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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/09/1989 Meeting (4) ~ e STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS January 9, 1989 Mayor Brian B. Obie It is appropriate, as we build this community, to think historically of the empire-builders who have gone before us and have tried to build a community that all of us would enjoy, respect, and appreciate. I would ask you not to anticipate a short speech from me tonight. When I am finished, I will also be finished in this office. Being mayor has been a special time for me and only grudgingly do I give up the job. As you know by now, the only way I give up anything is grudgingly. Tonight, as I reflect back somewhere between 16 and 20 years that I have been involved in City Hall, it is an evening of nostalgia for me--one that is very important and one that I have some warm feelings about. It is a time to express my appreciation, without question, and I hope an evening that I might share with you a collection of thoughts I have both about the present and the past, as well as the future. And it is my duty by charter to memorialize some of the things we have accomplished together, but I want to assure you that I do not intend to run through a litany of the issues and projects we have been challenged with. e I feel, as Abraham Lincoln said, "that I have done my best, the best that I know how. And if the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. And if the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference anyway. II You already know that what four years ago I called the Eugene Agenda is well underway: an expanded airport is under construction; motorists are traveling on widened ~treets; the Riverfront Research Park is moving toward its promise of world-class research and a new class of jobs; our economy, along with our population, is at an all-time high. This is once again an exciting and vital place to live. These accomplishments are not mine. They belong to all of us in this commu- nity. They are the sum of our collective efforts. e Four years ago I asked the citizens of this community for a renaissance of community spirit, for a renewal of economic progress, and for a new commit- ment to take charge of our future. At that time, we had 11,000 unemployed people. More people were moving out of Eugene than were moving in. We had daily business failures, some of them family-owned businesses that had been here for years. I asked this council at that time, not to be timid. I asked them to take bold action and be willing to move this community forward. They did, and you responded with more determination and more commitment than this community has ever seen. All of a sudden, our future was no longer to be an accident, but instead was going to be a result of our efforts. There were a lot of nay sayers, but what do they say now? We have new streets and new highways. We have private and public development, population and more jobs than welve ever had. And indeed, what do they say now? Those ,. e e e who gave up on this community gave up too soon. The future is once again ours to tell, and that is probably the most significant thing that has hap- pened in the past four years. And for this, we have many people to thank, starting with some very special people: the citizens of Eugene who did not give up. You have honored me with your confidence. You have nourished my spirit and that of the City Council. Four times in four years we asked for your support at the voting booth. We asked you to authorize the expansion of the airport and you voted yes. WE asked you to widen 6th and 7th avenues and you voted yes. We asked you to approve a route for the West Eugene Parkway and you did. That is the first expressway that has been approved in this community in 25 years. We asked you to reject the efforts of a small group of people who wanted to undermine the Riverfront Research Park and did you ever! I could not have asked more not keep me from doing so. wisdom that resides only in have the right to be right. After thanking the citizens of this community, I would thank this council who joined you and me in putting their shoulders to the wheel and keeping our feet to the fire. from the people of this community, but that did Occasionally I did and you responded with the you. As Ben Franklin said, the citizens always There are nine of them, and they are more like family, a family that squab- bles once in a while but that supports each other. Ruth Bascom, Rob Bennett, Debra Ehrman, Dick Hansen (who served the first two years), Freeman Holmer, Jeff Miller, Roger Rutan, Emily Schue, and Cynthia Wooten. Names that I will always remember and that will always be part of me. I believe those names should be chiseled on City Hall for what has been done in the last four years. If not City Hall, perhaps a new airport. Anyone who knows their politics will understand that we did not always see eye to eye. That is really not important. They are independent thinkers. On the other hand, they always supported me, and more importantly, they supported this community. When the decisions were made, they all leaned and put their shoulders to the wheel. It would be a mistake if I did not thank an individual who has become a great friend, confidante, and partner; a man who has been able to get me in and out of trouble a number of times, and I, him: City Manager Mike Gleason. Mike, you recognized that the Eugene Agenda was truly a historic change in course for this community. We were going to set about changing the direction that this community had been going for some time. You understood my impatience. You saw to it that from day one we were working that agenda. Along with Mike, if I did not recognize Dave Whitlow, the department heads, and the rest of the City staff, it would be another mistake. I have come to know these people as people who arrive early and stay late, who work hard at high-stress jobs, and who are genuinely committed to creating a better prod- uct and a better lifestyle for the citizens of this community. I think it important that I recognize my family: my parents, my children, and perhaps most importantly, my patient partner and best friend, my love and my wife, Karen. She is in the audience tonight. She is always there. She State of the City Address Brian B. Obie January 9, 1989 Page 2 e e e has heard this speech and many others too many times. She served this commu- nity as a hostess, traveling ambassador, staunch defender, and loyal critic. She was neither elected nor appointed, but she accepted the responsibility and delivered for me and 109,000 Eugeneans. Please join me in thanking her. Before I leave this stage, if you will allow, I would like to share with you some thoughts about