Program date: May 20, 2022
Air date: May 23, 2022
From the City Club of Eugene:
Annual Meeting and Elections
City Club Bylaws require an Annual Meeting and Election of President-Elect and Board members in May. At this meeting, President-Elect Kaarin Knudsen will assume the presidency. She will announce the result of members’ vote for director nominees Marti Ravits, Miles Pendleton, and Sally Bell and plans for the election of the new president-elect.
The Turtle Award
Founding City Club Board member Jean Tate created the Turtle Award to honor civic-minded residents who stick their necks out for the good of the community. Criteria for the award include: (1) fostering creative problem solving in Eugene’s public affairs; (2) stimulating constructive action; (3) forging cooperative relationships; and (4) honoring diverse perspectives. An unwritten criterion is that the person may be underappreciated by the public.
The Turtle Committee nominates Turtle recipients for City Club Board action. In addition to Jean Tate, the first Turtle Committee included founding City Club board members Gerry Gaydos and Bob Moulton. Since then, the committee has consisted of the original members plus award recipients. John VanLandingham has chaired the committee since 1994, when he was a City Club Board member. In the current process, the Turtle committee meets in February and nominates one to three recipients for Board action. The Kahle Rule was adopted after a problem occurred in 2002; it specifies that nominees must be present to win, eliminating the past practice of surprising the winners. The Turtle Awards are traditionally presented at the annual meeting, in May. People whom the nominating committee deemed to be worthy of Turtledom but who died before it was offered are inducted into the Order of the Turtle posthumously. A short description of each is included in the meeting program.
The Turtle Committee has conferred the Order of Turtle on Sally Sheklow and Norton Cabell. Sally Sheklow’s obituary summarized her life, “Sally was on the front lines of the fight against bigotry and injustice with a witty song and a commitment to community.” Norton Cabell transitioned from a career in banking to one in low-income rental property management, volunteering in many ways to protect Oregon’s tenants and landlords. You will hear more about their contributions at the meeting.
The 2022 Turtle inductees are Lisa Arkin and Eric Richardson.
Speakers:
Lisa Arkin, Executive Director of Beyond Toxics, has provided innovative policy leadership and grassroots organizing for this statewide environmental justice organization since 2007. Under her guidance, Beyond Toxics embraced the principles of diversity and equity and adopted an anti-racist ethos, becoming one of Oregon’s first environmental justice organizations. It also stewarded adoption of Oregon’s Environmental Justice Framework (SCR 17) in the 2021 legislative session. Lisa has served as an appointed member of a number of commissions and workgroups, including Governor Brown’s Cleaner Air Oregon Policy Advisory Committee, the Lane County Planning Commission, and the State Pesticide Stewardship Partnership Advisory Committee.
Eric Richardson has a long history of social activism in Lane County. Motivated by a love of history and community, he promotes conversations on identity, cultural inclusion, and issues of social significance. Highlights of Richardson’s activities include his work as Multicultural Program Coordinator for Lane Community College student government, as a board member and musician at the Jazz Station in Eugene, as a collaborator with Beyond Toxics to bring attention to Environmental Climate Justice. After serving nine years with the Eugene-Springfield NAACP, Eric continues to serve the community as a board member for Habitat for Humanity Oregon and United Way of Lane County. He will soon start a new position as the DEI strategist for the Oregon Family Support Network.