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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 1997)
Induction: Lee wants council to invest in places where students live ■ Continued from Page 1 Over the years, people have felt that the crime rate was going up, that there was a lot of tedious crimes and a lot of infrastructure decay was taking place. I think it’s about time that the city reinvested more in places where the students live. That's one of the reasons I decided to run, to have a voice on the council. The students provide over $100 million in money for the local economy. Students pay rent, use ser vices in the community, spend money on food and entertainment, so stu dents contribute quite a bit to the local economy. In fact, students fuel the local econ omy. Without the students, the Eugene economy would be much different. What I'm trying to suggest is that stu dents are playing a significant role in helping to revitalize our economy. The money we've invested in the commu nity should be returned back to the University neighborhood. QWhat are your thoughts regard ing the cuts of Measure 47? A The way I am going to approach it ! is by looking at how the total tax policy in Eugene and in the state of Oregon affect income ievel for different classes of people. Ultimately, we want a tax policy that's progressive and that helps redistribute some of the wealth to people who need it. My approach is, if we are going to look at alternative funding, there are several criteria we will have to take. One of them is one that is equitable. As we approach the budget cuts, the second issue is the language in Mea sure 47 that forces the state, city and county to put the protection of pubic safety as its highest priority. There are already provisions that micro manage how we are supposed to cut. Unfortunately, we don’t know if this measure is constitutional, and so there is going to have to be a litigation process to figure out what the measure really means. MA mtw b I it-t-LtK/tmeraid Bobby Lee will soon be sworn in as Eugene’s youngest city counselor, representing Ward 3. I know I am approaching this job in pretty challenging times. Ballot Mea sure 47 will make dramatic cuts; about 25% of our operating budget. That’s a substantial amount. I know it’s going to be hard times. I know it's going to be pretty challenging. Q; Will you be a voice for the stu dents in higher education cuts? A; I think higher education will prob ! ably in better shape than the city and the county. Jim Torrey has ap pointed me into the intergovernmental committee, which deals with state and federal issues. So while protecting higher education in terms of tuition hikes, increasing in grants and finan cial aid for students and improving the education for future generations is a priority, the residents of Ward 3 also want to see city services protected. I’m going to have a dual role in that I am representing education in the state legislative sessions as well as the city. Qls there any conflict of interest : between representing students, homeowners and small-business owners in Ward 3, especially con cerning the dog and skateboard ban? A No. because the students are ulti mately the fuel for the local econ omy in Eugene. If there weren’t stu dents, many of the small businesses probably would not survive. If we were to increase tuition at a higher rate than state Ballot Measure 5, and at the same time cut financial aid for stu dents, the students won’t have the liq uid cash to spend on our local econo my. So when we're putting a tuition cap or providing more financial aid, es sentially we are helping small busi ness. I think the local businesses of 13th CITY COUNCIL WARD 3 MATT GARTON/Emerald Ave. want to see it being revitalized to where the streets are clean and there’s a sense of safety in the area. Students want to see that, too. Students also want a safe neighborhood. There are crime issues we need to deal with. Unfortunately, the small business owners came out in favor of dogs and skateboards. I actually came out against it. I believe you have to ap proach things in a more comprehen sive way. You just can’t make specific policy for specific people. It will ulti mately just move people down the street and into someone else’s neigh borhood. But I'm not against the intent of this approach because it is a prob lem. Q; With the growth and environ ! mental concerns of citizens over the Hyundai corporation’s move into the Eugene area, what type of devel opment are you in favor of based on the citizens you are representing? Ai Manufacturing industries cause a _jj tremendous strain on our natural resources, so I would prefer bringing in research and development jobs be cause these jobs are the gateway into the information age as we approach the 21 st century. It’s a thinking job. As we approach the 21st century, peo ple’s innovation and creativity are more of an asset than learning to make 2x4s. I would prefer research and de velopment over manufacturing, espe cially here in Eugene. Q: With negotiations still underway j in the development of a prison site, what are your thoughts on build ing prisons in the Eugene area? A; I think the governor has done a i good job. I think what he said was that independent communities should provide enough infrastructure to hold prisoners from their area in that specif ic location. In other words, if Eugene has 10,000 potential prisoners every year, then we should create a prison for that size in our locality instead of putting them in different parts of the state. I think if we create prisoners, then we should also have space for them in our local community. Ulti mately, it’s the people who voted for the mandatory sentencing and expand ing the jail facilities. It’s what people wanted and I think the government is reacting to that and doing a good job. QWhat can citizens expect from you from your term as councilor? A I First and foremost I believe I am a .j pretty open-minded person. I am very approachable by a variety of con stituents. Also I believe I have a good sense of understanding of our local economy as well the economy of the state of Oregon. I also have a better perception of which direction Eugene is going for. As we're approaching the 21st century, we need a more informa tion-based economy. 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