01/11/1982 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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'" .. -;; . - - III. MAYOR'S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS FOR 1982 Mayor Gus Keller January 11, 1982 Of the 13 retiring employees we just honored for service to the City of Eugene, 4 of them started working here before 1952 and two more started before 1955! Eugene had thirty-six thousand people back then. We can see the changes that have taken place in the span of one personls career, and on the other hand, a child born this year will begin a career in the 21st century. We canlt, and most of us don't want to go back to lithe old days,1I but it is during these transition years, these 801s, that we will chart the direction we will go and where we may find ourselves in 2003 A.D. when our New Year baby is 21. That's why I believe that assessing the "state of our City" this year is particularly important. The council feels strongly that the state of the City is going to be profoundly influenced this year and in the years ahead by the state of the State. Because we believe that State policies will be so important, we as a council have set our legislative priorities for 1982; we have met with the Lane County delegation to the Legislature; and we will continue to lobby whenever we can during this special session. You can be sure we will be watching Salem closely during the weeks ahead as our elected representatives struggle with issues that will influence our ability to meet our own goals here in Eugene: issues like stability for funding for the University of Oregon--our number one priority; encouraging economic diversification and development efforts throughout the state; planning strategies to boost the cultural arts and tourist industry in the state and in this area in particular; retaining the integrity of the State Property Tax Release Program; and supporting the land use legislation passed in the regular 1981 legislative session. The State's ability to plan is critical because the Federal government policies under the Reagan Administration are setting off chains of economic dominoes that are falling across the country. Most of us agreed that the Feds were trying to spend too much of our money, but now they say they aren't going to spend as much, and the burden is returning home. I believe we will find several of those dominoes dropping on the steps of City Hall in 1982. One of the big dominoes is our Metropolitan Wastewater System that is already under construction. When the elected bodies from Eugene and Springfield consider the transition plan for that project in February, they are going to find a need for eight to ten million dollars to complete what the engineers call a minimal system for today's treatment needs. The price tag to build for the 20-year picture is closer to 20 million. And there's still no appropriation from EPA. ~INUTES--Eugene City Council January 11, 1982 Page 2