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MINUTES <br /> <br /> Eugene City Council <br /> Work Session <br /> McNutt Room--City Hall <br /> <br /> June 26, 2000 <br /> 5:30 p.m. <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bobby Lee, Betty Taylor, Pat Fart, Scott Meisner, David Kelly, Gary <br /> Rayor, Gary Pap~. <br /> <br />COUNCILORS ABSENT: Nancy Nathanson. <br /> <br />CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION <br /> <br />Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. <br /> <br />A.Work Session: Ordinance Amendments on Cruising and Prostitution-Free Zone <br /> <br />Lieutenant Pete Kerns of the Eugene Police Department, Floyd Prozanski of the Police <br />Commission, and Judge Wayne Allen of the Eugene Municipal Court joined the council for the <br />item. Lt. Kerns provided a brief history of prostitution activities in Eugene, focusing on <br />streetwalking activity in the 6th/7th avenue area and the police response to that activity. He <br />noted considerable neighborhood concern about the safety of women working as prostitutes in <br />the area. He characterized the majority of prostitutes as IV drug users addicted to heroin and <br />cocaine. Lt. Kerns noted the association between street-level prostitution and street-level drug <br />dealing. <br /> <br />Lt. Kerns reported that the department had invited westside neighbors, staff from the Department <br />of Youth Services, members of the Rapid Deployment Unit, the West Sector Area Coordinator, <br />and representatives of several social service agencies to form a task force to develop a strategy <br />to address prostitution in the area. The task force had developed several remedies for the <br />problem, which it presented to the Police Commission. The commission had subsequently <br />formed a subcommittee around the issue to review the remedies, and the subcommittee had <br />made several recommendations. <br /> <br />Mr. Prozanski reviewed the recommendations of the subcommittee regarding the City's response <br />to street-level prostitution. Those recommendations were reflected in the three draft ordinances <br />before the council. He noted that the recommendations were presented to and accepted by the <br />full commission. The recommendations included that prostitutes be sent to the State court <br />system to give those individuals access to the State's drug court programs, with a request that <br />the council support Lane County's Federal Community Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) grant <br />proposal to increase funding for the court. The commission also recommended the adoption of a <br />prostitution-free zone. Mr. Prozanski noted concerns expressed by the commission about the <br />constitutionality of that approach and the concept such a zone could represent a type of double <br />jeopardy. The commission had worked to address those concerns by ensuring a timely <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 26, 2000 Page 1 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />