Central Lane Metropolitan Planning Organization: MOVING INTO THE FUTURE

Citizen Advisory Committee Members

Member Spotlights 2010
The MPO Citizen Advisory Committee has features two members per month in an agenda item called “Member Spotlight”. This is a compilation of the portion of the meeting minutes summarizing what each member shared with the committee. The next few months will feature the new members in the Member Spotlight. Their biographies will be added to this page as they become available.

Dianna Alldredge reported that she represented labor on the committee. Although she now worked for Lane County, the majority of her work experience had been in the private sector. She largely grew up in the Eugene-Springfield area and as a child time lived on M Street in Springfield. She and her husband had been married and lived in the same house for more than 30 years. They had one child and a grandchild. Her interest in transportation stemmed both from her experience as a school child attending school in Eugene, which required her to take the bus between Springfield and Eugene, and her frustration with how difficult it was to get around in Springfield without a car, where there were many areas lacking bicycle lanes and sidewalks for safe bicycle and pedestrian transportation. That was very frustrating when gas prices were so high. She sought greater efficiency in transportation spending.

Dick Beers said he was a member of a Lane County pioneer family, both grandfathers having come to the area in the late 1800s. He had been involved with the Cal Young neighborhood association for about ten years and taught forestry classes on a volunteer basis for students in elementary schools. He was involved with several forestry groups and managed a tree farm in Lane County.

Wendy Butler-Boyesen said she had been a member of the committee for about a year and relied on the bus for transportation as she did not own a car. She grew up in South Dakota and did graduate work at Boston University. She is a teacher at the Eugene Water & Electric Board child development center. Her husband had a disabling stroke six years ago and uses RideSource and the bus for transportation. She has been involved in a variety of community activities and has two children, one grandchild and three indoor cats.

Philip Farrington, a native of New Orleans and director of land use planning and development for PeaceHealth since 2002, said that prior to his position with PeaceHealth he had worked as a consultant to a number of firms and individuals across western Oregon since moving to the area in 1993 from San Antonio, Texas. He had recently assumed leadership of the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association and had been searching for ways to engage the broader planning community and felt that participation on the CAC as an opportunity to do so. He said he had been involved in planning projects and the public involvement components of those projects in many different communities and had an understanding of what techniques worked well or could be improved. He considered the Public Participation Plan and Citizen’s Guide opportunities to find ways to more effectively and efficiently engage the public.

Gary Gillespie, originally from Savannah, Georgia, commented that as a 31 year resident of Eugene he was looking forward to working on the MPO CAC as a strong advocate for light rail and other alternative transportation issues. He stated that in the past he had served on several political and ballot measure campaigns related to the social and economic justice movement and was looking forward to using that experience to the committee’s benefit.. Mr. Gillespie also noted that, in addition to being voted in 1995 as one of the five funniest people in Eugene by the Register-Guard, he has worked for the City of Eugene for the past 22 years and currently works in the City library as a librarian’s assistant He noted that for the last 8 years he has served as council president for the Oregon AFSCME Council 75, the city-wide union representing 23,000 workers in the State of Oregon, and had also in the past served as the president of the Fairmount and South University neighborhood associations. Mr. Gillespie noted that his hobbies included baseball, movies, cooking and running.

Dave Jacobson related that he was born in Buffalo, New York and moved to Los Angeles when he was young. He graduated from UCLA and after employment in the public sector returned to school to obtain a teaching credential and then taught in the Los Angeles school system. He returned to school again for a graduate degree in psychology and moved to Thousand Oaks, California to raise three children, operate a private learning center along with a family counseling practice. He participated in a number of civic activities and a member of numerous committees, including a citizens’ traffic committee. He moved to Springfield in 1999. He said he played bassoon in the Eugene Symphonic Band, the Springfield Community Concert Band and a quintet. He currently served on Springfield’s Police Planning Task Force and managed the American Association of Retired Program’s driver safety program statewide. His focus was driver safety and mobility from the perspective of a retired senior.

Alex Lockfeld commented that, as a practicing neurologist currently living in Springfield, he was looking forward to participating in the MPO CAC’s efforts. He stated that he was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and had lived in areas such as England, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California before settling in the Eugene area a number of years ago. He stated that he had a son with autism who frequently used public transportation and was very interested in the MPO CAC’s efforts with regard to public transit accessibility issues. He further noted that, in his capacity as a long time recreational and commuter bicyclist, he shared the ecological concerns of several of the committee members.

Bill Morganti reported he was born at Sacred Heart Hospital and had lived in the same house since he was a year old. He was on the committee due to his interest in transportation as a bus user. He had a disability and was low-income and joked with people he was so broke he could not pay a compliment. He had surgery for left hip replacement some months ago and was no longer in pain from his hip but during his rehabilitation had experienced pain when his brother murdered one of his three cats. He continued to be upset about that.

Eleanor Mulder said she was born, raised and educated in Missouri. She worked as a summer camp counselor and hitchhiked from Chicago to Washington D.C. with friends. Her first job was as a truck driver in Cleveland, which was when she met her husband. She received a Fulbright scholarship, but dropped out when she got married. She has lived in Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota and moved to Eugene 39 years ago. She is a longtime member of the League of Women Voters and has served on the Eugene Planning Commission, the Eugene Budget Committee and the Lane County Boundary Commission. She has four children and two step-grandchildren. She is an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) tax preparer and blood donor.

Sarah Strand said she was born in Corvallis at Sacred Heart Hospital while her father attended Oregon State University to get his PhD. She moved to Central America when she was a year old and then to Hawaii and India because of her father’s work as a Tropical Agricultural Specialist. She said it was an exotic but somewhat lonely life because she was never in one place very long. She had never lived in one house for longer than one year until she was in her 20’s. Ms. Strand said her interest in joining the committee was to enhance pedestrian safety in the community. She had several friends who had been injured or killed in pedestrian accidents. Ms. Strand said she has a master’s degree in art and taught art at several community centers. She had been married for 25 years and had two children. She was recently diagnosed with a rare but treatable form of cancer that had been diagnosed through a routine colonoscopy. She said she was currently undergoing treatment.

Edward Winter said he graduated from the University of Minnesota and one of his classmates was Bobby Zimmerman, who later became Bob Dylan. He worked for the Public Health Service in Washington D.C., was a VISTA volunteer in Indianapolis and attended graduate school at Columbia University before deciding that he did not want to become an urban planner. He became a financial manager and moved to Eugene about 22 years ago. In addition to financial management, he also has a small farm where he raises goats and sheep. He uses alternative transportation modes whenever possible.

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