 is an eyesore and a dangerous corridor, particularly for residents navigating heavy traffic and frequent crossings near concentrated homeless services. We’re eager to begin this reimagining and collaboration now.

As part of that effort, Bethel needs a police substation on Highway 99. It doesn’t need to be fancy. In 2023, the city created a downtown incident commander to improve safety, cleanliness, and rapid response downtown. Bethel deserves the same level of commitment and coordination.

I also want to urge your support for Public Health Standards Version 3, which is the planning staff’s choice scheduled to come before you on Feb. 17. These standards exist to protect the public. Without them, we risk approving projects that threaten air and water quality, undermine climate goals, reduce property values, and erode neighborhood livability.

The proposed USD Clean Fuels rail-to-tanker-truck distribution center and the fuel tank farm in the Trainsong neighborhood are clear examples. These proposed facilities are located in an already overburdened residential area near Bethel Drive. They should be moved further north with access through established industrial zones and away from homes in the event of an explosion.

These sites would not only endanger residents, but could also cripple nearby emergency services and public works.

Public health standards must be incorporated into our comprehensive plan, so land use decisions genuinely protect people and neighborhoods, not just meet minimum technical requirements.

We’re hopeful that with our new city manager in place, the USD regional distribution center answer to LUBA will be prioritized. Eugene can grow while still protecting its people. Together, we can ensure development that is both responsible and resilient and worthy of the communities we serve. Thank you.

Presenter Eugene’s leadership lost the city’s only hospital, its beloved minor league baseball team, and its nationally-acclaimed street mobile crisis service, CAHOOTS. The city has moved slowly to restore the service, despite herculean effort to retain experienced staff

Athena Aguiar I’m Athena Aguiar, and I just wanted to remind you guys that we have not had proper alternative response in this city for 295 days. We need a contract from the city so we can get back community response to calls ASAP.

The Budget Committee called for it back in June. The gap analysis illustrated the need and recommended issuing an RFP back in November. Please, we need a real alternative emergency response back in Eugene ASAP.

WVCC (Willamette Valley Crisis Care) has a team ready to go and they just need the go-ahead.

Presenter The city has also failed to take meaningful action to meet the goals of its Climate Action Plan.

Debra McGee My name is Debra McGee.

In the early 1980s, as a public school counselor, I was appointed to be the Title IX trainer and compliance officer for the Yakima Public School District. I was young and I didn’t understand no one wanted to do it, but I believed in Title IX, which basically said no student on the basis of sex can be excluded from participation in any education program. It was equal opportunity for girls in schools.

This law changed business as usual. it challenged the status quo. It took a huge effort to infuse equality for girls into the public schools. Everyone had to change. The project is not done, but it’s better now. And lawsuits against the schools helped changes happen.

Here’s my point: First adopted in 2014 and updated in 2016, Eugene passed the Climate Recovery Ordinance. I quote: ‘By the year 2030, all businesses, individuals, and others living or working in the city collectively shall reduce the total use of fossil fuels by 50%. Another section says emission reduction levels should be 7.6% per year.

We are not on schedule to succeed in meeting these goals. So why would the city of Eugene issue building permits to businesses that increase our pollution, when Council in 2014 passed an ordinance which is a law to lower pollution? Does the Planning Department know there is a law to reduce carbon emissions? Do they have a filter they must put applications through to determine if a business violates the goals of the Climate Recovery Ordinance? Does the Amazon project meet or violate Eugene’s laws?

You have the responsibility to cause the city and community to comply with the climate recovery ordinance. Mayor, city manager, councilors, staff in every department should ask: What does it mean to have a climate recovery ordinance? And how does the decision that’s being considered intersect with meeting the goals of the CRO? Will you, as our elected representatives, ask staff to investigate how Amazon affects Eugene’s climate recovery ordinance? Could the CRO be used to stop Amazon?

Presenter Eugene residents expressed frustration as city leaders criminalize aid for unhoused humans, neglect businesses and neighborhoods, moved backwards on Vision Zero goals, silently approve thousands of vehicle trips in Northwest Eugene, and silently adopt a technology that helped federal agents terrorize our neighbors.

City leaders have little to show for all the staff time and money directed to two ordinances that the Council later rescinded rather than letting them go to a vote of the people. Danny Patch:

Danny Patch Madam Mayor, I think this community has a leadership problem. We’re always behind the eight ball. We’re not in front of it. We’re always trying to fix something that you and your group have messed up.

Some of these issues are no-brainers. They should never have happened in the first place. 

You’re getting an application from an anonymous source, and you don’t have the gumption to figure out who it is before you sign something? That’s really weak.

Your lack of leadership is the reason why we’re constantly trying to fix your mistakes. It’s one thing after another. And the final defecation on our backs is you taking away our right to vote on financial matters, so you can use your fees as an ATM whenever you come up short. It’s lack of leadership. You’re not leading.

Presenter Eugene residents express frustration as city leaders failed to make progress on long-standing issues.