SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020 | 5A
IN REVIEW 1 from page 1A
many significant — that were ul-
timately approved by commis-
sioners and, later, Florence City
Council.
The result was a significantly
less difficult procedure for devel-
opers to navigate, which should
cost less and require fewer steps
to complete than the previous sys-
tem.
2019 also saw a renewed fo-
cus on the numerous committees
which advise and consult with the
city. These committees are made
up of residents that volunteer their
time to learn about the issues re-
lated to the committees they serve
on and then to share their obser-
vations with the Florence City
Council.
The selection of individu-
als chosen to serve on advisory
bodies starts with an application
process and ends with the mayor
making final determinations as to
who will serve, after nominal con-
sultations with other councilors.
This process is codified in City
Code, Title 2, Chapter 1, and led
to the concern expressed by some
councilors that the process was
unfair, and the individuals serving
on committees should be voted on
by all council members.
The impact these committees
can have on the end result of the
process related to their delibera-
tions was clear in a number of sit-
uations this year, but was perhaps
most evident in the controversy
surrounding the installation of
the “Stitching Time, Weaving Cul-
tures” mural.
The Florence Public Art Com-
mittee (PAC) spent more than a
year creating a call to artists, re-
viewing submissions and finally
selecting an artist to create and
install a mural on the Central Lin-
coln PUD building at the corner of
Quince Street and Highway 126.
This process was extensive and,
while the public was encouraged
to be part of every step of the selec-
tion process, initial participation
was limited. The mural became
a point of contention as certain
people felt the subject matter and
style used by artists from Mari-
no-Heidel Studios in Portland was
not well-suited for Florence.
This dislike for the mural led to international component to them,
As the area officially begins
a clash between Mayor Joe Hen- which brought them to the atten- 2020 and the next decade, here is a
ry and Councilor Joshua Greene tion of Florence residents.
breakdown of some the other sto-
on the content and funding for
The ongoing debate over the ries that helped define the Siuslaw
the overall subject of public art in severity of climate change led to Region in 2019 …
Florence. The two have different protests outside Florence City Hall
perspectives on the importance of and along Highway 101, advocat-
New City Council Sworn In
public art and their opinions often ing for a formal position by the
The first Florence City Council
drove the debate to verbal attacks city acknowledging the dangers meeting of 2019 was held Jan. 7 at
— at times of a personal nature — of climate change and formulat- the Florence Events Center. May-
during public meetings.
ing a policy to concretely address or Joe Henry welcomed members
Originally,
the
of the community,
funding for the pur-
many of whom had
“It feels like such an honor to have the community gathered to greet the
chase of the mural
was part of the bud- vote me in. I’m looking forward to working with the new city council.
get for the Florence city as a whole and hopefully we can make good deci-
The
retiring
Urban
Renewal sions as a council.”
council agenda was
Agency
(FURA),
— Geraldine Lucio, Jan. 7, 2019 short and more of a
which received sig-
Florence City Councilor formality, with the
nificant
negative
primary purpose to
feedback for fund-
provide outgoing
ing the project.
the issue. To date, while certainly Councilor Susy Lacer the oppor-
This funding process changed promoting awareness, the pro- tunity to share her thoughts on
after the tumult surrounding the tests have not been successful in her tenure on the council with the
“Stitching Time” mural, as Henry achieving any specific or official crowd and to accept very posi-
spearheaded a successful effort to action by the city.
tive comments from fellow board
clearly separate PAC from FURA
There were many opportuni- members.
