{"id":180079,"date":"2022-08-02T17:23:49","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T00:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eugeneweekly.com\/?p=187224"},"modified":"2022-08-02T17:23:49","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T00:23:49","slug":"recall-on-city-councilor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/recall-on-city-councilor\/","title":{"rendered":"Recall on City Councilor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents in Ward 7 may be voting in two more elections before the year is over: the November general and a possible special election in September.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meta Maxwell and Mark Osterloh, who led efforts to collect signatures for the recall, say the catalyst for the effort is because of Syrett\u2019s support for the MovingAhead transit plan as a councilor and council president. And while they collected signatures, they say Ward 7 residents felt uninformed about MovingAhead and were upset with her leadership in addressing the city\u2019s other issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Syrett, who is undergoing cancer treatments that can slow her ability to respond quickly, says that she has heard from constituents who support the EmX expansion. She says the recall campaign is a misuse of a tool that is meant for dereliction of duty, guilty of crime or committing unethical practices. \u201cI don’t think those things apply to me,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MovingAhead is a partnership with the city of Eugene, Lane Transit District and other groups, according to its website. The plan\u2019s intent is to find ways to invest in transit options to get around Eugene and explore \u201cwhat transportation investments are needed in some of our most important streets over the next 10 years.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MovingAhead identifies LTD\u2019s EmX route as a way to improve transit options on River Road.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After years of forums and outreach, a Feb. 28 joint Eugene City Council and LTD joint meeting, discussed feedback on the transit plan, and at a March 15 work session, council voted to move forward with \u201clocally preferred alternatives,\u201d which included expanding EmX to River Road.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Maxwell claims the decision was made while ignoring hundreds of concerns about the project. EmX, she says, isn\u2019t a popular transit option for River Road residents, who prefer to use cars. And to allow the EmX expansion, she says River Road will become a one-lane road, the area will lose more than 100 trees and it will create greenhouse gas emissions in laying the concrete on the road for the route.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNinety-five percent of people hadn\u2019t heard about the plans,\u201d Osterloh says of MovingAhead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Syrett says there were forums held by the River Road neighborhood group before COVID-19 about the proposal. And the projected loss of 100 trees is because planners often take a larger number when planning projects, she adds. \u201cIt has to be scoped for the biggest build,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The recall organizers are so focused on opposing MovingAhead, Syrett says, that she thinks they might have filed one against Councilor Jennifer Yeh if the transit plan had called for an EmX line on Coburg Road.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As recall organizers gathered signatures along the River Road corridor, Osterloh says organizers heard even more concerns from residents about Syrett\u2019s and the rest of council\u2019s leadership. But he says he heard complaints about the potential costs of an expanded EmX line on River Road, which he estimates could be higher than the $100 million west Eugene expansion with inflation and supply chain impacting construction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard a lot of stories that \u2018Claire Syrett never returns my calls,\u2019\u201d Maxwell says. She says residents spoke out about their concerns with housing density, landlord-tenant laws and crime. \u201cThey never felt like they had any input and council was running with its own agenda.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Syrett says statements about her lack of response are unfair. She says she answers her emails to constituents, though it may take more than a day to respond. She\u2019s also undergoing treatment for stage IV rectal cancer, so that is impacting her ability to respond immediately. But, Syrett points out, Maxwell and her team haven\u2019t reached out to her to meet despite leading the recall campaign.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the timeline set forth by the city recorder, Syrett can resign from her office by August 8, or a recall election will take place 35 days later in September. The cost of a special election ballot will cost the city of Eugene between $17,000 and $23,000, according to an official with the Lane County Clerk\u2019s office, which oversees elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maxwell says she would like to see the council reverse its vote on MovingAhead. There is precedent on reversing a decision, she adds, pointing to Springfield City Council\u2019s recent decision to delay action on an Oregon Department of Transportation plan to implement several roundabouts on Main Street.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ward 7 includes the Whiteaker neighborhood, River Road and Highway 99. Syrett was re-elected in the May 2020 primary with nearly 60 percent of the vote, facing two other candidates. She was first elected to the Eugene City Council in May 2016.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporters of recalling Syrett formed a committee with the Oregon Secretary of State. The committee has raised more than $10,000 since May 3. Among the contributions are $1,000 from J.P. Hammer real estate agency, $500 from Kelly\u2019s Home Center furniture store and $500 from Bret Laing co-president at Industrial Source gas and welding supply store.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The largest donation is $4,750 from Eugene Business Alliance, listed as an unregistered committee, according to OreStar. Maxwell says the recently formed committee is an organization representing 200 local businesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As president, Syrett\u2019s duties are to serve as mayor if the mayor is absent. With the council president facing a recall election, Maxwell says she hopes the rest of council takes notice of its direction. \u201cWe trust that they\u2019ll be able to see the writing on the wall,\u201d she says. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t happen unless people are upset.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But if Syrett does get recalled, she says she would have to step down and council would appoint a replacement for her \u2014 someone who wouldn\u2019t be too far off from the council\u2019s current direction. \u201cWhy choose this tool when you could find a candidate who you can run next year?\u201d she wonders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents in Ward 7 may be voting in two more elections before the year is over: the November general and a possible special election in \u2026 Continue reading\u00a0\u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,104,101,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-eugene-city-council","category-ew-extra","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}