News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Eli Madrone is an active man.
He's the owner of a small business - Madrone Communications - chair of the City Parks Board, father of an elementary school-aged child, a youth soccer coach, and a volunteer with Sisters Folk Festival. Now he's thrown his hat into the ring to serve on the Sisters City Council.
Eli Madrone is a youth soccer coach through Sisters Park & Recreation District. He's running for Sisters City Council.
Five candidates are vying for three available seats on the Council in the November 5 election.
"I was encouraged by a couple of Council members," Madrone said.
He believes he can bring in a valuable perspective to the volunteer Council as a business owner and young family man. Through his service on the parks board, he said, "I kind of know what is happening in the public discourse."
Much of that public discourse centers around housing - challenges of affordability for local working people, especially. Madrone said that the Citizens4Community (C4C) forum on the topic last spring was "amazing," bringing many agencies and interested parties together to share information and ideas to address what for many has become a crisis threatening the community's livability.
Eli and his wife Juliana bought a lot in the ClearPine subdivision in Sisters shortly before the pandemic struck.
"We've experienced renting in town; we've experienced building in town," he said.
Planning is critical to setting direction and getting projects funded, and getting stakeholders together talking is also a vital element - one that Madrone feels he can contribute to.
"There's no silver bullet to fix it," he said.
There are, however, opportunities.
"There's lots of vacant lots that are not being developed, and I'd like to see them developed well," he said.
Madrone sees strength in Sisters' ability to bring people together to identify opportunities and solve problems. That, he believes contributes to Sisters being a vibrant small town - a quality he seeks to preserve and enhance.
"I come from a relatively depressed rural town that hasn't quite figured that out," he said.
Madrone sees a high-functioning civic culture in Sisters, including an engaged Council. He recalled the City's engagement with the community when a proposal for a homeless shelter blew up into a controversy that galvanized the public.
"I've seen the City and public officials listen - and I like that," he said.
He wants to participate in that, in an effort to accommodate inevitable growth while maintaining the character of the community.
"Responsible growth means keeping the flavor of the city," he said, "making sure you don't lose the sense of Sisters."
For him, that means promoting walkability and bikeability and a neighborhood feel.
Madrone recognizes that the Council is elected by voters within the city limits, but he believes it is important that those who live outside the city, but call this place home, are heard.
"I think you treat Sisters Country as your constituents," he said.
As the owner of a business that specializes in website design and digital solutions, Madrone has worked with numerous local businesses and believes he understands the challenges and opportunities presented by operating in Sisters.
He wants to serve as a community leader in a community that gets things done.
"That's where I think Sisters always shines," he said. "We always band together when we need to - but sometimes you need a leader to make that happen."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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