Interview with Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson
Time: Noon to 1:15 pm
Venue: WOW Hall
291 West 8th
Eugene, Oregon
97401
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We will meet at the WOW Hall, 291 W 8th. Learn more: https://wowhall.org/about-us/. Walk, ride a bike or take the bus. You may park on the street or in the parking lot of FOOD for Lane County's Dining Room, across 8th from the WOW Hall. A freewill donation acknowledging the Dining Room's generosity may be made at the meeting.
Lunch will be available for $15.
Topic:
Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson is wrapping up her first year in office and will be interviewed about her experience by KLCC news reporter Rebecca Hansen-White at the Sept. 5 City Club of Eugene forum.
Mayor Knudson, local architect, university educator and housing advocate, was elected in 2024. After eight months at the helm of the second largest city in Oregon, has anything changed in the political landscape? We will find out how the new mayor is meeting the many challenges that have arisen in city government, some anticipated, some surprising, in the first year of her four-year term.
As a non-voting member of the city council (except to break ties), the mayor chairs Eugene City Council meetings. We hope she will speak about what stands out as noteworthy about leading those meetings and working with staff and constituents throughout the city. How the new mayor addresses the city’s budget crisis and the compounding traumas of homelessness, lack of health care, public safety concerns, environmental degradation and spreading economic inequality could greatly influence the livability of the city.
Please join us for a conversational-style interview on these and other issues, and her plans, progress and challenges. We’ll also have time for Q&A with the audience.
Everyone is welcome.
Speakers
Title: News reporter
Organization: KLCC
Website: https://www.klcc.org/people/rebecca-hansen-white
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists, then proofread and edited for length
Award-winning reporter Rebecca Hansen-White joined the KLCC News Department in November 2023, covering local government, healthcare and housing. She started her journalism career in print, at her hometown paper, The Dayton Chronicle in Southeast Washington. She previously covered Washington state politics, education and local government for The Columbia Basin Herald newspaper, The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, and Spokane Public Radio.
Title: Mayor
Organization: City of Eugene
Website: https://eugene-or.gov/3458/Mayor-Kaarin-Knudson-Bio
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists, then proofread and edited for length
Mayor Kaarin Knudson is an architect, writer, and educator with more than 25 years’ experience in design, sustainability, and community building. Trained as a journalist before becoming an architect, her work has always focused on people and place. In 2017, after a decade in architectural practice, she organized the public-interest project Better Housing Together to address Lane County’s housing crisis. This work supported the creation of Eugene’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Lane County’s first Affordable Housing Action Plan, and Oregon’s landmark middle housing reforms. In 2024 she was elected Mayor of Eugene. She is the first All-American runner to be elected mayor of TrackTown, USA. Mayor Knudson teaches planning and urban design at the University of Oregon, and she speaks regionally and nationally about housing, sustainable cities, and the work of guiding community change. Her first book, The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook (Routledge), was published in 2024.
