Eugene weekly., November 13, 2008, Page 13, Image 13

‘They seem to be angry,’ Piercy said of the R-G.
‘I take their input, but they don’t decide elections.’
After defeating Torrey’s divisive effort
to unseat her, Piercy says she wants to pull
the city back together.
“I’m going to look to the future,” she
said. “I’m not going to look to see who
supported me and didn’t support me.”
“We have much more in common than
we have that separates us,” Piercy said.
“I’m looking forward to working with
the entire community for the next four
years.”
Piercy says her re-election shows
people support her pursuit of green jobs.
“We can be for a strong economy and be
for our people and protect our natural
resources all at the same time,” she said.
“People live in Eugene because they care
deeply about its natural resources and its
livability.”
For economic development, Piercy said
the city should focus on how to “protect
and support our local businesses.”
Piercy said Eugene offers fertile ground
‘People live
in Eugene
because
they care
deeply about
its natural
resources and
its livability.’
— KITTY PIERCY
for new green jobs to sprout. Local people
are working on projects for using methane
and algae for fuel and on new electric
cars, she said. “We have a lot of really
innovative, entrepreneurial people.”
She said she’s also interested in
recruiting a solar panel company to use the
recently closed Hynix plant.
Piercy admits the city has a limited
ability to create jobs. “We don’t have a
lot of money we can use for an economic
stimulus,” she said.
Congress and the state Legislature are
considering new highway stimulus bills,
but they have sparked concerns that they
could increase global warming and foreign
oil dependence by promoting sprawl and
driving. “That’s a legitimate concern,”
Piercy said.
She said she hopes the stimulus
focuses on repairing existing roads and
boosting alternative transportation rather
than building new highways. She noted
that in an EW interview last week, local
Congressman Peter DeFazio, “talked a lot
about decisions being made with an eye to
climate change and fi nite resources.”
Piercy said she hopes federal money can
be used to pay a big chunk of the cost of a
multi-modal boulevard concept the West
Eugene Collaborative is considering. The
boulevard could combine bus rapid transit,
bike lanes, sidewalks and pedestrian-
friendly, mixed-use development to address
traffi c problems on West 11th Ave.
Piercy said she hopes the collaborative
will also discuss calls to limit big box
development in the area. “I think it’s about
time they tackled that one.”
Going door to door in her campaign,
Piercy gained a better understanding of
how people are struggling in the economic
downturn. “There are a lot of people in
fi nancial stress,” she said. “I met people out
on the doorstep — a 45-year-old woman
taking in roommates to be able to pay for
her home.”
A homeless committee Piercy convened
ended last year without a proposal for
increasing funding to address the problem.
“I think they thought it wouldn’t fl y,” she
said. But Piercy said it may be time to
reconsider a funding measure to help the
homeless. “People’s economic plight has
changed radically.”
The city itself also faces a defi cit.
Piercy said she still supports the decision
to put library funding in the general fund
rather than having the library depend on
increasingly diffi cult to pass serial levies.
Given the overwhelming local vote for
Barack Obama in the presidential election,
his proposal to raise revenue with a tax
increase on the rich appears popular in
Eugene.
If Eugene passed a similar local income
tax increase only on the rich, the city could
raise about $5 million a year, according to
an earlier city study.
Piercy said the council hasn’t talked
about such a progressive tax reform
here, but she added, “I’m open to the
discussion.”
The city should also consider an
independent performance auditor to make
sure it’s operating effi ciently, according to
Piercy. The position could cost money but
save more in reducing waste. “It’s worth
looking into,” she said.
The city of Eugene spends about $3
million a year for legal services from a
private law fi rm. Critics have said hiring
an in-house attorney could save money and
reduce confl icts of interest.
“I’d certainly be willing to talk about
it,” Piercy said of the attorney change.
Some have called for increased spending
on police. Piercy said the city has work to
do to address car break-ins, metal theft and
meth. However, “I know our overall crime
rate was lower than the majority of the
country,” she said.
Piercy said the city should leave plans
for a new City Hall building on the shelf.
“There was not the public support,” she
said. The city should use its $30 million
facility reserve to repair the existing City
Hall, she said.
A year ago, conservatives said two
failed city measures showed voters did not
trust the council. With the passage of the
road funding and police auditor measures
this election, “the public is showing its
support,” Piercy said.
Piercy pointed to the two-thirds vote for
the police auditor. “The public was very
clear, again, about their support for the
auditor and the civilian review board.”
Piercy said the public also broadly
supports efforts to revitalize downtown
with proposals to fi ll the two pits. “It’s a
very shared point of view.”
Piercy shares her election victory with
another progressive, Rob Handy. If election
results hold up, Handy will win a narrow
victory over County Commissioner Bobby
Green to swing the balance of county
government.
Piercy said she’s looking forward
to collaborating with the new county
government on progressive land use and
transportation planning. “I would look for
Rob [Handy] to be a good partner.”
Handy defeated many of the same
big developer and gravel pit campaign
spending as Piercy.
Piercy says the huge amount spent on
her re-election fi ght “is way too much for a
city of Eugene mayor race.”
Before Torrey, Eugene’s mayor races
often cost less than $50,000, a tenth what
Torrey spent.
Piercy said she’d like to examine
Portland’s public fi nancing system to see
if it could work in Eugene. She said she
wonders if the Portland system could
withstand the challenges of a hard-fought
race like in Eugene and the problems
surrounding independent expenditures.
Obama’s victory was “a riveting
moment in the history of this country,”
Piercy said. She said the past eight years
of Bush had left her “aghast” at the war,
“fi nancial chaos” and loss of constitutional
rights and the nation’s respect in the world.
“Now maybe we’re getting back to having
the kind of country, the kind of leadership,
we can be proud of.”
Unlike Obama, Piercy could run again
and serve more than eight years as mayor.
Piercy said she hasn’t thought that far
ahead. “I’m very focused on the next four
years.”
ew
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