DelSol and Gowing
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: The Chronicle kicks off its election coverage this week with a focus on mayoral races in Creswell and Cottage Grove, plus an in-depth Q&A from Creswell city council candidates. Springfield council candidate Kori Rodley offers a guest column this week, and more Springfield and Cottage Grove coverage will be featured Oct. 22. The Chronicle does not endorse any candidate. We present opportunities for them to speak for themselves with a Q&A and guest columns. Not all candidates chose to participate.
Q: What do you see as the single biggest challenge for the city going into 2021 and how do you plan to address it?
Ivan DelSol: The United States government is a corporate-owned facade that facilitates the pillaging of our community and personal resources for the financial gain of the outrageously wealthy. To prevent the public from joining together against this, the government and media corporations cynically exploit social division along long-standing economic, racial, religious and political lines. Despite the obvious fact that Grovers have more in common with each other than with elites in positions of power and influence, Cottage Grove is tense with this division. This challenges every aspect of what a healthy small town should look like. This problem may seem overwhelmingly large, but I have hope that in a town as small and sweet as Cottage Grove, we can see past the sensationalist media barrage and relearn how to live and work together as proper neighbors. As mayor, I will try to address this issue by facilitating honest, respectful communication in the community, by focusing on the common interests and needs of community members, and by publicly debunking divisive messaging and politics whenever possible.
Close runner-up for our greatest challenge is the pandemic/shutdown and the economic disaster it is sure to cause. It speaks volumes that this is not our greatest challenge right now. The problem is we can’t effectively deal with this or any other crisis when we are at each other’s throats and all things, including the most basic health measures, are politicized.
Jeff Gowing: Biggest challenge would be dealing with the uncertainty of the revenue coming into the City from the pandemic. Addressing it would be focusing on the next budget and looking at ways to get grants for relief funds.
Q: Is the City doing enough to support and bolster Cottage Grove businesses through the pandemic and why? How may the business community be better served now and in the future?
DelSol: The pandemic has obviously been extremely hard on local business. It was a tragedy to lose Delight, such an amazing resource for kids and families, and we have been lucky not to have suffered more such losses. The City government has always served the business community more directly than it has the citizens of Cottage Grove, but even so, there is very little to be done when shutdown measures are applied by state organizations. For as long as these measures are in place, it is in the interest of the city (and the community) to do whatever we can to support our small, local businesses, including the waiving of taxes and fees and offering financial support when possible. The city could also send helpful and clear messages to the public, such as: “Businesses are struggling enough without stubborn individuals making it hard for them to enforce mask and distancing rules. Waiters and bartenders didn’t make the rules, don’t take your frustrations out on them.”
Gowing: The city is working closely with the business community and has established a relief loan program to help them recover.
Q: Help us understand the type of leader you will be by describing your two highest priorities for change in Cottage Grove, in the short term. What about in the long term?
DelSol: My highest short term priority is trying to bridge the vicious partisan divide in our community. This is very difficult during a pandemic where people avoid meeting face to face, but somehow we need to overcome the hatred and suspicion between neighbors. With the number of stressful issues we have faced this year, I believe there is the potential to realize that we have far more to gain by working together than by perpetuating old prejudices and outdated political dogma. In the long term, assuming we can learn to coexist as a healthy community, I can imagine Cottage Grove becoming a diverse and thriving network of local businesses, arts and public projects that includes surrounding farmers and rural industry. A small-town life like that is more than money can buy.
Gowing: In general I feel we need more industrial jobs in town, we need to be more attractive to our youth so when they graduate they don’t move away to seek employment. With the new businesses going into the industrial park and partnering with the school district, I believe this will help that issue.
Q: Do you believe Cottage Grove has an issue with racism that needs to be addressed? How would you lead the city on this topic?
DelSol: The entire country has an issue with racism that needs to be addressed, and Cottage Grove is no exception. As a predominantly white community, many of us are unaware of the struggles of being a person of color in the United States. These struggles are largely caused by systems and ideas that were in place before any of us were born, and while over the years these systems have become less openly racist, they have maintained the same harmful effect on our society and our culture. Such an ingrained problem is difficult to unravel, often because it is unexamined or downright denied, and it is painful and difficult to look at when it is examined. In Cottage Grove we are lucky to not have problems with systemic racism at nearly the scale of larger cities. That said, there should be a zero tolerance policy for overt or covert racism within any of our official institutions. Public figures in official positions should under no circumstances promote violence of any kind around this volatile issue. Systemic racism aside, I know from personal experience that we have real cultural and personal race issues in Cottage Grove. This is incredibly difficult to address through government, but a strong, outspoken anti-racist message is a start. Beyond that, there is community work and education that can be facilitated by city sponsorship and participation. Mayoral race aside, I recommend that community members do some honest self-examination and take the time to educate themselves about racism and its history in the United States. It’s not our fault that we were raised in a society with deep, lingering racism, but it is the responsibility of every one of us to stop the denial, learn to see one another as valuable and important human beings, and to evolve toward a healthy, humane society.
Gowing: I don’t feel Cottage Grove as a whole has an issue with racism. I do know there are people on both sides of the scale that do, but the majority don’t feel that way. I do however think there is a problem in our country that needs to be solved.
Q: What do you see as the most pressing needs for infrastructure or capital projects in Cottage Grove? How would you lead the city on these projects?
DelSol: Since the pandemic, the infrastructure issue I have become most concerned about is the school system. Our schools are obviously not set up for distancing, and the situation where we can be forced to lock down again makes things even more complicated. Education is the obvious part of this, but schools are also so important for social experience and basic quality of life for kids. Parents are also put under great stress when children have to go to school from home. No one knows what to do, and the situation is unprecedented, but I would like to facilitate cooperation between the City and school district to alleviate the stress of this situation however possible. This could include the creative use of city resources like the library/community center and the armory. If schools are closed we should leverage our city WiFi for education as much as possible.
Gowing: Our biggest problem with infrastructure is not having enough funding to repair all of our streets that are failing. We will have to budget in the highest priority ones and apply for grants and state or federal assistance when we can to finish the others.
Read more:
Creswell mayor race – click here
Creswell City Council race – click here
Cottage Grove mayor race – click here
Candidate columns:
Chalice Savage – Cottage Grove City Council candidate
Shelly Clark – Creswell City Council candidate
Kori Rodley – Springfield City Council candidate
Ivan DelSol – Cottage Grove mayor candidate
