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Ashland City Council race: Eric Hansen vs. James Falkenstein By Morgan Rothborne Oct 17, 2022 12:30 AM A A James Falkenstein, left, and Eric Hansen Ashland City Council candidates Eric Hansen and James Falkenstein took different paths to describe why an undecided voter might look to them for council Position 4. “Try to look past my positive attitude, my good nature and my occasional witticism, and understand that beneath that I have thought and written and researched all of the city functions, departments and policies for the last five years,” Falkenstein said. “I have an uncanny and unique perspective on the workings of the city. With that I think I will be able to effect some positive change.” For those looking to his well-known five-minute City Council videos as an example of the depth of his knowledge, he would have them know that is the tip of the iceberg. All those years of watching the city’s functions, he said, has resulted in a unique depth of knowledge. Hansen described himself as a long-term, deeply invested member of the community. “I’ve lived here for 30 years. I’ve created a business here that has installed hundreds of renewable projects here in Ashland. We’re celebrating 12 years of success with 22 employees. I’ve built a house, I’ve raised a family, my kids are in school here, we’re on mountain bike teams and volunteer in the community,” he said. “I feel like I’m needed here on the council. I will make fact-based decisions. I will bring projects forward that we can support sustainably, financially.” Asked about his attributes for the council, Falkenstein pointed to his communication skills and his positive attitude. “I got a thick skin, and I’m pretty forgiving. I think what we need to do is get past a lot of old grudges. I think we need to allow each other to occasionally misbehave and then not hold it against each other — keep moving forward,” he said. Hansen also said he wanted to see cooperation and respect in the City Council, not only between councilors but from Ashland residents to councilors, describing those on council as volunteers working hard for Ashland, each caring deeply for the city in their own way. “I’m going to work with all the councilors and the mayor on all these issues. I’m going to put aside any of these issues that have happened in the past, and I’m going to do what I think is best for Ashland and Ashlanders,” he said. When asked about what issues he would most look forward to working on, Hansen responded with many, but first, with what he described as a nexus between outdoor recreation and economic diversification in Ashland. “I would love to see Ashland’s mountain biking community continue to flourish and become a cornerstone of Ashland’s economic development, like Ashland Shakespeare is now,” Hansen said. Hansen pointed to affordable housing as a key issue, referencing how he has watched his employees struggle. Next he listed the city’s high staff turnover rate and the budget. He believes the 50 former Ashland city employees to leave in the past few years were prompted in part by harassment of city staff and poor leadership from the top down, he said. “I would like to better establish relations. I would like to entertain cost-of-living increases for city employees and really give them the support and kudos they deserve,” Hansen said. The budget, he believes, was handled as well as it could have been, considering pandemic pressures. “I think that we have the tools at hand to really move forward in a really fiscally responsible way,” he said. “I don’t think the sky is falling; I don’t think we’re in something like a structural deficit.” Hansen said he plans to vote against both measures proposed by City Manager Joe Lessard, Measure 15-210 and Measure 15-211. But if he is a councilor and voters approve the measures, he will work with the changes, he said. Falkenstein took a more minimalist view of how he would approach the city’s issues as councilor. City councilors can only do so much in the face of climate change, he said. Councilors can’t build houses. City Council, from his perspective, is often affecting the edge of major issues with the exception of a few key items, especially water. “We have a reservoir we 100% control, and we have the TAP water supply from Medford that the council can really lean into,” he said. “I think maintaining our water supply, and planning to keep that as maximized as possible, that’s the most important thing, and then everything stems from that. Once you have water, you can talk about housing; the art department needs water; people who need housing need water.” Other important issues for Falkenstein relate to a consistent grumbling he said he has noticed among voters while campaigning — what he referred to as lowest common denominator issues. “I’ve run into enough people in town who are like, ‘How hard is it to empty the garbage cans in the Plaza or in the park?’” he said. “People are like, ‘They can’t fix one building, one little old community center building, so instead of fixing it, they block it off with chains for three years, and you think the city should be given all this money to do all these other big projects?’ And I thought, that’s a good point.” Hansen said the only issue that surprised him from voters on the campaign trail was the frequency with which he was asked to speak to issues from the past — perceived misdeeds from specific councilors or even decades of past infrastructure projects. He described himself as interested in the present and the future, and is determined not to be pulled into any kind of finger-pointing. Falkenstein said he was surprised by the consistency of his interactions with people of color in Ashland. “Every person of color in town, it didn’t take long, if I asked if there were issues in town, and they hemmed and hawed a little bit, and I asked, ‘Do you feel like there’s any race issues in town?’ and boom — every person had an issue.” He said. “I know they were talking to an old white guy who was campaigning at their door, which is not a comfortable thing for a normal human,” he said. “It made me feel like, ‘Ooh, if I were like a real friend, I’d be hearing a lot more.’” Comfort and what a normal human needs also were part of Falkenstein’s description of how he became interested in running for council. When a Talent Irrigation District pipe was routed to be piped through the area where he enjoyed running, he wanted to resist the project. “You’ve got to form a group, and you’ve got to get in front of council, and I did all that. And I was like, ‘Hey, what’s going on with this City Council?’ It seems like they’re making everything hard to do and confusing.” “So then I thought, maybe if I get involved with this city council business, I could make it all nicer and easier and more pleasant for the average human,” he said. Hansen said his involvement with the council came when Michael Gardener stepped down as parks commissioner in January of 2022 and Hansen applied for the position along with nine others. The process of competing for the opening informed his perspective on Ashland politics and on Ashland’s issues. “It became apparent that it was really important that I run and win this seat to keep things moving in the direction I want to see them moving,” Hansen said. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected] or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.