Forum Lane

The cities of Eugene and Springfield are in the process of merging their fire departments into a single department.  (click here to see details.)

Reasons for the merger abound:

1.  Eliminating boundaries that could be a hindrance to overlapping fire and medical emergency response.

2.  Standardizing equipment used in the field in order to allow different crews to hook up to each other’s hardware as well as to keep a single inventory of replacement and backup parts.

3.  Streamlining the command structure to reduce administrative overhead.

4.  Making more life-saving services available to more addresses.

The list goes on.  Bottom line:  people of Eugene and Springfield are safer while the money spent on fire and EMT services is optimized.

Compare that with a recent development.  The city of Eugene is embarking on creating a committee on homelessness that is slated to be a standing committee of the City Council.  This committee is overdue and will essentially be a clearing house for needed services.  It will consist of 7-9 members who will represent different segments of the community such as:  public safety; service providers; faith community; business; Human Rights Commission, etc.  It will be good.

It will be good, that is, if it is coordinated with a similar committee that is being formed by Lane County.  A committee required by the  U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (which provides Lane County with federal money for housing assistance among other things) which will have an almost identical composition.

If the two committees end up duplicating efforts–or worse, competing against each other for available resources–valuable human service dollars will be wasted and the end result is likely to be compromised.

An opportunity exists for the two committees to either combine with a single charge (set of goals) or to coordinate their efforts in order to compliment the other committee’s work.

Other examples of duplicated committee work exist throughout Lane County.  Non-profit organizations often are working on a particular issue while at the same time a well-meaning  government jurisdiction identifies the same issue and forms a new task force, effectively duplicating the work.  And perhaps doubling the cost.  At other times committees are formed to study a condition that has been previously studied, needlessly replicating the work and expense.

Locally we have established intergovernmental commissions that are intended to consolidate and coordinate efforts.  But we have not always been expert in allowing them to do so.

For instance, we have an intergovernmental Human Services Commission, which consists of elected officials from Lane County, Eugene and Springfield.  Its goal is to effectively distribute available funds to the most effective service providers.  But it is not always unilaterally supported by the represented government bodies.

We have other commissions and committees that consist of multi-jurisdictional elected officials and staff that can be used more effectively to optimize the precious and diminishing resources available.

We also have Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) which provides services to all cities and school boards in the county.  Under the new leadership of its director, Brenda Wilson, LCOG can reach new heights in efficient service.

As we enter the new year, if we also enter a new era of coordination of services, we can find ways to be more efficient and provide higher levels of service without requiring duplicated spending.

Now, that would be new.

Unemployment in Oregon is among the highest of all states.  Unemployment in Lane County is among the highest of Oregon counties.

That’s not news to anybody, we’ve been hearing that for a decade now.

It’s well known that Lane County’s employment has historically hinged on wood products and timber harvest, and that the drop off of timber harvest on federal lands has not only caused the county’s budget to fall into crisis but cost thousands of jobs at mills and in related harvest and processing fields.

There is nothing new to report along those lines.

What can happen, however, in our county, is a new emphasis on facilitating growth of local businesses and finding ways to help companies that already operate here (or want to join us here) to create jobs and prosperity.

Prompted by the Board-appointed Economic Development Standing Committee (EDSC), the Board of County Commissioners can consider new and enhanced ways early in the new year to leverage private investment with county assistance to grow businesses and put people back to work.

If local businesses are able to increase their product output in the traded sector–in goods that are made here and shipped elsewhere–new local jobs will be an additional product.

By encouraging companies that manufacture locally using locally produced materials and locally engineered and built machinery to expand we will create a ripple effect. This fosters job creation not only directly but also with local suppliers of the companies and downstream with other local businesses that benefit from the spending of additional wages paid to the added employees.  Wages that will be spent here at home.

I recently attended an exciting meeting of the EDSC where a range of options were discussed to use available funding to the greatest advantage in assisting start-up and expanding companies in Lane County.

One way the Board has been considering to help business grow is to develop a revolving loan fund to provide a injection of cash which will combine with private investment to buy equipment, facilities or increase staff directly.

