David Igl disputes monument history of North Bank, pulls city councilor into the fray

Presenter: David Igl continues to make the case that Eugene has always been a progressive city.  He drew Councilor Greg Evans into the fray with public comments at the county commissioners May 5:

David Igl (Lane County public comment, May 5, 2026): Just tell you about an experience I had at City Club recently when Talicia Brown was speaking. She did her shtick about, with the fake history of the North Bank monument, and I proceeded to wait my turn for the Q&A and I asked her—I didn’t abuse the privilege—I just said, you provide a lot of misinformation today.

Presenter: Here’s that portion of the Q&A at the Eugene City Club, Feb. 6. David Igl:

David Igl (City Club, Feb. 6, 2026): Very quick, I’m concerned about a great deal of what I consider documented misinformation you’ve provided about Oregon’s so-called ‘racist history.’ For example, Wiley Griffon was a beloved citizen in our community, and he died in 1913 as a homeowner, and a year before he died, he said, ‘There’s no place I’d rather live than Eugene, Oregon.’

So… Many, in the early 20th century, many Blacks that lived as residents of Eugene. And you said Eugene’s a sundown town, which it wasn’t. Did all these people leave their homes at at sunset and come back in the morning? Thank you.

Talicia Brown (City Club, Feb. 6, 2026): I appreciate your opinion. Thank you, for your time.

Presenter: Before the county commissioners May 5, David Igl:

David Igl (Lane County public comment, May 5, 2026): (At City Club) For example, I went into Wiley Griffon and how we’d had a 135-year history of Black residents in Lane County and here in Eugene, and her response was, thank you for your opinion. In other words, her story wasn’t true.

Well, immediately off to my left were some of the descendants of the original North Bank community who were Black and they laughed uproariously, jumped up, and shook my hand. They really appreciated what I was doing. 

And then recently at a City Council meeting, I raised my usual objections to what was going on…

Presenter: Here are those comments from David Igl at the April 27 City Council meeting:

David Igl (City Council, April 27, 2026): David Igl. I’m here today to again speak to you about an unfortunate situation that involves a fraud that has been inflicted on our community.

A non-native Oregonian named Talicia Brown has been raising funds for a memorial in Alton Baker Park. She has been unlawfully utilizing a dystopian false narrative describing Eugene as a sundown town where Black people couldn’t live, and that the county had employed eminent domain to deprive the residents of their homes in the North Bank. She falsely describes the North Bank’s residence as a Black community.

Eugene has proudly had Black residents for over 135 years.

The authentic history is that some of the future residents of the North Bank had asked Lane County for help in 1945. At that time, there was an extremely acute housing shortage locally and across the nation.

Help was given to them. They were given permission to temporarily squat, rent-free, on land owned by Lane County that was to be used as the site of the new Ferry Street bridge. It was because of this housing shortage and not their race, that a racially-mixed group of individuals became residents of the North Bank.

When the bridge was to be built in 1949, they were appropriately ordered to leave the county land they had been squatting on with permission. The county had no need to utilize eminent domain to take possession of its own land.

I repeatedly asked in person and in writing that Mayor Knudson, a non-native Oregonian, state what she’s going to do about this matter. Her response has been silence, although she herself participated in a memorial promotion event at Alton Baker Park while mayor-elect.

This disgraceful memorial describing events in history that never could—should have no place in Alton Baker Park, or any other Eugene park.

I have filed criminal charges against Talicia Brown. Using false statements to solicit charitable donations is a crime. I’m going to begin mass distribution of information about this fraud on Wednesday. Please inform me if you wish to be listed as a supporter or nonsupporter of the monument. Thank you.

Presenter: And to conclude his public comment at the county commissioners May 5, David Igl:

David Igl (Lane County public comment, May 5, 2026): …And then recently at a City Council meeting, I raised my usual objections to what was going on. And afterwards, Greg Evans came up to me and shook my hand, and this is outside and he’s walking away, I said, I noticed you haven’t been associated with the North Bank Memorial Project. He says: Yeah, I don’t want to be associated with crooks.

Now, a year and a half—over a year and a half ago—I brought the documentation that the narrative that was being promoted in which county monies and others monies had been used to build a monument to tell a false story, you know, had been used.

And I didn’t just say things, I brought documentation. The documentation the county has isn’t documented history at all. It’s just people telling stories.

So I’m just letting you know, you need to deal with this. It needs to be dealt with. It’s not going to go away. I’m going to make sure of that. I’m buying advertising, contacting people. So please be responsible. Deal with it. Thank you.

Presenter: Councilor Greg Evans told KEPW Whole Community News Tuesday that after a tough night at the City Council, he made an inappropriate comment out of frustration and apologizes to Talicia Brown.

Councilor Greg Evans (May 5, in phone interview): It was not my intention to cast aspersions on people.

Presenter: David Igl has been making the rounds, referencing old newspaper articles describing early Black and abolitionist residents as he makes the case that Eugene has always been progressive.