Mayor’s proclamations and remarks, October 2026

Presenter: With the proclamations and other city news for October, Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson:

Mayor Kaarin Knudson: The University of Oregon is celebrating its 150th anniversary on Oct. 16 and I had the pleasure of joining the students of the class of 2030 on the evening before their first day of classes.

One hundred and fifty years does not come by very often in our community, and we are happy to congratulate and celebrate that milestone for our flagship research institution locally.

We also had a chance to celebrate something that was an unusual experience in our community, and that is that a couple of weeks ago, Nate Jackson, who is a teacher at Willamette High School in Bethel School District, was named the Regional Teacher of the Year, which was a wonderful experience to watch him celebrated by the community at Willamette High School and then also across our community broadly.

Many people are so admiring and appreciate the work that Mr. Jackson does teaching in our schools.

And the incredibly exciting news was that last week, Nate Jackson was named Oregon’s Teacher of the Year. So that surprise—becoming one of four finalists—was delightful for a few people who were in the know that Mr. Jackson was soon to become Oregon’s Teacher Of The Year.

It was even more exciting to watch him take that opportunity to be recognized and celebrated and immediately send it back out to his community, appreciating his students, his colleagues, leadership and staff across his high school community, and leadership within Bethel School District. And I know (Bethel) Councilor (Greg) Evans was really also very thrilled about this news to hear it.

And it’s just a pleasure for me to highlight that this evening. Pretty great education, pretty fantastic teachers that we have here in the city of Eugene. And a wonderful example of that in Nate Jackson.

On Oct. 7 last week, we also celebrated Mobility International USA, or MIUSA’s 45th anniversary and recognized it as Mobility International USA Day in the city of Eugene.

This is an organization that was founded here 45 years ago, does incredible work to advocate for in advance human rights and the rights of people who are living with disabilities locally, across the country, and around the world.

This extends to the WILD (Women’s Institute on Leadership and Disability) program that brings leaders from countries across the United States to the city of Eugene for trainings, and then supports them also with their initiatives as they return home.

I want to highlight that with MIUSA’s support and advising and advocacy, the city of Eugene launched a new wheelchair accessible taxi pilot program on Oct. 1.

So just a few days ago, we were able to follow through on an area of real significant need in our community relative to accessibility. It was wonderful to go see the new Amtrak trains, the trains and see all of the improvements that they include if you are using a wheeled device to access them, and know that people throughout our community will be able to call a taxi and get to those trains on time very early in the morning or arriving late at night.

This is a 24/7 service, just like any taxi service, with the exception of the city of Eugene’s support through this pilot, and we hope that it increases access that everyone in our community has to opportunities and their needs here.

Yesterday, Oct. 11, we recognized National Coming Out Day in the city of Eugene.

We are a city that is continuously dedicated to supporting the experience of everyone here in our community. We want for everyone to feel at home here, and that they can build their future here and live and be loved for exactly who they are. So a wonderful opportunity for us to recognize and celebrate that experience.

October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and I want to extend my thanks to many organizations, and especially the Hope and Safety Alliance, for their work to end domestic violence and support all those who are impacted by it.

October is also Filipino American History Month, and I want to extend my appreciation to all of our Filipino American unions for their work to celebrate and lift up this important aspect of our local history and culture.

And finally, on Oct. 10, we recognized World Mental Health Day. Nearly one in 10 adults in the United States experience a mental health crisis each year. And we know from the Surgeon General, from just a few years ago, that our youth and adolescent Americans are also experiencing a mental health crisis.

Mental health is a vital component to individual and community well-being, and we continue to advocate for equitable access to mental health services for all. It is an incredibly important part of our health care system locally.

One more item of interest to share, because in looking at our calendar, this might be the best time to highlight at a City Council meeting that there’ll be much more information about this event shortly.

I have had the wonderful good fortune and privilege of being able to meet with a number of our interfaith community leaders regularly over this past, now, slightly more than 18 months that I’ve been in office.

And in this past year and at one of our recent meetings, as will not be a surprise to anyone in this room, there was some very specific questions and concerns from members of the community about election integrity.

And this was late, late summer. There’s quite a lot going on in the national news related to Oregon’s very safe and effective mail-in voting system.

But there was a very specific ask about being able to think of how we might gather as a community to discuss and better understand the system that we have here on the ground.

So on Wednesday, Oct. 28, immediately following our City Council work session, we will be hosting a gathering with our leaders from our interfaith community and myself.

Secretary of State Tobias Read will be here to speak, and it will essentially be some short, relatively short remarks and then Q&A that will be at that event.

So that will be on the afternoon of Oct. 28. The formal event will be from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the afternoon, and you’ll see more information about that in coming days.

But to highlight for those here who are wondering how we’re doing, and also about the systems that we have in place locally and in this state to ensure safe and reliable and fair outcomes to our elections.

Presenter: That’s Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson, speaking at the City Council meeting Oct. 12.