Application information
1345 W 3rd Alley
Whiteaker Community Council
Lived in Ward 7 for 2 years+
Lived in Eugene for 2 years+
Community Organizer
eugene@multivariatepolynomial.xyz
Occupational background: I’ve worked in free and open source software for almost a decade. I was a programmer for most of those years but these days I work more on policy, project governance and funding models.
Educational background: I studied math and physics in college for 4 years but didn’t finish my degree as I got a job working as a programmer.
Prior governmental experience: I am a part of the Active Transit Committee and have been on Citizen advisory boards in Corvallis, Albuquerque and Seattle.
How would you describe Ward 7 in terms of physical, social and demographic characteristics? Mostly walkable besides cars driving too fast in the neighborhoods A good variety of parks and open space Pretty diverse (as far as Eugene goes) population. Lots of people work in their neighborhoods. But rent has been increasing and out pacing what renters can afford This has led to more out of town folks moving in and raising prices
We have a lot of houseless community members that are frequently the target of forced relocation by police. We don’t have many options for temporary housing and often people are forced to move to the outskirts of our district to keep them out of sight People here are generally amenable to folks camping or finding temporary shelter if they aren’t taking up public space or encroaching on private residences, but we need to do better about helping both houseless and housed people better interact and maintain relationships.
What are your unique qualifications for representing Ward 7? Having grown up in Corvallis and now living in Eugene for over 2 years, I have a good sense about a lot of the issues facing community tensions in the housing crisis we are facing. I also advocate for better transit and want to prioritize community member quality of life over dangerous and polluting automobiles.
Being part Hawaiian, Japanese and white, I have insight into diverse communities and particularly the lack of attention paid to minorities who often are not represented nor stood up for by those in power.
What are the three most important issues facing the residents of Ward 7?
* Getting more resources into housing and feeding our community members. Going along with this is resources and mediation for houses folks who are frustrated
with the cities response (or perceive lack of response)
* More human focused transit design. Every intersection is a crosswalk in Eugene, and we need to make our cities infrastructure reflect that. More walkable cities are
better for people’s physical health (exercise and reducing pollution), mental health (interaction with others and being more connected to place) and community
health. The fact that this recall was supposedly about the EmX shows that there is a lot of disinformation and weaponizing of class issues.
What do you see as the most pressing need for the Eugene community and what would be your top priority a a City Councilor? More cooperation between the housed community members, our houseless neighbors and the city. Too often are each group focused on their own interests without the nuance needed to process each groups different needs and the slow process that trust building takes
Our city is segregated and often times feels like a battle between the housed and houseless. We need more preventative resourcing because the policy to just move and shuffle people around has not been working and is causing more harm than good.
Describe your experience working with a diversity of perspective and opinion. Growing up in a multiracial household made me more aware of the differences of lives experience Having friends of different race and class backgrounds made talking about those issues easier and not something to avoid.
These days I work with an international group of people who all have different income and cultural backgrounds This is particularly challenging when dealing with
race and diversity efforts because not all the people I work with have the same context for the conversations happening in America. Having to explain and recontextualize why historical exclusion and power dynamics matter to decision making processes has made me more confront my own biases and explain why I think they are important.
How would you work to effectively convey your viewpoint and make decisions as a City Councilor? I want to be a representative of our ward and speak for those who do t have the privilege of time and resources to dedicate themselves to the change they need in their lives We need more people willing to tackle the tough choices around c imate change and houselessness while advocating for people first policy
I want to bring my unique perspective to work with the other councilors because we all want what’s best for our communities. It’s our dedication to our communities that brings us here and should be our common goals that speak past political differences to encourage cooperation.
Describe your experience in the formation or implementation of public policy and regulations. Having advised on city boards, my primary view is that we need to take more risks. We don’t know what will work but arguing over philosophical reasons why something is or isn’t good doesn’t get anything done. If more action is taken. community members will more readily trust that we are working for them instead of living in a high castle casting orders from on high.
At work we often draw up policy for proposed legislation and torus a lot on the personal impact of why we think it’s needed. Specifically, we focus on regulations that protect users of software (aka almost all electronics including cars, phones, video doorbells, etc.) from corporate control. We want to make sure that regardless of political affiliation. people are all protected by the same measures to ensure corporations are kept in check. It’s this skill of having conversations with people on all sides of the political spectrum. and weaving their stories into our work that will make me a good representative of my community.