Item C: Envision Eugene - Laserfiche WebLink

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WHAT WE DON'T WANT (cont.) People in our community don’t have living wage jobs and are not able to feed and house their families. People are increasingly unable to care for their families. We don’t provide family wage jobs that provide living wages and benefits and which can allow our children to stay and raise a family and survive economically. Family wages continue to decline and everyone’s quality of life becomes their worst nightmare. We don’t attract enough family wage jobs and people can’t afford to live here. They live in outlying towns and we have air pollution, more traffic and decreased quality of life. We will not have any land zoned and ready for a job and income producing opportunity when it appears on our doorstep and it ends up going to some other town. Industry will go other places and it may not be in our region, thus the wage gap stays in place. People leave town in search of employment. People leave to find jobs elsewhere. Our kids graduate and leave for jobs elsewhere with no hope of returning. Our kids leave. None of our children can afford to live here, so none of us get to see our grandchildren. We not only don’t have jobs and economic success, we lose what we have. The gap between wages and jobs increases and existing industry moves, leaving more vacant buildings. People stay or become unemployed. No economic progress happens. Our existing businesses can’t grow and expand so they leave, taking jobs and tax revenue with them. We chase large industry away and do not encourage our local industry. No new business would locate to Eugene and our average wages continue to fall compared to State and United States average. Very little growth occurs with present industry and no new industry is attracted to Eugene. No new industries come to Eugene. We continue to lose ground in total number of jobs. There are lost opportunities for high tech clean high wage jobs. I am afraid there will be no innovation to help small businesses that already are good neighbors because energy instead is spent on attracting large industry. They will be given subsidies that will cost all other tax payers to provide infrastructure and then leave Eugene when tax subsidies end. As good businesses grow they have to leave, unemployment and poverty remains a very real problem. Economic We battle, then settle on a midpoint solution that only “sort of” protects our valued resources and neighborhoods and fails to offer enticing industrial land opportunities. We are afraid prime farmland lost will be lost to industry. Industrial uses occur near incompatible other uses. We are afraid industry will be placed outside residential centers and therefore will not be a responsible neighbor. We will see the conversion of industrial to other unintended uses. Development will be driven by lowest common denominator approaches like recruitment of those who are in for the short term exploitations of community. In our desperation to provide new jobs through industry we allow the siting of companies that are not interested in long term location here and do not act as responsible stewards or engaged community partners. We are left with abandoned buildings. Community Resource Group October 12, 2010