09/25/1989 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Mr. Perkins said the Neighborhood Leaders Council is concerned with the council's apparent lack of understanding that the group is a valuable resource. He pointed out that every year, the neighborhood organizations must plead for funding for newsletters. Mr. Perkins said the Neighborhood Leaders Council feels strongly that communication between the neighborhood organizations and the council should be strengthened. He said the group could also help process issues in the communi- ty. Ms. Bentsen expressed concern in City government, but said she does not feel that the City should earmark funds for development and exempt these funds from the normal budgetary process. Ms. Bentsen pointed out that the City has gone through some very agonizing budget cuts; this highlights the need to be very careful in how money is allocated. She said she would like to see the urban renewal projects go through the typical budget process in which all the needs of the City are weighed when determining how money should be spent. Ms. Ehrman responded that urban renewal projects do go through a budget process. She added that the Downtown Commission serves as the "neighborhood representative" of the downtown core and the commission requests projects in the downtown area just as neighborhood leaders request projects for the neighborhoods they repre- sent. Mr. Rutan noted that the council often hears the opposite sentiment to that being represented by the neighborhood leaders--namely, that the council has a public process that is too extensive and that the council uses this process to abrogate its deCision-making responsibility. Mayor Miller agreed. e Mr. Wostmann said the Neighborhood Leaders Council feels that because revenue for urban renewal projects is often committed for such a long time, these types of spending decisions should be ratified by the citizens of Eugene rather than by the eight elected officials serving on the council at anyone time. He said the NLC is comfortable giving council the discretion to approve or disapprove short-term (e.g., five-year) projects. Ms. Schue noted that many of the dowtown projects are joint public/private ven- tures. She asked if the Neighborhood Leaders discussed this issue and whether the group sees a reason to distinguish between this type of project and strictly public projects. Mr. Nicholson agreed that there is a distinction between these two types of projects but said the distinction is no reason to exempt public-pri- vate projects from the public process. Answering a question from Ms. Ehrman, Neighborhood Liaison Christine Donahue said that the Neighborhood Leaders have received presentations about urban renewal and tax increment financing. Ms. Atwood expressed dissatisfaction with the summary information that the group received. She had hoped for more detailed information about specific projects and the amount of money spent on those projects. Ms. Atwood said many citizens feel that urban renewal money, which is public money, is spent in ways that benefit some Eugeneans more than others. She said that as long as this feeling continues, the council will see resistance to urban renewal projects in general, regardless of the merits of the projects. Ms. Atwood e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 25, 1989 Page 4 Dinner/Work Session