CC Minutes - 11/26/07 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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contributions in the area of physical fitness, to Randall Rogers, Managing Director of Kidsports. She spoke glowingly of Mr. Rogers’ work to improve the quality of life for the youth in this area. Additionally, Mayor Piercy stated that the City of Eugene had been honored for promoting health and fitness through its recreation programs. Patty Prather, Recreation Programmer for the Library, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department, accepted the award. They received a round of applause. 2. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. William Ivanoff , 1810 Harris Street, #336, said pressing issues in the City of Eugene that needed to be addressed included downtown development, the budget, the City’s sustainability mission, and the reputation of the City’s police officers. He suggested that police officers be assigned to walking beats. He thought this would decrease maintenance costs on the patrol vehicles and on streets by reducing vehicle use. He felt that having the police become more of a presence would deter crime downtown and make the area more attractive to businesses, customers, and developers. He averred that having officers on foot would provide an opportunity for people who did not trust the police to interact with them and gain trust. Lisa Warnes , 5020 Nectar Way, declared that the citizens did not want to increase spending for the urban renewal project, as evidenced by the recent vote. She likened this to a mandate for more incremental development. She believed that urban renewal would take money from other things. She opined that the approach adopted by KWG Development Partners was risky. She thought it was a gamble to rely on larger franchised stores to pay higher rents to do business. She averred that chain stores were “notorious” for leaving when the numbers “did not pencil out.” She agreed that “something” needed to happen downtown. She supported moving forward and getting “some realistic projects” on the table. Joe Collins , 2233 Hawkins Lane, said he had been attending council meetings for months and had been impressed by the evidence he had seen of the council’s involvement. He read a segment from the Register- Guard regarding downtown redevelopment and the recent vote in opposition of the increase in debt threshold for the urban renewal district. He noted that Mayor Piercy had been quoted in the newspaper as having said that everyone wanted the downtown reinvigorated. He disagreed. He believed that the majority of people did not care about the downtown. He remarked that the “spending campaign” needed to stop as there was a $50 million Federal shortfall ahead. He did not see much concern about the shortfall on the part of the council. He observed that there was a lot of talk of buying property to resell, buying property to save the headwaters of Amazon Creek, building a new City Hall, buying new land to add to another park, and constructing a new police building. He asked when the council would face the shortfall and when it would “face the fact” that most people did not want what the council wanted. He said he was more concerned about the number of people who wanted to kick their drug habits but there were no programs for them. He was also concerned about the people who were mentally ill who needed counseling, the poor people who needed dental and medical care, and people who were homeless. He asked whose job it was to improve things for all of Eugene. He believed it was the council’s job. He supported less development and “more soul.” MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 26, 2007 Page 2 Regular Meeting