the future. I urge this community to keep its collective hand firmly on the economic throttle. Already I hear the drums beating, and perhaps you do also. They are saying that our economy has improved and we can now relax or set aside some of the things we have been doing in favor of others. They are suggesting that we have experienced economic recovery and survived, and now we can reduce support for the Eugene/Springfield Metropoli- tan Partnership. They are suggesting we can cut back on the business assis- tance programs and eliminate our lobbying efforts in Salem and Washington. My response is, "Wrong, wrong, wrong. II What a cruel hoax it would be on the people of this community, to once again return to the days when our future was an accident. I plead with this new Mayor and council, do not ignore the recent trend of higher interest rates and reduced raw material/natural resource availability. Storm clouds are indeed gathering. We have seen it many times in this community and our future is fragile. Let us not forget that just four years ago this community was more economically depressed, more emotionally dispirited, and hopelessly demoralized than anytime since Oregonians stood in soup lines. If we are to maintain the security that we know today, create and maintain jobs for our children, and maintain our hope for the future, we must strike a balance between our commitment to the Eugene life style which runs very deep, and our commitment to economic progress which does not. You and I must stand guard, ready to resist the inevitable pressure to apply the brakes to the City's economic engine. As sure as the sun rises tomorrow, those pressures are on the way. We must never sacrifice our quality of life for the benefit of economic growth, but neither can we regress to happenstance for the future. I suggest to you that with one hand on that economic throttle, the other should work on a new and alternate lIpeople agenda" for Eugene. Certainly, we must look to other needs in our community. We cannot stand by as partners in this human race and abandon the homeless, the drug sand alcohol addicted, or the chil- dren who are being thrown away. We cannot allow that to happen. A few weeks ago, Karen and I had the experience of accompanying ten under- privileged children from Eugene to Disneyland to celebrate the 60th birthday of Mickey Mouse. As I watched these young people, and those ten represented perhaps 1,500 in this community (and it was not easy to choose the list), I was both reassured and frightened about his community's future. I was reas- sured because these young citizens were tough, strong, and determined. What was frightening was that these same qualities will serve them extremely well in a life of crime, lawlessness, and violence. That is a life much more available to them than the one you and I know. When I jog from downtown, and I challenge you to try it, you will only have to run a few blocks before you will find a family living in a car. You State of the City Address Brian B. Obie January 9, 1989 Page 3 ,; e cannot help but see the despair on their faces and understand the hopeless- nessiof their situation. I am;sure you see the sores of the homeless in our community as I do. Unless we i~tervene, this proud community will pay the price of a weakened social stru~ture. providing a much less pleasant future than it has past. We have had the strength to help ourselves. Now I challenge you to use that same strength to help those that need our hand so that they may also be contributing, productive members of our society. Other things that I would like to share with you are other fronts that we have worked on. Certainly we have created a lifestyle over many years that is lqng on pride, that respects how the arts refresh the human spirit, and that 'has developed a true understanding that education is the keystone that wi 11 : support a bri ghter future. e I am particularly proud of the tradition that has been established of this community and this council working in lock step with the University of Ore- gon. ' As your mayor, I have travelled to Japan, Europe, and the Soviet Union. I have travelled this country from coast to coast, and border to border. For the first time we have an office in Washington DC. Our relationships with Senators Hatfield and Packwood and Congressman DeFazio have resulted in a series of multi-million dollar paydays for the University of Oregon and the City ,of Eugene. Our old friends in Japan and Korea, and our new-found friends in the Soviet Union, can playa meaningful role in our future. I believe our overseas contacts, through our Sister Cities Program, when combined with the efforts of thousands of others, can help work the miracle of world peace and a shared world through cultural and economic exchange. I urge ,your continued and increased support for these efforts for we have both a re~ponsibility and an opportunity for living in this world. As I prepare to hand over this honored office, I am reassured, for I know that the citizens of the community, the council, and the new mayor believe in many ways as I do and share those concerns. e Jeff" in parting, I would like to share with you that you will find this one of the most interesting jobs of your life. Some days, it is like sitting in a gymnasium full of people and yet you are all alone. Sometimes it is like driving a speeding freight train and trying to guide it from the caboose. Some days it consumes most of your hours and some weeks it consumes all of them.. When you think you have no more to give, it will ask for more. It has given'me some of the happiest and some of the saddest moments of my life. There are things I find difficult to share with you because they have touched me s~ deeply, but perhaps I will be able to share them with you another day. The gift that has been given me in those touching moments is something I will neve~ be able to repay. No matter how lonely, how frustrating, or consuming, I assure you, Jeff, that you will find this job enlightening, educating, and very much exhilarating. It is a job whose reward is one of being in the ultimate position of being able to make a contribution to the society in State of the City Address Brian B. Obie January 9, 1989 Page 4 e e e which we live. What better work of life is there than that? Few others ever experience this special opportunity and indeed, this special responsibility. I wish our new Mayor and council continued success and I offer my assistance and support. Regretfully, it has come time for me to leave center stage. You have given me your trust and an experience of a lifetime. You have my appreciation and you had my level best. I bid you good days but certainly not good-bye. State of the City Address Brian B. Obie January 9, 1989 Page 5