Election 2024: Shanaé Joyce-Stringer, Kaarin Knudson, Stefan Strek run for Eugene mayor

In the May 21 election, Eugene voters are set to pick from three residents vying to become the city's new mayor and replace the retiring Lucy Vinis.

Life coach and educational consultant Shanaé Joyce-Stringer, architect/urban planner and university instructor Kaarin Knudson, and artist and previous mayoral candidate Stefan Strek are all running for the office. In recent interviews with the Register-Guard, they shared their views on the issues and explained why they think they should be elected.

Eugene has non-partisan primary elections, where if one candidate wins a majority of votes cast in May, they will run uncontested in November and take office in January. If no candidate reaches a majority in May, the top two candidates will run head-to-head in November.

Shanaé Joyce-Stringer

"My niche here has been connecting people," Joyce-Stringer said. "Connecting people to each other but also connecting people to resources and opportunities."

Joyce-Stringer said in her work at 4J and Lane Education Service District she would connect students and their parents with rental assistance. And she worked to expand access to BIPOC mental health clinicians for students.

"I think in the work that I have done, especially around equity, a lot of it is really around identifying who's not at the table," Joyce-Stringer said.

Joyce-Stringer cited the Emeralds stadium as a project she felt would have been a lower priority with her, saying she would have encouraged more community engagement. She said she would prioritize replacing the University District hospital.

She also said her experience growing up in Miami Gardens, Florida, let her see a more active local government that provided things like small business loans and homeowners assistance.

"I'd love to just see the city taking charge," she said. "I've seen what it's like when your city has been doing the work to support the people."

Joyce-Stringer on homelessness

On homelessness, Joyce-Stringer said she'd like to expand shelter opportunities by looking at city code and seeing where the city creates barriers.

"Can we, as a city, make sure that we're not the barrier to someone having a safe space to sleep? Even if it's those individuals who are in cars," she said.

She said she would also pursue additional grants for shelter and mental health resources.

Kaarin Knudson

"What makes me unique as a candidate is that I have been working in this community for over 20 years, and I've helped us to achieve some meaningful results in some of the most challenging issues that we face," Knudson said.

Knudson's endorsements include the last three mayors and six of the eight current city councilors. Still, she described herself as a political newcomer, saying those endorsements are part of a broader spectrum of support.

"It's really important to have a track record of work in our community and a breadth of community support," she said.

As a housing advocate, Knudson said she helped with projects like creating Eugene's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, pre-approved ADU blueprints and zoning code reforms, including for middle housing. She's also been involved in the creation of new climate responsiveness standards and work on the riverfront district.

"I've been engaged with all of that work over this last eight years," Knudson said.

As an urban planner, Knudson said she sees infill as a strategy to address many of Eugene's biggest problems, including housing affordability and homelessness, downtown revitalization and walkability, and carbon emissions.

She defended the city's practice of giving tax exemptions to encourage denser development. "The inputs to building housing are labor and materials and land … none of those things are getting less expensive, but we still need housing," and they're less common than their critics realize, she said. The city's awarded five Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemptions so far this decade.

Knudson on homelessness

Knudson said that to address homelessness, Eugene needs to make three resources available: more affordable housing, supportive services and shelter capacity. Those are the points she said she and others in the Chamber of Commerce's homelessness coalition have already been pushing.

Knudson said that as mayor she would advocate to state and federal officials for funding for these initiatives.

"In terms of piloting additional solutions and demonstrating how we will be part of these solutions … and I'm excited to make that case," she said.

Stefan Strek

Strek previously attempted a Eugene mayoral run in 2016 and is promoting himself as someone who would shake up the city's management.

"The city's not being taken care of the way it should be," he said, emphasizing his issues with the city's financial well-being.

As an example of this, he pointed to the city's housing efforts. He said he wants to limit city assistance to projects that would be affordable to people making minimum wage.

"They've given all these property tax exemptions to these buildings … those places are going to be profitable no matter what. They can afford to pay taxes," he said.

Instead, Strek said the city should focus on incentives to help homeowners and small-scale landlords update their units and keep them affordable.

"That's the real affordable housing in Eugene," he said.

He similarly criticized the city for selling the EWEB steam plant project for $1, saying the city should have pushed for a better deal or done the redevelopment itself.

Strek said he believes that with the better financial management he would bring to the office, the city could pay for expanded services such as free science center admission and expanded library and bus hours.

"Why don't we have busses that run 24 hours a day?" he said. "They say there's no money for that, but there's so much money being wasted on stuff that doesn't perform a functional necessity for people who live here."

Strek on Homelessness

Strek criticized the city for creating the Washington Jefferson Park campsite as another example of mismanagement, describing the program as "everybody from off the street being basically corralled and herded here like animals."

Strek said the city could redirect money for indoor shelter, instead.

"The concept that they couldn't provide actual shelter … it's mind-boggling," he said. "How is this allowed to happen in a city like Eugene in the 21st century?"

Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached over email at atorres@registerguard.com or on X @alanfryetorres.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Eugene mayoral race: Joyce-Stringer, Knudson, Strek running