The City of Eugene has a similar revolving loan plan that has successfully leveraged over five hundred percent of its loan amounts with  private investment and create over 200 new jobs.  Since February 10th of this year

I support the SMART goal of creating such a fund, in which the money is repaid with interest back into the fund.   Over time the fund grows and is available to provide more loans.

Another way Lane County, through the EDSC, can invigorate employment is by further developing a granting program that uses existing funding sources to help companies with select and timely growth opportunities.

There are existing companies in our county who would benefit immediately from programs like these.

Gearing the programs to assist growing or emerging companies that place a high emphasis on using locally produced components or machinery and offer wages and benefits that support “living wages” will be a foundation of an upward spiral of economic growth in the County.

Increasing jobs and thereby strengthening prosperity in the County is an effective way to begin to address service cuts and reductions induced by shrinking budget dollars.  By judiciously and decisively lending or granting small amounts of cash into locally-grown companies we can begin to grow prosperity in the County.

Recent polling shows a strong support from Eugeneans on selling water to Veneta.  The support has remained steady throughout the polling period.

View the polling here.

Recent polling shows residents in Eugene vehemently agree that economic growth has been too slow.

View the polling here.

Recent polling shows Eugene residents have a strong desire for the city to continue renting, rather than build a new building.

View the polling data here.

Click for larger image.

As reported in The World dated August 16 2012, Representative Peter DeFazio is in support of efforts to develop the deep water port at Coos Bay/North Bend into a terminus for shipping coal overseas.

An excerpt from the article:

COOS BAY — In what could be a blow to environmentalists, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio says he has few qualms with a proposal to build a coal export terminal in Coos Bay.
In a town hall meeting on Wednesday attended by 130 people, Oregon’s 4th District Democrat waded into a debate that has divided the Port of Coos Bay from the Eugene City Council.
In July, the council raised concerns that coal trains en route from Wyoming to Coos Bay would spread dust that would harm Eugene residents and food production.
The council added that exporting coal fanned the flames of global warming.

According to the article, Representative DeFazio has stated that, “You’re not going to facilitate closing down coal plants by prohibiting the sale of U.S. coal,” and that protests against the plan “ignore reality.”

To read the entire article, click here.

A Coos Bay Rail Link engine photographed recently on the Coos Bay Rail Link west of Eugene. The rail link is championed by Rep. Peter DeFazio and welcomed by the entire Bay Area community.

To read more in ForumLane about the rail link go here.

An engine on the Coos Bay Rail Link in west Eugene

After a close call last week, the Eugene City Council discussion about the Coos Bay Rail Link has been postponed.

In a July 11 Forum Lane post, If it were easy to forget about hungry kids, I called for a the Council to delay decision making until more could be heard from a broader base of stakeholders and until after a standard Eugene public process could be held.

As reported in the July 15 Register Guard, that delay has been granted.

Coos Bay Rail number 3877--she's a beauty!

Resolution 5065 first came up for a discussion and vote last Monday. South Eugene City Councilor Alan Zelenka had the support of other South and Central Eugene Councilors Andrea Ortiz, Betty Taylor and George Brown, but North and West Eugene Councilors Chris Pryor and Mike Clark joined me in insisting more time and input was needed before a decision of this magnitude could be made. Councilor George Poling was absent.

The motion was on the brink of passage without broad public input until the move to avoid it was raised.

The Council will begin to hear testimony from Port of Coos Bay officials and others beginning after our break in early September.

For related stories and links go to the Economics and Environment topic here at Forum Lane.

The Coos Bay rail line, soon to be repaired and reactivated. This time looking west toward the deep water port at Coos Bay and North Bend. A thoroughfare to new jobs and opportunities for Oregonians.

It would be simple to make a decision about whether or not to support coal trains passing through Lane County en-route to the deep water port at Coos Bay if it were just as easy to forget about hungry kids there.
Coos County has for many years now been a hotbed of kids living in poverty and needing the support of free and reduced lunch program meals at school to not be hungry during the school year.  But unlike Lane County, kids there don’t have as strong a level of support during the non-school summer months that FOOD for Lane County provides for kids here through its  well-developed summer lunch program.  Kids go hungry.

Read the associated story including links to statistics here.

