Torrey offers to lobby on behalf of University
■ INTERVIEW: Mayor Jim
Torrey discusses the future of
the University and Eugene
By Eric Collins
Community Reporter
In the next 1,000 days, Mayor
Jim Torrey will focus on public
safety, affordable housing and the
library system, as well as dealing
with park and open space acqui
sition. The surprising omission:
education. Despite the exclusion
of higher education from the re
ported goals of Torrey’s state-of
the-city speech last week, Torrey
said he will lobby for student in
terests and encourage student in
volvement in city government.
QWhy weren't educational goals
focused on in your state-of-the
city address?
A; Because the city of Eugene as
an entity is not by law involved
with education. Higher education has
a division of higher education, a
community college has its own
board, the 4J school district has its
own board. And remember that this
was the state-of-the-city. A number
of times in that speech I referred to
education. I talked about why we
could not let anything we as a city
are doing interfere with the need to
educate our children. And children,
as far as I’m concerned, go all the
way up through the University of
Oregon. Specifically, what we would
be doing in terms of raising money
for education is not our charge. Our
charge is to run this community.
In terms of what the city can do
for education at the university level, I
was talking to University of Oregon
President Dave Frohnmayer
yesterday, and I offered my
assistance as mayor of this city to
testify at any committee and to lobby
on behalf of the University for their
concerns.
One of their concerns is
maintaining a lid on tuition
increases. And I will be there
testifying. I’m a member of the
League of Oregon Cities board of
directors, and I intend to use that
position to allow me to communicate
with other members of that board. I
think I can be an able advocate for
the University and for students. I
can't guarantee that I will always
agree with everything students and
the University want me to agree with,
but maintaining tuition levels I can
agree with. Providing funding for
staff salaries, I can agree with.
Making sure people of this state have
the opportunity to get a quality
education, I can agree with.
Qi How will you involve the
j University community in your
goals for the city?
MAYOR'S INFO
Mayor Jim ftrrey
■ TERM LENGTH:
Jan. 1997-Jan. 2001
■ SELECTED BACKGROUND:
Member of the Eugene City Council, company
owner, member of Rotary
A We will deal with community
outreach in trying to find what
the core services the City of Eugene
will provide concerning Measure 47.
My suggestion is to take the four
high schools in Eugene, the high
school in the Bethel District and the
University of Oregon, that's six
areas, and have an outreach meeting
in each one of those areas. This way
we can ask the public to
communicate to us what they
consider core services.
Entwined in all this is the question
of whether there are some
suggestions to how one would do
this differently, wherever we get
them. If a University class were to
discuss core services of the City of
Eugene, I’d be very interested in
hearing those types of discussions
and having those opinions presented
to us.
I think it’s the first time that I'm
aware of when we’ve actually gone
and asked the University to help. I
have identified places for meetings
that I intend to have.
In addition to that, the City Council
will be meeting at least once a
quarter at some place other than the
City Hall. One of those places will be
the University of Oregon, I would say
in the fall. I am hoping for a session
in the evening, which will be the type
of meeting with an open
microphone. It’s conceivable that 50
people from the University want to
talk to us for three minutes apiece,
and I’m prepared to listen to that, on
any subject of importance to them.
Councilor Bobby Lee demanded it,
but I would have done it even if he
hadn't demanded it.
QWith Measure 47 looming in
the distance, how do you plan
on implementing some of your
goals, such as acquiring parks and
open spaces?
A| If you listen to my speech, what
iI said specifically about parks,
open space and natural habitat was
that we need to acquire the property.
I specifically didn’t say to convert it
into a park and operate it. What I'm
looking at in the next 1,000 days is if
we do not acquire that property, it is
going to be developed, and it won’t
be available for acquisition.
The question of where we are
going to get the operational money is
a question I’m not prepared to deal
with. I’m supportive of getting that
money, but if we take too big a bite,
we are going to lose the support of
the community. I believe that this is
a step we could take.
Would citizens prioritize operating
a park over running an ambulance? I
think the answer to that is no. There
is a distinction here. Property is a
capital asset. It can be purchased
outside the impact of Measure 47.
The operation of the park is an
operational expense that is within the
impact of Measure 47.
There is a distinction. You can go
out to the voters and have them
approve asset capital. In the case of
the open spaces, I want to preserve
these areas as an option for parks. If
we don’t preserve it, we’ll never have
that option.
re
duce
cycle
As children
we learned the three
"Rs."
Now there are six.
As children we were taught reading,
'riting and 'rithmatic. Now, the time has
come to learn the three "Rs" of recycling.
This means: learning to reduce waste by
purchasing recyclable products like
reusable, plastic coffee mugs instead of
paper cups; remembering to reuse products
such as paper bags by taking them with
you to the grocery store; and making it a
habit to deposit all recycle materials.
With little effort, the University of
Oregon has learned to reduce, reuse and
recycle. Last year U of O Recycling
deposited 1,900,000 lbs. of paper,
cardboard and metal products and 750
gallons of motor oil and paint thinner.
With the amount of effort it took for
you to learn reading, 'riting and 'rithmatic,
you can learn to recycle as well.
Take the time to reduce, reuse and recycle,
and take the time to care about your
environment. For more information call:
Campus Recycling 346-1529.
University of Oregon
Environmental Issues Committee
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