The view from Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey’s desk provides an interesting perspective on Eugene — a wall of pictures chronicling Willamette Street’s history. The pictures, dating back to the turn of the century, show roughly the same area of the street facing Skinner Butte.
As Torrey prepares to step down from his post after two terms, he has contemplated his own contributions to the Eugene landmark. Torrey said he would choose a picture of the intersection of Broadway and Willamette to represent his tenure as mayor. The picture includes the Ken Kesey statue, a new bank building, trees and the flag on Skinner Butte.
“It incorporates a number of things I was involved in,” Torrey said. “Of all the places I could think of, this was a replica of what I feel good about.”
Torrey took the mayoral office in 1997 after serving on the Eugene City Council beginning in 1994. He said he is most proud of his efforts to fund education and activities for children, one of his lifelong passions. He points to a serial levy passed to fund the 4J and Bethel school districts in Eugene as an example of the city’s emphasis on children under his leadership.
“I’m convinced that I’ve had an impact on the community in that area, and it’s very important,” he said.
Torrey said he has also been a “strong proponent” of higher education and has worked to lobby with students.
“I absolutely believe the University is a major catalyst for Eugene’s economic future,” he said. “Manufacturing jobs, natural resource jobs are very limited — what isn’t limited is the ability of the mind to create future products, future concepts.”
Torrey said his vision for the city has not changed during his time in office. He said he wants Eugene to be a place with a high quality of living and sufficient jobs so that his grandchildren will want to live here.
“When you encompass all of those things, that’s what I’ve tried to balance as mayor of Eugene,” he said.
Yet Torrey’s vision hasn’t always been met with support. Torrey said the housing development constructed at Broadway and Charnelton was a controversial decision, yet it yielded positive results.
“It provided a tremendous amount of housing that has proved to be very successful in terms of occupancy rate and it provided a vitality to downtown Eugene that is sorely needed in many areas of downtown, but that was very controversial in the outset,” Torrey said.
Torrey added that the new federal courthouse, another initially controversial issue, will transform and unify downtown.
“Ten years from now I’ll look back, and I believe that will be the signature event that will have taken place during my time in office,” he said.
Despite his victories, Torrey said he would have done some things differently. He said he regrets prioritizing the placement of a measure to fund library construction on the ballot over a measure for fire department funding.
“I was struggling with which should go first and I chose to support putting the library before the public-safety fire measure — that was a mistake,” he said.
Torrey said the library measure was defeated, but the fire measure won the next year.
“I learned after that to really make sure that my priorities stayed in order,” he said. “The priorities of the city are consistently public safety and education.”
Torrey said he was pleased with the city’s recent budget process.
“As proud as I am for stepping up and asking citizens to support kids … I’m proud of the council and budget committee to have the courage to say ‘no’ when it is necessary to maintain our financial strategy,” Torrey said.
Torrey’s work has garnered respect from some community members.
Housing and Neighborhoods Manager Richie Weinman said openness is one of Torrey’s strengths.
“My experience with him is that if he’s presented with good evidence, he’s willing to change his position,” Weinman said. “He’s not an ideologue, he’s willing to move.”
Weinman said Torrey has put many extra hours into the job, which is only part-time.
“He’s been a bridge-builder in many ways,” Weinman said. “He surprised a lot of people because of that.”
Ward 5 City Councilor Gary Papé also acknowledged Torrey’s efforts to aid children.
“There’s no doubt about his passion for increasing the life and health and opportunity for kids,” he said.
Susan Ban, executive director of Lane ShelterCare, said she not only admires Torrey’s passion for helping children but also his work for social services.
“He has a real commitment to people in our community who are most vulnerable,” she said.
Torrey said maintaining the nonpartisan nature of the mayoral position is vital.
“Somehow we’ve got to get our elected officials and Salem and Washington, D.C., to start operating more like mayors and nonpartisan elected officials and less like people who are only interested in a partisan (agenda),” Torrey said.
Torrey said being mayor of Eugene has been an unparalleled experience.
“I’ve had mayors from numerous cities in Oregon tell me that while they believe their cities are unique, they believe that Eugene is unique among the unique, and it is,” he said. “That’s part of the quality that I like about our city.”
He said citizens’ diverse views allow for a healthy balance of policy for the community.
“One of the reasons that we have such a high quality of life is that we have a push-back element that doesn’t allow one side to push too far,” he said.