dkSez : : : : : : Don Kahle's blog

Voters taxed themselves (twice) to expand the park system. Voters approved the money with relatively few restrictions, trusting city officials to be inventive and opportunistic. The city has leveraged those funds with creativity and consistency.

Knocking on all those doors teaches someone certain things about this community — and about themselves — that you and I may not know. A good politician can be like a tuning fork, quickly finding the frequency that communicates with the most clarity.

Everyone pushed beyond their comfort zones and learned how to identify the values we all share when we “envision Eugene.” Some would say the group itself did something miraculous. Conservationists and developers broke bread together.

Too often voters choose a radical departure from whatever ideology last held power, producing bipolar-like mood swings in the body politic. Having three council members who won city-wide campaigns would provide ballast — a weight in the center — to lessen those swings.