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City council
continued from page 1
“It’s been busy, but it’s what I ex
pected,” he said.
Poling, a re
tired police offi
cer, said he was
n’t involved
with city poli
tics when he
worked in law
enforcement,
but he became
interested in
the process af
ter retiring and
watching reruns
of City Council meetings.
Although maintaining adequate
funding for public safety is his top pri
ority, Poling is also heavily involved
with transportation issues, including
the Interstate 5/Beltline improve
ment, the I-5/Coburg improvement
and the Bus Rapid Transit projects.
Pape
The City Council also has two lead
ership positions, president and vice
president, who don’t hold any signifi
cant additional power. This year, Ward
5 City Councilor Gary Pape is presi
dent and Ward 8 City Councilor Nan
cy Nathanson is
vice president.
Pape, who has
lived in Eugene
for 48 years, said
the city doesn’t
have the re
sources to do
everything it
wants, and as a
result it must
make cuts.
“First and
foremost, I want
to find a way through this difficult fi
nancial time,” he said.
Pape said he wants to focus his ef
forts on public safety services and
saving police services, which he said
is 50 officers short of what a commu
nity of Eugene’s size should have.
Poling
Also on Pape’s plate are working on
the new fire station and federal court
house constructions and enhancing
branch libraries built to accompany
the new downtown library.
“I hope we will do it with the long
term taste and construction we saw
with the library,” he said.
Nathanson
Nathanson, whose western ward is
more conservative than the other
South Eugene wards, is heavily in
volved in telecommunications, but she
also lists public safety, as well as parks
and open space, as her top priorities.
Nathanson’s involvement in
telecommunications started when
she chaired a
committee that
developed Eu
gene’s compre
h e n s i v e
telecommunica
tions ordinance.
Now, Nathanson
serves on a 15
member Federal
Communica
tions Commis
sion advisory Nat hail SO fl
committee that
works to protect consumer rights and
municipal authority—something she
thinks the FCC’s deregulation at
tempts are impairing.
“My particular interest is to make
sure we protect consumer rights,
which are shrinking in this atmos
phere,” she said.
The City Council is also home to
veteran city leaders, including David
Kelly, Ward 3; Betty Taylor, Ward 2;
Scott Meisner, Ward 7; and Bonny
Bettman, Ward 1.
Kelly
Kelly, who represents the Universi
ty area, said he serves a diverse set of
constituents. Based on voting records,
however, the area tends to be more
liberal than other areas of Eugene.
Kelly said a major priority for him
this year is minimizing cuts to many of
the city’s smaller
services, includ
ing recreation
and senior serv
ices, as the cur
rent budget crisis
forces programs
to be slashed.
“I want the
broadest range
possible to sur
vive,” he said.
The West
University
neighborhood is also an issue Kelly
feels strongly about. As a member of
the West University Joint Task Force,
Kelly hopes students will become
more involved in improving the neigh
borhood this year.
“I really hope that out of that task
force will come some good long-term
improvements to the West University
neighborhood,” he said.
Taylor
Taylor, who has also served on the
City Council for six years, represents
a liberal to moderate demographic.
Taylor said she approaches this year
with three simple priorities: to protect
the environ
ment, to protect
individual liber
ties and to
maintain an
open and acces
sible govern
ment.
Taylor, who
serves on eight
committees,
also has her
sights set on the
marijuana fine increase, which will go
to a City Council vote in February.
Specifically, Taylor said she is worried
about the affects on the poor and
wants to get more input from the stu
dent population.
“I’m very anxious to know what stu
dents think about (the issue),” she said.
Meisner
Meisner, a former lawyer and an an
tique furniture restorer, said that
based on voting records, some areas
of his ward have became more conser
vative after redistricting. But, Meisner
said, his ward is
still “highly di
verse.”
For Meisner,
the building of
the new down
town library can
already be
checked off the
priorities list.
Meisner was
named chair
man of the May
ors Library Improvement Committee
and was heavily involved in the new li
brary’s planning and development.
“My primary ambition was to get a
new library system here, and we’ve
done it,” he said.
Now, Meisner said he wants to focus
on increasing services for his ward and
working the city through the current
budget crisis.
Bettman
Bettman, who represents what
she called in an e-mail a “strong
democratic constituency,” that she
plans on focusing her attention on
ensuring a fair, transparent and ac
countable public process. She also
wants to make
sure budget
priorities re
flect communi
ty priorities
and to work to
ward neighbor
hood safety
and livability.
While she
couldn’t pre
dict priorities
of the City
Council as a
whole, Bettman said she thought
the two biggest issues for the Coun
cil are government spending and
government accountability.
“I want to encourage citizens to
get involved. Democracy is not a
spectator sport,” she said.
“Pick an issue, get informed, and
participate.”
Meisner
Contact the senior news reporter
at janmontry@dailyemerald.com.
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