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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuemann, ThomasCITY OF -ASHLAND APPLICATION FOR APPOINTMENT TO CITY COMMISSION/COMMITT]EE Please type or print answers to the following questions and submit to the City Recorder at City Hall, 20 E Main Street, or email christeb~ashland.or.us. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the City Recorder at 488-5307. Attach additional sheets if necessary. Name '-[-"La tv vv, o~ ~. Requesting to serve on: C'~o~-~-~,r ~e,~,'~o ~o~. (Commission/Committee) Address J>'-~ ~'- 0 v'c..~ o, ~ S.C. OcCupation 1. Education Background What schools have you attended? Phone: Home Work Fax What degrees do you hold? What additional training or education have you had that would apply to this position? 2. Related Experience What prior work experience have you had that would help you if iyou were appointed to this position? Do you feel it would be advantageous for you to have further training in this field, such as attending conferences or seminars? Why? Ioeco.~,s~. [ 3. Interests Why are you applying for this position? ~¢ca.~,~ · [ [~c..~e ~oe~,., [ocok.c~ (or 4. Avail[abili~ Are you available to attend special meetings, in addition to the regularly scheduled meetings? Do you prefer day or evening meetings? e; g~er. 5. Additional Information How long have you lived in this community? Please use the space below to summarize any additional qualifications you haVe for this position Traffic Safety Commission 1999- 2002. I had to resign in ',>.002 due to the health of my wife (now deceased). Activities while on the Commission: Instituted "Not My Kid"/"Street Smart" High School (student/parent) education Spearheaded Commission goal-setting activity Instigated greater liaison with related Commissions Handled the revision of Charter Chapter 2.26 to update Commission functions Instigated discussions on forming a wider "Transportation Commission" Submitted thoughts to Council Goal-Setting Meeting of February 2002. It is specifically the latter item which makes me interested in membership in the Charter Review Committee. I wrote a letter to you and the Council, dated 1/20/02 (copy attached), which I woulci ask you to re-read, especially the last two paragraphs in which I encouraged, formation of a City body that deals with a vision for the City a decade or more from now, rather than only for the next two years. I believe that in asking for the formation of the Charter Review Committee, the Council is doing that. In addition to the Traffic: Commission, I worked dosely with the Planning Department and was instnm~ental in revision of Ordinance Section 18.16.030 (allowing Accessory Residential Units in the RR.5 zoning.) References: City: Personal: JOhn Morrison and Don Laws (were Council liaison on Traffic Safety Commission) John McLaughlin, Bill Molnar, Jim Olson C'huck and Linda Butler Jack Davis (Chris Hearn's firm) Date Signature Thomas Heumann 585 Orchard Street Ashland, OP. 975Z0 541-48Z-1334 e-mail: theumann@jeffnet,org January 20, 2002 May or Alan deBoer City Council Members Subject: Thoughts for Goal Setting Meeting February 1 Whenever three Ashlanders get together, there seem to be five opinions. Our City is exemplary in encouraging such citizen input, but we don't seem to have a readily available body that invites long-range thinking. I don't :mean five-year ideas, I mean 20- or 50-year visions. What ii am looking for is a body that will carefully listen, and discuss in some depth, what Ashland should be like two gen- erations from now. If such a sounding board exists, I don't know about it. On the Traffic Safety Commission, I have worked toward a pro-active mind set by consolidating our goals into what we call our "Strategic Plan"-- a misnomer, I believe. It's a good To-Do List, but it isn't strategic. Our Commission cannot make strategic plans; only the City can do that. The results our Commission can achieve hinge to a large degree on how the city develops. For example, I am firmly convinced that the Pedestrian Safety problem and its fatalities and pains will be with us forever unless one of two things happens: ei- ther everybody becomes considerate, smart, and unhurried, or we physically separate driving and walking. Hundreds of cities and towns, mainly in Europe, have come to the obvious conclusion. They have designed Pedestrian Zones their downtowns, and everybody loves them. Yes, even the merchants realize that people strolling by their stores are much more likely to drop in than people driving by or looking for a parking place. The key is to do it right. Just providing a walking environment won't do it; alt- tractive places to visit and shop and stroll and eat will. If we had Main Street from the Plaza to the Library reserved for pedestrians and bikes, with parkin, g in the dead-end streets created thereby, we could become the envy of the West Coast. And Mrs. Bournstein would not have had to die. We can't get there overnight; but if we paint ourselves in a corner we can't do it in the future either. Example: one of several possibilities could involve a traffic artery around downtown, roughly along the East side of the railroad tracks. To- day, we still have an opportunity to at least visualize it, but if we now fill that space up with buildings, there may be a time when we will be sorry we did. Shouldn't we have conversations now about the town where our children ancl grandchildren will live? Is there a body to whom we citizens can talk about long term planning? The W° ! , Planning Commission is too busy lth today s developments. Town Meetings are great for generating ideas, not for spinning them out. I think that the Cou~ncil must be that body. We're paying a City Manager and staff to run things day--by- day, but I see the Council as having been elected for setting a direction, and a Mayor to span the two. Hease discuss at your Goal Setting Meeting how the Council and the Mayor can provide an accessible, informal sounding board that can listen to, filter, and dis- seminate long-range visions for public discussion. I don't have a ready sugges- tion for what form that should take. I only know that many good ideas and many routes would be discussed to point toward the Ashland of 2040. Let's 'tO' to steer towards the one that everybody can live with- not now, but then.