05/14/1980 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e a very well-balanced committee consisting of representatives from Human Rights Council, Chamber of Commerce, neighborhood organizations, labor, Downtown Development, the Employment Division, institutions of higher learning, and Goodwill. This report is based on the culmination of ten months of intensive work. It was the most balanced committee he had ever seen. The committee considered background information such as the 1990 General Plan, the City's 1974 Community Goals and Policies Document, and the Draft Metropolitan General Plan. During the same period, the committee also heard presentations from a variety of civic and business groups, including Spectra-Physics Corporation, Lane Regional Arts Council, Eugene Chamber of Commerce, and the Joint Eugene-Springfield Convention Bureau. In November, the committee began formulating a set of economic development strategies for Eugene. These strategies, along with this report, were adopted by the Eugene Economic Development Committee in March 1980, and are recommended to the City Council for consideration. The committee recognizes that many of these strategies would require further refinement before they are implemented. The committee, at the direction of the City Council, is ready to assume- those tasks in cooperation with the other City boards and commissions. e In identifying economic development issues facing Eugene and developing strategies to address those issues, the committee considered the City's existing goals and policies and recognized the need to balance them against any proposed strategies; recognized the current financial limita- tions faced by the City; recognized that economic development strategies should touch the factors of land use, employment and training, environmental resources, and economic activity; and felt strongly the strategies recommended to the City Council should be implemented with existing City staff. He summarized the economic issues facing Eugene as identified by the committee to date. He indicated the importance of meeting the needs of expanding local firms. He added both local and national experience suggest that expansion of existing firms is the basis for healthy local economies. He noted the need to provide an "adequate" supply of land for certain types of firms desiring to locate in the area, and those existing firms desiring to expand in the area. The City should identify and maintain sites which can meet the needs of the types of economic activity which the community wishes to attract or encourage to expand. He indicated the need for training programs to facilitate employment for specific portions of the labor force experiencing chronic unemployment. He identified at least two portions of Eugene's labor force as experiencing employment-related problems: young adults who experience low-wage employ- ment and high rates of job turnover in trades and services and women who are experiencing chronic unemployment and difficulty acquiring upwardly mobile positions. e 5/14/80--5