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across the land we now refer to as Oregon. We express our respect to all displaced indigenous people who call Eugene home. I want to express my gratitude to my Council colleagues. Each of them is hard working and brings their considerable talents, knowledge and insights to do the public’s work week after week. I have learned from each of them and I value their public service. It is difficult work and often deeply controversial; the path forward is not always clear; finding agreement on complex issues is challenging. They work their way through a constant cascade of demands with grace, respect and dedication. On behalf of all Eugene residents, I thank you. I also want to thank City staff who consistently prepare council for discussions and decisions with well-researched and expertly prepared materials. Staff are always ready to answer questions and respond to Council needs. At the top of this list is the City Manager. Once again, I express my appreciation for Jon Ruiz for his professionalism and dedication to our city; and my gratitude to Sarah Medary for stepping into her role as City Manager Pro-Tem. Finally, I also want to recognize all of the citizens who serve on our appointed boards and commissions, many of whom spend many hours in challenging meetings, reviewing mountains of material to guide and advise council actions. We have a citizen government in the best sense, and our civic life and decisions reflect that shared commitment to providing the services and infrastructure that sustains us and reflects our values of safety, inclusiveness, stewardship, and social justice. As I reviewed my blog from the past year, I was struck both by the enormity of the work we accomplished as well as the challenging pace at which things move. Many of our core concerns demand urgency. The public is impatient for solutions, and the pace of creating policy to respond to these challenges is sometimes interpreted as a lack of passion or commitment. This could not be farther from the truth. Let’s take stock of the progress we’ve made in five major areas—which are among the most vital challenges of our time: Climate change, homelessness, housing affordability, public safety and economic development. On Climate: Council is in the final phase of approving the Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2.0, the roadmap guiding our decisions to meet the goals of our Climate Recovery Ordinance. Built with a wide range of collaborators, it reflects a powerful commitment to equity as we seek to help our community both mitigate and adapt to climate change. The City cannot do this work alone. In 2019, members of the Eugene Climate Collaborative -- which includes representatives of school districts, higher education, business, public transit and utilities -- defined their individual plans that collectively take us part-way to meeting our climate goals. When Council approves the final version of the CAP 2.0 this year, we will commit to a dozen additional strategies to push us farther and faster.All of them are challenging -- they include decisions about our decarbonization from natural gas; our rate of adoption of electric vehicles, improved efficiency in heating and cooling buildings; and commitments by all of us to reduce consumption at the household level. Reducing carbon emissions will make our community a better, fairer, safer place to live. And, it will require a strong and consistent public commitment to change our thinking, our habits and our assumptions. CAP 2.0 connects the dots. It’s built on foundational agreements about how and where we grow. Envision Eugene and the Transportation System Plan steer us to greater <br />January 27, 2020, Meeting - Item 2A