In the May 8, 2018, issue of the Register-Guard, Eugene resident Finn Po writes in a letter:
For three months, hardworking volunteers gathered nearly 11,000 signatures to qualify Measure 20-283, the proposal for an elected Eugene city auditor. Fearing a fair yes-or-no vote, the mayor, city manager and five city councilors joined with moneyed interests to try to defeat it by proposing a distracting measure for a rubber-stamp appointed auditor measure — a lapdog masquerading as a watchdog.
Did the failed autocratic South Willamette forced rezoning plan get your attention? How about the manager’s attempted end-run with money from the $19 million Comcast settlement, discovered at the 11th hour? Or the millions “invested” in our multi-block downtown eyesore, Capstone? Perhaps you were upset at the attempted “repurposing” and privatization of Kesey Square (involving the same favored architects who have received millions towards a city hall project that is but a field of rubble).
Most Eugeneans have realized our government is dysfunctional. Citizen input is seldom heard and often ignored. We cannot, overnight, change our failed city manager system, but we can become aware of how our tax revenue is spent and how that compares with other cities with elected auditors. Strange things grow in darkness. We need to shine a bright light into city hall: Now.