“It’s called the State of the City address, or the State of the City speech, but I frankly look at it as an opportunity to just talk to you about things that I think are important,” Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey said.
Torrey delivered his seventh State of the City address Wednesday, touching on three key issues he considers important to Eugene’s future while praising city accomplishments of the previous year.
The address, which took place at the Hilton Eugene & Conference Center, included transportation, economic and education issues. More than three hundred people attended the event, which took place after new city councilors were sworn in and annual community awards were distributed.
In his strongest rebuttal of the day, Torrey accused the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System of being “broken” and responsible for cutting other government services throughout the state.
“In Eugene alone, our PERS costs for this year are going to increase by 47 percent,” he said. “Just think what we could do if we could equitably pay our employees, provide them with a responsible retirement benefit and medical and health benefits — and I think we can do it.”
Second, Torrey asked the staff of the city, under the direction of the city manager and the library director, to find a way to provide library access to all children in Eugene. According to Torrey, 4,000 children in the Bethel and 4J districts are not allowed to check out books in the new library because they don’t live in a house within the city limits of Eugene.

“If a child can’t read, that child can’t succeed,” he said. “And we can do something to help them.”
Last, Torrey stressed the importance of road maintenance in Eugene and Lane County.
Torrey explained that if all the cities in Lane County could agree on a formula for distributing road maintenance funds and lump all the money in one fund, he would consider a repeal of the $7.4 million road maintenance fee the Eugene City Council passed in December.
“Roads are important for economic development,” he said. “We have no choice but to maintain those roads.”
Torrey also reviewed some milestones for the city last year, including the building of the new Downtown library and the completion of the Broadway project, which revitalized several blocks of the Downtown street.
“Last year, this beautiful new library — I am not going to say any more than go to the grand opening Saturday, walk in there and it will speak for itself,” Torrey said.
Addressing Eugene’s business climate, which he said has a “bad reputation,” Torrey announced the progress of an on-going business climate analysis. Last year, Torrey and the City Council commissioned the University to create a survey that was distributed to 1,200 businesses in Eugene. Only 400 have been returned so far, but after more of the surveys are reviewed and analyzed, a report will be made to the City Council.
“The Council may decide to make some changes or not make some changes, but at least the public will know and the Council will know what people are saying about us,” Torrey said.
“Businesses must be able to succeed because when they do that they will provide jobs, and when they provide jobs they provide revenue that help us provide the services that you want us to provide you.”