Extreme unemployment levels in the County have caused working parents to either lose that status or be forced into lower paying service jobs as the timber industry died locally.
Reopening the rail link to Coos Bay, which will ultimately generate hundreds or thousands of jobs both in the Bay Area of Oregon and in the transportation hub of Eugene/Springfield, is key to reinvigorating the deep water port.  Regular rail shipments will ensure a steady work load for men and women in the region,  transporting and loading goods for overseas shipment (thereby helping balance our trade deficit with foreign nations).
I will not stand by idly and let rogue coal dust foul the lungs of our next generation in Lane County.  I was born in Sheffield, England–the country’s third largest city–a steel town in the middle of coal country.  My Dad was from Newcastle.  I have witnessed what coal can do to people’s lungs and lives.  I have lived it much more closely than most folks who enjoy our robust and healthy atmosphere in the Pacific Northwest.
That being said, work is being done to mitigate the dusting of coal and to identify the magnitude of the pollution in Lane County.  Let’s wait until we find out more about the details before we pull the plug permanently on better jobs.  And if the details show imminent and long-term serious health threats we should do all we can to prevent that.  I am pleased that the Council voted to delay the decision to pass Resolution 5065 last Monday and allow for a Council work session to discuss it.
Now the Eugene City Council should allow for the standard public process that is typical of decision making in this city and provide a public hearing and a broad based input process before making any decision that would give the City Manager walking orders that would erase any possibility of safe shipment of coal.

An 18th-century blunderbuss, used for close-in fighting when it was unimportant to protect objects around the intended target

On Monday July 9 2012 the Eugene City Council will consider Resolution 5065, put forward by Councilor Alan Zelenka, that would, among other things, direct the City Manager to “explore whether there are local, state or federal laws…that can be used to prevent the transport of coal through the City, and if so, take reasonable steps to prevent that transport.”

The resolution is designed to prevent the transport of coal to the Port of Coos Bay for shipment overseas.

The research background listed as the reason for the Resolution is, as stated in the Council Agenda Item Summary, that “Support for council action on this resolution was expressed during public testimony at City Council meetings…”

No work session has been held and no public testimony has been broadly solicited.  Monday night public forum testimony and accompanying emails have been the sole venue for public comment.  Monday night public forums are renowned for groups with a particular interest stacking the testimony.  Usually this approach results in a more carefully studied and engineered approach by the Council, as with the recent issue regarding raising goats in back yards inside the City.  At other times the public testimony approach has been completely disregarded.

While commendable in its intent, the resolution unfortunately calls for the City to take action on an issue that has not been fully defined.  It calls for immediate action that would find ways to stop any kind of coal transport through the city, no matter what findings surface regarding the actual dusting of coal from the trains in the Eugene area or what technology is employed to prevent any sifting dust.

Should findings surface that support coal dust would be spread dangerously into our area it would be prudent–essential–that we take means to protect people living here. The resolution does not take into account emerging methods of sealing transport cars and calls for the City to begin lobbying on behalf of the ban on transport immediately.  Should manufacturers such as Oregon’s  Greenbrier Companies, which designs and produces specialized rail cars, provide fully sealed cars for the coal, the resolution would still remain in effect despite the impact being fully mitigated.

While taking aim at what may prove to be a legitimate target, like shooting a blunderbuss much adjacent damage will be done.  Even if technology or research subsequently determines that any threat has been mitigated, the result of the resolution would remain, and its lasting effect on the economy of Oregon’s Bay Area would continue to be felt.

Congressman Peter DeFazio expedited the reopening of the Coos Bay rail line in order to bring jobs to one of America’s hardest-hit economic areas.  Coos County unemployment rate hovers over 10% and more than half of the kids in schools in Coos County are eligible for free and reduced price lunches (click here for statistics).

The Congressman recently announced a decision by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to obligate $13.5 million in competitive grant funding to finish repairs on the Coos Bay rail line and restore rail service vital to the coastal economy (click here for the full story).

The recently reopened Coos Bay rail line, looking east toward Eugene from Greenhill Road

By acting on this resolution now (before the actual execution and impact of the rail transport is determined) the Council would create a negative impact that would likely cause the deep water terminus in Coos Bay–job creation that would be made possible by the proposed train transport–to be built elsewhere.  The result would be a continuation of the economic slide that Southwest Oregon is mired in.