Council is now out of session until early September, but this past week was bookended by my participation in two events: Reclaim the Movement on Monday night and the collaboration between Eugene Pride and Black Unity on Saturday. 

 This last week of Council meetings before the summer break was packed with time-sensitive decisions.  The week opened, however, with reaction from another night of violence in our downtown last Saturday.  Chief Skinner, Councilor Evans and I all spoke at a Monday morning press conference.

Council stepped forward on two major issues this week: public safety/police reform; and missing middle housing.  

 It was a full week for Council meetings on a number of long-standing projects. 

Council, staff and I continue to try to balance to the urgency of demands to address racial justice and police reform with the ongoing policy decisions before us.  We face four concurrent crises: homelessness, climate change, the pandemic, and racial justice.  They are interrelated.  All are equity issues and all require both immediate action and sustained commitment to implement structural change in our city, county, state and nation.

There were no council meetings this week as the first week of the month.  It was a challenging week for our community.  A peaceful children’s protest on Sunday night was disrupted and endangered when a car struck Isiah Wagoner, a leader of Black Unity, as he was trying to ensure safe passage for the marchers.