2010 DNA Steering Committee candidates' statements

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Permalink Reply by Sherrill Necessary on January 24, 2010 at 8:20pm

Sherrill Necessary is running for DNA secretary as an incumbent. She has been the DNA secretary and desktop publisher of meeting notices and newsletters since the association was revitalized in July of 2008. Each month, she prepares the documents for printing and distribution, and posts them to the DNA website.

She moved to Downtown Eugene in 2006 and was surprised to find that the city had a lot of potential that was not being realized. She thought that becoming involved in DNA would help her determine why and if anyone is doing anything about it.

Prior to her retirement in 2002 she was a corporate trainer in aerospace with a specialty in the preparation of new business proposals to the government.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Johnson on January 24, 2010 at 8:58pm

Matt Johnson is running for an At-Large Member position with the Steering Committee. He moved from Boise to Eugene this past fall. While in Boise, in addition to IT Project Management work, he also served as President of the Idaho Society Sons of the American Revolution, an English Language Instructor for immigrants/refugees, and he volunteered with Village Hope--helping to organize engineering students from the University of Illinois and MIT to travel to Sierra Leone for help with development projects.

While he is relatively new to Downtown Eugene, he has lived in several cities, spanning diverse regions throughout the United States, which he believes enables a good understanding of what works well for community improvement.

Working with DNA appeals to him in its mission to help improve the Downtown. For him, this work will also facilitate greater community involvement, and to further establish Eugene as his home.

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Permalink Reply by David Mandelblatt on February 4, 2010 at 4:11pm

David is running for re-election to the Steering Committee. He has lived in Eugene since 1969 (!), received a teaching degree from the University of Oregon, and taught in Eugene School District for 33 years. During that time he also served two terms as president of the Eugene Education Association and 6 years on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Education Association. David also chaired the Board of Directors for Network Charter School for two years.

Having spent most of his time in Eugene living within walking distance of Downtown, David and his wife do as much of their daily business Downtown as possible. Because of this, as well as his experiences within the community, David has considerable background and understanding of the issues and values of the Downtown community.

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Permalink Reply by Sherry Schaefers on February 16, 2010 at 10:40am

Sherry Schaefers is throwing her name in the hat for an At-Large position with the Steering Committee. She has lived and worked in Eugene since 1995. In March, 2009 Sherry and her husband purchased a building on W. 7th Avenue and spent six months rennovating it. It now serves as Sherry's State Farm Insurance Agency office.

Serving her community is important to Sherry. She has served on various civic committees including the City of Eugene Budget Committee, Oak Street Child Development Board, President of Emerald Business Partners, and 4-J School Consolidation/Closure Committee. Sherry is also actively involved in her children's schools.

Sherry believes in downtown Eugene and all that it has to offer.

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Permalink Reply by J.D. Olsen on February 17, 2010 at 2:52am

J.D. Olsen isn't sure why everyone is talking about themselves in the third person, but he'll go along with it as he announces that he is running for reelection to an at-large SC position. Currently, he is serving as something like a "security liason," which is a position that the other members of the SC made up for him so that they could send him to all the security-related meetings and things, and pawn the writing of security briefs off on him.

He has lived in Eugene all his life, and currently lives and works downtown. He has close ties to the downtown community, and has spent virtually all of his time downtown since moving there several years ago. He also has close ties to the law enforcement community, and thinks that he is often able to provide insight into police-related matters that might otherwise be lacking or incomplete.

Unfortunately, his schedule has become somewhat problematic recently, and he will most likely not be able to make the next general meeting. He would like to appologize for this in advance, and invites anyone who so desires to contact him with any questions they might have.

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Permalink Reply by Sherrill Necessary on February 17, 2010 at 4:15pm

I'll take credit for the 3rd person. I was thinking biography, while Liz clearly said statement. The rest of you have a choice about the person you prefer to use.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on March 4, 2010 at 1:49pm

Elizabeth Henning

I'm currently an At-Large member and a grad student at UO. I've been living in downtown Eugene for nearly three years. I have experience with activism and organizing both on and off-campus, and I've always chosen to live in downtown areas because I'm a committed urbanist who hates car culture. I think downtown Eugene has a lot of potential and just needs the right leadership to bring it to fruition. My pet downtown issues are public transit, noise, and behavior crime.

That being said, don't vote for me--vote for one of the "new people" instead, which would be Matt Johnson, Sherry Schaefers, Kimberly Gladen, or Bryan Hollands. I will continue to be involved even if I'm not elected to a position because I'm not so easy to get rid of.

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Permalink Reply by William Kennedy 1 day ago

This is William Kennedy. I'm running for re-election to the Steering Committee. I've been co-chair with Tom Kamis for a year. I've found it fun and rewarding, and am excited about the future of downtown Eugene. My areas of interest are economic development in downtown. I believe one of the keys to improving downtown is to add more places for people to live. I also believe we need to search for ways to make downtown better as citizens, and stop waiting for "them" to take care of it. I love Eugene and am a fan of downtown. Thanks.

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