City Hosts Town Hall Event in Ward 4
Published on April 26, 2024
The Medford City Council continued its second series of town hall events to talk about important topics that directly impact our community – updates from previous Town Hall events about homelessness, transportation projects affecting daily commutes, current developments, and housing initiatives.
The third event was hosted by Ward 4 Councilors Eric Stark and Nick Card.
Nearly 80 community members attended the event, and the panel answered around 40 questions from the audience during the Q&A session.
The panel consisted of Councilor Eric Stark, Councilor Nick Card, Mayor Randy Sparacino, City Manager Brian Sjothun, Deputy City Manager Kelly Madding, Police Chief Justin Ivens, City Attorney Eric Mitton, Public Works Director John Vial and Planning Director Matt Brinkley.
Some of the questions asked were, "Are there monies being allowed to take the dead trees and wood out of the creeks (i.e. Larson Creek)?" and "When will Highland Drive from E. Main Street to Barnett Road be developed with curbs, sidewalks and gutters?"
"The City of Medford is in line to receive a grant from FEMA, and we've been working on this for about two and a half years," said City Manager Brian Sjothun. "We're getting about $4.5 million, and with that you'll see a total restoration of the Bear Creek Greenway, all of the tributaries inside the City of Medford and also Prescott Park."
"We don't have a date yet, but I will say that for this biennial budget we're investing $7 million to add sidewalks, and we're going to keep doing that until we address this problem," said Public Works Director John Vial. "The need is huge; it's high priority and we're going to keep fixing them one at a time."
Click here(PDF, 4MB) for an overview of how the City is continuing to address homelessness in Medford, major transportation projects, Medford's housing landscape and notable residential development projects.
The following is one of the testimonials received from a community member after the town hall event:
"I've been attending each of the Town Halls so far, and it's been nice hearing the different perspectives from our Councilors on the things happening in our community. Thank you for taking the time to do this!"
The next town hall will be hosted by Ward 3 Councilors Kevin Stine and Chad Miller on Wednesday, May 1 from 6:00 - 7:30 PM at Court 1 inside Rogue X (901 Rossanley Dr.). Click here for the town hall event schedule.