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announced that there would be a Fairmount Neighbors Meeting on November 12 at 7:00 p.m. He felt it was an important meeting, noting that the schedule for the meeting was packed. He asserted that this was a tactic to make sure it was “too busy to talk about anything in detail.” He said the neighborhood could file an appeal of the recent CUP for the arena project to LUBA for $1,500. He averred that one of the co-chairs should resign as he was the chair of the University Architecture Department. He opined that he was trying to do too many things at once and should continue being an architecture professor and “skip hijacking the neighborhood.” He believed that the University would exercise eminent domain as it would want more land and the Oregon State Board of Higher Education would “basically rubber stamp anything the U of O decided it wanted to seize.” He reiterated his unhappiness with the chair of the neighborhood association. He averred that the current chair was “trying to tear the neighborhood apart.” Joe Donald , 3328 Elmira Road, said he and his wife had concerns about the proposed road construction on Elmira Road, including the money that had been diverted to Roosevelt Boulevard when it was built years earlier. He averred that the money that had been diverted should be returned to the Elmira Road project. He stated that maintenance on Elmira Road had been limited to pothole filling for the last couple of decades, though the residents had been paying taxes for its upkeep. He underscored that Elmira Road was a major bus route as well as a route for emergency vehicles. He felt that on that justification alone, it should be a priority project. He said there had been no maintenance on storm drains and no stormwater improvements. He wanted to see those types of improvements. He pointed out that Eugene’s other revenue sources included the gas tax, the bond measure that had just passed, and federal money Eugene received for road improve- ments. He suggested that the City ask the Lane Transit District (LTD) for a portion of the money the district received for improvements to its system. He also wanted to know who decided which citizens paid for streets and which did not. He asserted that many municipalities do not charge citizens for improvements. He said many of the residents on Elmira Road were not able to afford the road improvements. In closing, he declared that the City should be responsible to its residents and roads accordingly. Suny Kim , 430 Gilbert Street, said she owned the convenience store on Elmira Road and it had eight parking spaces. She related that the current plan showed that a sidewalk would be placed along the road and this would curtail the ability of car drivers to park and turn around in her parking lot. She related that the purpose of the project was to upgrade and beautify the street and to make it safer. She averred that the first priority should be safety and convenience. She was also concerned that improvements to the bicycle and pedestrian amenities would affect property values in the area. She said one customer indicated to her that he would no longer come to her store if it became difficult to access. She reiterated that she wanted the City to permit open access to the parking spaces for her store. Joan Kelly , 3265 Elmira Road, stated that she had lived on Elmira Road for 29 years. She wanted to acknowledge all of the members of her neighborhood who had come to the meeting. She noted that they were wearing red because it was the color of stop signs and they wished to stop the project as it was currently planned. She thanked Councilor Ortiz for bringing the motion to the council to garner more neighborhood input on the project before putting it into motion. She added her congratulations to the Mayor and councilors who had been reelected. Ms. Kelly averred that a single-residence assessment of $8,000 to $15,000 was too costly. She felt it was an especially bad time to charge people this much given the current economic situation. She opined that there was no justification for the policy of assessing people for street improvements. She said the deteriorated condition of Elmira Road was attributable to more than 30 years of neglect by first the County and then the City and an increase of local traffic due to “ill-conceived infill with high density housing.” She said Elmira Road was a local street. She asserted that through-traffic should utilize Roosevelt Boulevard. Regarding the design, while she appreciated the efforts of City staff to save trees and significant vegetation, she believed the combined width of two ten-foot travel lanes, two sidewalks, two bicycle paths, and two MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 10, 2008 Page 2 Regular Meeting