City has fair share of women in charge.

Byline: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT The Register-Guard

Editor's note: "In Case You Missed It" is a digest of recent Register- Guard articles of interest? to Springfield readers.

It may not have happened at the national level, but at least in Springfield, 2008 was the year of the female president.

Four of them, in fact.

For the first time anyone can recall, the heads of the City Council (President Christine Lundberg), Springfield Utility Board (Chairwoman Bobbie Adams), Willamalane Park and Recreation District (President Danelle Ralston) and Springfield School Board (Chairwoman Nancy Bigley) are all women.

Not that any of them, or just about anyone else in town, noticed until it was pointed out.

"Are you saying you're surprised?" said former Springfield City Councilor Tammy Fitch, who served from 1998 to 2006.

"In some places, you see the good ol' boys club or something like that, but in Springfielda... it's above that. A lot of times you don't even notice if (the person in charge) is a man or a woman."

And according to the four elected officials themselves, they have much more in common than two X chromosomes.

Each is a mother to at least two children. Some are grandmothers. None is afraid to speak up and give an opinion. Each downplayed her role guiding the city's successes, instead complimenting fellow board members and staff. And all of them say they care deeply about helping the city they call home.

Among the very few things they would directly attribute to their being members of the fairer sex was building consensus. Turns out, wrangling a bickering board isn't a far cry from quieting squabbling children, they said.

Each is proud of her triumphs serving on her respective board. For Adams, it has been working to keep utility rates low. Bigley is proud of breaking ground on two new schools. The new Willamalane Community Recreation Center is Ralston's favorite achievement. Lundberg is ecstatic over the new Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend and the infrastructure in her ward.

New owner makes plans for shopping center 

Linda McKay Korth has a Midas touch with retail development. Over the past decade, her investment company made the Oakway Center in Eugene one of the liveliest pieces of retail real estate in all of Eugene-Springfield.

But decades of her attention could not jump start the old Waremart shopping center at Mohawk and Centennial boulevards in Springfield, which her family has owned since the mid-1950s.

There, 11 acres of empty parking lot, a boarded-up Waremart store and a row of tenants - including a thrift shop, a paperback exchange and a bingo hall - give the property a forlorn air.

"I met with retailers on Mohawk strip," Korth said. "They're very proud retailers and they really wanted to see that shopping center upgraded. I felt it deserved that also."

So, in October, Korth sold the property for $6.2 million to Springfield developer Steven Yett, who will try his hand at shopping center magic. Korth financed a $2.7 million share of the deal.

Yett said he's in negotiations with two potential tenants for the Waremart building. Abby's Legendary Pizza parlor, in a stand-alone building at the edge of the property, is moving out, and Yett said he hopes to replace it with another restaurant soon.

He's kicking up the activity by offering NextStep Recycling three months of free rent to establish its second electronics store and computer recycling center on the property.

Executive Director Lorraine Kerwood said she hopes to open the store soon and the recycling center sometime in January.

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