Nov. 4 update: Interview with candidate Teresa Cisneros added
By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news
For the upcoming Ashland City Council election, all candidates were contacted by Ashland.news for interviews. All who responded were asked the same six questions.
Answers from candidates competing for the same position have been paired together. This is the third of three articles on the contested council seats. Some answers have been edited for clarity or length.
Council Seat 1 will be a contest between Teresa Cisneros and Douglas Knauer. Cisneros has been Indian Education Facilitator at the Southern Oregon Education District for the previous five years, according to a Linkedin page. Cisneros has also served as a bilingual education specialist for the Rogue Valley Symphony and an actor with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, as previously reported by Ashland.news.
Douglas Nauer is listed as retired on a Linkedin page that also describes experience as a “highly experienced leader of multiple departments and major projects.” He also previously served on the city’s Planning Commission, according to Jackson County election materials.
Nov. 4 update: After initially not responding to multiple attempts by Ashland.news to schedule an interview, Cisneros recently sat for an interview. Unlike other interviewees, she had a chance to see questions in advance as interviews with other candidates had already been published. Her responses have been added below.
Question 1: Being a city councilor is barely paid, it’s verging on volunteer work. Can you talk about why you want to serve?
Knauer: To some people, I think, in Ashland, I’m part of the enemy, because I’m retired. Having had a really good long career and been rather successful in management in large corporations, it taught me a lot of skills as far as bringing people together, collaborating, getting things done — not shooting for the perfect solution, but the best solution because you’re always time constrained or you’re always money constrained.
I know Paula Hyatt. … I thought she was always well prepared with the work she did on council so I asked her how many hours she put into it and she told me and I said, OK, that’s a lot.’
We knew we wanted West Coast weather and out of a few towns we looked at we moved to Ashland knowing nobody. We liked it that much. In the five years we’ve been here — we got here in ’19 — it’s just impressed me even more.
I’m just very interested in seeing if I can apply the skills and experience I learned. … helping Ashland make some big decisions that they seem to be having trouble with right now. I mean, going forward, we’re going to have a lot of them. … It’s very important council have one eye on today and one eye on tomorrow and I don’t think we have enough tomorrow built into the vision.
Cisneros: First of all, it’s in my blood. My family members have all been civil servants, they’re down in Texas. Anything from county commissioner, mayor, city councilors. They’ve kind of done it all but on both sides of my family social justice has been a huge part of my upbringing and part of our duty being alive and engaged in where we live and making sure everyone is getting access to the resources.
Question 2: How do you see the role of a councilor as that role relates to the rest of city government or the public?
Knauer: The role of a councilor is to bring an informed point of view to a topic in collaboration to the five other councilors that are all equals. Each of us having different biases and different backgrounds … coming to what we hope would be the best possible solution for the issue that is in front of us.
Something that doesn’t have an obvious correct answer needs to be iterated to what I call “best possible.” I think when you put six intelligent people in a room you’re going to get a better answer than just one person.
Cisneros: It’s a lot more complicated than most people think it is. I don’t assume that I’m going to come in there and have all the answers, it really is about creating relationships with the other city councilors and coming together with what the community envisions for themselves and how does that work in the context of government in general and not just government but funding and community needs.
We often get stuck in the “it’s all about money” thing. And, as a parent, I look at it kind of like there’s all sorts of pieces we need to consider. It’s the funding, it’s the impact. For me personally I think about — and I use this often — my lens is who is benefitting, who is it impacting and what is the long term impact on our community of whatever’s on the table to discuss. I think it’s having the ability to hold all those pieces at once and to keep your personal values and integrity and to speak truth to power when necessary.
Question 3: In your conversations with voters, has anyone raised issues that surprised you?
Knauer: The one that pleasantly surprised me was a gentleman I met with over at Rogue Coffee. He said, ‘You know, I just wanted to come over and tell you that I think Ashland is doing a pretty damn good job.’
Everybody I talked to that morning at Rogue was generally positive — and then there was a “but” attached to it. … One businessman has some issues around business, one retiree had some issues around availability of the community center.
I came from Philadelphia, I know what it’s like to live in a city that really doesn’t work very well. People have kind of corrected me when I call Ashland a “town,” but it really feels like a town to me. We have these great neighborhoods and the opportunity to have and do have a real sense of community in these neighborhoods.
I love the fact that Rogue Coffee is where it’s at in and amongst those houses over there. I would love to see more of that. … A venue for people just to sit down with their neighbors, laugh, play a card game. … just knit the fabric, the community, that we all look out for each other and try to get along.
Cisneros: No, not really. I think the voters are where I really understand the most. Where my surprises have been in community forums and anytime that there was never much focus on the community or the voters or the lived experiences of all people. It was just about finances. I’ve been reminded over and over throughout this whole process that that’s where our society is. We think that’s where all the solutions are. I also understand and have a very deep respect for the resources that are here in our community.
I was surprised that we never got asked questions about the community we lived in or the voters and their input and the kind of life they want for Ashland.
Question 4: The city of Ashland is coming to an interesting position. The desire to preserve its unique character and traditions alongside the necessity of adapting to the demands of various social issues. How do you envision Ashland approaching these competing priorities?
Knauer: Tough trade off. It’s been done successfully before but I don’t think there’s a guidebook to it. It really requires someone or a small collection of people that have a real vision and the strength to sell that vision.
