Fire
continued from page 1
Eugene Fire Department
spokesman Glen Potter said “sever
al locations are under considera
tion.” Potter said that if the measure
passes, the new live-fire training fa
cility would be located at Second
Avenue and Chambers Street.
A recommendation was made by
fire and EMS members that the re
placement of the current Fire Sta
tion No. 1 be a 23,500 square-foot
station to occupy a full one-quarter
block in or near the downtown area.
City councilors found that Eu
gene is in need of a new fire station
and training facilities. The depart
ment has been housed at its present
location in City Hall since opening
in 1964.
If passed, the levy would allocate
$7.8 million toward construction of
the new fire station and $900,000 to
the live-fire training facility, Potter
said. For every $1,000 assessed on
personal property, 11 cents would
go to the measure. With an average
property value of $143,000, the av
erage citizen could expect to pay
$16 annually, Potter said.
Measure 20-57 differs from pre
vious bonds in that the fire depart
ment would receive funding sepa
rate from the police department.
Councilors believe the measure
will allow for the continued growth
of the community, provide safer
quarters for firefighters and provide
modern and realistic training con
ditions for firefighters.
“It's been long acknowledged
that we need to replace the build
ing,” councilor Scott Meisner said.
“Downtown is growing more and
more. It also serves as a support sta
tion for other stations.”
Of another concern to officials, Pot
ter said, are the facilities themselves.
When the facility was built, it was
made to accommodate only male
firefighters. Fire Station No. 1 has
since tried to incorporate facilities to
meet the needs of both genders. Two
years ago, a $36.6 million bond meas
ure was proposed to voters in the
May 2000 primary election. Ballot
Measure 20-31 would have financed
both a downtown police and fire sta
tion. The measure was narrowly de
feated, with 53.5 percent of voters op
posed to the funding.
The measure was placed on the
ballot because neither the police
nor fire departments had enough
space and because structural exam
inations of City Hall revealed that
the building would not withstand a
major earthquake.
“The building is the least capable
of supporting an earthquake of all
city-owned buildings,” Torrey said.
Potter stressed the importance of
emergency services in terms of the
overall situation of the city.
“You don’t want buildings falling
on fire trucks and firefighters when
a disaster is going on,” Potter said.
Voters were again asked to fund
police and fire departments in the
November 2000 general election.
Ballot Measure 20-36, at a cost of
$25.1 million, would have funded
the construction of an 80,000-square
foot police station but only would
have provided funds for the pur
chase of property to build a new fire
station — not to build the station it
self. Measure 20-36 failed, with 61.7
percent of voters opposed.
Now, two years later, city coun
cilors, Torrey and department offi
cials are hopeful voters will pro
vide what they consider to be
much-needed funding.
"The citizens voted ‘no’ twice
and I gave it my best shot,” Torrey
said. “The facility will have to be
replaced sometime in the future. ...
If this as a stand alone will be sup
ported by the people, it’s a bite of
the apple.”
And if Ballot Measure 20-31
doesn’t pass?
“We will maintain services with
the status quo until further notice,”
Potter said.
E-mail community reporter Brad Schmidt
at bradschmidt@dailyemerald.com.
Governor
continued from page 1
“The future of our universities lies
in the effective marriage of econom
ics and higher learning,” Hill said.
Hill, the former state treasurer,
was the only candidate to laud the
Oregon Public Employees Retire
ment System, a comprehensive re
tirement system that serves more
than 160,000 Oregon workers. He
also stressed diversifying Oregon's
economy and said his “proven
track record” at managing the
state’s portfolio as treasurer from
1992 to 2000 made him an ideal
candidate for governor.
Republican Ron Saxton then took
the stage, and drew on his experience
as chairman of the Portland Public
School Board to explain what he
would do for education over the com
ing years if elected.
“Education is critical—it’s the most
important thing we do for our econo
my, it’s the most important thing we
do for our children,” Saxton said.
He was quick to vilify the PERS
system, which he said was respon
sible for taking money away from
class funding.
“We will address PERS. We will
reform it,” he said.
Saxton emphasized that the
state's economy must be rebuilt to
adequately fund education and op
posed raising taxes to pay for edu
cation in Oregon.
“We’re not going to have a strong
education system unless we have a
strong economy,” he said.
Republican Jack Roberts said he
planned on building bipartisan
support for an education plan if
elected, and he said education in
Oregon needed smarter spending
habits, not more money.
“We can throw money at problems
forever and never solve them,” said
Roberts, who is serving his second
term as state labor commissioner.
Roberts, like Saxton, said that too
much money was being used to pay
for teacher payroll and benefits.
“We need to redesign to way we
pay for personnel, which is 80 per
cent of the cost,” he said.
Democrat Bev Stein chastised her
fellow participants for lofty visions
of reform over the next four years.
“You can’t just focus on vision,”
she said. “You must counterpoise
that with reality.”
She said her efforts to build a
grass-roots campaign demonstrated
how firmly she was grounded in
the community. She pitched an ed
ucation plan to recruit more teach
ers, reduce high school dropout
rates and keep talented faculty at
universities by paying them more.
Stein, the former chairwoman of
Multnomah County’s Board of Com
missioners, also praised the Univer
sity of Oregon’s approach to over
crowding, a plan that discounts tu
ition rates for students enrolling in
early morning and late-night classes.
Republican Kevin Mannix, a for
mer Oregon legislator, said he
planned to stay in close contact with
schools if elected and was the only
candidate to specifically commit to
increasing funding for higher educa
tion. Mannix said he would increase
higher education funding by $350
million over the next four years.
Democrat Ted Kulongoski, the
last to answer, said he planned to
eliminate the state board of high
er education and form one board
responsible for education from
kindergarten to the university lev
el. At the same time, Kulongoski,
the former Oregon Attorney Gen
eral, said he wanted to restore
more local control to education
and work closely with families,
churches and schools.
Candidates then answered a se
ries of questions from attendees
and took political potshots at
each other on issues such as
PERS and state funding for pris
ons before concluding the event
at 2 p.m. in a series of hand
shakes and applause.
E-mail reporter Brook Reinhard
|at brookreinhard@dailyemerald.com
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