PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, AUGUST 28, 2020
DeBLASI,
continued from Page A1
DeBlasi will try to unseat
Councilor Laura Reid who
is running for re-election to
Position 1.
As an advisor to the city
council through commissions
and committees, DeBlasi fo-
cuses on how small details
impact the residents and liva-
bility of the city. As a planning
commissioner, he advocated
for changes that created the
space for the new develop-
ment near Sonic Drive-In on
River Road that will com-
bine commercial and residen-
tial components.
“I will admit I’m surprised
that it happened as quickly
as it did, but I hope that the
community accepts it and that
we use it as a way to engage
commercial developers and
show them that Keizer is open
to more urban looks as we try
JURAN,
continued from Page A1
Advisory Board for more than
fi ve years. In that time, the old
saw of government’s wheels
grinding slowly became a
lived experience.
“I’ve learned how much
persistence is needed when
you want to get something
done. It’s not a matter of just
starting a conversation, but
thinking it through, the op-
tions available and then mak-
ing sure that a decision is act-
ed on,” he said.
At a recent parks board
meeting he asked a question
about pesticide use in Keiz-
er parks – a question he was
asked while campaigning –
and the person who might
have had the answer wasn’t
available.
“So that’s one month, next
month we might be able to
get the answer then we have
to talk about the alternatives,
then the possibilities of reduc-
to fi ll in the missing middle,”
he said. The “missing mid-
dle” is used to describe the
gap between lower income
and more expensive housing
options, a space where more
and more cities are coming up
short.
DeBlasi is also an advocate
for the city council adopting
an inclusivity resolution as a
fi rst step, but that the work
that comes after such a resolu-
tion includes making sure all
residents have safe, affordable
housing within reach.
On economic develop-
ment, DeBlasi would like to
see the city engage more with
the Oregon Legislature on is-
sues that could bolster Keiz-
er’s prospects and back up its
words with actions.
“I’ve heard the council-
ors talk about their support
for local businesses, but then
In-N-Out was approved and
that undercuts a local business
like Nancy’s Burgers,” DeBla-
si said. “A ton of people came
and now they will be opening
another one up north. They
didn’t see us as a communi-
ty, they saw us as a revenue
stream.”
While the council approves
business developments, it can
only reject them when they
fail to meet specifi c standards
relating to infrastructure, de-
sign and traffi c impacts. It
does not have a role in de-
termining which brands or
chains occupy a space.
On the traffi c safety com-
mittee, DeBlasi advocates for
adding more traffi c-calming
features – such as narrower
lanes, greater use of trees next
to streets and bulbing out
curbs – whenever a Keizer
street undergoes a makeover.
Eventually, he would like to
see the city adopt alternative
standards that cater to a wid-
er array of transportation op-
tions and safety plans to sup-
port them.
While he’s seen some vic-
tories in the efforts he cham-
pions, he’s not been on the
winning side in every deci-
sion and hopes to bring that
understanding to the council.
“Some of the decision
making is accepting the good
instead of the perfect. And
some of it is accepting defeats
when they happen. But, be-
ing on these committees, I've
gotten to meet people who
have issues with the city that
I wouldn’t have known about
otherwise,” he said.
As for the choice to run
against a sitting councilor,
DeBlasi said he has nothing
against Reid.
“She’s just of a mindset
with all the other counselors
we already have,” he said.
DeBlasi lives in Keizer with
his wife, Nicole, and children
Miles and Ella.
Find out more about the
candidate at his website: www.
deblasi4abetterkeizer.com.
ing it to zero and the costs on
the other end. If you are in-
terested in seeing something
done, you have to hammer at
it for a long time.”
In the past, Juran has advo-
cated for the city to investi-
gate the possibility of making
internet service available as a
public utility, but he doesn’t
want that to be the single is-
sue he is known for.
“As somebody who is
working on building a fam-
ily, I want to have a lot of
good options for housing and
schools and parks, the things
that make a city liveable,” he
said.
On a topic like growth,
Juran said he still has more
work to do before offering
his opinion, but that blanket,
or blind, resistance to the idea
of growth doesn’t move the
conversation in a realistic di-
rection.
“If we're having conver-
sations about how we grow,
that's going to serve us better
as a community than trying to
just put up roadblocks,” Juran
said.
He’s a proponent of the
city having some sort of state-
ment or resolution regarding
inclusivity. While some have
resisted specifi c language ad-
opted in other cities, arguing
that it would make Keizer
a sanctuary city, he sees no
reason the council couldn’t
produce a resolution without
such language.
“We can take those ideas
and make something of inclu-
sion, but the council seemed
to reject it and I was extreme-
ly disappointed in that,” he
said.
As a technical consultant,
Juran works with a non-profi t
that develops growth metrics
for educators with the goal
of helping them tailor their
lessons, but he’s also a long-
time volunteer with the Keiz-
er-based non-profi t Satellite
Gaming, which offers after
school clubs in area middle
schools.
While students partici-
pate in tournaments, Juran
pulls parents aside to help
them better understand their
children’s interest in video
games and how they can sup-
port their interest in healthy
ways. There’s lessons there he
will draw on if elected to the
council.
“Some of the students we
work with are even more iso-
lated than some of their peers.
The big thing that drives me
to help is that I want them to
feel like part of a community,”
he said.
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