CC Minutes - 10/13/08 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Bob O’Brien , 3525 Gilham Road, declared that he believed in trusting the police. He felt the use of force to deter crime and maintain safety was a big responsibility. He averred that the trust in police had been “basically destroyed” in the community. He thanked the Mayor and the council for trying to work things out in the latest dispute so that it followed the charter amendment. Paul Prensky , 1270 Jacobs Drive, said he had asked City Manager Jon Ruiz when he would give the auditor full backing. He wanted Mr. Ruiz to speak out. He had gotten to know the current Police Auditor, Dawn Reynolds, and had found her to be “regardful and fair-minded.” He called her an “ardent student of the rights of the homeless.” He felt she was providing a resource the community really needed. He shared his suggestion that Joseph McNamara, PhD., from Stanford University be brought to Eugene to help the situation between the citizens and the police. He averred that everyone needed to sit at the table and talk and listen “regardfully” and they would arrive at agreements. Zachary Vishanoff , somewhere on Patterson Street, averred that transparency was “not a brand,” and Mr. Ruiz should “do it” and not just talk about it. He had read that Councilor Zelenka had supported more accountability for the police. He opined that Councilor Zelenka had a lack of accountability on “certain very massive projects.” He asserted that the City Manager had been meeting behind closed doors about a “huge project” that Mr. Vishanoff felt he was not allowed to talk about. He wanted to know when the minutes from those meetings would be available. He said if there was a draft memorandum of understand- ing, he wanted to know when he could see it. He alleged that there was a plan called the “Farkas Report” and it was now missing. He wanted to know where it was and he wanted a copy of it. He also wondered how soon “form-based codes” would be instituted. Ruth Duemler , 1745 Fircrest Drive, thanked everyone for their support for the Police Auditor. She felt there should be a transparent system, given that the people had voted for it. She supported having an executive session and supported having a performance auditor akin to that in Portland. She asserted that the performance auditor had been very successful and had made a big difference to the police department there. She thanked the councilors who had supported Ballot Measure 20-146. She averred that it would help to develop more trust with the police department. John “Mac” McFadden , 575 Knapp Lane, stated that ten years earlier he had been hired as the liaison for the St. Vincent DePaul car campers. He said in the first couple of weeks of the job he took inventory by driving around at night and finding out who was out there and what their needs were. He related that he had seen a police car on one of those trips and was certain he would be stopped by the officer so he pulled over. He had done so because he believed that in order to do his job he needed to be able to trust the police and they needed to be able to trust him. He declared that this was how to build trust – with openness and transparency and a willingness to answer their questions and not secretiveness or withholding information. Jim Torrey , Ward 4, respectfully requested that the Mayor and City Council ask legal counsel and members of the planning and transportation departments to review the decision made on August 13 regarding the removal of the term West Eugene Parkway (WEP) from the Transportation Plan (TransPlan). He explained that Goal 12 stated that there must be a replacement before removing a program that would remove congestion from West Eugene. He underscored the need to seriously look at the implications of this decision with regard to the ability to develop property in West Eugene until a replacement for the WEP had been determined. He added that the WEP terminology did not refer to the alignment that had been terminated in 2005, it referred to an arterial that would reduce congestion. He wanted to make sure that the unintended consequences of the efforts in the August 13 decision would not stop the community from being able to develop businesses and other things, such as an urgent care facility in West Eugene. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 13, 2008 Page 3 Regular Meeting