An Elected, Independent Auditor
Yes on 20-283
If you want to save money and have open and accountable government, do your pocketbook and our democracy a favor and vote “Yes” on Ballot … Continue reading
Bonny Bettman McCornack
Author: Bonny Bettman McCornack
‘Accountability’ vs. the Real Deal
A response to Mayor Lucy Vinis on a city auditor
Readers of Lucy Vinis’s June 22 viewpoint may have thought the mayor was voicing support for the citizens’ initiative petition, filed in May, that would amend … Continue reading
DupliCity
The South Williamette Special Zone destabilizes
The city of Eugene has morphed a neighborhood initiative to improve pedestrian and traffic safety on south Willamette Street into an intrusive rezone of neighborhoods in that area. They call it an “up-zone.” From the perspective of many who live there, it is more appropriately called a “down-grade” — of property values, the environment and their quality of life. Continue reading
Ongoing Boondoggle
A series of questions about Eugene urban renewal
The Eugene City Council, Lane County Commission, Lane Community College and 4J are all on board with diverting your tax dollars to benefit private property and businesses in the Downtown Urban Renewal District (DTURD) — even though you paid those taxes assuming you were funding education, public safety, libraries, parks and other essential services. On June 13, City Council voted 5-3 to extend the DTURD. Continue reading
Kick DTURD to the Curb
Terminate urban renewal
With the city’s most recent proposal for a new Downtown Urban Renewal District (DTURD) Plan Amendment, councilors are on the verge of destroying any lingering hope that they serve the public rather than the economic elite. That hope will be replaced with profound distrust if they resurrect the DTURD after vowing to end it. Continue reading
Shifting the Costs
City uses popular public services for leverage
What might Bernie Sanders have to say about Eugene’s $2.7 million a year property tax increase for the public library? Well, it’s definitely “socialism,” which is defined as a redistribution of wealth. But, it’s the opposite of Bernie’s brand of socialism because it enables the redistribution of wealth up to the top of the economic ladder, instead of in the direction of average working people. Continue reading
Stealth Fees, Hacked Services
Financial excesses abound in city budget
Just eight months ago, the campaign for the failed city service fee focused on the non-essential spending that the city could curtail before increasing taxes or fees on residents and businesses or cutting essential services. But the city, enabled by the Financial Investigative Team (FIT, mostly connected insiders), has taken all the strategies that resonated with voters off the table. The 2015 Options for Budget Reductions are almost identical to the city’s original ballot proposal: recycled service cuts and a new fee. Neither is necessary. Continue reading
Bailing Out City Hall
The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and Eugene City Hall is exacerbating this inequity with two separate money grabs. Oregon Center for Public Policy’s research shows that in Oregon the lowest income households pay the highest share of their incomes to state and local taxes, and highest income households pay the lowest share. More than half of Eugene’s 65,631 households earn less than $50,000 annually, with 21,128 earning below $25,000. Continue reading