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Councilor Semple Ready To Tackle Familiar Issues In Next Term, Albeit During Pandemic

EmilySempleKickOff01.jpg
Brian Bull
/
KLCC

Eugeneans have given incumbent City Councilor Emily Semple another term for Ward 1.

Semple handily beat Eliza Kashinsky with 58 percent of the vote, compared to the challenger’s 40 percent.  Semple says her priorities of tackling homelessness and saving the environment remain the same, though the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted things.

“Yes, homelessness is my main priority but dealing with the ramifications of COVID -which include the homelessness- are really going to have to be the main priority because they’re affecting everybody in the immediate time," Semple told KLCC. 

"So bigger and critical things like taking care of our climate haven’t become less important, it’s just that COVID recovery has become more immediate.”

Semple says the Eugene City Council will also need to focus on spending its remaining CARES Act funds before year’s end, and look at the underlying problem of affordable housing.

Copyright 2020, KLCC.

Brian Bull joined the KLCC News Team in June 2016. In his 25+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (19 regional), the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.