— effectively eliminating any fu- ties for visitors and officials to
Councilor Joshua Greene spoke
ture funding for PAC from that come to Florence to participate in of his appreciation for her work
source. During this time, Greene conferences and meetings during over the past four years and Coun-
resigned from his ex-officio posi- 2019. One of these was the Or- cilor Ron Preisler, along with Hen-
tion on FURA.
egon Coastal Caucus Economic ry, spoke of Lacer’s willingness to
In June, Florence City Council Conference, which took place in accept committee duties and her
approved the City of Florence’s Bi- August and featured forums led by commitment to the community.
ennial Budget proposal of nearly Oregon senators Ron Wyden and
“I want to thank her for her
$60 million in public expenditures Jeff Merkley and DeFazio. This years of dedicated service to our
over the next two years.
year’s conference was entitled “In- community and to the city coun-
One of the most unifying news frastructure Investment — A Col- cil,” Henry said. “She has been
stories of 2019 was the arrival in laborative Approach” and featured instrumental in helping us to get
April of “The Wall that Heals.” a wide array of panels and speak- through some interesting deci-
The 350-foot replica of the Viet- ers. There were panels that target- sions along the way.
nam Memorial Wall in Wash- ed a specific sector of the econo-
The second part of the meeting
ington brought together many in my, such as winemaking, fishing began with the administration of
the community, some who have and farming, to discussions cen- the oath of office to Henry, who
served and others who have lost tered on emergency preparedness was re-elected as mayor, Coun-
loved ones during service. Having and the issue of improving broad- cilor Woody Woodbury, who was
the opportunity to see the thou- band infrastructure needs for ru- elected after he was appointed
sands of names carved into the ral coastal communities.
to the role in January 2018, and
obsidian surface of the memori-
The presentations made at the Councilor Geraldine Lucio, a
al drew thousands to the athlet- conference explored the many first-time candidate.
ic field behind Siuslaw Middle avenues that are available for
Woodbury and Lucio won the
School.
coastal communities, business open seats on the council in a race
The outpouring of support that owners and municipalities to take that had created a controversy in
was the result of the visit led to an advantage of the growing inter- late 2018 among the electorate due
increased awareness of the issues est in Oregon as a place to start a to perceived partisan overtones.
faced by local veterans, many of business or to raise a family. There
The mayor welcomed both
whom still deal with the pain and were also workshops addressing councilors warmly and the first
loss they encountered during not the changing educational needs work of the 2019 Florence City
only the conflict in Vietnam, but of students and the ways in which Council began.
also the many battles fought in state assistance can be garnered in
other places and other times.
support of many types of projects
“A small picture
There were also some local is- designed to increase tourism and
of homelessness”
sues that had a national, or even investment in the state.
In the beginning of 2019, the
Florence Emergency Cold Weath-
er shelter had been seeing dips in
the numbers of guests who arrived,
while Siuslaw Outreach Services
(SOS) saw a small decline in those
requesting services. However, the
Florence Police Department had
seen numbers remain flat, and the
Lane County Point in Time home-
less count had seen steady increas-
es over the years — but the data
was incomplete, showing only one
sheltered homeless person and 22
unsheltered, far beyond the lower
rates that other organizations had
been seeing.
“Sometimes the people don’t
trust government,” said Lane
County Human Services Supervi-
sor Alexandria Dreher. “If they’re
homeless, and they’re in a crisis
and not interested in completing
a survey, or they don’t trust the
system, it’s not worth it to give in-
formation.”
The problems with finding an
accurate count of a homeless pop-
ulation in the Siuslaw region was
just one component in the myriad
of issues that governments, non-
profits and residents face when
addressing the issue.
In a three-part series examining
the issue in Florence, the Siuslaw
News spoke with a wide variety
of voices in an attempt to come
to an understanding of the issue,
including spending an evening
at the Emergency Cold Weather
Shelter and speaking to homeless
guests who expressed the prob-
lems of living on the streets in the
region. Siuslaw News also spoke
with various institutions, such as
the SOS, the Cold Weather Shel-
ter, Lane County and the Florence
Police Department.
There were many organizations
looking to solve the issue, with
some headway being made. A
small but dedicated group, called
First Step, was creating a handful
of transitional housing units, and
those have since been deemed suc-
cessful. The city has been working
on creating more housing oppor-
tunities, and well-established pro-
grams like Florence Food Share
were working to bring sustenance
to those in need — home or no
home.
See IN REVIEW 2 page 7A
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