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• We will work collaboratively and successfully with our regional partners to solve West Eugene <br />traffic problems, improve connectivity and protect the West Eugene Wetlands. <br /> <br />• We will see the successful completion of Phase II of the Mayor’s Sustainable Business Initiative <br />and recommendations will be forwarded to the council that will help Eugene become an even more <br />sustainable community. Eugene will support the growth of sustainable products and practices as a <br />key part of its economic development strategy. Through regional and state <br /> collaboration, Eugene will become a center of excellence for sustainable practices and products, <br />taking on a statewide leadership role and attracting new business and visitors to our community. <br /> <br />• We will recommit ourselves to Eugene’s Growth Management policies and measure how we are <br />doing to accomplish those policies. <br /> <br />The world in which we live <br /> <br />While I have talked about what we worked to accomplish and some rather ambitious goals for the year <br />ahead, it is important to acknowledge that we live in a country at war, where many families are making huge <br />sacrifices. <br /> <br />We live in a country where our social service infrastructure is being cut, affecting people here at home and <br />across our state. There are too many who struggle to be housed and fed. Health care is harder to access all <br />the time. I hope that former Governor John Kitzhaber will call upon us to support a single-payer system. <br />Something simply has to be done. The gap between the rich and the poor grows. I am proud of our local <br />efforts to provide clinics and stop-gap services for the uninsured. I am saddened that those with mental <br />illness lack services that are so needed. <br /> <br />We live in a country where drug addiction affects so many lives and has such a huge impact on our quality <br />of life, social service and public safety systems. We have worked with our regional partners to address these <br />issues but resolution is far away. We will continue to apply the best practices we can locally. <br /> <br />We live in a country where our public schools struggle with inadequate funding at all levels. While we are <br />fortunate here in Eugene to have a high quality of education, the challenges grow. The survival of a good <br />public school system seems imperative for a civil and just society and yet it continues to be undercut. Our <br />children depend on us to provide them with the education they need to be prepared for tomorrow. Our <br />institutions of higher education need to be available to all our children or they will be left behind and our <br />society will suffer. The City will partner with our school districts and institutions of higher education <br />whenever we can. You will be asked to continue supporting local measures that fund our schools and our <br />library, the core of our quality of life here in Eugene. <br /> <br />We live in a state where Measure 37 brings into question the future of our land use policies and the future of <br />Oregon as we know it. We need to engage in a discussion about the future and all the communities, farms, <br />and natural resources these policies help us protect. We will watch the court decision regarding this <br />important issue and its impact on our city. <br /> <br />We live in a larger context of state, national and international policies. Now, more than ever, it is clear that <br />the work we do at home is important. Doing our part for peace, for justice, for access to education, <br />religious freedom, access to healthcare, food, shelter - our part to care for the resources we have so that they <br />are there for the future, for our children and their children – is vital. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 5, 2006 Page 8 <br /> State of the City <br /> <br />