A local activist campaigning for “more mirth” in the city, a tavern owner and a retired intensive care nurse are the three very different and unique candidates running for the Ward 3 City Council seat.
Despite their differences, all three candidates see changing the downtown area and giving University students a stronger voice in the community as two of the most pressing issues facing the ward.
Ward 3 encompasses the University neighborhood and most of the downtown area. University graduate Bobby Lee currently represents the area but is stepping down from the seat when his term expires in January 2001 to explore other career opportunities.
A retired intensive care nurse, Bonny Bettman, 47, believes she is the most qualified candidate for the council seat and decided to run because she feels the other candidates lack experience. Prodding by local and state politicians to enter the election also convinced Bettman to run in the race, she said.
Bettman said her 10 years of experience gained while serving on local committees, task forces and neighborhood associations make her the best candidate for the position.
“I know how the city works, and I know many other elected officials,” she said.
Making the downtown area more pedestrian accessible, protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development are the key issues of Bettman’s platform. She said these issues are not new to her as they have been the focus of much of her prior civic work.
“My run for council is the culmination of 10 years of dealing with these issues,” she said.
Tracy Olsen, the 30-year-old owner of Doc’s Pad Sports Grill & Lounge, is a Eugene native and a University graduate with a bachelors degree in management. He said keeping the downtown area economically active is his top priority. To do so, Olsen would like to increase the housing and business space in the area.
“We can continue to push for housing downtown and to push for density and not sprawl,” he said.
As a downtown resident, Olsen said he “walks through the heart of the ward everyday” and is concerned about the young people who hang out in the downtown mall. If he were elected to City Council, Olsen said he would open youth centers offering productive activities to these adolescents.
Olsen is not concerned by his lack of government experience because he sees himself as a student eager to learn.
“As a student I really have been diving down into it,” he said. “I’ve really been able to bring myself up to speed.”
Ron “Misha” Seymour, 49, who is running to increase mirth in Eugene, said his friends convinced him to run for City Council to perhaps bring a new voice to Eugene government.
A former child psychology and development teacher at Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Mont., Seymour said the preservation of open space and better relations between police and citizens are the issues most important to Ward 3 residents.
“I feel that I am one of the few candidates addressing the issue that at times, police are the problem,” Seymour said. “People’s rights are being taken away under the guise of the war on drugs.”
The preservation of the scenic corridor along the banks of the Willamette river north of the University is also one of Seymour’s top priorities. He said the city should buy land to leave it open , not for development.
To increase city mirth, Seymour suggested featuring street performers in the downtown mall and adding “benches around the city for the worried to rest for awhile.”
This is a part in a series of articles the Emerald will publish profiling local and state ballot measures and candidates during the weeks leading up to the May 16 Eugene primary elections.