The Plaza’s a lovely spot, old architecture, just the structure of it. It could be a really welcoming place that captures — if you want to call it and it’s not pejorative — “old Ashland.” But keep that, fluff it up, make it even prettier, and that becomes a certain center around which we can build other things in other areas.
There’s been talk for what — 10 years now — for what to do with the Croman Mills property if we should ever get our hands on it. … We have housing needs, what does it look like to try to get something that’s built for a little lower cost?
There’s an organic sense of what “old” is going to be. There’s kind of a rose-colored glasses idea of, “Well couldn’t it always stay that way?” as if you’re going to find that mosquito that’s been captured in amber.
I agree with whoever it was that said, “Change is the only constant,” but you try to control the change to keep it from being too very jarring and you make incremental change and you add and the idea of adding is hopefully it makes it bigger and better.
Cisneros: I think that is determined by each person individually on council and which of their people they’re really going to pay attention to and where their history with ashland starts. Ashland has evolved since I’ve been here so much. I’ve been here — this month, exactly, is 21 years that I’ll be here — and when we first got here it was very different. There were people out in the streets making music and it was so full of life. There were celebrations in the evenings for the younger folks, there was also so much with the elders and it seemed to feel like there was more to do for our youth with the youth center and, more recently, I think people really like the idea of this becoming a retirement community. But they want to believe they want it to be a family community, but they’re pushing our families out.
That shows with no real conversation about rent control and no effort towards creating jobs, no real discussion about our public education. We have some areas where we could have some input and no real discussion.
Question 5: The city has these various issues to address and a wishlist of things to achieve. How do you believe the city should best answer to these things with its frankly limited resources?
Knauer: Have we got a clear sense of where our priorities sit and what are we going to do about those things? You can do it in a sort of black and white way, simply list the priorities and say, ‘Here’s the line, we’ve run out of money, everything that falls below this isn’t going to happen.’
Hard to do when the city has so many competing areas that have to be funded. … The job of council is to take a look at that, having gone through the budget process, knowing what the limitations are, Sabrina sitting there saying, “These are the staff constraints.”
Take what the constraints are for the issues that are sitting in front of us and the issues we know are coming at us soon and have a plan. All you can do is execute the plan — and then, as you get more information, you may alter that plan a little bit.
I’ve been really irritated by some of the social media things I’ve been seeing in regards to the water treatment plant. We’ve studied it six ways from Sunday for the last 12 years. … Keep getting incremental progress on whatever it may be, be that the water treatment plant, be that the homeless shelter we’re toying around with on Ashland Street, whatever that might be.
We have to have the nerve to say, “No, we’re done and we think this is right and vote on it.”
Cisneros: The limited resources is when you’re looking solely at the bank account and when you’re looking solely through very specific people with very privileged perspectives. There is a ginormous population in Ashland that is full of resources, full of ideas. And also looking at post-capitalist avenues which we have resources to that here, locally as well, that are being used around the globe but we don’t see it here. There’s all sorts of resources I think we’re not utilizing. And mostly the community, and having transparency is a huge part of that. I don’t think it’s just a city government thing, I think it’s our individualistic society and where it’s gone, thinking that we’re supposed to have all the answers. I’m a tribal person and that’s how I think. What are my strengths and weaknesses and what are your strengths and weaknesses so let’s come together and building a strong community with that kind of attitude and those values that we all belong here and we all have something to offer.
Question 6: Is there anything you hoped I would ask about, anything you’re particularly passionate or concerned about that you would want voters to know?
Knauer: I do want voters to understand as far as me as a candidate that they’re going to be putting someone onto council who is passionate about success and achieving things that are good for the city.
I’m passionate about not studying things forever but doing enough homework that we can actually come to a reasonably informed decision about something.
I’m very, very interested in and passionate about what Ashland looks like five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now — having the conversations with residents that are here and hopefully attracting more people to come and live here that are building families. We’re seeing declining attendance at the schools and those kinds of things. … I had a gentleman ask me about this.
He said, “You know the largest demographic in Ashland right now is over 65. … Don’t you think we should be talking about senior housing in Ashland? What’s wrong with this demographic, they’re bringing money, it’s good.”
I said, “My personal opinion is that if that’s the demographic we want to grow then I’m not going to stay in Ashland. I have no interest in turning this into an adjunct Rogue Manor.”
Vibrancy in a town comes from the differences we have, so long as we’re aligned on our values.
Cisneros: I think our kids. We don’t often talk about them because they’re not old enough to vote but, you know, they’re the next seven generations they are learning from us and what we are doing to help them feel safe and help them feel secure in this little town with our changing country our changing climate our changing economy what are we doing to do to build sustainability here locally for them and have their input and civic engagement. I think that’s one of the things I worry about the most is how that is just declining every year, our young people are deciding not to engage. And that bothers me some, so yeah, I would like to see our kids be part of the conversation a lot more.
Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].
Related stories:
Council forum: Six candidates, three seats, lots of questions (Oct. 14, 2024)
Q&A with Ashland City Council candidates Dylan Bloom and Eric Navickas (Oct. 14, 2024)
Q&A with Ashland City Council candidates Jeff Dahle and Kelly Marcotulli (Oct. 10, 2024)