Lane Bus at Eugene State of the City

The Lane Bus was well represented last week at the State of the City. I went with my hubby and Lane Bus videographer, Ric, as well as Shellie, former Lane Bus Staffer, her hubby and Lane Bus photographer, Brian, our current board Chair, Mike, former board Chair, Rose and Marshall, current board member.

After giving props to the “Elected” in the crowd, the program commenced with a couple of songs from the Eugene Choir. I must admit, I love to watch sign language, so during those songs, my attention was mostly on the interpreters in the room.

As you probably know, Bonny Bettman, Ward 1 City Councilor decided not to run again in this past election. The first part of the program was designated to honor her for the time she gave to the city and her constituents. She was given a plaque and gave a very nice speech.

Following that was one of the things I was most anxious to see, the swearings-in to office. During the prior year I was intimately involved on the Kitty campaign, and the Bus worked very hard on her campaign as well. During the primary, the Lane Bus worked hard on Andrea Ortiz’s campaign also. So it was a relief to see them sworn in. Of course they were elected, but it just made it seem like we were finally done when they finally took the oath.

After being serenaded one more time, a lovely song about Eugene, Kitty stepped up to make her speech. My overall opinion was that this was one of the best speeches I had heard her give. She did not sugar coat the bad things that the city faces, but she had solutions and was very strong. One major issue we face as a community and as a country is of course jobs and the failing economy. Eugene jobs were hit especially hard when Hynix left. But Kitty was optimistic that with hard times come opportunities. She said that they must do what they can to work with partners like LCC and LTD. Lane Community College needs support so that the people of Eugene and surrounding areas can learn new skills to help them get better jobs and succeed during the hard times. She said that they need to support Lane Transit District, because they are beneficial to many people in town, as well as to the environment. She would like to see more routes, not see them cutting them. But one of the things that I found especially uplifting was that the city has over $2 Million worth of projects that qualify for the Federal Bailout money. These will be primarily in green industry, with the potential to create over 4,000 new jobs, many of which that take into consideration the triple bottom line: the environment, stimulating our economy and supporting the worker (good pay, benefits, etc.) In addition to good jobs, Kitty said that it is important that we do everything we can to keep our local small businesses going.

Overall, it was a pretty fun night, especially if you are kind of a wonk like I am. It was great to see many of the people who worked so hard on Kitty and Andrea’s campaigns there, as well. Now we need to get some more young people there….